Vauban's Wars - The Siege of Altenberg

A Playtest Siege

My interest was peaked early on by Eric Burgess' new Vauban's Wars ruleset.  I had seen posts about them off and on for a number of years and was excited to see that the rules looked very close to publication.  I reached out to Eric to see if I might be able to get a play-test copy of the rules so that I could get an early start with producing the terrain for this game.  As it turns out, he was gracious enough to engage me and in return I helped to provide some final edits prior to the printing. 

I think many of you will agree, that sometimes the preparation to play a new ruleset is the most exciting part.  These rules were particularly exciting as they offer the chance to use the 15mm SYW armies many of us already have in a new and exciting way and an opportunity for some serious 3D printing.  

The entire Fortress of Altenberg, defended by the Prussians and Besieged by the Austrians, is 3D printed.  The Fortress and Ravelins are based on STL Files from Laser DreamWorks (with some customization) while the Glacis was designed by myself using the wall files and some customization in Tinkercad.

I still have work to do like flocking the glacis and painting the trench gabions, but I was able to put together enough of a game for my son and I to try our hand at a couple of Siege Turns.

First, let me say a little bit about the rules.  This is a very comprehensive set of rules. It comes in at 90 pages and address all aspects of siege warfare very well. While its A LOT of content, the mechanisms are simple and straight forward, well explained and very well documented with a table of contents and many notations for various rules. So, while it is hard to remember everything as a new player, it is very easy to find the answer you are looking for. There are the usual set of QRS documents and other player's aids.

The game does have a very unique (and I think interesting) time scale. The Siege is played out in Siege Turns. It takes a bit to reorient one's mind to this as it's an extended abstract time period vs the very fixed time per turn feel we get playing tactical rules. The Siege Turn actions are governed by a deck of 14 siege action cards that each player flips and acts upon. A Siege Turn could represent a few days to a week. Since we are talking about days here and not minutes or hours, troops can move large distances and you can fire at virtually any time. If the siege culminates in an actual assault of the fortress then you switch from the Vauban's War Ruleset to the tactical rules you most prefer and fight the battle out.  I currently use Honours of War or my homebrew rules but am exploring Piquet also.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been printing out a 3D Vauban Fortification from STL files I purchased from Laser Dream Works.  Over the course of the last couple of months, I finished printing (more pieces than I needed as it turns out) but also created many custom pieces for the game.  I created a Glacis for the fort, 18th century Siege Mortars, Gun emplacements for trenches, Mine Entrances, a City Magazine, and other game pieces.  

So far the game tells a great narrative and is getting easier as we learn the action cards better.

Given the space I had to work with, I started my game out with the Austrians in the Second Parallel.  Above you can see that their sappers have created additional trenching to create the Third Parallel just short of the glacis.

and the Siege Drags On.....

For God Sake Boys - Forward....

Vauban Wars Fortification

The Vauban Fortress of Altenberg

Creating a 3d Printed Vauban Fortress fit for a King!

Off and on, I have been printing a Vauban Fortress for use in my SYW games.  Corona-cation has now given me the time and the imminent release of Vauban Wars by Eric Burgess, the excitement to complete these fortifications.  

I started printing the fortress in 2018 and completed a respectable little fort.  However, thanks to my continuing interest in 3D printing which has now graced me with two new, sizable 3D printers, I have tackled the project in earnestness.  My SYW scale of choice is 15mm so that has been my focus.  

Along with the files which I purchased from Laser Dream Works, I have created a number of customized pieces for myself using Tinkercad.  It is amazing how much you can do with this simple CAD program.

First let me say a couple of words about Laser Dream Works.  I have found Matt at LDW to be extremely helpful.  Any inquires are promptly replied to and he has gone out of his way to help me a number of times over the years as I have purchased files.  If you are interested, have a look at his site. He has some very nice ships as well.   laserdreamworks. 

If you have any interest in a siege warfare game, check out Vauban Wars by Eric Burgess on his Din of Battle Blog.  While I cannot profess to say that I know too much about the rules, the prospect of using my fort with siege rules designed for the era is pretty exciting.  Check out Eric's Blog at this link: Din of Battle Vauban Wars  The game is expected to be released later in July of 2020 per the most recent update.  They look to have been in development since 2013 or so and now ready for general consumption.  I am so looking forward to getting my hands on these!

So, without further ado, here is the Fortress of Altenberg.  Like any good sovereign, I reserve the right to tax the peasantry more and continue building or in this case printing additional fortifications to create an impregnable defense of my beloved city!

Here is the general layout.  Since all of these pieces are individual, there are many layouts that can be devised.  In this picture, what you see is over 7 feet of fortifications, housing 48 canons.  

The Fortifications of Altenberg

The width of the table this laid out on is roughly 7 feet.  If you look closely, you will see a small line just behind and to the left of the Gatehouse Entrance.  That is an Old Glory 15mm Prussian Battalion of 6 stands / 24 figures if that helps with the scale of this at all.

Looking down the fortification from Sea Bastion #1 and the outer works guarding the entrance to the Sea Gate.

View of the parade ground behind the fortifications.  Prussian 1st Battalion, IR3 doing some evolutions in line.

Here is the Battalion parading just inside the fortification behind the Gatehouse.  I can hear Soldat Kreutzer say to his Hauptman - "Ve ist goin to need zome more troops to hold zis.  Vhy us?".  "Soldat, because ve are heer, just uns, und nozbody elez."

Man the walls - The King is arriving!

Views of Bastion #2 and Bastion #3.

Views of the Inland Gate.  Bastion #3 on the left and Sea Bastion #4 on the right. 

Here is one of the customized pieces I have made for the land gates.  I will be creating a moat round the outside of the fortification.  I have not yet decided if it will be dry or wet?  I thought this would be a neat entrance.

So, that's it for now.  The printers are cranking as I type.  Just about finished with a second drawbridge for the other side gate.  The other printing is 53% done with creating this beauty!

Looking forward to testing my siege skills are well as my fortress designs using Vauban Wars!  Time to stop printing and start painting.  Let me know if you have any good ideas for creating a Moat.  I have thought about window film - either black or blue or maybe thin cork sheet that I can run on either side of the walls - outside to represent the ditch and inside a path along the walls?  Any other suggestions?

For God Sake - Forward Boys!

Smock Windmill

New 3D Printed Smock Windmill

Here is my version of a Smock windmill - created using a picture of one on Der Alte Fritz's incredibly helpful Seven Years War blog.  In fact, I see there was also some inspiration there for the first Post Windmill as well as the picture I posted.  

There are three main types of Windmills.  Post, Tower and Smock mills.  My first creation was of the Post variety where the body of the windmill is elevated and revolves around a centrally located Post.   Tower windmills are simply stationary beast.  These windmills operate with a fixed tower base but have a "cap" on top which rotates with the wind like the body of a Post windmill would. Smock mills are essentially Tower mills where the masonry tower has been replaced with a wooden skirt or "smock". 

Smock Windmill

I have been designing these for use on my 15mm SYW battlefields. This one tested my developing 3D modeling skills as it has compound angles to it but it has some neat features.  A nice stone foundation and the cap is on a peg so it can swivel "as the dice blow"!

In addition to the Smock mill I have included a Battalion of IR17 for scale.  Can't wait to paint this one up and picture Der Alte Fritz surveying the landscape as he sizes up his Austrian foes!

For God Sake - Forward Boys!

Designing and Printing Battlefield Windmills

Battlefield Windmills

I have been looking for 15mm windmills to adorn my Seven Years War Battlefield but have either found them to be too expense or just not what I was looking for.  Like many things in the hobby, I don't know exactly why I need these but they have been calling me for a long time!  So, I sat down and put some 3D skills (humble at best) to use and created my own.  I copied a picture I saw from one on the internet.  These of course come in many forms and have regional variations but I thought that this one might be general enough to have wide application.

Here was the test subject!

And here are the windmills fresh from my 3D printer.

I printed out 3 of these.  I have complete 2 of them in different paint schemes.  Thinking about what color the 3rd one should be...?

Well, what do you think?  I may have a go at creating a circular one which is a bit more typical of SYW's battlefield I think but I think these will serve me well and they were fun to create and easy to paint!

For God Sake - Forward Boys!