"My Kingdom for a Castle! Any Historical Ones to Model?" Topic

My Kingdom for a Castle!

Now, before you all get too excited about my offer of a "kingdom" (note the little "k" used), you need to realize that, A. it's really just meant as a figure of speech, and B. sadly, my financial resources are quite limited at the moment, but fortunately, I do have a decent stock of foam board for construction, and a decent amount of free time.

However, I welcome any suggestions for really nice looking castles, that would be good for gaming with miniatures, e.g. those that can be attacked from their periphery, and/or that have room inside, or on the battlements, to permit troops to be placed there, in order to defend/attack the structure(s).

I was inspired by the work of another person, here on TMP, so want to give it a go, myself:

TMP link

So, with that being said, I'm looking for some decent castle drawings, plans, and pics for inspiration, for the following types of castles, or walled fortresses:

1. Late Medieval/Early Renaissance, Italian Castle (1300 – 1515, or so), Walled Town, Fortress, or Manor;

2. French Castle, Walled Town, Fortress, or Manor House, from roughly the 1300s – 1450, or so, and with round, or octagonal wall towers;

3. German Castle, Walled Town, Fortress, or Manor House, as above;

4. English Castle, etc., as above.

I'm planning on trying my hand at a 15mm scale structure first, to see how it goes, but might eventually try making one in 25mm/28mm scale.

Ideally, the castle, and/or other structures shouldn't be too big, nor too small, and have an interesting and appealing design, that would look good on the tabletop, at least for my first model.

Of course, if there are some really great ones in the above categories to suggest, please feel free to do so, since I might eventually want to try my hand at a larger one, if the initial project turns out well.

Basically, I'm just looking for some guidance on some of the more attractive castles, and other medieval/renaissance fortresses from the various regions above.

I think they'd be really great as a backdrop to some games, and/or as the central focus of a nice siege as well.

I really love the look of the commercial Manor House castles and structures they produce, but sadly, they are out of my price range, currently.

Thoughts?

I've modeled a few recently; I'd advise starting off with some that have lots of straight sides, unless you're a far better craftsman than I (which is not unlikely).

I've always thought Bodiam Castle would make a good model. Lots of pictures and plans online too.

link

I'm quite fond of Rhuddlan Castle and Harlech Castles as they remind me of my lego castles. Should be fairly straight forward with a few carboard tubes etc?

Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland is the best, although I'm seriously biased on this one! :O)

Dear Mako11

Go to Dover Books Website. They have detailed paper cut and assemble models of all the famous castles mentioned here, and several more, along with medieval towns, ports, villages, and so forth. Get the books you wish, they're $10 USD or so a piece and use them as the base to scale up to the size you want proportionally.

Here are some links from searches at the Dover Books web store:

castles: link

villages: link

Jim

Caerlaverock is a gem and a pretty unusual subject…it also looks fairly mighty without being impossibly huge.

link

link

Ah yes, Carrickfergus… I lived there for three years as a child and still have vague memories of the castle (and most other things these days).

The Style of castle in Savoy and French Switzerland is relatively easy to make, yet is clearly a castle.

Four round towers in the corners, not always the same size, at the corners of a square. Between the towers might be walls or buildings. Moats sometimes, especially at lake edges.

Morges is a good example, although much altered. (The exterior windows are mostly later additions)

Aigle shows what the battlements would usually look like in medieval times.

Allymes shows the same style, but with one round and one earlier square tower. As this one was abandoned early it has retained pretty much exactly its original shape, minus a later barbican. (It was attached to a walled town originally, which is why there is a long wall sticking out of it.)

This basic style covers a wide area, extending into German and Italian speaking areas too. British castles tend to be based on local stone and geography and are far less generic. German ones are prettier, but much harder to make.

I'm partial to Norham. It has a mix of tower shapes and an irregular design, which I like.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I appreciate them.

Hi there – I built a castle from scratch. It has served a multiple number of purposes…

build link starts here…

link

a couple of piccies

on its own

with a moat

as part of a walled city

on raised ground