A Time for Trumpets: The Battle of the Bulge, December 1944

About this board game

A Time for Trumpets: The Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 is a battalion-level wargame for 2–5 players covering the Battle of the Bulge. Set at four turns per day, it combines detailed formations, battlefield command, supply, combat, and air operations on a one-mile-per-hex map.

Each division includes its HQ, front-line battalions, and combat-support units, including reconnaissance, engineers, anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and artillery formations. Individual field battalions perform functions designed to simulate the battlefield actions of their real-life models, while air units represent the P47, B26, Me109, Ju88, and Me262 aircraft most numerous over the battlefield in December 1944.

The system incorporates concepts from Bitter Woods, SPI’s Wacht am Rhein, and the command-and-control concepts developed for The Avalon Hill Game Company’s The Siege of Jerusalem. Players manage HQ activation, fatigue and exhaustion, command and control, formation supply, American supply dumps, German fuel shortages, and supply by air.

• Ground and atmospheric conditions, limited-visibility infiltration, and night combat advantages
• Air strafing, interdiction, artillery operations, and Time on Target
• Defensive construction, bridge building and demolition, and strategic movement
• Terrain and weapons effects, overruns, exploitation after combat, and limited winter river movement
• Kampfgruppe Peiper Breakout and German Nebelwerfer operations

The game includes five full-size maps with a combined playing area of 65 by 48 inches, developed from 1943–1944 GSGS 4040 and GSGS 4507 topographical maps, plus 12 counter sheets containing 2,304 playing pieces. Ground units are represented at battalion scale, and each air counter represents 25 aircraft.

With its detailed map, extensive order-of-battle components, and layered command and logistics rules, A Time for Trumpets presents a comprehensive operational treatment of the December 1944 campaign. Its listed solitaire suitability is 6 out of 9.