The 3.5 Red Hand Of Doom Handbook for DMs [Major spoilers!] - WIP, PEACH!

[kuhaica]

So, I have postponed the big fight at Brindol by one week, due to the amount of prep time I want to be significant. So, my party has made great time and arrived at Brindol by day 26 initially and were able to convince the Lord and his council on day 27 how much of a problem the Redhand is. And due to some extra events, I added due to the size of my party they have about 60 days in total before the redhand attacks brindol. So plenty of time. They did however skip over the Ghostlord, oping to go to Brindol, then the Ghostlord figuring it was a small detour.

Now, they've finished up with the Ghost lord and have arrived by day 49. Giving them about 10 days to help bolster defences. There first stop they convinced the Council to do a few things, like recalling the Northern Troops, cutting down the orchards, harvesting crops and removing all nearby trees.

Using said wood to build some small hoardings upon the wall to give extra cover to defenders and reserves for barricades. Plus having acquired Alandri's help, along with multiple other mages they've managed to dig a moat around brindol plus an irrigation system (which was a little odd, but their logic was sound) for when the war is over and they'll need to rebuild.

Now, I'm still using suggestions from this thread but I've tried something a little ambitious which I haven't seen mentioned yet. I'm splitting the Siege of brindol into 4 days with different events occurring during each day, while Day 4 is the proper assault. I wanted to do this to make the idea of the siege all the more real, where the players get to experience the effects of leading bands of morally broken soldiers against a superior foe. Or if they do well, chipping away the strength of a monolithic threat, seeing how their actions fill themselves and their fellows with a sense of hope.

And for this, I would like some suggestions to help to make this not a drag but instead an engaging and nail-biting experience

Spoiler: What I've done so far

Show

A Siege/Event Spreadsheet so I can coordinate what I've done, haven't done and the various effects that different events have

Unit stats, information and breakdowns

Separating the City into different districts


Full Map of the Area

Ignore my horrid MS Paint skills. Sections 3 and 4 should be touching, but alas, they are not. And the Black Sections are what my players want used to reserves to be stationed

And the Defending Troops

Brindol:
Warriors of Brindol: 800 Level 2 Warriors, 2000 Level 1 Warriors
Lion Guard: 300 4th Level Fighters, 500 3rd Level Fighters
Lions of Brindol: 1 Level 7 Fighter, 4 Level 6 Fighters, 20 Level 5 Fighters
Militia: 1,250 Level 2 Commoners 3750 Level 1 Commoners
Lady Kaal’s Retinue: 5 Level 4 Rogues, 20 Level 3 Rouges, 75 Level 2 Rogues
Lady Kaal’s Elites: 1 Level 6 Fighter, 4 Level 5 Fighters
Light Horsemen: 3 Level 4 Cavaliers 150 Mounted Level 3 Fighters
Savants of Pelor: 20 Level 5 Clerics, 30 Level 4 Clerics
Priests of Wee Jas: 10 Level 5 Clerics. 20 Level 4 Clerics

Mercenaries:
Spell Binders: 6 Level 10 Sorcerers, 10 Level 6 Sorcerers
Adventurers from the Thirsty Zombie: (2 Bands of five 7th Level Adventurers)
Silver Wings Mercenary Company: 230 Level 5 Fighters (150 Halberds, 80 Swordsmen)
Shining Axes Company: Total 350: 275 Shining Axes (Level 4 Fighters), 50 Shield Breakers (Level 4 Warblades), 25 Great Shields (Level 5 Crusaders)
Ragies Rangers: (Dwarf Medium Crossbows) 250 Rangers, Level 4 Fighters, lead by Captain Ragie Mudpie level 7 Ranger
Broken Spears: (Human Heavy Pikes) 300 Pikes, Level 5 Fighters, lead by Captain Oscar Helmsen, Level 7 Fighter

Others:
Tiri Kitor: The Tiri Kitor Hunters (150 3rd Level Elven Rangers), Tiri Kitor Owls (50 Giant Owls)
Warklegnaw’s Forest Giants: 15 Forest Giants
Owl Claw Brigands: 100 4th Level Fighters, 45 4th Level Fighters (Archer Type), 5 5th Level Marshals