by QueerAsChris
As a blanket statement, I had very similar questions to yours and probably even more. Being someone diagnosed with OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder), specificity is something I greatly appreciate in rules and game design. Ultimately, while I really enjoy the experience of playing Crossbows & Catapults, I have found and concluded that the rules are written more akin to a toy and less like an actual tabletop game. There are too many gray areas and instances that call for "house rules" or "do whatever you like" for me to truly consider this a tabletop game. With that in mind, I have been able to adjust my expectations of the experience and play with it as a toy, rather than something where I'd try and get a deeper experience out of it.All of that being said, here is what we came up with while playing, regarding your questions specifically.
1. Being a siege weapon, the ballista would be massive and would require being placed fully on the tabletop.
2. The trebuchet is incredibly powerful and requires 2 actions to fire it. However, if you have Olga, she allows you to use the trebuchet any time you would fire a catapult, if you so chose. This makes Olga a powerhouse, but also a huge target to eliminate.
3. The Ornithopter is idiotic, full stop. lol We've made a rule that you can either do its printed action or fire the Ornithopter from your castle as a bonus action.
4. As long as the fallen pieces are still upright and are connected to another piece, they are still in play. However, if they are merely touching another piece on one of their sides, this would mean they'd need to be removed.
5. This one still bothers me. As a valid unit, they absolutely should be able to fire from the castle walls, but trying to figure out the best way to make that work is rather difficult. We've tried firing from behind the castle and firing from the flanks, when the castle is still mostly intact. Once there are gaps and whatnot, it becomes easier to fire near folks on the walls.
6. The jailed warrior must be freed for them to assist you and count toward the win condition. If the remaining warriors and your general are wounded while your warrior is jailed, then they rot in that prison until someone frees them in a subsequent play session.
7. Movement is nebulous, but we played as any time you wished to move one of your units (regardless of location or distance) it counted as 1 move action. This could be from the wall to the battlefield, battlefield (position A) to battlefield (position B), castle to flank, etc.
8. Shields are used to ensure you have enough castle facing forward. Shields also strike fear into the heart of your enemies. 😉
9. We've played that the jail must be placed in a way that would allow for a jailbreak immediately on your first turn, should you desire to do so.