Slitherine

i have no clue the Spanish infantry have 7 yes 7 fing units stuck at FRatella that don't move!!!??? have no clue how to overcome the odds, why won't they advance to fight!!!???

You have to issue the "attack" command to your allies on the very first turn, as counter intuitive as it may seem. If you don't they will focus on defending the nearest victory hex and that's actually not that helpful since all the action is near the river initially. After 4-5 turns in attack mode when they reach the front line you can (and in fact should) switch back to defend or hold position. Ideally the command could be given to parts of the allied army as was raised a few times already, but that's a scripting limitation.

thanks i'll give it a try

whats the difference between defend and hold

Attack: AI will move to nearest opponent held VH and try to take it.

Defend: AI will move to the nearest friendly VH and aggressively defend it.

Hold is just that. Will not move to attack.

took your advice and won. tough battle used most of my prestige