Gallipoli, 1915: Churchill’s Greatest Gamble

About this board game

Gallipoli, 1915: Churchill’s Greatest Gamble is a 1–4 player wargame covering the first three days of the Gallipoli campaign, with an approximate play time of 240 minutes. Players recreate the struggle between Allied forces and the Ottoman defenders as the fight moves from landings and maneuver toward trench warfare.

On 25 April 1915, British, Australian, New Zealand, and French troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, aiming to capture the forts guarding the Dardanelles. Players can follow the historical landing beaches or create their own plans across a map covering the peninsula from north of Anzac Cove to Cape Helles.

The game emphasizes command and control. Forces are commanded by brigade and regiment, making planning and timely reinforcement essential. Speed matters, but reckless haste can leave troops exhausted and unable to sustain the advance.

• 400-metre hexes based on the 1922 British Ordnance Survey
• Daylight turns lasting two hours and night turns lasting four hours
• Rifle and machine-gun fire followed by close assaults
• Powerful but limited artillery, with shrapnel threatening troops in the open
• High-angle howitzer fire capable of dealing with trenches

Troops accumulate exhaustion and stragglers, so successful commanders must rotate formations out of the line to rest and recover. Reinforcements can turn decisive attacks aside, while a carefully timed counterattack may prevent an invasion from reaching its objectives.

In Gallipoli, 1915, the narrow margin between victory and defeat is shaped by terrain, tempo, firepower, and command decisions. The result is a focused simulation of the campaign’s opening days and the onset of the entrenched struggle that followed.