Cassino ’44: Gateway to Rome

About this board game

Cassino ’44: Gateway to Rome is a complete two-player boxed game in the Panzer Grenadier series, with an approximately 120-minute play time. Released in 2009, it covers all four Allied attacks on the German positions at the abbey of Monte Cassino between January and May 1944.

Players can experience the battle from the initial American assaults through the final Polish conquest. The game presents every stage of the struggle through scenario form, while two lengthy campaign games cover the entire affair and provide a broader view of the fighting.

The Allied forces include the tough American 36th “Texas” Division, the 4th and 8th Indian Divisions with their Gurkha battalions, and the 2nd New Zealand Division. New Zealand formations include a brigade of Sherman tanks and an elite Maori Battalion. The Polish II Corps represents the hard-fighting exiles who ultimately raised their red-and-white pennant over the ruins on 18 May 1944.

• Four battles covering the full Monte Cassino campaign
• Individual scenarios and two lengthy campaign games
• American, Indian, New Zealand, Polish, and German forces
• The German 1st Parachute Division, supported by the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division and other formations

On the German side, the 1st Parachute Division—described as probably the best formation the Axis put into the field during World War II—stands alongside the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division and other formations. Together, these forces recreate a costly struggle in which more than 50,000 Allied soldiers and over 20,000 Germans fell.

Cassino ’44 brings the entire battle for Monte Cassino to the tabletop in a focused Panzer Grenadier series game built around scenarios and extended campaigns.