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Would you rather quickly siege a castle or surround it with your army and simply wait for the defenders to starve or spread disease? Why?

An attacker's first act in a siege might be a surprise attack, attempting to overwhelm the defenders before they were ready or were even aware there was a threat. If I lose my element of surprise I would lay siege and just wait for the surrender of the enemies inside, or coerce someone inside to betray the fortification.

Why?

The loss of the surprise element could lead to the defenders preparing for your attack. If they are able to do so the loss of your army would be greater. (The enemies being in a castle and all)

I would surround a castle with my army and wait it out because, after a long march to a designated castle, the last thing one wants is to just charge in….all that carnage! ewwww

As my army settles in for the long wait, the best way we'd beat boredom would be to come up with creative ideas regarding what forms of intimidation and bribery we could do in order to entice the enemy to leave the castle. Gone are the days when we threw diseased carcasses, rotten food and soiled underwear into the castle in order to demoralise the enemy. I’d like to think my armies are more compassionate.

Our forms of intimidation are anything from synchronised nagging to baking big batches of sweet buns with smells that make the enemy salivate for hours on end. If these tictacs weren’t working (although by the 2nd week, most of the enemy were on their knees begging to come out!) we would resort to some sort of sponsored activity in order to gather funds to bribe the enemy to leave. Sponsored muck throwing, aka paintballing, and rolling logs into peasants, aka 10 pin bowling, were the favourites!

Generally, the best way to end sieges was through negotiation and bribery, however, if that didn’t work, at the very least my army would be well rested and ready for a hard day’s killing in the end.

I would wait for a bit. Maybe send arrows and stuff at times to bother them. Blow horns through the night for psych warfare. Then attack and with draw then attack full force. Wear them out over time

That depends entirely on the surrounding terrain.

If the castle is placed in a lush countryside with plenty of pubs nearby, I would not mind spending a week or two sitting around doing nothing serious.

If however, the castle is placed in a place of less interest, such as Detroit in the USA, I would get the job done while also taking pride in doing as much collateral damage as possible.

There is no correct answer to this.

The element of surprise is without doubt a powerful element to have on your side. It prevents the enemy preparing their defences in time to meet your attack. Oil pots need to be filled and heated, arrows need to be stocked at the battlements, armour needs to be put on and the troops organised to their posts. So a night attack/surprise attack can be advantageous. Keeping the siege short and swift also means that if the enemy was able to warn his allies they would not be able to assist quick enough.

The problems with trying to win a siege as fast as possible is that a siege is one of the most complex strategic challenges that a commander can face. Therefore if a siege is rushed then the attacker can suffer very heavy losses even if they win. Castles are not only designed to keep the enemy out, also they are designed to kill the enemy, as dead men can't do much. Therefore in each siege it is advisable to scout out it's defences before attempting to rush it. It is also good sense to attack at night as the longer you can keep undetected is the less time the enemy has to prepare.

Some castles are too big, out in the open land or high up, or well defended to take them by surprise. In these situations it is advisable that you do not try and take the castle in a rush. Instead for these castles a big army is needed to circle the castle, and also big enough to deter any sally forth that the castle may send to break a hole in your siege perimeter. The siege against these types of castles usually last a long time and so preparations must be made in advance before setting siege.

A besieger must have a good supply of weapons, gold (Money), and food. All set and planned before the siege takes place. If one of these three supplies fails it could spell disaster for the besieger. A good supply of weapons is necessary as Swords break, arrows run out and stone catapult ammo is used up, without these a besieger can not hope to launch a successful assault or defend against a sally forth. Gold is required to pay troops, most troops are mercenaries and therefore require pay to employ and fight, going long periods without pay will lower the morale of the troops and they could desert your army - and how are you going to take that castle without troops? Last but probably the most vital supply, a big army is a huge gobbler of food and so very quickly the surrounding country side will be void of deer and pigs to eat so a supply is needed to maintain a siege. Without a good food supply the castle will outlast your men, and you'd be forced to move and abandon the siege or have men starve to death.

Once you have those 3 set up, it's a good start but there are many other important factors to consider. The amount of troops needed in the siege camp means that it can become very.. er unhygienic, if measures are not put in place. Therefore it is required to organise toilets.. aka holes in the ground back then.. and have them cleared out or moved every so often. Good hygiene will lower the risk of disease in the camp and therefore you'll have less men sick and dead. Many medieval sieges camps were full of disease and in a lot of cases more men died from disease than they did from the enemy on the battlements.

Some one could (and probably has) fill a whole book on sieges, but this is the basics

GriffMaster

siege it , so i can help the people to love me after i kill half of them lol muhaha richardleethe five

LET THE HERPES SPREAD! Load a bag with your * and use your catapults to fling it over the wall!

I would camp out front and have a whale of a time feasting,dancing, drinking. this would bring their moral down then hit them with disease to finish them.

I would like to pound it destroy the castle and then wait till tey he repaired it hen surround it and hit it again and again

The quick attack would be the best option here.

What I would do is send in a few spies(maybe 5 or so), months before my actual army arrives and once they arrive we will signal the spies to kill off as many garrison commanders as they can and once the troops lose their commander they will lose moral. I will shortly lay the attack as soon as possible(within a few hours of the assassination) with 80% of the troops to attack at the front gate while the other 20% wait quietly behind the rear to ambush whoever flee or comes out.

Disease is the last thing you want as it may kill off the entire populous of the opposition nation, the outcome is vague and unpredictable hence your lost is uncertain. Remember, disease does not have a side as it will spread and spread to both sides. Plus the castle will be useless once a plague hit it. Food and shelter for your army will be gone thus even in victory you will still be in defeat.