A Few Spanish Photos

Just back from our holiday in Spain, which didn't go quite according to plan - mostly because of the Spanish Royal Family. We were staying in the centre of Madrid (in the Sol area - right in the middle of things) and the first hiccup was on the Sunday when we tried to visit the Spanish Naval Museum (about 15 minutes from the hotel and well placed opposite the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum)- lots of police vans parked outside, barriers up and MPs stopping us visiting. Closed for the day as there was to be a parade - we'd seen some bandsmen in dress uniforms milling around so we found a shady spot and waited....for an hour. Saw a small motorcade go past, everyone cheered and waved the Spanish flags they had been handed by some Spanish sailors a little while before (they'd run out just before reaching us!). Heard a short speech muffled by the PA system into even more incomprehensible Spanish.

And then saw four companies (one each from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Guardia Civil) march past followed by the band. And that was the moment I realised my camera was still set up for taking pictures of model soldiers and the batteries in the camera decided to die - so lots of scrabbling around. And that was it - except for the departure of the motorcade. I have to admit, I was somewhat disappointed - I'd expected a bit more.

So the next day, we decided to visit the Royal Palace (15 minutes walk in the opposite direction to the Naval Museum) - only to find it closed for two of the next three days as the King was receiving the Mexican President. It was enough to make you want to vote Republican! So we rescheduled our plans and went to Toledo on the Wednesday rather than the Tuesday as originally intended.

And what did we find? You guessed it - the Museo del Erjercito is closed on Wednesdays. I was rather annoyed at myself for not making a note of what days it was open before travelling (of course it didn't stop me commenting to the gate guard that if any foreign powers wanted to invade Spain then Wednesday was clearly the day to choose as the Spanish Army would be taking the day off). I spent the rest of the day in Toledo behaving like a schoolboy who missed out on his treat.

On the Thursday we travelled down to Malaga for the final three days of our holiday (my wife doesn't count it a vacation unless she has at least two days at the beach) - she'd selected Malaga without any input from me, so I was rather concerned it would be like Torremelinos with a Picasso Museum planted in the middle (and modern art leaves me cold too) but I was pleasantly surprised. There were lots of tourists there but mostly not from the UK (and no "caffs" advertising "full English breakfasts" in sight) - there was a small museum from Carmen Thyssen (of the fore-mentioned Thyssen-Bornemisza Musum), the cathedral was nice and the Alcazaba / Gibralfaro dominated the Old Town and the harbour.

The Alcazaba is the lower of the two complexes and is still in pretty good order - the entrance is fairly poorly signposted (or perhaps my wife and I are simply challenged in that regard) but we eventually found it (as you are looking at the Alcazaba from the Calle Alcazabilla across the Roman Amphitheatre the entrance is up the steps on the right). Once you've hiked halfway up the hill you are rewarded with the above model in one tower - it is scaled for 20-28mm soldiers roughly.

As I said much of the Alcazaba (from the Arabic Al Qasbah meaning "citadel") is in pretty good nick considering it was built in the early 11th Century - in fact it is probably the best preserved Alcazaba in Spain (there are others, many dating from the Taifa period when Moorish Spain split into small kingdoms). Some of the materials used were taken from the Roman Amphitheatre as you can see in the picture below.

They have planted gardens (after all,this was a palace as well as a fortress) within several areas of the Alcazaba and it is very pretty - with the occasional skinny looking brown squirrel running around, fairly oblivious of the tourists.

And finally, I guess the final military use wasn't when Malaga fell to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1487 as you can see from this stone if you look carefully:

And the Gibralfaro? That was reached by a separate entrance at the very top of the hill - you can get there by walking or by bus (the No 35 from the seafront heading towards Velez-Malaga). Walking was out as my spinal problem chose this trip to re-assert itself. And the bus? On a siesta between 14.30 and 16.30...so no Gibralfaro for me.

   

28mm Perry WotR Figures Possibilities and a Flight Of Fancy

My main focus is 15mm Napoleonic (although I also have rather larger 15mm ACW armies as well) but a few years ago, when the Perry plastic Bills and Bows set appeared at Salute I was smitten. Despite knowing very little about the period I pressed my money into the hands of the Perries and made off with three boxes (so about 120 figures). I then found I was a bit intimidated by these figures - people like Captain Blood and Admiral Benbow on Lead Adventures Forum were producing beautifully painted figures (and really neat conversions). And then just look at the Je Lay Emprins and Stuart's Workbench for just wonderful use of these plastic figures.

But I still loved the idea of doing something with these figures, so I added three boxes of the "Mercenaries" set, and a box of Mounted Men at Arms (all picked up from eBay at a bit of a discount). I've added some Swiss and European heads and a box of Unarmoured Swiss Pikemen but haven't really gone in for the metal figures - but the news of the price rise at the end of August has made me look at these figures again. It would also help if I could think what to do with them - after all, it isn't like buying a box of Perry British Line Infantry where the big decision is "stovepipe or Belgic" - these figures could be used pretty much anywhere in Western Europe at the time.

So I could build a couple of contingents for the Wars of the Roses - after all, there were foreign mercenaries, English longbowmen, nobles stabbing each other in the back at the drop of a hat - lots of things that appeal to the wargamer.

Or I could slavishly follow Je Lay Emprins (if you are going to slavishly follow pick the best, I say) and build some Burgundians and Swiss. This has lots of appeal to me.

Or there are the early Italian Wars - French, Swiss and various Italians - all very colourful and again lots of backstabbing. I have the Fornovo book by Osprey.

It did occur to me that possibly I could "do" the Reconquista in Spain - rather disappointingly that was pretty much all done bar the shouting by the mid 14th Century - there was the Conquest of Granada between 1482 and 1492 but there isn't much info that I can find for this. I think the Spanish armies could be covered by the Perry plastics (with careful choice of heads) and probably some figures from the Foundry Conquistador range but the Emirate of Granada would be more difficult (I'm thinking the Perry Bedouins from the Muslim Crusader range might work as a base to build on but other figures would be tough to find). I've picked up the relevant Osprey books since I first typed this and the campaign really has lots of appeal - I've also got some flags from eBay that are suitable for Castile, Aragon and Naples and I think a Spanish army from the late 1400's is the way to go - the Perries don't yet do Spanish heads but I'm hoping they will, after all they would be useful in both Spain and Italy.

I also had one totally mental idea sparked by one of my younger colleagues in the office saying that Columbus discovered America in 1492 - the pedant in me said "no, he discovered the Bahamas, various Caribbean islands and Venezuela, John Cabot has a better claim for North America." This lead to a brief conversation where I explained Cabot led three voyages to North America and died on the third (which in fact is evidently debatable). Thinking about this later a little light bulb went on in my head - what if Cabot hadn't died?

Cabot led an expedition in the Summer of 1496 that failed. Upon his return, he met Henry VII, and managed to gain support for a second voyage "This year, on St. John the Baptist's Day [24 June 1497], the land of America was found by the Merchants of Bristow in a shippe of Bristowe, called the Mathew; the which said the ship departed from the port of Bristowe, the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following." (From Wikipedia, quoting a 1565 source). Based upon this success he was given support to launch a five ship expedition (including one ship funded by Henry VII) - unfortunately he pretty much drops off the record after that and it is assumed his fleet was lost at sea (although there is now evidently a bit of debate about whether that was the case).

But what if Cabot hadn't been lost at sea? His final expedition included a number of interesting people including some monks intent upon converting natives. The voyage was backed by Bristol merchants (and the King) as a business venture. I can kind of see the meeting in my mind's eye: "Well yes your highness, the fishing off the coast is superb, there are lots of trees on the mainland, it looks like the Baltic with all the trees so I guess there will be furs available too."

Henry VII was a king who kept England out of foreign wars and aimed to build up trade. Fish was a key source of food (all those Holy Days), England needed timber for shipbuilding, and furs would be nice too. England already imported all these commodities from the Baltic countries but if he could get a source that cut out the Hansa cities that would be better. When Cabot returned from the New World Henry VII had just polished off the Perkin Welbeck revolt in Cornwall - this had gained Henry £13,000 in fines (his average annual income was £100,000 during his reign) and 6,000 prisoners. I can see Henry deciding that sending revolutionaries several hundred miles away across the ocean to live out their lives while earning a profit from them was a win all round.

So, what if John Cabot had established a colony on Newfoundland? The purpose of the settlement would be to support fisherman visiting the area to fish for cod by supplying fresh food (which would help with scurvy  -although this idea hadn't been thought of yet), and repair facilities should fishermen need them. The provision of timber for spars would be a useful cargo for returning ships too. The settlement could also act as a trading post for contact with the natives - allowing the Europeans to buy furs - and also act as a base for further exploration of the New World by the English. And obviously be a dumping ground for criminals, malcontents and the poor (ie the traditional English method).

From this would follow some quite interesting ideas based upon colonisation starting a 100 years earlier than in reality and England being early to the party - the first confrontations with the natives would be rather less one sided than they historically were, so possibly a rather different dynamic would develop (of course the natives would still come down with smallpox so the Europeans are still likely to come out ahead). French Canada might not appear. Instead England would confront Spain as they tried to enforce the Treaty of Tordesilles. Of course what would happen to the nascent North American colonies once Henry VIII came to the throne is debateable (he conciliated Spain and confronted France so a few piddling colonies in North America might have been considered an impediment).

For wargaming purposes it would be the Perry figures (plus some Foundry Conquistadors) versus the native Indians - Brigade Games King Philips War Indians perhaps? This would be skirmish wargaming, I guess. I suppose success in winning skirmishes could be translated into rewards for the ongoing campaign (a bit like in Dux Britanniarum by Two Fat Lardies).

Apologies for no pictures in this post - "normal" service will be resumed shortly.