Besieged! was submitted as part of the Plumb Bob Keep's Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War Theme.
The Twelve-Month of Medieval Mini-Challenges ROS was submitted as part of the Revelry Theme as a 1st Anniversary Gift to the Plumb Bob Keep.

Your inhabitants awake one morning to find themselves surrounded by their overlord’s sworn enemy -- they are Besieged! Some will die as a result of horrible siege conditions! How well they survive will depend on Fate (the roll of the dice); Fortune (the resources of your lord and citizens); and Skill (your management of the situation).

This unique, relatively short challenge is designed for medieval neighbourhoods which ideally would have a pre-existing fortified manor, castle, or walled town or village. However, for those established neighbourhoods which do not have one of the above, the other option is to build a town wall around a section of your neighbourhood.

Besieged! can be played by itself as a stand-alone challenge, or play it as a brief “plug-in” challenge within your current Royal Kingdom, Warwickshire, Legacy (historical) or Medieval Charter Challenge, or within your individual historical or fantasy play style.

The goal of the challenge is to simulate siege conditions in a fortified manor, castle or walled village, find out who dies, who survives, and whether the defending ruler repels the invaders or the conqueror wins new territory. You can expand this idea by setting two warring factions against each other as part of your backstory; by having an imaginary conqueror; or having the winner of the siege become your new ruler, or . . . ? The possibilities are endless!

Many people do not always want to tackle a “big” challenge, but still might want to put the boot into their Sims’ lives. Hence I have created these “tiny” medieval-flavoured challenges to use whenever you want a little mayhem in your game. Most result in misfortune, since good fortune is too easy! They can easily be used within the context of a larger challenge as well.

I don't play historical hoods (as you may remember), but I really like the idea you've got here. I may have to give this a shot - in a non-historical setting, of course. You can never have too much random rolling of dice for VT.

Yes, I do remember, VT! Glad you like the idea, though, and if you can play it out in one of your fantastic fantasy hoods, I'd love to hear how you do it! Thanks for your kind words!

I just have to duck in here (I know I already made my feelings clear at the Keep) but this is AMAZING!


Thank you for your hard work on this!!!
I am so excited to give this a go once I have a proper chance.

My sims are getting ready to enter the Dark Ages as part of the Test of Time challenge. The Vikings are already set to be the attackers, and I anticipate at least a 50% decrease in population once the Vikings beseige my existing Roman Age settlements. So now I will just need to beef up the walls around my English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, Romanian and Italian settlements. Thanks for a great idea. I will read the Beseiged rules and see how they can be used within my existing "very long term" challenge. Can't wait to start.

Thanks again, Penny! I am thrilled you like it and can't wait to hear how it works in Warwick! I am just about ready to start my new Warwickshire Challenge, so am pretty excited on that front and will update on your thread as soon as I can!

cespencer7: Wow! I never even thought of the Test of Time Challenge, but of course the Besieged! Challenge could work for it as well, in fact, probably for several of the time frames within the ToT!! I am excited to hear how you use it -- please give us an update when you can.

Okay folks, I have adapted my Test of Time challenge so that anytime one of my sims encounters a viking, they will be besieged at the start of the next "season". That way I can keep track of the 5 day cycle. (I like this better than the automatic death rules in the Test of Time challenge. It makes it more realistic somehow that the Sims have a chance to survive.)

Well, my first sims Duchy had unwanted Viking visitors. Things started out well, but by the end of the five days, three of the women in the Barony of Istanbul had died. Here is the link to my test of time page that describes the siege. https://sites.google.com/site/asimsmedievaltot/medieval-byzantine/istanbul-barony

Here are my rolls I will use these rolls with any duchy that has interactions with the Vikings in the spring rounds 676-680AD.
2, 6
6, 6
4, 1 - Delaney Narsica died of illness
3, 2 - Dolores and Dove died of injuries defending the walls
6 - Decker successfully defeats Vikings

I played my second Duchy siege today and the Barony of Cetara in Italy fell. The evil wizard Dakish Scalyn tried to plot the overthrow of the Italian King Didius but the Vikings betrayed Dakish and attacked his barony instead. All living in the barony died, except one baby who was sneaked out of the barony by a former slave, Dusty. Dusty later died because he returned to the Barony. He feared the evil wizard would curse him if he discovered that he had stolen the baby and heir to Cetara.

Want to see the photos and read the full storyline? Stop by the website.
Fall of the Barony of Cetara

Thanks Vllygrl for posting this challenge. It has added a lot of fun to my Dark Ages in the Test of Time Challenge. :lovestruc

I want to try this one too! ^^ But I don't think I'll play it in my Warwickshire neighbourhood, 'cause I just (re)started my game and I don't really have enough residents to atempt this one XD
I'll create another neighbourhood and see what happens there ^^ I'll try to post short updates here too ^^

You're welcome, Cespencer7 -- and thank you so much for your awesome links to the Barony of Istanbul and Barony of Cetara stories -- I LOVE how you wove the back stories of the characters into your rolls for the seiges!!! You had me on the edge of my seat reading those! I am so glad you've enjoyed Besieged! Thanks again for sharing your pics and stories.
Ha! Ha! I don't blame you, Lady Scarlet, for not trying the challenge now -- I have been reading of your computer/game losses on the Warwickshire thread. So sorry to read about your game troubles! I am glad you didn't give up and have started over. I have been having similar problems, which has meant I have had to restart completely twice now and it has caused more delays for my second attempt at the Warwickshire challenge, drat it!

I have been really busy with elderly family members in crisis lately, so haven't posted much here or at the PBK since before Christmas, but I am going to try to get caught up!
Cheers, happy sieging, everyone!

Siege of the Barony of Munich Stop in to see the latest of my Test of Time and Besieged challenges.

The siege started when the Baroness Domina Von Munich went to meet the Viking, Tola Torfason. She had gone to buy a cure for her husband's condition; he was a werewolf. Unfortunately, the vikings did not have the cure and Baroness Domina had unnecessarily exposed the Bavarian serfs to the Vikings.

Siege of the Burgundians
The Baron of Lyon, vassal to Duke Desmond the Younger of Burgundy , was attacked by the viking Tola Torfason and her common-law husband, Thor the Terrible. While the baron and his neighbor, the Baron of Dijon worked together to repel the vikings, three of the elder women living in the two baronies died. Stop by my medieval Test of Time challenge site to learn more about this siege.

This is the last barony to be affected by the siege of 681-685AD.

[Anyone else playing this challenge?] How are you incorporating this into your game? Have you found any fun siege custom content to use in your game and photos?

I think I am going to try this one in my medieval neighborhood.

a. The Gast Family (Peasant, Shepherd)


Sophie Gast

b. The Collin Family (Peasant, Shepherd)


John Collin

Mary Collin

c. The Hart Family (Peasant, Shepherd)


Matthew Hart

d. The _____ Family (Peasant, Shepherd)
e. The _____ Family (Peasant, Shepherd)

f. The Woodhouse Family (Peasant, Wheat Farmer)


Aaron Woodhouse


Alice Woodhouse

g. The Greaves Family (Peasant, Barley Farmer)


Jacob Greaves


Faith Greaves

h. The Johnston Family (Peasant, Oats Farmer)


Eric Johnston


Clementine Johnston

i. The _____ Family (Noble, Baron)
j. The _____ Family (Noble, Count)
k. The _____ Family (Noble, Duke)
l. The _____ Family (Royal)
m. The _____ Household (Ecclesiastical)
n. The _____ Family (Merchant, Toy Shopowner)
o. The _____ Family (Merchant, Flower Shopowner)
p. The _____ Family (Peasant, Smith)
q. The _____ Family (Merchant, Barbershop owner)
r. The _____ Family (Merchant, Boutique owner)
s. The _____ Family (Merchant, Vehicle dealer)
t. The _____ Family (Merchant, Restaurateur)
u. The _____ Family (Merchant, Bakery owner)
v. The _____ Family (Merchant, Delicatessen owner)
w. The _____ Family (Merchant, Saloon owner)
x. The _____ Family (Merchant, Pub owner)
y. The _____ Family (Merchant, Bank owner)
z. The _____ Family (Merchant, Park owner)
aa. The _____ Family (Peasant, Gatekeeper)
ab. The _____ Family (Peasant, Gatekeeper)
ac. The _____ Family (Gentry, Headmaster)
ad. The _____ Family (Gentry, Orphanage Mistress)
ae. The _____ Family (Merchant, Bookstore owner)
af. The _____ Family (Merchant, Bookkeeper)
ag. The _____ Family (Merchant, Lawyer)
ah. The _____ Family (Merchant, Physician)
ai. The _____ Family (Peasant, Midwife)
aj. The _____ Household (Monastic)

I only have four households in my neighborhood. Building a new medieval neighborhood from scratch may take a while, but luckily I have already set up the buildings and the deco.

It's great to see another challenger in this thread. I look forward to hearing more about your Gast, Hart and Collin folks.

I just started my second round of sieges. The first round of sieges affected three different baronies in my early medieval (Dark Ages) neighborhood. Istanbul, Munich, and Cetera.

This second round of sieges is affecting Landshut, Kent, and Nicaea. Already three have died in Landshut due to some terrible rolls on my part.
Rolls
1-5
5-5
6-1 (one must die)
3-4 (two must die)
6

Here is the link to my short summary of what happened with my German Duchy and the Barony of Landshut. Siege of Landshut

The Nicaea Siege affected the Barone de Nicaea, Darius Scalyn and his wife and children. The Shanidar serf family sought refuge at the Baron's home. It might have been better if they stayed home. Living conditions were so bad that the Baroness Dreama Scalyn risked her life to find fresh water and food for her newborns. This risk cost her everything as she was shot down by the viking, Thor the Terrible.
Nicaea Siege

Kent Besieged Stop by to see how the Duchy of Kent was attacked by the Olaf the Viking.

The Winters of 691-696 saw 3 sieges: Burgundy, Amalfi and Regensburg. Terrible rolls meant that things went badly and 5 sims died in each duchy.
Rolls
4-1 lost the water - most wells froze.
5-6 lost the bailey and access to all fresh food. Some barrels of dried fruit and fish were found.
3-3 lost the towers and 3 died.
6-1 successfully defended the walls but 2 died in hand-to-hand fighting.
4 the cold weather prevented the vikings from attacking the fifth year of the siege.

The Siege of Regensburg affected the Baron of Regensburg and his wife and children. The Barbutus serf family had been sieged earlier so they had already fortified their farm. The Baron fled his barony and moved his family to this fortification.

The Baron of Amalfi had been sieged five years earlier so he was watching for the vikings to return. He sent his servant Danabelle to warn the serfs. Unfortunately she didn't get there in time for them to return to the safety of the Amalfi villa and 5 of the serfs died in the siege.

The Duke of Burgundy, Desmond the Younger required that his serfs fight to protect him and his family. Five serfs, including children, died in the siege. From that time forward, he became known as Desmond the Coward.

Stop by my website to see photos and to hear more about the Sieges of Amalfi and Regensburg. (I will add the Burgundy link when it is ready)
Regensburg Barony Siege

Amalfi Barony Siege

Besiege of Burgundy Duchy

Hey folks:
I've decided not to post anymore siege updates in this thread until we have a few more who are playing the challenge and posting here. I am going to start posting again in the Test of Time challenge thread. You can still stay up to date on the death toll and other siege facts by going to my Medieval Test of Time website. The link is in my signature. Stop by any time.