Aspern - Essling 1809

From VaeVictis:

On April 24th 1809, Napoléon had proclaimed at Ratisbon: “We will be in Vienna in less than a month!”. Although he did seize the Austrian capital on May 13th, the Danube still sperated the Emperor from the army of the Archduke Charles. To pull off a decisive victory, he now had to force a crossing of the river and defeat the Austrians as swiftly as possible. On May 20th, in the middle of afternoon, 200 skirmishers of Molitor’s division crossed the backwater which separated the island of Lobau from the left flank of the Danube.

By the next day, a beautiful Pentecost Sunday, the French were on the left bank with 30,000 men, including 6,000 cavalry, and were ready for battle. Established on the villages of Aspern and Essling and covered on the wings by the river, their base was secure. As for the Archduke Charles, he decided to go over to attack quickly in order to destroy the troops who had just crossed the Danube. He had over 60,000 men available, organized into five columns, and before long the Austrians would have 90,000. After the battle had begun, the bridges over the Danube were temporarily broken on different occasions, preventing the French from receiving the reinforcements necessary for victory. During the two days of May 21st and 22nd, the divisions on the ground, commanded by Masséna and Lannes, had to heroically resist a series of massive assaults launched by the enemy .

The victory was only delaye: in less than three months there would be Wagram!

The game includes:

One 59 x 41 cm map

216 die-cut counters and markers

1 rulebook

1 booklet of 4 scenarios

1 player aid card

No Box, an cardboard envelope instead (see product picts).