French Empire Series: Marengo

This historical game simulates a battle that took place on the 14th of June, 1800, in Marengo (northern Italy) between the army of the Austrian Empire, led by General Melas, and the French Republican army, led by General Bonaparte.

The game system is designed to be of medium complexity while remaining historically accurate. The rules, the map, the combat counters and the revolutionary use of dice have all been created with these goals in mind. The game also features no stacking of regiments, an innovative loss recording system and only minimal use of markers and tables. Two challenges are proposed: the French player, who begins the game in a position of numerical inferiority, must attempt to achieve the same feat as the army of General Bonaparte, to resist until the arrival of reinforcements, and then use these troops to seize victory. The Austrian player must try to do better than General Melas, who was overconfident of victory at 15:00, only to let it slip from his grasp..

—description from the publisher