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As 1944 drew to a close and the allied armies appeared to be making progress after the long and bloody campaigns in Northern France and Belgium, three German armies made a surprise attack on one of the weak sectors in the allied line in a last desperate gamble to win the way.

It was a gamble which, had it not been for some heroic manoeuvres on the allied front, could well have paid off. As it happened, the Battle of the Bulge became the largest battle on the Western Front. Think you're up to it?

Right, take a hold of your battalions and prove it. As a one- or two-player game, you can relive the entire battle just as it happened using the historical deployment option, but if you think your tactics are better, try your own.

At the start of the gamme, you get to change the odds for, or against, you. The poor weather option will disable your airfleet and stop you from making reconnaissance missions. Playing out the Command Crisis scenario will assume that Eisenhower did not make Montgomery Commander of the northern shoulder. In this eventuality, you get no British troops coming to your aid.

If General Patton had not been able to swing his army north in such a short time, the outcome of the original battle could have been very different. Try this option and see the results!

Once you've sorted out your deployment and playing conditions, it's time to start moving. If the weather is good, send in your planes to recce, strafe and bomb - it's nice to lower the opposition's morale a touch.

Throughout the game, you and the computer, or a friend, take turns to move your troops, tanks, gun emplacements and combat units. Once the moves have been simply made by moving the cursor over a unit and pressing the appropriate order key, it's time to take cover for the combat round.

You'll soon find out if you made the right moves as the firing begins.

The idea of the simulation is to stop the Germans reaching the two road entry points at the top left hand corner of the map near Namur. If this is reached, they've broken through to Antwerp.

Your job is to prevent this, and also to prevent them capturing towns by making sure yours were the last units to pass through them.

Demolishing roads and bridges will hinder their progress, but keep an eye on your supply dumps when you start blowing things up.

The battle will finish on 2nd January 1945 if the Germans make the breakthrough, or any time before that if one of the sides has been obliterated.

As a taste of the real thing, Battle Of The Bulge will be hard to beat. You'll need to utilise every last ounce of cunning and strategy to survive in this historically accurate masterpiece.