Drauhghn'fell

Dwarven for "dragon fell". A large anti dragon weapon built by the dwarves to slay or 'fell' dragons. It consists of a rotating platform in which the operator stands, turned by a wheel, with a large ballista (large crossbow type weapon) that fires a ten foot long lance, or spear attached to a long rope. It has a range of 2oo yards, sometimes more. Four long, thick, wooden or iron shafts are driven into the ground at an angle to act as an anchor, and the operator turns a large wheel at his side, which rotates the drauhghn'fell 360 degrees. The ballista itself is moved up and down and aimed by hand. When the aim is ready, the operator pulls a lever which shoots the lance. The rope is attached to another wheel which can be locked at will and then used to reel the dragon in to be shot with more drahghn'fell or other weapons, or simply pulled to the ground if the lance strike alone does not kill it.

And that's the drahghn'fell... now the question. Should I leave it as a one man operation, or should I make it a device used by a squad of four? One to rotate, one to aim the ballista, one to stop or start the rope locking wheel, and one to fire... I'd love to hear some ideas.

I definitely think it should be more than one man. However, you could make it a three man machine, one firing and using the rope locking wheel and the another rotating with a third aiming. The firing and rope locking seem to be able to be operated at the same time.

hmmmm three does seem to sound better... probably easier to write about it being used that way too. Too much for only one person to worry about during a battle I would I think too.

Also once you got the aim down the dragon would have flown to a different place by then.

Yes, it needs to be a multiple person operation I think. We are talking a DRAGON catching thing-er-mer-bob. It would have to be a substantial size, I would think. Plus it adds general interest.

Yeah. They're not like massive, but they are pretty big. They would be pulled onto the battle field by a couple horses, and perhaps moved into place by a few dwarves. I like the idea, and I think it could add some interesting action in a battle scenario. So do you all think it's a pretty good idea for the most part?

*Nods* Yes.

Yes. It's a great idea.

Yaaaay! Now I can't wait for a chance to go with it in the story lol

You could maybe even have a larger team of dwarves; say five or six, so that there's backup in case one or two are killed.

eruheran

If you compare it to big battleship guns, which this seems to be very similar to, they need a team of at least four. One to aim, one to fire, one to load, and one to control the turret the gun was in. So definitely more people.

It is a really good idea, it could be used for other things as well.

I think because of the properties of the Drauhghn'fell, the firing/aiming person could be combined into one. Either that or the aiming and loading person, or the firing and loading. I personally think it would be MUCH more effective if it were aimed and fired by the same person.

I think so as well.

As far as the number of operators goes, I figure a squad consists of 8 to 12 soldiers... give or take a few. So a Drauhghn'fell Squad would likely consist of at least 6 or 7 men. I may go ahead and make it an entire 12 men. For instance if the bring down a dragon but it is not killed, some well armed dwarves are going to have to rush it to finish the job.

Makes sense. And that way if a dwarf is killed they would have one to replace him. And that could be an interesting plot bit. Maybe the enemy is so big that they have to reduce the number of dwarves standing by just to use them in the army.

That could be a good idea