Castles became obsolete with the advent of effective gunpowder weapons during the Renaissance. Fortifications continued to play an important role in European warfare, from Vauban's 17th century star-shaped forts to the 20th century's Maginot Line. But as evidenced by the ignominious fate of the latter, large, fixed fortifications could be neutralized by modern firepower and mobility.
Largely as a result of shortages of combat aircraft, and large caliber shells for artillery and direct fire weapons, castles and other antique fortifications would once again become important strongholds/bases in the later days of the Twilight War. Castles would no longer be musty tourist attractions- they would regain a lot of their original importance, at least on a local level.
There a couple of castles mentioned in the original Poland modules, but Poland is plain lousy with them (there are dozens), many built by the Teutonic order. Europe is littered with medieval fortifications in various states of preservation. There are also numerous extant Vauban-style fortifications throughout Europe. On an interesting side note, that style is coming back into use today IRL.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...sses-in-africa
(During the Vietnam War, both the French and the Americans relied on similar fortifications to help them control the surrounding territory. A few American Special Forces camps were laid out Vauban-style.)
In addition to castles (Bran Castle is believed to inspired Bram Stoker's
Dracula novel), Romania has fortified churches.
In T2k, castles make great bases for warlords, OPFOR, and friendly forces. Castles could serve as an effective linchpin/central hub for a cantonment. I was so inspired by images of Malbork castle that I wrote a whole adventure module around it!
I'm hoping that this thread will be the place to discuss various fortifications, from general to specific, from big to small, all over the world, that could be relevant to T2k campaigns. Has your campaign ever featured castles or other old fortifications made new again? Were your PCs lucky enough to take control of their own castle? Feel free to post relevant pics as well.