Saturday 29 December 2012

Fortress and siege fieldworks...

At the beginning of last year I posted some piccies of prints depicting the stages of a siege (see here). I had intended to sort out my fortress bits and siege fieldworks over the year - not achieved at all - although I had thought about it a couple of times. So in order to get on with it in the new year I got all my relevant scenic items out for a setup to see how things shaped up.

The fortress walls and bastions can be arranged in two ways, the first arrangement provides a projection from the back or side of the table.
the second arrangement sits in one corner of the table..
with an alternate section provided to represent a breach
I'm not satisfied with my fortress sections, they really need a sloping wall at the front and if possible I would like to have a representation of the covered way - so a little bit of rework is need. In addition I would like to rework the extra defences to the main gate. I'll be delving into the two main two reference books that I have for some inspiration:
  • Fire & Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare, 1660-1860, by Christopher Duffy
  • The Vauban Fortifications of France (Osprey Fortress no 42)
The next thing I did was to put out all my field works to see if I could form some parallels and saps
Not quite enough, but I have some spare materials to build some more and will need to add more gabions if possible.

So plenty to keep me busy - my first project for the new year !

4 comments:

Mosstrooper said...

Beautiful fortress - long wanted to do seige warfare but never got around to it .

Archduke Piccolo said...

This is one of those projects that I've long wanted to build and never really got around to.

Though sloping walls are desirable, I rather think that simplifying things the way you makes for a reasonable compromise. I form the impression that table space is at a premium (I am similarly placed). Overall, I think your city walls are very well constructed and finished.

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Looks good so far. I wouldn't worry about the slope of the walls. From a distance its not that noticeable in the real thing and given the distorted vertical vs horizontal scale in wargames there is no really correct solution. I love the stome work, was that done by had or was it some sort of applique?

A covered way on the other hand is vital for playing out the siege.
Rob Dean has some pictures of the construction of the fortress we used for a Fire & Stone/Charge! siege last year in case that is of any help or inspiration.

http://sharpbrush.blogspot.ca/search/label/siege

Corporal_Trim said...

Looking excellent so far.

Another fortress book you may like is "Vauban and the French Military Under Louis XIV: An Illustrated History of Fortifications and Strategies" by Jean-Denis Lepage. Rather pricey on UK Amazon but there may be other sources.

Regards,
Steve