Originally Posted by
Storm Bringer
if the land is snow-blown tundra, then yes, logistics and food supply (and also liquid water, if its permanently cold) are major bottlenecks on expansion into the area. however, making and holding a fort a days ride out from the Wall isn't going to be a massive issue for a civilisation that built a Game of Thrones style border wall. the location of the fort might be determined by the fact it needs to be at or very close to a water source (like a river, or spring)
the point about logistics is that their comes a point where your oxen are eating their own carry weight in fodder to move that stone the distance required (ie, the oxen needs to devote all its cargo hauling space to fodder to travel that far). A single days ride isn't that point, but depending on how far back form the Wall the fodder is coming form, you might not have that much ability to "project" forward of the wall because most of your logistical effort is being spent bringing supplies TO the wall.
looking at a real, historical example, namely Hadrian's Wall (the one that inspired the Game of Thrones Wall), its important to understand how that worked, and that it wasn't the first line of defence that the romans never crossed. they had a mix of obsovation towers and cavalry patrols ranging out in front of it to keep an eye on the land for trouble, and they had extensive trade and diplomatic links with the Pictish tribes in southern Scotland, which often gave them advanced warning of major raids. minor raids of a dozen or two people could often get over the wall (its difficult to patrol a wall 73 miles long well enough that they couldn't), but it was very difficult for them to take much worth stealing and get back over unopposed (most raiders would be after portable wealth, and farm animals were a favourite. and their is no way your going to convince a cow to climb a wall)
argueably, what the Players are going to want in a home base is something like a small valley with very steep, unclimbable cliffs on both sides, with one way in at the bottom and a way out at the top onto the higher area. a small stream runs though it, which gives you a water supply. the enemy can only really attack you form two sides, and if their isn't another path up to the highland he might have only one path, so you don't have to fortify anywhere near as much. hell, it might even be preferable to not fortify, but rely on stealth to hide you form any scouts. you don't build anything fancy, nothing that you can't replace easily. then, if your found, you bug out and find a new site and repeat.