Portcullis Weight

[Anthony]

As a practical issue, a portcullis has to be heavy enough that a mob of guys can't just run up and heave it open. If we figure the average ST of the guys in your mob is 12, the ogre is as strong as 7.5 of them. You can probably fit eight guys in front of a 10' wide portcullis, so it's safe to assume that a portcullis designed for any serious threat will be heavy enough to prevent a ST 33 ogre from lifting it.

[GodBeastX]

Thanks for all the information guys. I'm going with "It's too heavy".

[ArchonShiva]

My first thought on reading the thread title was that parrying a dropping porticulis probably rates as parrying a heavy weapon.

[benz72]

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

It should be possible for a well equipped ogre (or even a man) to open a portcullis, but he isn't going to do it with a lead lift.

Imagine a wheeled frame similar to a trebuchet that is moved into position so that the arm (or arms) rests in one of the lower grate gaps. Now either weight is added to the basket or, instead of a counterweight the back arm is extended so that it can be pulled down. A pair of these working in concert could be especially effective as they ratchet up the portcullis.

Of course that requires a lot of preparation and planning, not to mention protecting the equipment for the actions of the defenders.

[DanHoward]

Low-Tech p. 119

[GodBeastX]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Low-Tech p. 119

Ahh, Thanks! This is good information.

[Gef]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

Thanks for all the information guys. I'm going with "It's too heavy".

I think that's a good call. Even if an ogre could lift a real-world portcullis, in a world with ogres, they'd be made heavier.

GEF

[Anthony]

Of course, there's also simply using a latch or bar to prevent it from rising regardless of weight, which might be the simpler option. At lighter weights, that would mean that a gate which had just been shut but not yet barred could be lifted (though if there's gate crew trying to bar the gate, you'll have to overcome them as well as the gate).

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Actually, you probably just put a heavy shaft underneath the counterweight; a counterweight that's not free to drop won't help lift.

Might as well, but if you really want to keep it in place, it's stupid to think gravity is the way to do it. Put a pin into it - above the top is probably easiest, and when the portcullis is raised that same pin either passing through the grillwork or below the bottom edge of it could be used to hold it *up* if for some reason you need to do something with the counterweights, but from the side, under the floor where the bottom sinks into a groove or really anywhere you can't reach through the portcullis and pull out the pin will work fine. The breaking strength of even a fairly small pin (or the hole in the stonework it fits into) will considerably exceed any reasonable weight.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Of course, there's also simply using a latch or bar to prevent it from rising regardless of weight, which might be the simpler option. At lighter weights, that would mean that a gate which had just been shut but not yet barred could be lifted (though if there's gate crew trying to bar the gate, you'll have to overcome them as well as the gate).

A modern design would probably use a ratchet lock, or at least a spring to automatically deploy a latch when the gate finished falling. I don't imagine many historic portcullises did that, but then again there are lots of amazingly complicated mechanical drawings turned out by would be military engineers, and unlike a lot of those, a spring driven latch is something that could actually be built. It wouldn't be particularly incredible if some gates had such a mechanism.