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.
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| 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.
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!
