Of course war with Corrington was inevitable. That is why the Kingdom of Light has been slowly building military infrastructure for years. The wisdom and foresight of the Crown and the High Council has once again been demonstrated.

General Bernard Montpellier has spent the last 6 months overseeing the final stages of construction, manning, and equipping Fortresse Stéphane I in Lavalette on the Island of Stéphanique.

Preparations are complete, the garrison is fully manned

Supplies to outlast any siege have been stockpiled. Day in and day out, wagons have been crossing the bridge over the creek and making the climb through the main gate, the natural obstacles only adding to the overall strength of the fortress. Major Henri Hollande and the leadership of the Royal New Terra Company have been extremely helpful in meeting the demands of the quartermasters. 

Stands of arms, powder, cannon balls, all on hand, enough to supply a field Army.

No detail has been left unchecked, nothing has been left to chance.

While engineers built the great bastion on the seaward face, the garrison has been inventorying and stockpiling supplies.

Today is a proud day for all the troops of the garrison. Today a brief ceremony is being held to mark the transition from construction and preparation into full operational readiness. 

General Montpellier’s broad smile and infectious energy has sustained the garrison through the months of labor.

All the hard work of the General, his staff, and the Soldiers of the garrison have paid off as the fortress is complete before the first Corrington sail appears upon the horizon.

“The anticipation is over, the preparations are complete, you have prepared our whole lives for this moment!”

“His Gracious Majesty has provided his loyal subjects with the most formidable fortress in the Brick Seas!”

“We have only to measure up to the duty we owe our country and nothing can deny us victory!”

"If the Red Coats dare, we will blast their ships to kindling from our perch amongst the bluffs!"

The Royal Enginners have even thought to provide Fortresse Stéphane I with a military quay. The docks facilitate the rapid resupply of the garrison, making the fort a power projection hub as much as a static defense. The utilization of the military quay has allowed for great relations with the fort's neighbors in Lavalette. In fact, the town offered land beyond the garrison to build a standalone barracks. 

As formidable as the great bastion is, the main fort is just the jewel in an integrated defensive system, including a newly completed defensive wall along what had been the most likely beach for an amphibious landing and the guns of the fort provide mutual support to nearby Fort Henri, the headquarters, battery, and mortar emplacement.

Fortresse Stéphane I is a beacon for all loyal subjects, a fitting monument to it's namesake, and a symbol of the true power of Oleon. 

Today, the flags fly high above Lavalette and Fortresse Stéphane I

Note: Additional collab elements (barracks and beach defenses) to be posted in comments

It's huge! I love the sloped walls - they'll make it hard for our righteous Corlander forces to breech... but nothing is impossible! It does look like if we can get close enough to shore and scale the rock face, we can just climb in the cannon hatches  That's a lot of cannon to get past though.

The half-roof/half-deck with cannons toward the rear is fun too

Impressive build

Edited November 30, 20204 yr by evancelt

I love the classic pirates style!

In complement to the fortresse, a defensive structure including coastal batteries and barracks have been constructed in the nearby shoreline.

On the towers were placed heavy guns, each of them commanded by an artillery officer.

These guns have a wide range of fire.The gunners trained hard since the declaration of hostiliy.

Here we can the commander of the battery on the watch with his men.

Alas, it was another uneventful day, the Corries didn't show up, maybe they got lost midway.

A private decided to take a pause and eat his ration of biscuit.

 

Further inland, there's a barrack to train soldiers, they'll be sent to reinforce the garrison in case of attack.

These two builds were built after the buildings of AOE 3, i.e. wall structure and barracks, downsized and simplified to match my brick inventory.

Woah! You did a great job capturing the look of classic pirates,Cap, wonderful job! It looks spectacular. Love the sheer size and intimidation of the fort as well as the sweet walls and homage to the old pirates sets. 

Also great builds from Bodi, your detailing never gets old. So much life and eye-candy. The barrack is excellent!

Hats off to both of you! 

@CapOnBOBS

A big and impressive fortress! I like the architecture and the combinations of colors. A strong fortress built on rocks. I see a lot of cannons and soldiers. I also see part of the city. I can see the harbor, buildings and a fountain. Thank you for the many good and beautiful photos.

 

@Bodi

Round towers and a sloping wall on the beach. That looks really very good! There is also accommodation for the soldiers.

 

I like the collaboration best. All builds are very good individually. Together they are great! A perfect addition with lots of details.

On 12/1/2020 at 5:20 AM, evancelt said:

if we can get close enough

At cost of heavy casualities, maybe. 

Brickwolf, Nod, The Neighborhood Merchant, thank you for your comments.

CapOnBobs did really a good job capturing the feel of classic pirate, and it's huge! Looking at his fort, it's like back to my childhood to me, nice job!

@evancelt i think you have laid out an outstanding tactical plan for a red coat frontal assault. They will swallow a lot of grapeshot for the chance to crawl one at a time through the gun ports though. The garrison will certainly do their part!

All, yes Classic Pirates! Happy the vintage look is appreciated. This started as an El Dorado Fortress and Lagoon Lock Up next to one another with a few pieces connecting them. It has been years of little adds and the occasional complete overhaul. Tried to keep the roots though, like the ramp up the main gate is still an El Dorado baseplate, the tower on the port is adapted from the "Soldier Fort" and the military port portion still has all the components of the lagoon lock up. 

Thanks @Bodi for organizing and the beautiful contributions that complete the picture of a layered and mutually supportive defense across this and the previous existing forts. 

@CapOnBOBS

I am a succer for the original pirate classic theme... Amazing fortress: big and stylish! Love it. I'dd only try to remove the dust on some plates.

@Bodi

the fortress is amazing! Much more use of modern esthetica but robust and good looking indeed! The AoE2 Barrack inspiration is great! Love the barracks style.

Excellent collab guys! I cant stop looking all the photos!!!

Great job on these forts and the barrack!  I'm impressed by the slanting walls on the yellow and white fort - very smooth!  The combination between slant and rounded towers on the masonry brick fort is also great.  Nice use of lime green for under the vegetation too!

Lovely builds both of you. The classic feel for Capt's build is a lot of fun, and it's neat to see those sets serving as an inspiration for a recent build. The angled wall for the corner is very smooth, and fits right in without any of the gaps you often find when trying to build with unusual angles. Bodi's contribution is fantastic as well. It clearly has more modern bricks/design to be sure, and I think it fits in well to compliment the massive fort. The barrack is particularly nice with colors which work really well together and enough details to make the build interesting without it feeling cluttered. 

Well done to both of you, and I think some medals and titles might be in order...

These builds are seriously impressive! While I would prefer them flying a different standard, alas, I cannot deny they are wonderful to look at!