Building and Defending a castle

Building and Defending a castle By: Jon Fletcher

Background Information • The Middle Ages was a violent period of time where men fought for power and land. Because of this, castles were built for protection. • Castles were built primarily for military purposes since they acted as garrisons that controlled a particular territory and housed defending armies. • Castles became residences for lords and kings although as time went on.

Background Information • It was quite a feat to build a medieval castle. • Some constructionists were paid to build a castle while others were conscripted to work on the castle. • Life in a castle was either boring or hard work. • A castle was very complex and also had many castle features • There were also many siege tactics used to try and take over a castle.

Instructions • You are in charge of building and defending a castle. You must make the right decisions in building your castle, and then defend it successfully. Make a correct choice and become more powerful. Make an incorrect choice and you FAIL!

Building Material • You are about to start construction of your castle, but you must first choose what material to build your castle out of. What do you choose to use? Wood ? Stone ?

Hint to building with wood • Using wood would allow you to construct your castle more quickly, but it would not be as sturdy or as easy to defend. Return

Hint to building with stone • Using stone would be heavy and might take longer, but your castle would be more sturdy and could be built higher. Return

Answer to building with wood • FAIL-Although you would be able to construct your castle quickly, it would be very easy for attackers to overtake. Start Over

Answer to building with stone • Good Decision-Although you might take a little longer to build your castle, you will have more of an advantage against attackers. Move ahead

Location of castle • You need to decide on what terrain to place your castle on. You have to decide whether to place it on a hill or on flat plains. What do you choose? Hill ? Flat Plains ?

Hint to building a castle on a hill • If you place your castle on a hill, you will save yourself time by not having to build a moat, but you will not have that extra line of defense the moat provides. Return

Hint to building a castle on a flat plain • If you place your castle on flat plains, you will need to build a moat for protection, and this will take time to build. But you will have yourself built yourself a very good defense system by building a moat. Return

Answer to building a castle on a hill • Good Decision-Even though you don’t have the extra line of defense a moat provides, you save time and can make other parts of your castle stronger. Move ahead

Answer to building a castle on a flat plain • Good Decision-Since you choose to put your castle on a flat plain, you will have to build a moat so you have a line of defense to defend your castle and this will take time. But with you doing this, defenders do not stand as good of a chance overtaking your castle. Move ahead

Moat • Now that you have decided to put your castle on a flat plain, you need to decide what to fill your moat with, you have the choice of filling it with wooden spikes or water. What do you choose? Water ? Wooden Spikes ?

Hint to filling your moat with water • This will be like a river surrounding the castle. Return

Hint to filling your moat with wooden spikes • This will be like a dry river but with wooden spikes at the bottom. Return

Answer to filling your moat with water • Good Decision-with you filling your moat with water, this creates an extra line of defense and makes your castle all the more difficult to overtake. Move ahead

Answer to filling your moat with wooden spikes • Good Decision-with you filling your moat with wooden spikes, this creates an extra line of defense and makes your castle all the more difficult to overtake. Move ahead

Stairs • While building your castle, you need to decide which way to build your stairs. Which way do you choose? Counterclockwise ? Clockwise ?

Hint to building your stairs counterclockwise • This would give you the advantage if you lost control of your castle and then had to attack it and you were going up the stairs. Return

Hint to building your stairs clockwise • This would give the defenders the advantage because they could swing freely with their right hand (left handed people were considered to be evil so everyone learned to fight with your right hand), but descending attackers could not do this so easily. Return

Answer to building your stairs counterclockwise • FAIL-This would not give you an advantage if you were defending and your castle was being attacked. Although you would have the advantage when you are trying to retake your castle, you would not succeed because the stairs would probably be changed. Start Over

Answer to building your stairs clockwise • Good Decision-Since everyone has to learn to fight right handed, this would give your soldiers an advantage while defending since they could swing freely with their right hand and attackers would struggle to do so. Move ahead

Towers • You arebuilding your towers on the corners of your castle and you need to decide what style to build your towers. What do you choose? Square ? Round ?

Hint to square towers • If you choose to build square tower, it will not be as difficult to build, but will not be quite as strong as a round tower. Return

Hint to round towers • If you choose to build a round tower, it will be a little more difficult to build, but will be stronger against attacks. This would also give you a better view of the battlefield. Return

Answer to building square towers • FAIL-Although building a square tower was not as difficult as building a round tower, your castle is very easy to attack and attackers will destroy it quickly. Start Over

Answer to building round towers • Good Decision-Although this is a little more difficult to build, you will have the advantage over your attackers when you are defending it. You will also have a better view of the battlefield, giving you another advantage. Move ahead

Shield Wall • You need to decide where to build your shield wall at. Where do you choose to put it? In front of the main entrance ? On the lowest side ?

Hint to building your shield wall in front of the main entrance • Since attackers try to enter to the main entrance a lot, this will make it much harder for them to succeed. But if you do this, your lowest side will be open more to catapults. Return

Hint to building your shield wall on the lowest side • This will make your castle overall stronger but your main gate does not have that extra protection. Also, catapults will not be able to destroy your weakest side, whereas if you put it in front of the main gate, that is where they would attack. Return

Answer to building your shield wall in from of the main entrance • FAIL-Although your main entrance is secure, catapults will demolish you lowest side. Start Over

Answer to building your shield wall on the lowest side • Good Decision-Since you put your shield wall on the lowest side, you take away the catapults attack on that side. Move ahead

First Decision • You see the enemy is coming to attack your castle. What is the first thing you do in order to give to the best chance to defend your castle successfully? Raise up your drawbridge ? Have soldiers fire arrows at attackers ?

Hint to having the drawbridge raised • Although this may take time, this will help you since attackers will not be able to march right away into your castle. Return

Hint to firing arrows right away at attackers • If you succeed at this, you can end the attack very shortly. However, if you fail at this the attackers will march into your castle right away and make your outer defenses pointless. Return

Answer to having the drawbridge raised • Good Decision-Although this takes time and the enemy is able to get closer to your castle, you take away the chance of them entering the castle right away and now have your outer defenses to work with. Move ahead

Answer to firing arrows right away at attackers • FAIL-You leave the drawbridge down and do not have enough arrows to kill all of the attackers. They enter your castle and take it over easily. Start Over

Ladders Attack • You see the enemy is launching their first attack at your castle. You see that they are putting ladders against your castle walls and trying to scale your walls what do you do? ? Push the ladders off the wall Retreat and wait for the attackers to enter the castle, then fire arrows at them ?

Hint to pushing the ladders off the wall • This would not allow the attackers to reach your castle however as you were pushing the castle off the wall you would be exposed to arrow fire. Return

Hint to retreating and waiting for attackers to enter the castle, and then fire arrows at them • This would allow you to be at a safe position when firing arrows, but if you were slow to fire, attackers would enter your castle. Return

Answer to pushing the ladders off the wall • Good Decision-Even though you are exposed to arrow fire while pushing the ladders off the wall, you are not hit since you are very quick in pushing the ladders off the wall. Even though the enemy might continue to put the ladders back up, you continue to push them down and eventually, they give up on the attack. Move ahead

Answer to retreating and waiting for attackers to enter the castle, and then fire arrows at them • FAIL-Although you are in a safe position to fire arrows, you are not able to destroy all of the attackers and they take over you castle and you are destroyed in the process. Start Over

Battering Ram • The enemy is now using a battering ram to try and break through into your castle since you stopped their attack with their ladders. How do you defend this? Wait until the door is hammered down, then fire arrows at the attackers ? Lower soft padded curtains to lessen the impact ?

Hint to waiting until the door is hammered down, then firing arrows at the attackers • This would give you the element of surprise as the attackers would not be expecting this. However if the defenders got past your arrow fire, they would easily have the advantage in taking control of the tower. Return

Hint to lowering soft padded curtains to lessen the impact • This would give you an advantage because doing this will give you time to get more soldiers in different places and possibly stop the attack with the battering ram. But if you fail in doing this, the attackers will easily take control of the castle since you will not have as many soldiers there. Return

Answer to waiting until the door is hammered down, then firing arrows at the attackers • FAIL-You do have the element of surprise, but even though you are able to wipe out the first wave of attackers, more and more attackers come and eventually overpower you. Start Over

Answer to lowering soft padded curtains to lessen the impact • Good Decision-with you lowering the soft padded curtains, you do not let the attackers break down your wall. You also are able to put more of your soldiers in different places to defend the castle. Move ahead

Siege Tower • Oh no! You see that the enemy is now rolling a siege tower toward your castle! What do you do? Throw large objects down at the attackers ? Fire flaming arrows at the siege tower ?

Building and Defending a castle