Italian Fortress

Warfare in this period was dominated by sieges. I have been fascinated by fortifications and their adaptation to resist and utilise gunpowder weapons for years and started collecting these earthworks and castle pieces before I began my early 16th century collection.

The first pictures are of a city wall that has been surrounded by earthworks to enhance its defensive capabilities and to allow the Landsknecht defenders to employ their artillery in defence. The walls and towers are from the old Battlements range available from Magister Militum. The buildings are by Hovels and the earthworks are from Stronghold Miniatures I think, I bought them years ago. The Gabions are from ebay, they are resin castings, really useful bits of scenery.

Gatehouse protected by a bastion

Guns defending the walls

Italian style tower

Breached section of the old town walls

View from inside the town

Earthworks defending the walls

Breach loading guns defending the tower

A deep defensive system of earthworks

Landsknecht guns

The next few pictures are of the above battlements pieces combined with Games workshops old Might Fortress to create an Italian style castle. To be honest its probably a bit too big to use in a game, I prefer using the pieces to represent city walls but it shows the flexibility of the pieces.



Italian style fortress




Italian style fortress

And finally I could not resist adding a few pictures of Pro Gloria Miniatures excellent civilians within the fortress



Inside the castle walls




Inside the castle walls



Inside the castle walls