Could Better Siege Engines Spare Our Walls?

I have spent enough winters watching frost widen cracks in my keep’s stonework to wonder whether better engines might spare walls more surely than thicker walls spare themselves. A counterweight trebuchet, properly balanced, could break a gatehouse before an army must grind the whole curtain down.

The answer is not simply greater force. A ram with an iron-shod head may reach the gate, but every swing gives defenders time to pour pitch and loose arrows. A covered engine, built with wet hides and wheels that do not split in the cold, might keep men alive while shortening the assault.

You should ask what such engines cost in timber, oxen, and skilled hands before praising them. I rode alone again after taking my banner out of SITH, and I have no taste for plans that depend on a crowd arriving at the right hour. Better craft may spare our walls, but only if it can survive the road to them.