Highway to the Reich: The Allied Airborne Invasion of Holland, 1944 (Third Edition)

About this board game

Highway to the Reich: The Allied Airborne Invasion of Holland, 1944 (Third Edition) is a tactical simulation for 1–5 players, with a listed playing time of 1,440 minutes. It recreates the largest airborne operation in history, as more than 35,000 Allied airborne troops descend on Holland to capture and hold a highway.

The game covers the campaign that created a salient into German territory but fell short of its final objective. More than 2,000 counters represent Brereton’s Airborne Corps, Brian Horrocks’s 30th Corps, and Model’s scattered German forces. Infantry appears at company level, artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft units at battery level, and tanks and armoured cars at troop level.

Four maps cover the area from the front along the Meuse-Escaut Canal to the land surrounding the Arnhem Highway Bridge, nearly 200 hexes away. Each map corresponds to the operational area of one airborne division, allowing scenarios focused on a single division.

• Command structure: Each player turn includes a Command Communications Phase followed by a Maneuver Phase.
• Formation-based play: All activities of one formation are completed before another formation begins.
• Combined attacks: Combat can proceed through a preliminary barrage, fire attacks by maneuver companies, and close action with tanks or assault troops.
• Core system: Fire power and morale shape the interaction between units, with activities resolved through comparisons of their capabilities.

Optional rules add hidden movement and multiplayer variations. They also give the Allied player the opportunity to execute a personal operational plan, adding further scope to this detailed study of the Holland airborne invasion.

With its large counter mix, four-map operational area, and division-level scenarios, Highway to the Reich presents a substantial tabletop examination of the campaign’s airborne and ground operations.