More French

 French Reinforcements

This is the last of the batch I started last month.

20 figures all by Early War Miniatures, a bit random as they are to fill in obvious gaps in my battalion orbat

Three FM24/29 teams

4 VB grenade launchers

4 riflemen

2 grenadiers and an NCO with Erma SMG

Castillo de Cullera

Castillo de Cullera

View from the N332

Situated 40km south of Valencia on the southern edge of the L`Albufera National Park, the castle is clearly visible from both the N332 and AP7 motorway.

Built by the Moors of the Cordoba Caliphate around the 10th Century on the site of an older Roman fortification.

The town was captured by El Cid at the begining of the 11th Century, but the Almoravid King Yusuf (sometimes referred to as King Yucef) after being defeated in battle fled the field and took refuge in Cullera Castle. Even though the Christians under King James I laid siege to the castle they found in impregnable due to its careful positioning high on the mountain and therefore out of range of standard catapults and trebuchet of the period!

Eventually the fortress was handed over to the Christians, but changed hands a couple of times during the War of the Two Peters becoming first Castillian and then later Aragonese.

During the 16th Century the Fortress served as a bastion against raids by Barbary Pirates who attacked settlements and towns up and down the coast. New walls were built to better protect the town after it`s sacking by Ottoman Pirate Dragut around 1550. 

The fortress was also used during the Napoleonic era and later in the Carlist Wars; walls, towers and bastions were modified to cater for cannon and riflemen. At the end of the 19th Century the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Castle was added to the site.

During the Spanish Civil War air raid shelters were dug into the mountainside and the old cisterns were also converted to act as shelters.

The Castle currently houses the Municipal Museum of History and Archeology for Cullera.

View from the carpark down across Cullera across the Jura River towards Gandia

Three rather used C18/19th cannon decorating the carpark

How the castle looked in the 1940s

How it looked in the 1930s

View towards the castle from the carpark

One of the outlying towers (restored in the 1980s), note the unusual hexagonal design

 

More outlying towers

Torre de la Reina Mora, this was a gate through the old city wall up to the castle.

 Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Castle 

View from the old armoury across the valley

Model of the castle on its prime

Municipal Museum of History and Archeology for Cullera.

Medieval pots and coins

Cartridge from the Carlist Wars cerca 1870

Sabres from the Carlist Wars in the 19th Century

A standard Cavalry Sabre (modelo 1802) and an engraved ceremonial sword from the Napoleonic era

NCO swords made in Toledo from the Carlist era

African spear point

Cistern laid out as it would have been cerca 1870

Cistern laid out as an air-raid shelter during the Civil War

 

La Cucaracha! (wargames rules, overview)

La Cucaracha!

Wargames rules for engagements with small forces during the Mexican Revolution

By Chris Swan

Published by Partizan Press

ISBN 978-1-85818-8050-8

Paperback, 90 pages plus quick reference section and some pages of cards (tactical, event & search)

The author Chris Swan has an impressive resume with many years of wargaming under his belt and a lot of writing credits including A Wargamer`s Guide to the Mexican Revolution (with Mike Blake), so I won`t attempt to critic his work. 

This A5 booklet is profusely illustrated with colour photos of models of Revolution era troops during the authors games; plus some colour uniform sketches which have been taken (with permission) from the wargamer`s guide mentioned above.

The booklet opens with a fairly concise history of the Mexican Revolution 1910-20, the rules and mechanics themselves seem pretty straight forward using D10s with modification tables covering everything from orders, to tasks and of course firng. I may well pinch the general test table to use in my future games - I`m always looking for clever ideas to adapt and the wording of the tables is far better than those I use at present.

The rules which are designed for games of less than platoon size (several squad sized units under commander), are clearly written and the quality of the publication is high. The rules cover lots of aspects of the revolution including trains, simple armoured vehicles and artillery. Additional rules for barbed wire, mines & explosives, scouting & sentries, plus a whole section on recovery after battle - all very nicely laid out.

There are also eight (8) simple scenario outlines for you to try out the rules!

All-in-all a fare set of skirmish rules with some nice touches of colour and flavour.

For myself I`ve moved on from lots of tables in my wargaming and the colour and flavour of Mexico, or WW2 Tunisia, or Rif War, or wherever is built into the games I design, as are scenario specific, special rules!

Also (and this is no critic of this book) the Mexican Revolution historically had some of the largest battles fought on the North American continent! A few men against many, or platoon level skirmishes is the Hollywood version and really doesn`t do the period justice IMHO.