Fortress at Herenbosch
Sebastian Arts’ fascinating castle layout has a highly unusual shape. Inside the fortress there are all sorts of installments to sustain medieval life, including a small church, the royal manor, and a giant trebuchet to ward off invaders.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Very cool! The star shape was actually a frequent feature on castles after the advent of gunpowder; it permitted the defenders to have interlocking fields of fire.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Not unusual for a gunpowder fortification.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
^ he speaks the truth. Hard for cannon to punch through walls with only glancing blows. This style of fortification came about after artillery began showing up across Europe, and was usually complemented with other clever devices to ensure it was nearly impossible to get a perpendicular shot on the walls. this enabled the walls to be thinner. Ah, such fond memories of my Modern Military History class at Maryland. ;)
December 7th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Yes, with this type of construction it was also impossible for attackers to reach the walls without being fired on from at least two sides, the star shape created death-zones to prevent a direct assault. Very clever stuff.
Dr. S.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Ok, I admit I got schooled by you castle buffs.
December 7th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Admit nothing! It’s unusual for a LEGO castle.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Yes it’s a very common shape in real forts, but honestly this is the first time I’ve seen it done well with Lego.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Wow, I was going to comment on the star shape being quite common for forts in the gunpowder era, but it looks like I wasn’t the only one to note that.
Either way, this is a brilliant castle, especially the trebuchet. However, I’d like to point out that trebuchets really shouldn’t be placed on anything but solid ground, especially not buildings. If you’ve ever seen one fire, the base shakes quite a bit. If there are placed on walls, there’s a good chance that they’ll at least damage the building, if not shake it to pieces (Peter Jackson – your placement of trebuchets would have destroyed Minas Tirith).
December 7th, 2008 at 10:58 am
The shape of the walls is certainly great, but the giant trebuchet is awesome.
December 7th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
This is visually terrific! There are a couple of historical/realistic inconsistencies, but it’s a very inpirational build – lot sof great detail! I’d love to see someone attempt a star shaped fort in a Pirates/Imperials style fort. You’d need dozens of cannons to pull it off, of course!
December 7th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
But in the age of gunpowder… oh. Beat to the punch. And all that time I spent reading about fortifications in Keegan’s “A History of Warfare,” too!
Beauty of a castle.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
It´s all been said, so I´ll just add: beautifull!
December 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Hey thanks for blogging this, and for the great comments!
I’m wondering one thing though, why is this tagged as Mecha? Do you think it’s secretly a transformer or something? :P
December 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
@Aliencat – Maybe we know more about your creation than you do! ;)
Actually, I’ve noticed that before. For some reason, the system likes to tag things as Mecha. I always have to check my posts and see if its happened. I’ll go fix that right now.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Freakin’ sweet! I’m severely intrigued by what might lurk down through that grate in the underworld…