Game 110 : Battle of Ocana : take 2

 We turned the battle of Ocana around and refought the battle. In a nutshell, the new rules for villages work for the Peninsular, they need testing for the European theatre. 

The Spanish tried to mix up the troops facing the French so that they weren't all blocks. The problem for the Spanish would be the same, the cavalry have poor elan and so never make headway. 

The Lancers nearly covered themselves in glory, nearly broke French infantry, but nearly isn't enough!

This is the Spanish Right wing where you see the mix of troops to try and stop the French. I was attempting to ensure that all support fire was maximised. That is a continuous struggle for the Spanish.

The village of Ocana itself is a situation where you try to hold by trading losses, then hope to rotate the lead units out of the line. That is always fine in theory, trying to execute such ideas always becomes fraught.

The Spanish left, where the task is to try and not get outflanked, but also maintain the front line contiguous with Ocana itself. The weight of the Spanish Cavalry, 75% of it is on the right. So only a single Brigade in this area.

The right is where the Spanish performed best, partly influenced by the fact that this was the weakest flank, with respect to infantry, for the French. It was a continual struggle to try and get any initiative in this sector, this was where the Spanish had to make headway. It didn't happen!

Despite heavy losses, the Spanish bravery was insufficient to maintain the grip on Ocana. Slowly, but surely, the French were driving into Ocana.

The result on the left was inevitable. The flank was slowly being turned. The Spanish made no inroads in any sector and it was clear that they would have to withdraw.

The overall game mechanics worked well. The new way of reflecting the Spanish capabilities worked very well.

	Play Test 1
French Formations	Losses %			Spanish Formations	Losses%
	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery		Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
SOULT				Arzeiga
Sebastiani				Zayas	0	-	13
Leval	2	-	0	Lacy	29	-	0
Werle	4	-	8	Vigolet	1	-	21
Paris	-	14	33	Giron	7	-	0
				Castejon	0	-	38
Mortier				Zerain	6	-	0
Girard	5	-	0	Jacome	0	-	4
Gazan	19	-	0	Copon	19	-	46
Beauregard	-	2	4	Bemuy	-	2	25
				Rivas	-	9	33
Milhaud	-	12	54	March	-	31	29
Desolles	8	28	4	Ossorio	-	3	38

Spanish artillery losses were especially high. Although its most powerful arm, it was sniped at for most of the battle.

Snug under cover after the game, its now beer and a Chinese meal! The next game will be another first for the Situation room, so watch this space.