Neuf Brisach (Alsace, France)

As you know, in the late 17th/early 18th century Vauban was the fortress builder of Louis XIV and he was building all kinds of fortresses on the borders of France to protect the realm of the Sun King.
One of the cities which he fortified was Breisach which lies on the eastern (German) side of the Rhine.
But at the Peace of Rijswick (1697), which ended the Nine Years War (also called the War of the League of Augsburg), Breisach came in the posession of the Emperor. So a part of the French Rhine frontier was undefended.
Louis ordered Vauban to build a new fortress, but now on the western side of the Rhine.
Work was started in 1699 and finished in 1703. The fortress (or better a fortified town) was build as the master piece of the art of Vauban.

Neuf-Brisach was besieged in 1743 but not taken. In the Franco-Prussian it again was beseiged and taken by Prussian troops and its walls partly destroyed as was one of the gates. A raillroad was built partly through the defenses but other damages were rebuilt and it is today almost the same as 300 years ago.

So when I was there on holiday I visited the city and took pictures. The map shows the outline of the fortress and I will try to add to the photos to (most of) these points so you have a better representation.

1. Place d'armes and the fountain. The church in the background is not from this period but a later period building.

7. Walking from the Place d'armes to the musee Vauban which was the Porte de Belfort. The plaque is on the museum wall.

9. Looking through the Porte de Belfort. To the left and right the doors to the museum-closed 12.00 to 14.00 hours. .

At the back the exit to the dry moat from which you have the following sight:

In the foreground the stairs leading to the moat while in the moat a iron boat which was used in 1842 to transport stones.

 10. in the moat and when looking over your shoulder you see the Porte de Belfort and the stairs leasing to the museum

10. When climbing 10 you get a better impression of the Porte de Belfort and the riverboat

10. The sight from 10 outwards to the outerworks; view to the right

and to the left

from 10 to 13. Walking through the moat 

 

nr 13, through the wall

 13. When through the wall you can climb on the wall and see in front the bastion nr 14

 13. and back again in the moat; in the background the passage to nr 15

16. On the right background the small bastion of the main wall

 18. And after a small walk the bridge of the Porte de Colmar

18. Way out of the dry moat to the rue de Colmar

The height of the outer wall; my wife is app 1.65m

 22. The bridge leading to the Porte de Strassbourg on the northern side

 On this part through the defenses a railroad was build

 22. The porte de Strassbourg was destroyed in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and never rebuild in the old fashion.

And here end the short description of our walk through Neuf Breisach.

FIGZ 2013

Already some years a show for smaller figures is held under the name FIGZ.
Last year's and this year show was held in Arnhem (yes, of "A bridge too far" fame) and, in comparison to last year, the 2013 edition grew with more wargamers had tables reserved to present their figures.
Of course, a lot of modellers showed also their, mostly of 20mm,  diorames and vignettes.
These were of high quality.

We liked the show, had talkes with a lot of different people and saw some old friends.

As the building where the show was held, was divided in two parts, the left part was occupied by the wargamers clan plus the sales stands, the right side was mostly the modelling side of our hobby.

The pictures underneath are of the wargames side of the show, other pictures of (mostly) the modelling brotherhood you can find at http://www.wd3.eu/wd3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1766  and http://www.bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=14096

Look, the only fight I won!!! (half of the "Achterhoede club" is really exited)

Yes, that one ( and forced me to take a second picture to save this moment in history)

 figures of the Achterhoede game of around 1920

 20mm viking game

the Worean team sitting exhausted, not from the sales but because they couldn't find the figz site and drove around in Arnhem. 

a ww1 air game: Wings of War

 Two pictures from a ww2 Bolt action game

 a tank battle presented by the "Hired Gun" club from Uden. Nice to see you again.

A viking game presented by Murphys Heroes from Delft

OUR DEMO:

Overview of our 1812 Peninsular War 15mm demo game. Rules: Black Powder. The first one from the french starting position, the second one from  the destination position for the French.

Or the picture from  the heli we hired (thanks Patrick)

The French coming from 

the mountains and have to cross the table to escape over the pontoonbridges in the foreground. The Spainish are in their back and right flank. On the plain,  the British try to cut of their retreat from the right flank.

So after crossing the ravine by a bridge

Yes, this bridge. 

With the first British tourists in Spain (?)

They have to cross the mountain plain via a mountain path (they have to defend to their right flank against Spanish guerillas) and 

 via the small mountain road

 descend to the plain;

 light cavalry leading

 where they have to deal with the flank attack by the lobsters.

 So the French deployed

 Here sadly ends the report because the reporter was shot (which sounds better then the battery of the camera failed!!!)

Impact Uden - 1690 battle

On the 26th of may, a wargames show, called IMPACT, was organised for the second time by the local club "Hired Guns. Although ït wasn't a big show, it was nice, had a friendly sphere and we promised to show up next year, which in fact says it all.
Fome pictures of the show itself, goto http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl/2013/05/impact-2013-pictorial-report.html

At the wargames show we presented a 1690 demo between the forces of the Dutch Republic and the French of the Sun King, Louis XIV.
Figures in 25/28mm, rules of course Beneath the Lily Banners.
Photo's of our demo underneath

The battle, French in the forground, Dutch in the background

french cavalry flank

Dutch cavalry

French left flank with hussars, artillery and infantry

the redoubt, protecting the bridge. A prisoner (?) is beheaded in the background. 

Dutch infantry from behind

 French infantry is deploying

 3 squadrons of royal cravattes

and their dutch adversaries

dutch dragoons (left) and cavalry

the redoubt

cavalry clash, the French cavalry aided by dismounted dragoons. These did well.

Dismounted French dragoons on the flank

dutch infantry

Carriage of a Dutch general

followed by infantry

Command post

Dutch cavalry to the rescue

followed by artillery

Agenda

26th of May: Impact
The Alde Garde will present a 25mm 1690 demo at the Impact show at Uden on the 26th of may.
Of course we will be using Beneath the Lily Banners (BLB) as our ruleset again.

More information about the show can be found at the following link: http://impact.hiredguns.nl/ .

Hope to see you there.
Although time is short, some extra 1690 figures will be around.

FIGZ: 2nd of June
On 2nd of June we will be at FIGZ in Arnhem.
 For more information, see http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=13370 .

We will take our 1812 Peninsular War -Napoleonic 15mm -demo with us.
Rules used: Black Powder.