HI bits and pieces

[Smiley Miley 66]

I ve had this on the slow cook for a while.
But now I ve decided to get on with it...
Fort Massachusetts or at least loosely based on it.
Miles

[pbeccas (Paul)]

That's really sensational.  That's what wargaming is about.  Nice figures, nice terrain.

[Smiley Miley 66]

Yes it does have an Extra Large gun ? Well 3 Actually. And an extra 4 Medium guns.(As a Large Fort has 4 of each!) It also has "Holes" in the Walls for extra 15 guns.  But I had to keep it in style with the Fort as much as possible.I ve also modelled in the 4 way split as subtle as possible?
It's a project I started quite a few years ago, on and off. So with the renewed interest in the game, it was a perfect opportunity to finish the Fort off. Now the texture and all important Painting.
Miles

[martin goddard]

Excelent job Miles.
The US is lucky it has not been washed away.

Good piece Miles.


martin

[Leman (Andy)]

That will certainly add extra oomph to a game.

[Leslie BT]

Lovely model Miles, well worth the effort. Look good on a HI game.

[Colonel Kilgore]

That's looking wonderful, Miles!

Simon

[Smoking gun]

Hi Miles,
That's very nice, well done.

You could put in the group build.

Best wishes,
Martin Buck

[Moggy]

Very nice. Loosely based on Fort Brockhurst



Or Fort Widley (both near Portsmouth)


Derek

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

A beautifully crafted bit of terrain there...
But don't forget that the basic configurations would be different for a shore battery than for a landward defence. For example the Portsmouth chain of defences was primarily built to defend the island of Portsmouth from landward attack by the French... so was designed with a high, easily breached rearward rampart facing the harbour (so it could not be used against the harbour if it were taken) but with strong encientes and dry moats facing outwards on all the other faces... By contrast the Martello fortress at Eastbourne was intended as a strongpoint on the shoreline and had an all round defensive curtain wall... The designs tended to follow the specifics of the surrounding terrain with no two Forts the same...

[Smiley Miley 66]

I was thinking of doing a "star fort" but I think it would need the 5 Hexes rather than just the 3 ?
When I worked out the basic shape of Fort Massachusetts fitted into 3 Hexes then it made an easy choice. The difficulty was working out how to put the guns on top to fit the Large fort criteria but keep in the look of the original fort. I think I ve managed to do that, yes there are "extra" guns but it would look wrong if those guns weren't there ?
But I also thought each fort has a "card" for the game showing what "actual" guns are there and get marked off as they get depleted.
Yes I was thinking off putting it in for the "group build" I ve got photos of it being constructed from the beginning somewhere. As what I was going to do has been put on the back burner for now. AK47 and Crete taking priority, along with HI ?
Miles

[Colonel Kilgore]

That's all coming along really nicely, Miles!

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

That's going to be quite a stunning centrepiece in an HI game.

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

I can highly recommend 'Military Architecture; the art of defence from earliest times to the Atlantic wall' by Quentin Hughes. Approx. half the book covers the period from Martello towers, through the C19 and C20... This work was originally published in 1974 and republished in 1991 with expanded sections on Colonial forts in N America, US coastal forts and WWII. It remains required reading and is fascinating stuff.

The highly stylised mathematical Vauban style defence of the baroque period fell out of favour towards the middle of the C19 in favour of less regular, polygonal angular structures, but with rounded towers and walls designed to deflect cannon shot...

For a Napoleonic era fortress the remains at Berry Head, Brixham, Devon are impressive and well worth a visit. Built as a battery and garrison to protect the Admiralty watering point it had a main fort and two satellite forts on the clifftop built in the manner of the Torres Vedras.

Fort Nelson, Portsmouth remains my fav. mid Victorian landward defence, with concealed galleries for mortars and a murderous looking 2-storey caponier covering the moat.

[Matías]

Really impressive Miles!