Stripped Down for Parts: Monty’s Gamble: Market Garden

 

 

 

I have a couple of Mike Rinella’s area impulse games (Last Battle: Ia Shima, 1945 (Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games, 2015) and Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945 (Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games, 2020); unboxing posts here and here respectively), both of which are fun to play, but quite brief; not unsatisfyingly so, but I’ve been curious as to how a larger game would play out. So, when a second-hand, unpunched copy of Monty’s Gamble: Market Garden (Multi-Man Publishing. 2019) came up one of the usual channels, I jumped on it.

Since then, it’s languished on my TBP stack for a few months while I’ve been distracted with other things. Since then, I’ve received and played WWII Commander: Vol. 2 - Market Garden (Compass Games, 2025 – here’s an unboxing and short AAR), and I thought it’s about time I showed Monty’s Gamble some joy.

The thing you don’t notice straight away is this is actually the Second Edition of Monty’s Gamble. The First Edition was also published by MMP, back in 2003. The thing is, there’s nothing on the box-cover to indicate the Second Edition IS a second edition.

The cover illustration, a montage of images from the period, all in line with the Market Garden theme, differentiates the second edition from the first, which features a peculiar portrait of a British paratrooper that looks like a lifeless mannequin. The box cover of the first edition was described by one BGG user as Paras in the uncanny valley.* The second edition cover is a vast improvement.

Box back.

The top of the box-back offers a teaser of the map (the region around Arnhem) and the counters, all at roughly true size. The blurb leads with the game being “a reprint of MMP’s highly acclaimed game of Operation Market Garden […],” and a short historical backgrounder for the uninitiated. We eventually learn (In the third paragraph) that this is an updated version of the original printed game, and now includes Fortress Holland, 1940, which was originally featured (counters and a rulebook) in Operations Special Issue #2. That’s right, with Second ed. Monty’s Gamble, you’re actually getting two games.

The game’s Complexity is rated Medium in MMP’s truncated three-tier rating scheme, and the Solitaire suitability is marked as High. This feels right from what I’ve seen so far. No indication on how long a game should take to play out; I guess I’m just going to have to find that out for myself. Also, no indication of age suitability, but I suppose the usual catch-all of “14+” would probably apply here as well.

Rulebook. 

Coming from Mr Rinella’s zip-loc bag games with their short but thorough rules, parred down to the very specific subject at hand, the 44-page book that comes with the second edition was a little daunting at first blush, but you shouldn’t be deterred by this. The rules for Monty’s Gamble only take up twenty-five well-spaced and illustrated pages.. Another six are devoted to some very well illustrated examples of play, while the last nine pages offer alternative rules for a second game, Fortress Holland, 1940.

Rulebook sample page: Example of Play and the Fortress Holland
bonus game rules. The rulebook is colour throughout.

The remaining pages are given over to the cover and a detailed Contents page. The rules are set out well, in dual columns, set in a nice readable Garamond-style font. A cursory read-through hasn’t raised any flags for difficulty understanding the concepts at play, but the proof will, of course, be in the play. Attention is given over to supply issues for both the Allies and Germans, which is how the situation should be approached. I’ve liked Mr Rinella’s rules in the past; they tend toward clarity and concision in the couple of other games of his I have played, and I don’t anticipate any departure from the standard here.

The map.

The map is a single, sightly oversized sheet (38 ½” by 24 ¼”, even though the back-of-the-box inventory states a standard 34” by 22”) covering the theatre of battle from Hoeze in the south the Heeve in the north. As previously mentioned the game is an area movement/control model, with a scale of roughly 1½ miles to a map inch, and is the work of noted wargame artist and designer, Nicolas Eskubi. The map art looks almost like a satellite representation of the terrain, overlaid with road and rail paths, bridges, and towns, along with white chalk-line markings separating the landscape into controllable areas for the regulation of movement and measuring of success. Each area of the map is bound by the white markings or by watercourses where the white boundaries meet rivers or canals.

Map detail: Nijmegen and environs.

Historically, the action of Operations Market and Garden took place in a long salient corridor along a highway dubbed the Club Route by the planners, with American, British, and Polish paratroopers dropping in to secure a series of key bridges, and the British XXX Armoured Corps rushing to secure a line of supply and relieve the beleaguered paras. The map reflects this, with the playable area running diagonally across the map-sheet, flanked at diagonally opposite corners by crucial charts and record tracks.

Map detail: the Allied Tracking corner.

I like a game that manages to fit the tracking needs for play actually on the board; this saves a lot of time otherwise spent rifling through PACs or (the horror) the rulebook, thereby breaking the cadence of play. Here the Axis player tracks the Game Turn and Impulse quotas, as well as their own Air Interdiction and Construction capabilities, while the Allied player tracks Supply and Victory Points, and their Bombardment and Drop Supply capabilities and availability of Assault Boats for river crossing. Each side can also access some crucial tables (Bridge Seizure/Bridge Demolition, Bombardment resolution and Attrition Points), and a mnemonic key for Isolation rolls, another key characteristic of the action around the operation.

My only gripe with the map is the folding; it’s folded into four sections length-wise (three folds) and three width-wise (two folds). I understand the necessity for this – with the extra couple of inches width and length a standard eight-section fold wouldn’t allow the map to fit into the box. The extra fold peaks will necessitate the use of a plexi-glass sheet, which I do have, but at 36” by 24” (poster size), it isn’t going to completely cover the map, which will annoy me more than it reasonably should. I’ll try to not take it out on the game when I come to review it.

Counter sheets 1&3.

Counter sheets 2&4.

Monty’s Gamble comes with four counter sheets of 5/8” counters on white-core cardstock; two full sheets, one half sheet and one quarter-ish sheet. The counters aren’t chunky, but they’re thick enough to not be awkward to play with on the map. The counters needed for the Market Garden are to be found on the two full-sized sprues, and nearly all the counters for the Fortress Holland game are provided on the two cut-down counter-sheets. Nearly half of the counters across the two games are administrative or mnemonic markers for recording area control and unit status, along with the expected Turn and VP markers and such.

The unit counters are clearly readable, in keeping with MPP’s good work in this regard. They are comprise of the somewhat standard mix of NATO symbols for leg units with armour represented by a silhouette of most prevalent vehicle type in the unit. These are predominantly battalion- and regiment-sized units, though some brigades and even divisions are represented. Personally, I don’t mind all NATO symbols, but I don’t begrudge others their tanks if it helps create a more immersive play experience. 

German Set-up and Reinforcement sheets.

Each side gets two light cardstock sheets. The German player has a Set-Up card and a Reinforcement card. By dint of having fewer units on the board at the outset, the German Set-up card also features a Sequence of Play, as well as a list of optional unit directives for the Airborne Landing Phase, and priorities for retreat of units (these apply to both sides).

Allied Set-up and Reinforcement sheets.

The Allied player receives an Allied Set-Up and D-Day Sequence of Play card and an Allied Reinforcements card. The D-Day Sequence of Play is a simple three-phase process with another couple of lines outlining some limitations to the Allied actions in this part of the turn. A little of the play is scripted in the initial turn; paratrooper units can choose to attempt to seize their target bridge, but they are then Spent for the turn, which will have ramifications in any ensuing combat, while the Allied player must conduct an Assault action with at least one armoured Guards unit from among their initial XXX Corps land units in the opening turn.

Box and dice, with a friendly packing note from the folks at MMP.

The box is roughly standard size and 1½" deep. The construction card is on the lighter side, but perfectly adequate for the contents, which don’t add up to too much weight. The game come with four six-sided dice – two red and two white. The rules advise the white dice are for German use, and the red for the Allies. Combat rolls are simultaneous, and the rules recommend both players make their rolls into the same receptacle, and stipulate that if a die lands outside the tray, only that die is re-rolled (something that some folks apparently take issue – or liberties – with). The dice will be familiar to anyone who has purchased or played MMP games in the past. They are a little smaller than I prefer, but are perfectly suitable for the task.

 

 

* Replying to the comment on BGG, Mr Rinella was quick to mention he did not sign off on the original cover design.