Ready-To-Run Adventures

The Rhudaurian Camp

Phillip Gladney ©1999

The army of Ermegil Stonearm does not have sufficient troops to fully encircle the
border fort and still keep a safe distance away. This leaves the army somewhat
vulnerable to sallies from the troops within Harnalda and surprise attacks from
reinforcing troops. To help alleviate this problem, Ermegil has ordered his army to
camp in five separate positions around the fort and has set up a form of blockade.
This makes any foray by forces of the Angle into or out of the fortress very
dangerous and also helps with keeping his troops out of trouble since the various
ethnic groups comprising his army frequently fight with one another. To protect
these camps, sentries keep vigil along the perimeter of each camp and mounted
bands patrol the nearby vicinity. At night, torches are lit on top of stakes placed in
regular intervals in and around the camps. This provides a modicum of light for the
area and allows the sentries on duty to see the surrounding countryside to a limited
degree.

1. The main camp: Ermegil's headquarters is located to the

northwest of Harnalda. It consists of the Trererath, the
northron cavalry and medium infantry mercenary units as
well as the officers, supplies, support personnel (such as
engineers and quartermasters) and the camp followers. King
Stonearm has a massive tent in the middle of this camp and
is always surrounded by 10-20 heavily armed guards. He holds council in
this tent and messengers are sent out regularly to the other encampments
with orders from the king. Ermegil's standard, that of a black crown above
two black battleaxes, flies from the highest pole in the camp and the camp is
protected by a smattering of wooden stakes implanted in the ground. The
northron cavalry have created a rope corral on the northern side of the camp
and keep their horses here.
2. The Dunlending camp: To the southwest lies the camp of the dunlending
tribes. This is the largest camp by far, consisting of roughly 2,000 men, and
is situated in between Harnalda and the direction any reinforcements would
come from. The dunlendings in this camp have been working on a logging
project, which is providing the lumber for the siege engines and the
defensive stakes planted around their encampment and that of Ermegils'. The
dunlendings are also busy digging a trench around their entire compound and
have placed the sharpened stakes on the top of the unearthed soil to create a
semi-palisade should forces of the Angle come to the aid of the besieged
soldiers in Harnalda. This will keep any mounted forces from entering their
compound and give them time to form up in a defensive arrangement. The
dunlendings are living in cramped tents made from cowhide and stitched
together with sheepgut. There are five main tribes participating in this
campaign and they have each set up their tents in related clusters.
3. The northern Easterling camp: The Easterlings accompanying Ermegil on
this campaign have been separated into three different camps primarily
according to their tribal affiliation. They patrol the perimeter on horseback
and attempt to keep enemy messengers or scouts from penetrating the
Rhudaurim siege. During the day this is an easy assignment, however after
the sun sets it becomes significantly more difficult. Approximately 150
Easterlings are located in this encampment. Their horses are tied up near
each of their tents as opposed to the corral incorporated by the northrons in
the main camp. This allows them a much faster reaction time to any
incursion or attack. Like the dunlendings, the easterlings use cowhide tents
to shield them from the elements.
4. The eastern Easterling camp: Similar to the northern encampment of
easterlings except larger. The leader of the entire easterling contingent,
Trojic Havel, stays here with a small retinue of bodyguards and maidservants
as well as 200 of his best horsemen. Trojic chose this spot to set up his
 personal quarters because, even though he has sworn allegiance to Ermegil
Stonearm, he dislikes the man with a vengeance and wishes to stay as far
away from him as possible. His major concern is making sure his warriors
get their rightful share of the spoils from Harnalda. Failing to do this might
cause Trojic to become a "casualty" himself. Since his men will not be
attacking the walls with the dunlendings and regular mercenaries, he must
figure out a way to get his men into Harnalda, immediately after the walls
have been breached. Currently, he is sending dismounted horsemen to the
area just outside the castle to serve as missile troops. This is a job relegated
to the youngest and weakest members of his contingent since it is a major
dishonor among the fiercely prideful horsemen to fight on foot.
5. The southern Easterling camp: This camp is set up exactly like the other
two easterling camps and provides horsemen for the various patrols around
the area in addition to protecting their sector of the blockade. It contains 150
easterling horse warriors.
6. Harnalda: This fortress is detailed completely in the Harnalda section.
7. Construction area: Two siege towers and a battering ram are being crafted
at a rapid pace here by Angmarean engineers on loan from the Witch-king.
Wood from the logging operation is brought here by dunlendings on wagons.
None are complete as of the scouting mission, but all will be almost fully
functional by the time reinforcements from Fennas Drunin arrive in Thuin
Boid. This will be a major factor in Aldurin's decision to attack or wait. If
completed, the siege towers will spell doom to the inhabitants of Harnalda
for they will rise high above the wooden parapet surrounding Harnalda and
provide an excellent platform from which to rain missiles down upon the
defenders. In addition, attackers can use a ramp on the top of the tower to
cross over the parapet and into the bailey of Harnalda. Additional forces may
also hide behind the tower as it moves toward the wall giving them
protection against enemy missiles. Without the siege towers Ermegil's forces
would suffer extreme casualties as they tried to scale the walls with ladders
and rope. The battering ram is also a major danger to the occupants of
Harnalda because it can batter down the main gate and allow Rhudaurim
invaders into the bailey. This is a secondary concern however, for the
defenses around the main gate are stronger than the wall. Both the siege
towers and the battering ram are covered in rawhide to give them some
protection against fire. Before any attack these hides will be doused with
water.
8. Siege area: The engineers from Angmar are also busy constructing a
trebuchet here as well as several wheeled mantelets. The mantelets are
simply moveable wooden walls that provide protection for the archers as
they fire missiles over the wall into Harnalda. After these siege engines are
constructed there will usually be at least 20-30 archers making life difficult
for the inhabitants of the border fort. The trebuchet is large and clumsy but
can cast immense rocks at the walls of the fort. Its rate of fire is very slow,
approximately one shot per hour. This is not because of any slowness on the
part of the crew, made up of dunlendings and overseen by an engineer, but
because ammunition is so hard to find. A crew of dunlendings has the
responsibility to go out and find rocks large enough to do damage to the
walls. This is a difficult task since the area contains mostly limestone. They
do, however, come up with ammunition on a regular, if slow, basis and it is
brought to the trebuchet to be fired at the fort. When the trebuchet is
finished, the Rhudaurim will attempt to damage the wall directly in front of
the tower. A stone wall could stand up to the devastating force of the
trebuchet for quite awhile, but the wooden palisade will fare far worse. The
damage inflicted in a short amount of time will force the defenders to shore
up that section of the wall leaving them vulnerable to the concentrated fire of
the bowmen outside the wall. These bowmen are relatively inexperienced as
archers, however the quantity of arrows fired can make up for their lack of
skill.
On occasion, Ermegil will order a few hundred men to muster in this area at
night. Their purpose is to simulate an upcoming attack and force the
defenders of the border fort to rouse them-selves and man the walls. They
quietly gather at this point and then at the sound of a horn yell as loudly as
possible and charge towards the wall. This understandably elicits a serious
response from the defenders and they are obliged to prepare for an attack.
This has the overall effect of worsening morale within the fort as well as
disrupting the sleep patterns of the defenders. These Rhudaurim troops never
actually attempt to scale the castle walls and after about 20-30 minutes of
whooping and hollering, just enough time for the defenders to get out of bed
and to the wall, they disappear back into the night from whence they came.