Main Wall and Practice Mats


Main Wall

The symatrical main wall runs the length of the front of the fortress. Walls are 20 feet tall in scale and feature a 4 stud wide walkway around the entire top of the wall. Battlements provide defensive protection. Ladders placed at periodic intervals provide access to the walkway. Walls are very thick and made of native rock are are extremely rugged and fireproof. Vertical archery slits allow the ashugaru archers to attack approaching marauders.

 

Front View
Wall surrounding grounds features 8 narrow windows for archery

Right Corner
Note corner detail. (Yellow coloring is due to a shortage of black 2x2x3 slopes).

Battlements
The flag conceals a break in the wall which can be used to fire projectiles through.
Rear View
Ladders at periodic intervals provides ground level access.
Side View
View along length of wall gives some idea of how long and high the wall is.

 

Practice Mats

The longhorn clan warriors and samurai have two mats that they use for drilling and martial art training. The mats are 32x32 and one plate thick. There will be a bench along the side of the mat, and a weapon room, as well as a meditation room for the sensei. The templates I designed to help me create the mats are below. I also designed a pattern for the new 1999 dragon clan, but I don't have enough black plates to make all three mats. Two streched my resources as it was. I have also designed 16x16 versions.

 

Samurai Practice Mat

Longhorn Clan Practice Mat

Longhorn Mat in Use
Mat in Use

 

Samurai Template

Longhorn Clan Template

Dragon Clan Template

 

Main Wall Prototype

This is a prototype for the main wall that surrounds the grounds. The wall features a fortefied gatehouse with murder slits in the floor. The features a catwalk along the top and battlements for protection. Ladders provide access to the walkway (not pictured).

The wall was designed to encompass a 96x96 stud area. It turned out that the piece count required for such an intricate constuction was too expensive (1x2x3 grey slopes are priced about $1 a piece on Auczilla). It is estimated that I would have needed 75 of these pieces alone. I have since gone to a simpler design using pieces from current sets (above).

Front View

Side View

Back View