Briançon France with the Royal Écossais

 See their Facebook page.

28mm Star fort kit

New product. Looks good.

Siege of Philippsburg (1676)

Great picture - wiki
Presumably Imperial forces in the foreground un-uniformed?

VAUBAN FORTRESS - 3D Printable 17th and 18th Century Terrain by Matthew K Green

Here for details

A Visit to Neuf-Breisach

My wife and I took a trip to Europe this summer, the first time for both of us. Most of our time was spent in Germany, and amongt other sightseeing excursions, we took a Rhine River cruise.  Near the end of the cruise, the ship docked at Breisach.  Rather than take the guided tour with the other passengers to visit a cuckoo clock factory in the Black Forest, we struck out on our own, taking a cab from the German side across the river into Alsace, France.  Neuf-Breisach is not far from the Rhine, about 10 minutes drive.

The fortress town of Neuf-Breisach was built according to plans drawn up by Vauban and built as a replacement in lieu of French occupation of Breisach itself, which was ceded to the Empire by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.  Completed in 1701, this is one of the best-preserved examples of Vauban fortifications in existence.

It's not a bad idea to begin your tour at the tourism office located adjacent to the Place d'Armes (town square).  There's no guarantee you'll get fluent English-speaking assistance, but I was able to get by tolerably well in my rusty high school French.  This map gives a good overview of the place, with an outlined walking tour around the ramparts and the town itself.

Unfortunately, we were somewhat pressed for time and I was only able to take a partial circuit of the fortress walls.  I was also unable to take in the Vauban museum due to the time contraints.  Although not large (occupying half of the Porte de Belfort gate house), no doubt this is also well worth exploring.  As you make your way around the ditch, there are plaques explaining various aspects of the fortifications.

One thing to keep in mind, this is not a museum setting such as Fort Ticonderoga or Louisbourg. It's a living town, zoned residential or commercial, seamlessly incorporating the old and new in the way of the Europeans.  Nor is it a particularly scenic town, retaining a rather stark, martial aspect. We visited on a Saturday morning, with a farmer's market in progress at the Place d'Armes.  My wife found this rotisserie chicken truck a more impressive feat of French ingenuity than the works of Vauban.

All in all, we (or perhaps more accurately, I) really enjoyed the visit.  One could easily spend the better part of a day there, exploring all aspects of this beautifully preserved fortress.   Breisach itself on the German side is well worth a visit as well, which also features a walking tour of what remains of the fortifications, with a most impressive gate.

Vauban citadels

Following on from Steve's post here's a slideshow of aerial photos of fortifications and so on.

Vauban and the French Military Under Louis XIV

Here's a relatively new title which may be of interest to the blog readership. I refer to Vauban and the French Military Under Louis XIV: An Illustrated History of Fortifications and Strategies by Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage.

At first glance, for a paperback book weighing in at 286 pages, there isn't £32.93/$49.95 worth of content here. However, bearing in mind that this is a treatise lacking mass market economy of scale, and chock-full of excellent line drawings by the author, the reader can start to feel that his purchase has not been a wasteful expenditure.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vauban-French-Military-Under-Louis/dp/0786444010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263534015&sr=1-1

While the book opens with a biographical sketch of Vauban himself and his role in the wars of Louis XIV, this is more of an in-depth survey of the French art of fortification under the Sun King's reign. The real meat of the text begins with the chapter on the art of fortification, followed by a comprehensive survey of France's frontier fortifications, rotating clockwise from the Pas de Calais and Flanders back around to Normandy. Each fortified place gets one or two pages of text outlining its history and Vauban's role in it, with an excellent line drawing of the fortress plans or a detailed sketch of some aspect of the fortress, city, gates and so on.

There are no photographs in the book, but given the care Mr. Lepage has lavished upon his illustrations, they won't really be missed. Recommended.

Steve Cady

Chateau Trompette 3 D model

Virtual exploration of a Vauban fortress. More on the place here.

Vauban fortifications

First part of a French tv programme on Vauban and his work. In 3 parts. Worth watching if you have an interest in fortifications and Vauban even if your French is basic (like mine).

Duchy of Alzheim fortress project

Pretty soon you will start thinking about fortifications and this is something that goes in any scale - well a blog that impressed me with its how-to articles on making Vauban-style fortress parts from polystyrene and card mostly is the old standby and excellent Duchy of Alzheim blog.

Check his old posts for basic stuff on fortress-building and get bang up to date with his current make - a scale model of Fort Niagara. Recommended.

Besançon in the age of Vauban

By Heritage Virtuel. An amazing 3d reconstruction of Besançon's fortifications. Highly recommended. Just like being there in the late 17th century. Read about the place, its history etc in English in Fortified Places.

Vauban Fort model

So if you have some small (6mm) figures, pretty soon you are going to be thinking about a fort. This one from Paper Terrain on card stock looks excellent. Only $18.

Tilbury Fort

This fort in south-east England is this country's finest example of continental style fortifications. Started in 1670 by Bernard de Gomme on the site of a small 16thc blockhouse it wasn't finished until the 1680s. Wiki entry here

I did a Napoleonic reenactment here in the early 90s - it was great fun rowing around the moat.

Image search Tilbury Fort

Namur Citadel

Nice movie with images from the famous fortress in Belgium.

Charles Fort, Kinsale Ireland

Apologies for the image overload but I thought wargamers might appreciate the various plans as this would make a great model star fort but I digress....

This fort on the coast of County Cork is a bit of a neglected jewel of military fortifications. Built in the 1670s by William Robinson and named in honour of Charles II to protect against a possible French invasion. It's been modified since it fell in 1690 with the usual improvements. Whenever I visited it I was reminded of the Lakeside forts of America and how popular they were and how much interpretation there was going on but at Charles Fort there's simply a room with some pictures in it. It's not a neglected site and it is being interpreted well enough it's just it could be much more - it is such a great Fort. Being a keen reenactor at the time I visited I talked to the staff about putting on a reenactment of the siege of 1690 when the Duke of Marlborough reduced the Jacobite garrison in 13 days after having discovered the fort was overlooked by hills on the land side and placed his guns there. But of course Ireland isn't America as far as politics go, but that was then and now they have a successful Boyne visitors centre and a high profile reenactment behind their belts there so anything is possible. A Living History siege is something that interests me as the static element can allow for interaction between combatants and the public. Image search Charles Fort Kinsale

Vauban sites

There has been a wave of interest in the works of Vauban in France since UNESCO designated several sites as of world heritage status with many forts seeing an increase in visitors. This slideshow shows some of the diverse sites associated with the great man.