RIO BRAVO

The Rio Grande (known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte, or simply Río Bravo) is a river that forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is the fourth or fifth longest river system in North America.[1] It serves as a natural border between the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. A very short stretch of the river serves as the boundary between the U.S. states of Texas and New Mexico. The tremendous water use of big cities and vast irrigated acreage along the river has taken a heavy toll on the river's flow; less than a fifth of its historical discharge reaches the sea today. Near the river's mouth, the heavily irrigated Rio Grande Valley is an important agricultural region.

By the river








Rio Bravo






I walk all alone






And I wonder as I wander by the river






Where my love has flown














All the birds in the cottonwood above her






Know I love her






Know I care






But my dreams, like the songs, she sang in Spanish






Seem to vanish






In the air














I wonder where














So I wonder as I wander






Will love come along






Must I live ever after






By the memory of her song














While the river Rio Bravo flows along






(Choir: Rio Bravo, Rio Bravo)






While the river Rio Bravo flows along

















The Rio Grande's drainage basin (watershed) is 182,200 square miles (472,000 km2).[3] Many endorheic basins are situated within, or adjacent to, the Rio Grande's basin, and these are sometimes included in the river basin's total area, increasing its size to about 336,000 square miles (870,000 km2).The Rio Grande rises in the eastern part of the Rio Grande National Forest in the U.S. state of Colorado. The river is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain, just east of the Continental Divide.
 From there, it flows through the San Luis Valley, then south into New Mexico, passing through Espanola, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas. Below El Paso it serves as part of the border between the United States and Mexico.
The official river border measurement ranges from 889 miles (1,431 km) to 1,248 miles (2,008 km), depending on how the river is measured.[1] A major tributary, the Rio Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the border segment. Other well-known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande is not navigable by ocean-going ships, nor do smaller passenger boats or cargo barges use it as a route. It is barely navigable at all, except by small boats in a few places.

THE FILM .LIKE CHINATOWN the title is a red herring the river does not mean anything to the film.
At the Texas border town of Rio Bravo, Joe Burdette, the brother of wealthy rancher Nathan Burdette, shoots and kills an unarmed man. Sheriff John T. Chance arrests him with the help of his former deputy, the alcoholic Dude. To prevent Chance from taking Joe to the Presidio to stand trial, Nathan hires a small army of professional gunmen to bottle up the town. Although Chance expects that it will take several days for help to arrive, he requests assistance from the U.S. marshal by sending a message via stagecoach.




When Chance’s friend Pat Wheeler arrives in town to deliver a shipment of explosives, he describes Chance’s situation as having "a bull by the tail." Seeing that Chance’s only professional help is the crippled and elderly deputy, Stumpy, and the shaky Dude, whom the townsmen ridicule and call Borochón ("drunk"), Wheeler offers his services, but Chance refuses, unwilling to risk the lives of "well-meaning amateurs." Chance tells Wheeler that Dude had been an excellent deputy, until a failed romance with Feathers, a female gambler, caused him to take up the bottle two years earlier. Wheeler suggests that Chance hire his new guard, the young Colorado, and praises his intelligence and gunmanship. However, Colorado declines the job, saying that he is better at "minding his own business," thus earning Chance’s respect because he feels no need to prove himself.



To protect Dude, Chance orders Feathers, who has just returned to town, to leave on the next morning’s stagecoach. Feathers takes a room for the night at the Alamo Hotel, which is run by married couple Carlos and Consuelo, and is also where Chance boards. That evening, when Chance sees Feathers winning at the card table using a deck missing three cards, Chance confronts her with an official notice reporting that a man, wanted for cheating at cards, is working with a woman who fits her description. She admits that the notice is referring to her and explains that her husband was cheating without her knowledge and then abandoned her. Weary of dodging her bad reputation, she suggests Chance search her for the missing cards. The tension is broken by Colorado, who suspects that a different player is cheating, prompting Chance and Colorado to search the man. After they find the missing cards up the man’s sleeve, Chance, acknowledging Feather’s innocence, says he will clear her name with the authorities; however, he still insists that she leave town.



When a gunman shoots Wheeler in the back, Chance assumes that his friend was killed for supporting him against Nathan. Chance and Dude investigate the stable where the shot originated and roust Wheeler's killer, who then runs to a nearby saloon. While suffering the derision of the saloon patrons, Dude discovers the murderer hiding in the saloon’s loft and outshoots him.



During the night, Feathers, who is attracted to Chance’s reserved charms, and Carlos worry about the sheriff’s safety and, while he sleeps, Feathers stands guard outside his room without his knowledge.



The next day, Nathan rides into town and demands to speak to Joe. Chance allows Nathan to enter the jailhouse, but threatens Joe with an "accident" if there are any attempts to storm the jail. After refusing to leave town, Feathers declares her feelings for Chance, who admits that he might return her interest if the situations with Dude and the Burdettes were less complicated.





Click for larger image





That night at the jail, Dude, noticing the burgeoning romance, reminds Chance that he once warned Dude about Feathers. When Chance and his colleagues notice that musicians have been playing the same song all day, Colorado states that the song is "El Deguelo," the "cutthroat song" played nightly by Mexicans to the men besieged at the Alamo, adding that he heard Nathan pay the musicians to play it as a signal to Joe.



After Chance re-deputizes Dude, who has abstained from drinking for several days, Dude celebrates by shaving and taking a bath at the hotel. During the night, Chance discovers Feathers asleep outside his room and carries her in. In the morning, Dude, suffering delirium tremens, is captured by Nathan’s men.



Soon after, three men ride into town claiming to need a doctor and, when they encounter Chance, they train their guns on him. Feathers, instructed by Colorado, distracts them by throwing a flower pot through the hotel window, allowing Chance and Colorado to shoot the men dead and rescue Dude.



Afterward, Feathers, who is upset by Chance’s near death, drinks too much and drunkenly declares frustration with her unrequited love, to which Chance responds that he is glad that she stayed. His confidence lost, Dude resigns as deputy and is tempted to resume drinking. To Stumpy’s dismay, Chance gives Dude a bottle of liquor and taunts him about his past humiliations, believing that treating Dude "rough" works better than sympathy. Colorado has changed his mind about accepting the job of deputy and, as Colorado is being deputized, Dude discovers that his "shakes" have subsided, passes on the liquor and takes his place with the other two deputies.



Observing that Nathan has caused trouble only when they are outside the jail, Chance decides they should take refuge inside it, using Joe as a hostage until the marshal arrives. Dude and Chance then go to the hotel for supplies, unaware that Nathan’s men have already overtaken it. After capturing Chance and Dude, Nathan orders Chance to fetch Joe, who will be traded for Dude. Escorted by three gunmen, Chance returns to the jail, but he, Colorado and Stumpy outwit and overcome them.



Upon returning to the hotel, they find that Nathan and his men have departed with Dude and left behind instructions for Chance to meet him with Joe at the edge of town. Colorado points out that Nathan cannot allow Chance and Dude to live, because their testimony in court regarding the murders will result in Joe being hanged. After ordering the less agile Stumpy to remain at the jail, Chance and Colorado take Joe to Nathan. As the prisoners are exchanged, Dude tackles Joe and knocks him unconscious, inciting a gunfight. When Nathan’s men attempt to surround them, Stumpy arrives and shoots them. After Colorado warns that Stumpy is standing next to a wagon full of dynamite, the older man retrieves a box of explosives and joins Chance. Working together, Stumpy throws sticks of dynamite toward the building sheltering Nathan and his men as Chance ignites each stick with a gunshot, causing an explosion. When the building erupts in fire, Nathan surrenders.



Later, Dude, who no longer desires alcohol or his lost love, sends Chance to Feathers.






















The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation; El Paso is 3,762 feet (1,147 m) above sea level. In New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande Rift from one sediment-filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem in its floodplain.
From El Paso eastward, the river flows through desert. Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture. The river ends in a small sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico. During portions of 2001 and 2002 the mouth of the Rio Grande was blocked by a sandbar. In the fall of 2003 the sandbar was cleared by high river flows of about 7,063 cubic feet per second (200 m3/s).





















Millions of years ago, the Rio Grande ended at the bottom of the Rio Grande Rift in Lake Cabeza de Vaca. About one million years ago (mya), the stream was "captured" and began to flow east.

plastic soldats

new plastic russians of the revolution

britains mini packs

Tibidabo

Single factory figurines operating in Piedmont already from the sixties, featured his productions of model cars torpedoes, dashboards and plastic vessels to a varied range of figurines. The most beautiful and well-kept models are those of the series of Centurions and Gladiator, very similar to those of the French medieval Clairet, and referred to see a Knight in photography

CO. MA . milanese Company , had an Office in via Ettore Ponti.
 Early 1980s specialized in the production of toys for the beach and after the crisis in the sector, who saw an attempt to shift part of the production in China, in 1998 they concluded an agreement and ceded production to Cavallino Toys SpA. The figurines were produced in series of 6 subjects in 6 different poses and were sold in the 1970s, in a transparent plastic bag with cardboard display card, for the price of 150 lire. A particular feature of the milanese company was producing temporary soldiers in bakelite, a completely synthetic resin, introduced in 1925, and already used by Lineol, which easily broke after a fall or collision. Other articles: Sailors, Bersaglieri, Alpine, Followers, Romans, Gauls, Astronauts etc.

As always if you liked this you can help and let me know your ideas, or contact me for clarifications

reb

this is a rebel officer i made recently from pattex floor putty

medieval britains archer

The role the Medieval Archers could play in battle was quickly understood, and as early as the years following the Norman Conquest, the practice of archery was much encouraged and the Medieval Archers were granted special privileges. Among the enactments of Henry I of England, it was provided that if anyone practicing with arrows or with darts should by accident slay another, it was not to be visited against him as a crime.




From 1066 until the end of the 12th Century, the longbow was of the most simple construction. It appears frequently in the Bayeux tapestry. The arrows were usually barbed.



During the 13th Century, besides the mounted men-at-arms or heavy cavalry, there were light troops formed by the mounted archers and crossbow-men. The Medieval Archers were becoming every day of more importance in the field. And, if the bow was an efficient arm in battle, it was still more so in sieges, and the defense of strongholds and mountain-passes.



There was a clear difference between the Continent and England as far as the Medieval Archers are concerned. While the longbow was preferred in England, the crossbow-man was an essential component of a Continental army during all this period. The crossbow-men were either mounted or on foot. One of the popular type of Britains


Among the Medieval Archers, the English archer is the most prominent character. In the 14th Century, he was equally efficient in siege and in the field. The defender of town or castle could not peep beyond the parapet, but an English arrow could nail his cap to his head. In the field, provided the archers were, by marsh, wood, or mountain, secured from a flank attack, they would bid defiance to any number of mounted men-at-arms. The foot-archers were in far greater proportion then the mounted ones. The bows were of two kinds: painted and plain (white).





Mounted Archer-13th Century

On the continent, the missile weapon employed to oppose the English longbow was still the arbalest (crossbow). The troops who used it were chiefly Genoese and Spanish infantry mercenaries. Mounted crossbow-men were also engaged, but in much smaller numbers. How inefficient the crossbow was when opposed to the English archery appears in every page of the histories of the 14th Century. The element of success was simply the more rapid “fire” of the English archers using the longbow.



Although the 15th Century saw the first hand-gunners, the Medieval Archers were still in favor. The crossbow-men continue to have an important place in the Continental armies of the day. There were also important changes in organizing the Medieval Archers. Learning from the lessons of Crécy and Agincourt, Charles VII of France instituted the French-Archers, equipped partly with the longbow and partly with the crossbow.

acw

nice starlux figure that could be better if painted better

ATLANTIC INDIAN

I suppose this Indian is a Cheyenne or Souix. I painted this up and then photographed it with a digital camera on macro , this type of photography shows up all your defects in painting as you can see.

Mexicans over the border

Maybe the rarest Timpo ever released . This really looks like a toy soldier
Near the latter half of the 19th century, tensions were slowly rising between the Empire of Mexican and the still young Confederate States. The C.S.A. had earlier shared an unofficial alliance with Mexico due to the intervention of the British, French, and Mexican empires' in the Confederacy's own independence.


However, the C.S. was lustful of fulfilling its own Manifest Destiny and expanding into South America and the Caribbean to establish a "Tropical Empire" (a concept of a mass slave and agricultural empire for the CS), and sought to buy the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Senora for $30 million. However, Maximilian respectfully refused such an offer, stifling the CSA's imperial dreams.
This would incite a growing belief in the Confederacy that it was its right to expand into Mexico and tame the supposedly inferior people's that inhabited it. The ideological differences between the Confederate republic and Mexican empire and the Confederate's support of republican secession movements from the populations of the Yucatan and the Rio Grande would also spur distrust and conflict. It seemed only a matter of time before something would set off the tensions.

face of a twat first class

The Mexican Empire had also had tensions with William Walker since Maximilian had taken the throne. Walker at first had been little more than a filibuster nuisance who had set up an illegitimate rule in Nicaragua (seemingly for the sole purpose of slavery and his own glory) which seemed destined to fall to one of nations between Mexico and itself. However, Walker's mercenary army blitzed across Central America, leading the its subjugation under Walker's illiberal throne. This was thanks in large part to Walker's support of Vanderbilt's Transit Company's charter, curtailing the wraith of a possible intervention on Vanderbilt's part. Soon, the conquest of Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica would be complete, and Walker would reform his empire under the United Republic of Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica (later renamed the United Provinces of Central America); only El Salvador and Panama remained free. Nothing stood between Walker and Mexico.



Walker, a conservative minded Southerner who fully supported slavery (and whose exploits inspired the Confederates of the prospect of a Southward cotton empire), had likewise allied with the Confederacy, offering aid during the War of Secession and breaking the North's blockade around the South's southern coast. However, the Confederates had remained steadfastly allied to this anglo-saxon's Republic, while slowly reclining its relations with Mexico.



In 1879, Mexico declared war on the URNGHC over border disputes and incursions Walker had made into Mexican land over the decade, as well as the prospect of liberating the conquered Hispanics of Walker's republic. However, Walker claimed that the war was an exercise in Mexico's own aggression, and the Confederates, increasingly spiteful of Mexico and seeing this as a chance for expansion, agreed. On May 14, 1879, the CSA formally declared war on the Mexican Empire.



In the following months, the Empire of Mexico fought to stave off a two front war. To the North, the Confederacy swept southward, making quick gains in Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, which it reformed into the puppet "Republic of the Rio Grande". To the south, Mexico led a more offensive war against Walker as it already occupied Guatemala. Thanks largely to Maximilian's industrialization and military build up over the decade and the disunity the Confederates were still trying to overcome, Mexico was able to do moderately well in the war and had the prospect of victory. But by 1880, it looked as though the CSA would break through the Mexican defensive lines south of the Republic of the Rio Grande. In desperation, Maximilian sought aid in the nation it had helped balkanize two decades before... the United States.



The United States was conflicted in offering its support. On the one hand, Mexico had lent its hand in the Yankees' loss of the War of Secession and helped create the situation North America now faced, and the Northerners for decades considered Maximilian little more than a "Tinpot Emperor". On the other, if Mexico managed to beat back the Confederates, it would strike a blow at the Dixan republic and could lead to an ally. In the end, the United States decided to lend its aid to Mexico.



The United Kingdom of California was also approached for support, and was willing to offer aid should Mexico agree to allow it to expand into land in Baja California. Mexico relented, and the Californians send supplies and arms into the Empire.



By May, supplies and arms were crossing the border through New Mexico, and military advisers were being sent to train the armies of Maximilian. The United States also supplied black revolutionary forces in the CS to distract their war effort.



By 1883, Mexico broke through the Confederate lines south of the Rio Grande Republican line, and made headway toward the Rio Grande river, taking Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas by the fall. It soon was apparent that Mexico could cross into Texas if given enough time. The War was also proving unpopular within the Confederacy as its quick gains quickly fell into a seemingly unending conflict at the southern border of the Republic of the Rio Grande.



In February of 1883, Mexico and the CS signed the Second Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war in a ceasefire between the two powers, and reestablishing ante-bellum territorial claims, including the reabsorbtion of the Rio Grande Republic. By May, Mexico would also conclude a peace with URNGHC, ending with Guatemala being given independence and proclaimed a protectorate of Mexico. Relations between the US and Mexico would prove stable for decades afterward, with even the CSA becoming once again a friend of Mexico.

french v us

spare parts from replicants
For twenty years, from 1796 until the final defeat at Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte and his generals fought on the battlefields of all Europe. Now, you ca

n recreate the excitement and danger of the Napoleonic Wars on your tabletop!




Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce the upcoming release of Battles of Napoleon, a board game for two players. Battles of Napoleon is a war simulation system that pits the forces of the French against the forces of the British, and this first game in the series, The Eagle and the Lion, includes ten gripping scenarios.



The Battles of Napoleon system is easy to learn, but it offers a wealth of strategic options; this gives you a fast and challenging game while at the same time pitting you against the same tactical problems that commanders of the Napoleonic age had to face. Well-coordinated use of infantry, cavalry and artillery, skillful maneuvering of your units and use of your formations, and knowledge of the strong and weak points of your troops, will all be essential in leading your army to victory.

prepare for war!



Battles of Napoleon is a board game of strategic battles set in early 1800s Europe. Two players send orders, organize their various troops into formations, and manage their troop morale in an attempt to lead their armies to victory.

cafe storm and mokarex

 cafe storm

mokarex