Life in a Castle: The guards' point of view [Archive]

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GMan

07-30-2002, 06:00 PM

Check out this PBS link and click on "Life in a Castle". You learn about life for a medieval guard in a castle, and learn what war was like for them. You can also design a trebuchet and test its effectiveness. All the time we're foiling guards in Thief, and this gives a nice glimpse into the dangers of their world.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/

Huntress

07-30-2002, 06:19 PM

I watch Nova a lot and really enjoy their programming. In fact, I think I saw this particular doc or at least some of it. Looks like an interesting site and have it bookmarked for futher lurking around :) Ta and Good Hunting!

Peter Smith

07-30-2002, 07:02 PM

Thanks GMan.:) I enjoyed the article. I also saw the Nova program on trebuchet building when it first came out.

Tin Star

07-31-2002, 01:04 AM

I have seen the progam twice and they just had it on again this past weekend.

Tin Star

Gumdrop

07-31-2002, 04:15 AM

I always chuckle a little when I see a trebuchet. When I was younger, I went through a phase of playing those tabletop battles with little lead miniatures. One day I saved up enough money to treat my little army to it's first tree-butch-et. :D

My friends and I continued to pronouce the word this way for almost two years, until finally I saw a documentry showing how they were made, and realised it is a French word. :o

I don't care, "trebuchet" sounds so dainty and prudy anyway. But a "treebutchet"...Now that's gotta kick a$$ right?! :D

Zaccheus

07-31-2002, 04:30 AM

Cool, thanks.
:)

Hawklette

07-31-2002, 06:07 AM

Very informative but now I will feel sorry for the guards in Thief. I had to get over that in the beginning. LOL!!
I noticed quite a few people taking the guard role in UT. They are tough to beat. Thanks for the read, I enjoyed it.

Hawklette:D

GMan

07-31-2002, 09:40 AM

Here's a site I just found: www.trebuchet.com

At the bottom is a "Movies" link with some hilarious footage of tossing 250 lb. rocks and even watermelons (that landed WAY to close for comfort for the videographer).

GMan

07-31-2002, 09:47 AM

Heh heh, sorry for the double post, but I just found a link for clayman:

http://thnad.pair.com/rontoms/treb/melonskeet.rm

Yes, you read that right, they're actually shooting skeet with a trebuchet-launched watermelon.

The res is a little bad on that clip, but the 10 lb. bag of flour is a riot. Man, I feel like a little kid watching all that "Science according to David Letterman" type antics. :D