Thread: Doomsday Preppers unite...or segregate, whichever is safer.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

..and it still took Santa Anna 13 days.

Nobody ever said he was any good! By design, sieges are a long-term tactic.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

But there are things the besieged can do to lift the siege: midnight forays into enemy lines, for example.

They can, but you're talking seriously high risk with very low percentages of significant success. More often than not, raiding parties such as that simply vanished without a trace. Most sieges were ended by surrender due to starvation/disease/lack of H20, through treachery or stealth, because the besieged force was relieved by a friendly force, or as the result of conquest via undermining, artillery, or by storm. And only one of those is likely to end well for those within the castle!

And thanks for *finally* giving me an excuse to use this guy:

Originally Posted by Cangooner

And thanks for *finally* giving me an excuse to use this guy:

Your guy, most definitely, was a "Prepper"

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Even the Alamo finally fell under the onslaught.

Davy Crockett's last question, " Are we pouring concrete today?"

Originally Posted by Cangooner

They can, but you're talking seriously high risk with very low percentages of significant success. More often than not, raiding parties such as that simply vanished without a trace. Most sieges were ended by surrender due to starvation/disease/lack of H20, through treachery or stealth, because the besieged force was relieved by a friendly force, or as the result of conquest via undermining, artillery, or by storm. And only one of those is likely to end well for those within the castle!

And thanks for *finally* giving me an excuse to use this guy:

Historically, the most prevalent defencive technique was to wait out the siege. Didn't always work, but it did occasionally.
Besides, Leningrad was under siege for 880 days. Guess who won?

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Historically, the most prevalent defencive technique was to wait out the siege. Didn't always work, but it did occasionally.

It did sometimes. A lot depended on the situation. Who was the 'home team'? I.e. could the besieging force acquires supplies to support themselves? Or were they hurting for supplies as well? How well supplied was the castle/fort? Crucially, how was their water supply? Frankly, that was the only option available to most defending forces in a siege. All they could do was hold as long as possible and hope their enemies ran out of supplies, were ordered away, or simply lost interest.

Another option I forgot to mention earlier was simply coming to terms. The besieging force wanted to take the castle, but more often than not they wanted to take it intact so they themselves could use it. So they didn't really want to destroy it. On the other hand, if the defending force knew that they were completely cut off with no hope of relief, they too would have no desire to fight. So often an agreement would be made that if, by X date, the defenders were not relieved by friendly forces, they would surrender the castle and their arms in return for having their lives spared.

And then there were situations where hatred ran so deep that such an agreement was impossible and slaughter generally ensued.

Everything you posted is factual, and I agree with it.

The end result of an astroid hit,A nuke attack,zombies or whatever people are freaked out about,is, we will all die.
Some will prolong the process,maybe for a few mos. at best,the true outdoorsmen and expert survivalists will last maybe 6 mos. at best.Humankind is to soft today to revert to living in caves and hunting for food.
Be happy knowing that we shall all meet again in a better place,that of course depends on if the site mods get there and bring the software we need to start up again be happy, do not worry about this crap.

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Everything you posted is factual, and I agree with it.

Thanks - after what I've been through it had better be factual!!

Sorry for the mediaeval everyone. I tend to get carried away sometimes...

Originally Posted by Cangooner

Thanks - after what I've been through it had better be factual!!

Sorry for the mediaeval everyone. I tend to get carried away sometimes...

"Swords or pistols, you son-of-a-beeyotch?"
-Andrew Jackson