Defenses
Soldiers are the heart of a defense in Marrow March, but not all of it. Traps thin the host on the field, guns on the wall reach what soldiers cannot, and with the Inner Ward the gatehouse engines make the road behind the wall a killing ground. 13 defenses in all.
Traps
Traps open at Age I, assault 6. They go on the open field beyond your soldiers, where the dead walk.
Spike TrenchA cut trench of sharpened stakes. Bites every body that crosses it.Tar SpillBoiled pitch poured over the ground. Everything crossing it wades.SnareA noose on a bent sapling. Holds the armoured; lords and necromancers slip it.Rust CenserA censer of salt smoke. Armour crossing it comes out eaten through.Powder ChargeA buried keg. Waits for a crowd, then takes the crowd.
Wall guns
Wall guns open at Age I, assault 8. They go in the sockets on the wall’s face, firing over your soldiers.
SpringaldA torsion engine that turns to aim. One iron bolt, and the biggest thing in reach wears it.Ball ChuteA spiked ball over the parapet, rolling the length of its lane. Everything in the line goes under it.CressetA fire bowl on a stone plinth over the parapet. Anything close to the wall cooks.TrebuchetA stone thrown high that falls where nothing else reaches — out among the traps.
Gatehouse engines
Gatehouse engines open with The Inner Ward, a star of the Ancestral Sky. They go on the bastions of the road behind the wall, to hold it after a breach.
ScorpionA great bolt-thrower. It waits for a line down the road and puts one bolt through six of it.Bolt GalleryA rack of heavy crossbows in the bastion wall, loosing bolt after bolt straight across the road.The ChainAn iron chain strung between two facing bastions. It stops the road dead — until the weight on it snaps it, and the snap whips through them.Pitch PotsA sling that lobs burning pitch onto the road ahead. The patch burns on after the pot is gone.