Interested in building anyone?

Dreamingfurther

Dreamingfurther

Baron
So... a couple weeks ago several friends of mine and I built a mid to large sized trebuchet with the goal of using it in an Alliance event to hurl small boulders and/or a large number of packets as 'grapeshot' for Alliance events. Obviously I live in NH so we built this here and will be using/donating it to one of the chapters out here.

However... I hear there is something about SoMN having a castle event or something this fall, and I was wondering if there would be anyone who might have some of the tools, and be interested in spending a weekend building 1 or even 2 of these out in SoMN. They can be transported in the back of an open truck and are a BLAST to use and fire. If anyone would like to try and figure out how we can get a pair of these built for the castle event please contact me! :thumbsup:

If your curious feel free to check out my facebook, I have an ablum of building the thing and a video of firing it shared publicly, and I have also uploaded the video to youtube.

Facebook album link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 344&type=3

Youtube video link: http://youtu.be/mdlTxnQpKwg
 
That's pretty great. It would be awesome to have in a battle.
 
This would be fun to do now that we have a permanent site :)

Do you guys have formal schematics that we could follow to make our own?
 
I have all the plans and materials that we used to make it. As well as all the various pieces that we ordered from a couple different websites for the axle and trigger release hook.

I would love to build that with someone given we were able to work out the dates/time as I also have the expertise of also having already built one myself...

Also how sweet would this be to have for the castle event!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
 
*bump*

Hoping that someone might have or know of someone that would have the tools, and perhaps a truck to make some of these?! :thumbsup:
 
The issue with an 'Alliance balista' as opposed to a trebuchet style type of catapult is that generally balista's fired the equivalent of 'huge' bolts. But you wouldn't want to be throwing/launching anything solid, and unless you are hurling something like a spray of packets or a boulder you can't really launch anything any distance in the Alliance.

Hence it would be pretty hard to make a viable balista for Alliance. I'm not saying imposible because it's possible someone could come up with a crazy design that would work, but it seems like it would be very hard to design something that could actually launch any distance due to the 'light' nature of what needs to be launched.

I'd really like to build a trebuchet!!! And if necessary I will rent a truck to get them where we need them for the castle event!!
 
Somebody at NERO Cincinnati had a PVC ballista that fired what were effectively javelins. The distance wasn't amazing, but it was fairly safe. I want to say they treated it like a trap in terms of how it worked rules-wise, but I never got the full story on that. That said, it was an incredibly LCO ruling in a different game, so that doesn't necessarily have any bearing here.
 
Yea ultimately any sort of seige engine is going to be very chapter specific and very LCO. I can say however our staff (as far as i know) is pretty possitive and excited about doing cool stuff like seige weaponry. So if you come uo with something safe, in-period and reasonable please contact me and i'd love to talk about it! :)
 
I would be willing to help build the treb, but am curious as to what materials and design specs are needed. Any way for you to share that with us Dave?

-Ryan
 
Well just a rough material list includes:

1x, 4x8 foot sheet of B/C ply
16x, 8 ft two by fours
8, empty milk gallon jugs
2, 80lb bags of sand to fill milk jugs with (we had 1/2 left over after 8 jugs)
Lots and lots of 2.5 inch screws and 1.5 inch screws
Hinges for the counterweight box
axel shaft and ball bearings for the pivot point of the arm (have links where ordered)
half a dozen bolts for some of the high stress points
release trigger latch (have links where ordered)
some sort of gear to build a winch mechanism (still finishing this)
heavy cloth or canvas for the sling end
light and heavy rope for the sling and the pull down line

Tools needed:
1 (or optimally 2) drills for screws, and drill bits for bolts
portable saw for two by fours
jigsaw for pywood
we used a drill press to get ultra strait holes for the pivot shaft holes but probably very careful drilling by hand 'could' work

I have measurements and plans from the treb we've already built so we can use a lot of those specs. And I can emphasize I'm totally willing to purchase a lot, if not all the materials needed to build this. I'm just looking to find 1 or 2 people who want to help do the work as well as the time and place. Ultimately we will need a truck to get them wherever we need to get them (hopefully the castle) but I can even offer aid in renting one of those if we can't find someone with one to borrow.
 
My father owns his own construction business so I have the tools that you would need. I also have a truck that we could use to transport it. I have lots of free time to do it as well. PM if you want to talk more about it.
 
KyleSchmelz said:
Somebody at NERO Cincinnati had a PVC ballista that fired what were effectively javelins. The distance wasn't amazing, but it was fairly safe. I want to say they treated it like a trap in terms of how it worked rules-wise, but I never got the full story on that. That said, it was an incredibly LCO ruling in a different game, so that doesn't necessarily have any bearing here.
Click to expand...

It would have to be a trap, rules wise, and IIRC weapon traps aren't even actually supposed to hit people anymore. As far as the rules are concerned, we're not supposed to be using -anything- in the way of a powered missile weapon at all, from a sling on up to siege weaponry.

That said, LCO is LCO, and what the insurance policy will let you get away with is key. Catapults are way fun to build, and I've got the plans lying around for a PVC one powered by surgical tubing that collapses into a duffel bag and can throw a tennis ball 50 yards or so. :thumbsup:
 
A catapult like that with a "V"-shaped launcher (a notch cut in the top of a vertical, rectangular slider/launcher) could potentially be used to launch javelins by throwing them from just behind the head. I'd be interested in seeing those plans simply on the description that it will fit in a duffel bag.

-Luke
 
Just so this thread doesn't get completely derailed and off topic I started it with a request to ask for help or discussion about building a siege engine like this:

Facebook album link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 344&type=3

Youtube video link: http://youtu.be/mdlTxnQpKwg

I've gotten a few responses and I'm really excited/hopeful that I may be able to throw a couple together with some folks for the castle event.

SoMN staff is currently not opposed to the idea of siege engines for fun and flavor. Part of the point of 'siege' engines however is that they are large and not particularly mobile/collapsible. I would be doubtful that any sort of small portable 'thing' to try and throw tennis balls or javin's that could easily be carried by one person would really fall under the category of 'siege' engine.

Thanks for any/all interest! we'd certainly be able to store these sorts of large engines at our new site. :)
 
I'm trying to figure out where I stashed those plans, now. Think it's on an old HDD. But roughly :

RxUKw.png


All of the black lines are 1" PVC, and all of the main struts are 4' long. So an overall 4' x 8' footprint, roughly. The throwing arm is 5'.
 
how about building it out of 2x4's instead of 1" pvc? would look FAR more in period... :thumbsup:
 
Dreamingfurther said:
how about building it out of 2x4's instead of 1" pvc? would look FAR more in period... :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

It would, but then you'd have to use something stronger to power it due to the heavy weight of the wood itself, and then you start running into the safety issues due to the increased force it'll generate.
 
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