Fall In! 2005

Norman Shell Keep at Fall In! 2005

I was happy to finally get to use my new Noman shell keep circa 1060 A.D. in a Knight Hack Scenario called Do We Eat Swine or Pork? Saxon Uprising 1069. What is a shell keep you might ask. A shell keep was a castle built in the round. Usually this tpe of castle sat atop a hill. The hill or motte was either man-made or natural. This laced the actual castle high above the surounding territory. In addition to the castle's round curtain walls and ramparts could be multiple buildings built stand alone or against the interior walls. I choose to build my shell keep with stand alone buildings.

The view below shows two tpical Norman/Saxon period houses on the lower right. A besieging force of Saxons are forming their assault lines. Men will carry various kinds of fill with which they will attempt to fill the ditch that surrounds the keep and bailey. As the ditch is being filled with earth and felled branches and trees the Saxon's will begin moving their siege tower forward. This is the tower (lower right in the photo).

The Bailey

In the photo above you can see the bailey and high above it the Norman shell keep. Notice that there are few trees near the castle. The area would be stripped of its trees. Many would have been cut down to meet the needs required in castle construction. A benefit of this use was that it created a clear field of fire round the castle sight. in addition to this a besieger would have to bring their own supply of wood for building siege machines like the tower.

Above you can see how durable the building actually is even in miniature. I am leaning down on it as I explain the historical aspects of my Scenario. Yes that's Bob Dietz to the center right. Alos I would like to mention that these kinds of building would be impossible to create without products materials used are manuafactured by Percision Products. It was a delight to see so many guys who signed up to play Knight Hack.