ShieldGuard
Recruit

Hi there everybody, as the title points out, I'm a beginner (I've been playing for about 6 days now) looking for pointers about sieges.
I've only just recently begun to assault enemy castles with no help from fellow lords. I'd rather say that I'm no longer trailing behind them hoping for my lord to give me the castle my men just paid for in blood.
The problem is, sieges can get very bloody, I have seen allied AI troops being cut down and turned into pincushions fairly easily while helping out Swadian troops against the Khergits.
At some point I got lucky and rushed a Nord wooden fort which only had a token garrison, and I finally got a base of operations.
I have read that Huscarls are pretty good for siege operations, so I trained about 10 and I have about 10-15 more at several stages of leveling. I have also read that Vaegir Archers are very good, so I leveled about 25 marksmen. My army is a hodgepodge of different troops, so in my 90-strong siege army
I also have some Vaegir guards, a few Swadian and Rhodok sergeants, and some Nord and Swadian ranged troops, still being leveled (I'm trying to figure out their strengths and weaknesses).
I attacked Curin Castle (garrisoned by 108 Nords, 25-30 archers, lots of warriors), and I noticed a few things - I was unable to order my troops before the siege tower was in position, so most of my army just stood into the hail of arrows. Perhaps if I try to keep a 1 on 1 ratio of infantry and archers, my huscarls and nord veterans will be able to shield the marksmen from enemy arrows in this phase. I was able to snipe a few archers, even with my modest crossbow skill of 120 or so (I am currently lvl 26) but I couldn't hit the enemy Nord Warriors, I was aiming at their feet (and I took my fair share of arrows and javelins in my own feet) but my bolts just hit their shields, no matter what. My marksmen expended their arrows fairly quickly - by the time the siege tower was in place, most of them were out of ammo, at least they were able to take out most of the enemy ranged troops during the three assaults that I launched. The enemy Nord Warriors were at the breach, and absorbed a good share of arrows with very little losses, while I lost several huscarls.
At the end of the 3rd assault, I finally ordered my infantry to charge up the tower into the mass of warriors. My own meleers (all high-lvl) did an impressive job, carving a bloody path into the Nord Warriors. I believe many of them might've been weakened by the arrows. Lucky for me, Jeremus' healing skills are all at 6 now, AND, the castle was holding many high-lvl Rhodoks. All in all, about 25 of my 90 men died, many more were wounded.
By the way, King Graveth isn't going to give me the castle
he's instead going to hand it over to a noble who didn't break a nail to get his prize... (do I need more favour with the king, perhaps?)
What can I do to improve? Tips and suggestions are welcome, thank you in advance
I've only just recently begun to assault enemy castles with no help from fellow lords. I'd rather say that I'm no longer trailing behind them hoping for my lord to give me the castle my men just paid for in blood.
The problem is, sieges can get very bloody, I have seen allied AI troops being cut down and turned into pincushions fairly easily while helping out Swadian troops against the Khergits.
At some point I got lucky and rushed a Nord wooden fort which only had a token garrison, and I finally got a base of operations.
I have read that Huscarls are pretty good for siege operations, so I trained about 10 and I have about 10-15 more at several stages of leveling. I have also read that Vaegir Archers are very good, so I leveled about 25 marksmen. My army is a hodgepodge of different troops, so in my 90-strong siege army
I also have some Vaegir guards, a few Swadian and Rhodok sergeants, and some Nord and Swadian ranged troops, still being leveled (I'm trying to figure out their strengths and weaknesses).
I attacked Curin Castle (garrisoned by 108 Nords, 25-30 archers, lots of warriors), and I noticed a few things - I was unable to order my troops before the siege tower was in position, so most of my army just stood into the hail of arrows. Perhaps if I try to keep a 1 on 1 ratio of infantry and archers, my huscarls and nord veterans will be able to shield the marksmen from enemy arrows in this phase. I was able to snipe a few archers, even with my modest crossbow skill of 120 or so (I am currently lvl 26) but I couldn't hit the enemy Nord Warriors, I was aiming at their feet (and I took my fair share of arrows and javelins in my own feet) but my bolts just hit their shields, no matter what. My marksmen expended their arrows fairly quickly - by the time the siege tower was in place, most of them were out of ammo, at least they were able to take out most of the enemy ranged troops during the three assaults that I launched. The enemy Nord Warriors were at the breach, and absorbed a good share of arrows with very little losses, while I lost several huscarls.
At the end of the 3rd assault, I finally ordered my infantry to charge up the tower into the mass of warriors. My own meleers (all high-lvl) did an impressive job, carving a bloody path into the Nord Warriors. I believe many of them might've been weakened by the arrows. Lucky for me, Jeremus' healing skills are all at 6 now, AND, the castle was holding many high-lvl Rhodoks. All in all, about 25 of my 90 men died, many more were wounded.
By the way, King Graveth isn't going to give me the castle
What can I do to improve? Tips and suggestions are welcome, thank you in advance