Siege towers are the most effective way of assaulting the walls of a castle. The siege tower itself gives protection against enemy missile fire while it approaches the castle, and saves the troops from the dangerous prospect of assaulting the walls with ladders.

Siege towers, constructed by almost all races in the Warhammer world, are extremely common. They are often made of wood, though some armies use more exotic materials: Undead siege towers are grisly constructions made of bones and evil spells, Chaos Dwarfs build their siege towers with a reinforced chassis of bronze and the Wood Elves bring to the battlefield wondrous living trees bristling with warriors to assault enemy castles. Whatever the appearance of a siege tower, the following rules apply:

Siege Towers and Troops

Any infantry regiment with at least ten models can have one siege tower. Up to eight models in the regiment may be placed on the siege tower itself, ready to assault the walls. The rest are placed behind and around the tower pushing it. Troops on the siege tower can use their missile weapons in the Shooting phase as normal, but do not count towards the total number of models needed to push the tower.

Movement

The unit pushing the tower is placed on and around it to show their efforts at pushing and dragging it forward. Note that a unit pushing a siege tower can never have a rank bonus as it is considered to be far too disorganised to fight effectively in close combat. If the tower's unit becomes engaged in a mêlée, only troops in base contact with an enemy model may fight.

After deployment, but before the beginning of the battle, the tower may move 2D6" towards the castle. This represents how easy it is for a siege tower to advance under a hail of missiles compared to the difficulty faced by normal troops.

The siege tower moves at the same speed as the regiment pushing it (4" for Men, for example). Siege towers may never be moved at march speed, but they can make an assault against the walls at double speed. The tower may not turn or wheel, it always moves straight forward.

The minimum number of crew needed to move a siege tower at full speed is ten. If a unit of ten or less models pushing the tower takes any casualties, the tower's movement is reduced by -1" for each casualty suffered. If the unit pushing the tower suffers enough casualties to reduce it to six or less models, the siege tower cannot be moved at all.

For example, ten Men may push a siege tower up to 4" per turn. Nine Men who are pushing the tower can move it up to 3" per turn, etc. If there are less than seven Men left, the siege tower cannot move at all.

Attacking the Siege Tower

Models in base contact with the siege tower may attack it if they wish. Any close combat attacks against the tower hit automatically. Resolve damage as normal.

Shooting

Because the siege tower is so much larger than the unit that is surrounding it, it can be singled out as a target by troops firing missile weapons. The siege tower and any models on board are considered to be a single target when working out missile fire. Any troops shooting at the tower also gain the standard +1 bonus for shooting at a large target. Randomise any hits according to the following chart.

If the tower is destroyed all models on board must roll under their Initiative or suffer 1 S5 hit. Survivors should be placed where the siege tower was destroyed. These troops and the unit that was pushing the siege tower may now reform into any formation they like.

War Machines and the Siege Tower

When you are firing at the siege tower with a weapon or making an attack that uses a template, it is possible to hit the tower and the crew depending on where the template is placed. Position the template normally. Each part of the crew and the tower is treated as a separate target. Weapons such as cannons and bolt throwers will only strike the siege tower itself.

Flee and Pursuit

If the unit pushing a siege tower flees, then the tower will be abandoned until another unit turns up to push it. A unit that is pushing a siege tower may never pursue, even if it consists of frenzied troops such as Witch Elves.

Assault

The siege tower always charges at double the speed of the troops pushing it, though it may be slowed by the effect of casualties as explained earlier. This represents the impetus and effort of the unit pushing the siege tower once they are close to the fortress.

During the turn that you get a siege tower into base contact with the castle, you may attack the ramparts. Up to two models per turn may attack from the tower. Note that if there were no troops aboard the tower when it came into contact with the wall, you must spend one turn moving models up the tower's ladders before you can attack.

Troops attacking from a siege tower suffer no penalties when attacking troops occupying walls. They may also charge the defenders in the same turn in which the tower came into contact with the wall, and will strike first as normal. The defenders may still stand & shoot or Man the Walls!, but cannot use boiling oil or rocks. In subsequent turns, you can bring extra models into battle if you suffer casualties, but neither side counts as charging. You can move any models from the unit pushing the siege tower.

Points cost: 100 pts per siege tower.

You may have a maximum of one siege tower per 1,000 points of the value of your army.

* Same as the crew pushing the tower.