OT2020 Round 5

Game 1 RedCurranT (FR) 7-3 Gonzo(all)



Game 2 RedCurranT (all) 7-5 Gonzo(FR)

111 Ocaña - Cavalry Action (18 November 1809) [OT2020 - Round Five - 1st game]
French(A) 7 vs Allies(scipio1zama) 5

Spanish managed to form a proper line with their heavies concentrated in the center. Premptive French attack had mixed results and has been immediately followed by a Cavalry Charge. French countered. The ensuing cavalcade has been decided by favours of Fortuna.

We made a mistake that French were the first to move, and agreed to carry on nonetheless.

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111 Ocaña - Cavalry Action (18 November 1809) [OT2020 - Round Five - 2nd game]
Allies (A) 7 vs French(scipio1zama) 6  

This time the French managed to form-up in the center straight from a cavalry field manual. Spanish attack on the formation had mixed results, with gen. Paris and his LC cut down, but at great costs. French surrounded gen. Bernuy but he held his ground against all odds, though the Spanish formation was dispersed. Attempt to consolidate the situation made the battle even more unpredictable. French HC rolled forward to drive of the remnants of their counterpart in the center with succes, but were met with the Spanish HCs in reserve. Gen. Milhaud has been slained, leving the French force without a leader. The rest of the battle was about single units trying to chace off each other, with Fortuna flirting with both sides.

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Thank you for Mike for his sportsmanship and good humor, and the most exiting games what I would call the Duel of the Cavalrymen. Both games could have been easily ended with his Victory.

The scenario in its current form is quite interesting, though I would suggest to try addressing balance issues by increasing Spanish Cav to 4 blocks instead of downgrading French to 3. 3 blockers increase the importance of Lucky rolls. Which might be characteristic for a pure Cavalry engagement, but might be frustrating on more than many occasions. Also the removal of the artillery cards must be considered in order not to over-limit the utilization of the French Horse Artillery present. 

 

Game 1
Mark McG French  6 banners
Greg O  Spanish 7 banners

The French struck on the right flank and the battle raged there with a back and forth that resulted in the French with an early 4-2 lead and a 2 block Spanish HC and ldr surrounded on the little hill.   They held out and launched their own suicide charge eliminating two weakend French Cav. to tie it up.   The French countered with another strong attack on the right and eliminated two Spanish cav and were one block from the victory.  Again the Spanish responded and tied it up.  A Spanish Cav with a single block held off a French HA melee attack and the following turn the Spanish surrounded a FR LC and eliminated it for the win.   Very intense!

Game 2
Mark McG Spanish  6 banners
Greg O  French 7 banners

This game the French advanced on the right but it was the Spanish that hit first on that flank but with little effect, and the French came back at cutoff a Spanish LC to draw first blood.  The battle raged going back and forth with the French taking a 3-1 lead and the Spanish then struck in the middle, taking a 5-3 lead.   The French struck back to seal a win.

FoxK (Spain) - jaboskov (France) 7:0
FoxK (France) - jaboskov (Spain) 4:7

Kandras78 wrote:
The scenario in its current form is quite interesting, though I would suggest to try addressing balance issues by increasing Spanish Cav to 4 blocks instead of downgrading French to 3. 3 blockers increase the importance of Lucky rolls. Which might be characteristic for a pure Cavalry engagement, but might be frustrating on more than many occasions. Also the removal of the artillery cards must be considered in order not to over-limit the utilization of the French Horse Artillery present. 


 

The 3 block cavalry was really a function of VASSAL. It is far easier to reduce the French cavalry 1 block than it is to make the Spanish cavalry up to 4 blocks.
In the physical form, this scenario uses all the Spanish cavalry units, so substitution there too.
In a limitless world, 4 blocks would be better, though bear in mind the number of attack dice increase as well, so lucky rolls can still happen!

The use of the Artillery Tactician cards was a deliberate choice to give the French artillery an advantage, most to compensate for the loss of French strength, and their now numerical inferiority in cavalry.

 

Game 1
RiverWanderer French  6 banners
ToganAlper  Spanish 7 banners

The French blinked first in the centre and their rash pursuit of glory was soon punished.

Game 2
ToganAlper French  6 banners
RiverWanderer Spanish 7 banners

Both cavalry armies showed caution and took time to secure their formations. Contact was first made around the woods on the French right where the main battle ebbed to and fro until the end. At last, the opposite flank flared up, with a single French heavy unit venturing forward to take out two full strenght Spanish units. From there, the battle was soon decided, with the Spanish counter-attacking and following through to take the final banner (but not before the French had made a daring final attack deep into the Spanish right flank, to close the margin to a single banner).   Once again, it was the side that attacked first that narrowly lost.

Hello Mark,

never considered the available block as a limiting factor.
Indeed, 4 blocker Spanish Cavalry would be better fit balancing.
Lucky rolls while still possible would be less of a deciding factor statistically, compared to combat between 3 blockers.

I am aware of Artillery Tact Cards still available in the custom settings. My proposal was to leave Artillery Command cards like Bombard and Fire & Hold remain part of the deck.

Hello Mark,

never considered the available block as a limiting factor.
Indeed, 4 blocker Spanish Cavalry would be better fit balancing.
Lucky rolls while still possible would be less of a deciding factor statistically, compared to combat between 3 blockers.

I am aware of Artillery Tact Cards still available in the custom settings. My proposal was to leave Artillery Command cards like Bombard and Fire & Hold remain part of the deck.

Game 1
Ezpickins (French) 5 Banners
Maxjoezack (Allies) 7 Banners

A close game of attrition won by Doug expertly getting full advantage of his cards.  

 
 

Game 1

Giulio (Allies) 6
Twan (french) 7

Crazy dice rolls in a crazy scenario. I can't easily describe the dynamics of it. Charges and counter-charges... sometimes units pulverized, sometimes no hits on 5 dice... on both sides. Like a rollercoaster. I think Mark managed to make the scenario fair, but I can't say he managed to make it much more interesting.

Game 2
Twan retired

Twan retired for lack of time. I missed the deadline and we had to play in a hurry. My fault. Apologies to my opponent, super kind as usual.