Road to the Rhine
BGG rank
BGG #11,212
BGG rating
7.0

Road to the Rhine

1979

Rules assistance for Road to the Rhine

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–3 players
  • 360 min
  • 12+
  • Complexity 3.1/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for Road to the Rhine

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Road to the Rhine is a board game released in 1979 for 2–3 players, 360 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Frank Chadwick and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Hexagon Grid, and Simulation.

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About the game

Road to the Rhine is a two-player Operational level board-wargame simulation of the post-Normandy campaigns from September 1st, 1944 to April 1945 on the Western Front. The game covers the initial attempts by the Allies to maintain the pace of their advance in the face of a rapidly deteriorating logistical situation, the German recovery culminating in the Battle of the Bulge, and the final Allied drive across the Rhine. There are 5 scenarios including the full campaign game. Scale is "grand operational" with division and brigade/regiment-size ground units and air wings. Hexes are 7 miles across, turns are weekly. Medium complexity, low stacking, and some book-keeping. Combat mechanics are quite standard and typical for a wargame of this era, but the sequence of play is very flexible and arguably far ahead of its time - multiple impulses within each player turn triggered by supply expenditure, and interspersed with reserve movement and combat phases. There are also rules for airborne assaults, commandos, air support, specialized armor and many more. Combat is odds-based with shifts and strength modifiers but no DRMs. Logistics are very important in play, with port capacity driving how many units you can operate at full capacity.

Publishers

  • Hobby Japan
  • Game Designers' Workshop (GDW Games)
  • Compass Games

Questions and answers

Road to the Rhine supports 2–3 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.