Star Forts Spotter’s Field Guide

A field guide to star forts for adult history fans and walkers: how to read a bastioned fort, a slice through the defences, why the star shape, how forts grew from towers to stars, and Vauban, then 12 places from Berwick and Tilbury to Palmanova, Bourtange, Fort McHenry and Goryokaku, a timeline and the open questions.

What’s inside:

- How to use the guide (check access with whoever looks after each place before you go)

- Recognise it: the parts of a star fort and a slice through the defences (our own drawings)

- Why a star? No blind spots

- How it grew: from towers to stars

- Vauban, the great builder

- 12 places and World Heritage sites in England, Scotland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the USA and Japan, each with facts from named sources and notes space

- Timeline

- Open questions: nine questions without one answer

- Checklist of the 12 places

- Credits, licence and sources

Pages: 18 (including cover and credits). Sizes: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Inside pages use light backgrounds and print well in black and white; covers are dark, so start from page 2 to save ink.

Every fact is checked against named source pages from the Network of Vauban’s Major Sites, UNESCO, English Heritage, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, the US National Park Service, the Japan National Tourism Organization, Visit Hokkaido, Fortress Bourtange, Visit Groningen, Visit Palmanova and italia.it (checked 3 Nov 2026), and the sources are listed on the pack’s credits page. Where the evidence gives no single answer, what each source says is shown with its source.

There are no photos in this pack: all drawings, puzzles and layouts are REALLYBYTE’s own work. Drawings are simplified impressions: not photographs, not reconstructions of any real fort, not to scale, and not copied from any site plan, map, guidebook, print, photo or book. Not affiliated with UNESCO, the Network of Vauban’s Major Sites, English Heritage, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, the US National Park Service, the Japan National Tourism Organization, the Hakodate or Hokkaido tourism bodies, Fortress Bourtange, Visit Groningen, Visit Palmanova, italia.it, the UK government or any museum. Their names, and the names of the places they look after, are used only to identify the places and sources we quote.

Licence: personal use. Print as many copies as you need for yourself and your household. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For club, school or commercial use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind star-forts.forts.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.