Almansa 1707 - 2mm Almansa Castle

 

After finishing the two opposing armies for my Almansa 1707 project, I thought I better start making some terrain. The first thing on my mind was whether or not to make Almansa Castle, as it didn't feature in the battle, the Franco-Spanish army set their battle lines with their back to it. But as the armies are in 2mm and there's a lot of room for terrain I thought why the hell not!

Almansa Castle resides on an elongated rocky, craggy mass rising out of the plain on the north edge of the city of Almansa, in the province of Albacete in what is now called Castilla La Mancha. It is speculated that both a Roman fort and a Moorish fortress occupied the site before the conquest in Almansa by James I 'the Conqueror', the King of Aragon, in 1255. He ceded Almansa to the Knights Templar, and it is very likely they constructed some sort of the castle on the rocky summit before they were discredited and suppressed in 1312. Much of the castle as we see it today was built by Don Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena (1282- ), about 1346. He was extremely wealthy and powerful, and chose writing as his vocation and greatest claim to future fame.

In 1444 King Juan [John] II granted Almansa, and the surrounding area in southeastern Spain, to Alfonso Téllez Girón y Vázquez de Acuña (d. 1449), a Castilian soldier and nobleman of Portuguese origin. He passed Almansa on to his son, Juan Fernández Pacheco y Téllez Girón, generally known as Don Juan Pacheco (1419-1474), 2nd Marques of Villena, who added the tall rectangular donjon and other sections to the castle. In 1469 when Princess Isabella married Fernando [Ferdinand] II, King of Aragon, and the War of Castilian Succession soon followed, Juan Pacheco sided with Juana of Castile, known as la Beltraneja (bastard daughter of King Henry IV), in a losing cause.

Beginning in the 16th century, the castle was in a continuous state of gradual deterioration, though it was used by troops of the Duke of Berwick in 1707 during the War of Spanish Succession. Berwick commanded the troops of the Philip V, Bourbon claimant to the Spanish throne, against his Habsburg rival, Archduke Charles of Austria. Clearly outnumbered, Berwick won what has been described as "the single most important battle fought in Spain". The castle had so deteriorated by 1919 that the mayor of Almansa requested permission to demolish it. A report by the Royal Academy of History resulted in the ruin not only being saved, but declared a National Historic-Artistic Monument in 1921. Several restoration projects have resulted in the castle being an important and stunning tourist attraction.

So back to my model after the history lesson.

I didn't have much to go on, apart from modern photos online, but found this plan below, so I tried to copy it the best I could with various Castle bits and bobs from the great selection of Modular Castles at Brigade Models. Unfortunately its made as to how the castle looks today, not in its heyday or in 1707. I just couldn't find the info. I was helped by Julián, who recreated the battle using converted Playmobile figures.  His Facebook site is called PlayAlmansa Espana, check it out.

Its nowhere near an exact copy, and is slightly too big, but hey ho, this is 2mm after all.

The map's great but I couldn't work out the scale, so I took a quick look on Google earth, very close to the castle is a football pitch, so I based the scale from the normal size of a football pitch, 110x70 yards or 100 x 64 metres

The hill is made from layers of purple foam cut about to try and simulate the mount, based on a plasticard base.

I covered the mount with layers of Polyfiller to sculpt the terrain.

I did mean to do a few shots after everyday of how I was progressing, but kept forgetting, so here's 1 pic to give you an idea???

Do check out Brigade Games 2mm scale buildings, they make some fantastic terrain items. I've bought quite a bit and will be showing some other stuff over the next couple of weeks.

Well I'm rather pleased with it, even if its not 100% correct or even the right size, but I won't tell

 anyone if you don't???