Monty's Gamble: Market-Garden (MGMG) continues the popular "series" of area/impulse games formerly produced by Avalon Hill, including the still popular classic Breakout: Normandy (BKN).

Joe Youst's roomy 24" x 38" map depicts 1944 Holland at a scale of 1" = 1.5 miles. The map includes 65 areas and 10 zones, with geographical boundaries of Utrecht and Apeldoorn in the north, the Dutch/Belgian border in the south, the German frontier in the east, and Tilberg in the west. The level of detail is truly amazing, with individual bridges, urban streets, and fields clearly visible. Player aid information is also plentiful, making the MGMG map a pleasure to play on.

The combat units are primarily a mix of battalions, regiments, and brigades. The Germans also had various weak garrison units and immobile antiaircraft defenses that are depicted with Flak Tower units. Dean Essig's superb counters are an elegant combination of detail and functionality.

Designed by Michael Rinella, the mechanics of play will be immediately recognizable to players familiar with Avalon Hill's earlier area/impulse titles, particularly BKN. Still, the design contains many interesting features to depict the nuances of the Market Garden campaign. Each turn is a single day. A typical turn consists of the following phases:

Dawn Phase:

The German player places any reinforcements, followed by the Allied player. Reinforcements begin in one of the ten strategic movement zones depicted on the map. Airborne reinforcements are placed in a holding box representing the United Kingdom Box. Beginning with the September 19th game turn a die roll determines the starting weather: Clear or Overcast.

Daylight Phase:

Each Daylight Phase consists of a vari able number of impulses. In any single impulse a player may perform any one of the following: movement and combat, bombardment, or pass (no action). The German player may also attempt to infiltrate into Allied controlled areas without initiating combat. As in BKN there is a chance the first Allied combat roll each impulse will change the weather, or end the Daylight Phase.

Refit Phase:

The German player places his Supply Depots and spends his supply, followed by the Allied player. The value of German depots and Allied airborne depots is influenced by the weather. Airborne depots can also see their value reduced by German FLAK and Air Interdiction.

Players may accumulate Reserve Supply to purchase impulses to lengthen or shorten the next day.

Regroup Phase: The Regroup Phase depicts the limited night movements that occurred during the campaign. Movement is limited to a single adjacent area free of enemy units.

The initial paratroop drops and Allied ground assault are simulated through a special D-Day Phase that replaces the September 17th Dawn Phase. The D-Day Phase consists of:

• An Air Bombardment Phase, which affects all the German FLAK positions on the map;
• An Artillery Bombardment Phase, which affects the German defenders opposing the Allied ground forces;
• An Airborne Landing Phase, when Allied paratroop units are placed on the map and may perform certain actions; and
• A XXX Corps Ground Attack Phase, where at least one unit of the Guards Armored Division must make an assault.

The Basic Game covers the first four days of the campaign. Areas have been assigned a Victory Point (VP) value based on both the goals of the Allied planners and the actual historical performance of the Allied forces. If the Allies equal or exceed their expected VP total, they win. If they fail to do this, they lose. In the (unlikely) event that the Allies have a supplied Fresh unit in Apeldoorn at the end of a game turn, they win immediately. The German player can deduct a point from the Allied total by aggressively reentering areas taken by the Allies. Both sides will be attacking and defending simultaneously, and both have multiple avenues they can choose to win the game.

An Extended Game, with sudden death victory checks at the end of turns 4 and 8, allows players to recreate the entire ten-day campaign. A number of optional rules also allow players to add complexity and explore "what if" questions.

The nature of the game system is such that each player must continually prioritize among several potentially important or needed moves every impulse. This, combined with the variable length of each turn, produces a high level of "edge of your seat" tension for both players. No two games will play the same thanks to these uncertainties and the different initial situations each D-Day Phase and first turn will produce. Monty's Gamble: Market-Garden is a game players will return to again and again. Fans of the area/impulse system, the Market-Garden campaign, and state of the art game design and components will be equally delighted.