11 September 1813 – Southern Spain – Day 3
French occupy Espinal
13 French Army regroup at Montoro
14 French Army attack El Carpio
15 French Army occupy Espinal
Spanish win battle of Espinal
1 Spanish Army regroup at Muriano
2 Spanish Army defend El Carpio
3 Spanish Army retreat to Montilla
Battle of Espinal – Move 12
At nightfall the Spanish hold the farm on the left
They also hold half of hill in the centre and three quarters of woods on the right
The French hold half of hill in the centre and one quarter of woods on the right
Neither side hold two of the three game objectives
The Spanish hold one and most of the other two
The result in a draw, but the Spanish declared the winners
French have lost 5 infantry and 1 cavalry casualties (2100 men)
Spanish have lost 17 infantry and 3 cavalry casualties (7100 men)
6 French brigades in rout
11 Spanish brigades in rout
Comments
Neither side held two out of three objectives.
But the Spanish held more than the French and were declared the winners.
However the Spanish lost 3 men to each Frenchman lost, and had twice as many in rout
So the following day the Spanish had to retreat once again.
This was only the second game using the new Spanish order of battle, which gives them four corps to three French. It is already clear that the new system is not working well.
The evenly balanced armies allowed the game to work as planned. Each of the three corps fought their own battle, and the side who won two battles (and took two objectives) won the game.
Now the Spanish have a large enough reserve that they can retake a lost objective
The French then do not have sufficient time to regroup and counter attack
The number of Spanish figures on the table is also more of a problem than I anticipated.
There is not enough room for the fourth Spanish corps to deploy, and they are placed in reserve
However they are then too far from the section of the table where they are required.
I will experiment with using the fourth corps to reinforce each of the other three Spanish corps before the battle starts. They would then have five infantry brigades to each corps, against the four brigades in each French corps. This would make each of the three Spanish corps slightly stronger, but still allow the French to gain a decisive victory It would also be possible for the Spanish CinC to create a grand battery to make most use of his four corps artillery against the French three.
I suspect that at the end of the experiment we will return to the three corps per side. But I will have to find a way of giving the Spanish a small edge in numbers, and also increase their cavalry from two brigades to three.
