Need Help with my Border

[Androxine Vortex]

Okay so my MC is an Orc. A long time ago the Elves convinced the other races that the Orcs were abominations and so they rallied together and drove the Orcs from their homes and banished them to the far corner of the world (continent) So the Orcs now live about a seven day travel from the border of the human lands. My Orc and his tribe are launching a raid to a human "village." There will be about thirty of them attacking.

Here's my issue: I can't figure out what kind of border the humans should have. Should it be a huge wall that just stretches along the entire border? The humans are currently in a really big civil war and so they have drafted a lot of soldiers from the border to fight (the orcs haven't launched any raids in a long time so they don't really consider them an immediate threat)

I'm thinking of having there be like a long wall stretching across the border and stretched out across the border are strong points where if Orcs try to break through, the men stationed there will be able to respond. I want the humans to have a seemingly good protection set up but it has to be penetrable and all the orcs have to use are crude weapons and their enhanced strength.

Any ideas or suggestions would really help me out!

 

[Saigonnus]

Unless the landscape is already known and expressed in the story, I would think a combination of naturally occurring and man-made obstacles would be good for sake of realism. Perhaps a range of mountains, broad river or vast swamp covers most of that distance, with only a handful of "paths" to get from one side to the other. In this way, the man-made elements like walls, guard towers or keeps would be placed strategically in those paths, even if they are simply a wooden palisade housing a handful of guards or a rock wall surrounding a village that doubles a guard post.

If the terrain is already known then a wall of native stone or earthen berm is probably the best. Walls or berms like anything else made by man need maintenance and if that maintenance is spotty (hint, hint) then natural weather or even minor tremors etc. can cause sections to fall in or perhaps a section near the river is wiped out by a landslide. It is completely concievable that even in a place that maintains their defenses regularly, any such event would have a window of a couple days at the most for the problem to be noticed and repaired. That could easily be exploited by said Orcs, who if nothing are vigilant for a sign of weakness to percieved enemies.

For more natural defenses, I would think perhaps that a little more creativity is in order on the part of the Orcs. I would think it would depend on the Orc's relative intelligence; but I am fairly certain a small band of even basely intelligent orcs could build rafts to cross a river at a place that can't be forded. If they are not known for boats, it would be even more of a surprise to the humans; who suddenly realize their whole river barrier is vulnerable to the Orcs. Another option is mining, which I have seen in a few places (LOTR among them). Perhaps they tunnel UNDER the river or even under the wall from several hundred yards back (beyond line of sight) so they come up all of a sudden one night and once the raid is over, they collapse the tunnel behind thier retreat and though it would be obvious how they got in, the humans would need to worry about more tunnels and would be more vigilant.

 

[FatCat]

I think it depends on how long a 'long time ago' means. If there has been constant warring for decades on the border, I'd say the humans would naturally have a fairly formidable defense. China waged war with its neighbors for centuries, and look what they produced. However, if the humans and other allied races have dismissed the orcs as routed and of no concern, I think a honeycomb defense would be appropriate.

Saigonnus has the right of it, defensive fortifications always used the terrain to there advantage, placing outposts and garrisons at natural bottlenecks. Maybe forts/garrisons/outposts sprinkled throughout the border with ranging patrols between them, when one is under attack the surrounding battlements respond appropriately. That way the humans have a relatively adequate defense without expending the energy and manpower to build a massive wall. But, this all depends on how formidable your humans think the orcs once were, and how they are viewed now.

Maybe you could have some sections of wall built but left unfinished by the old human leadership when the war with the orcs was still fresh. Now that they have not attacked in awhile, it would be hard to justify more recent human leadership to expend the resources to continue the project now that the threat is forgotten/dismissed. Just an idea, hope it helped!

 

[ThinkerX]

In historic terms, really long artificial walls were more 'control measures' than 'absolute protection'.

I would suggest either a wide river or a nearly impenatrable mountain range.

The humans would have small scouting parties roving about the 'orcs side' of the barrier, whose number one mission would be to locate attackers and carry word back to large encampments on their side.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Good points everyone! The specific are in question has not been attacked for a very long time and also since there is the civil war going on and the humans have drafted soldiers, this area in particular will be weakened. But I can't conjure a good mental image of what I want the outpost to look like. I know it is going to be sort of like a small village with its own farm and forge and so on. I've tried searching images for medieval defenses and even fort strategies but I can't decide on how the actual thing is going to be set up. Is it going to be boxed in on all sides by a gigantic wall? I need this fort to be practical, yet penetrable.

I was thinking of having a basic wall outlining the perimeter and have some orcs toss other orcs over the wall (because they are so strong) or maybe some of them could just scale the wall (not a huge wall) Once on the other side, they can open the gate by removing the whatever-those-wooden-beams-are-called(anyone know what I'm talking about?) What do you think about that? I think when it comes to strategy and stuff like that, I'm not too great at it.

 

[FatCat]

I think a basic assault would include a diversion i.e. a squad of orc bowmen attack one side of the fort, while another band uses ladders and grappling hooks to scale another section of the fort simultaneously. Or a simple battering ram on the main gate could do the trick. I think this assault will give you a good chance to display the Orcs intelligence, are they smart enough to employ basic tactics or do they just use brute strength to overpower the opposition.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Yeah the orcs aren't very intelligent and are extremely stubborn. all they have are Crudely fashioned axes swords and spears.

 

[ThinkerX]

Ok...

Time to factor in some other things.

1) Just how civilized and militaristic were the people who built the fortress in the first place? Were they marauding thugs? Ever so civilized city dwellers wanting to keep the vermin at a safe distance? Or somewhere in between? What sort of engineering skills did they possess?

The answers to these determine what sort of fortress would initially have been built. A not so civilized group of builders probably is not going to construct a fortress for the ages. A militant, imperiealist society would construct something very tough and very functional. A real civilized group - also good engineering, but also something of a 'work of art'.

This is important because it is what your fortress starts *from*. Something hastily built by thugs a long time ago might be on the point of falling apart. If put together by an imperialistic society, then even undermanned with little maintaince, it'd still be a tough nut to crack.

2) Do your orcs actually win this battle?

3) Also of critical import - what is the surrounding terrain like? All the types of builders I've mentioned would build in a spot that already gave defenders an advantage - across the mouth of a narrow pass, by a bridge, on a hill commanding a view of the area, something like that. That sort of thing usually doesn't go away.