Napoleonic Wargaming: 15mm Star Fort

Some time ago one of my brothers mentioned he had left some bits at the family home, so  a few weeks ago when visiting my parents I picked up a box or two of ‘some bits’. One box full of the old kits we wargamed with back in the 80s, and the other box was full of 20mm Vauban fort parts. 

I remember we both bought a load of these about 20 years ago. What I didn’t remember were a couple of Star fort pieces, which appear to be 15mm. Well how’s that for good timing, what with my sojourn into Napoleonics!

I can’t remember who we both bought these bits from, but it was certainly at a wargames show in the early 2000s. While I now have enough parts to make a huge 20mm Vauban fortress, when combined with the pieces I already had, I quickly decided to crack on and do something with these 15mm pieces. Afterall I’m not about to start a 20mm Napoleonic project, or at least not any time soon!

There are two identical halves which, when put together, form a fort. Both pieces being the same means that you have two entrances, so as you’ll see I did some customising.  

On one of the pieces I cut away the ramp and then used Milliput to craft some stonework covering the gate and filling in a void on the ramparts. At this stage I hoped it wouldn’t look too bad once painted.

Once primed and basecoated I realised the gate looked really quite basic, so I then added some doors and cross beam made from styrene sheeting and scribed to make a rudimentary wood effect – which should look fine in the scale at arms length on the table.

Here are some photos charting my progress.

I’m quite happy with the final result, which should look good on the table for Europe, or at a push, the Peninsular War if/when I digress into Portugal and Spain.

Thanks for reading and keep on wargaming!