More than thirteen years of design and development have gone into the making of Europe Engulfed (EE), which is GMT Games' first offering to the block-game enthusiast. It covers the entirety of World War II in Europe from 1939 to the end of 1945.

Europe Engulfed plays fast; with its focus on playability and making players feel the pressures their historical counterparts were under. The game achieves this level of playability without sacrificing historical detail. The entire campaign is playable in a single 10-to-14 hour day, once players become familiar with its elegant game systems, which include:

* Wood Block Units: Wood blocks for land units provide a realistic fog of war. Only the controlling player can see if their units are armour or infantry, weak or strong, until combat is engaged. The inability to know the strength of your opponent ensures that even the most experienced players will make their fair share of tactical and strategic errors.

* Production and Strategic Warfare: Europe Engulfed Game Turns represent two months each and production and strategic warfare takes place within each of these turns. The inventive production system shows that the conquering power does not get the same value out of resource areas as the original power that lost them. Production levels are easy to calculate and production choices include special actions, fleets, U-boats, strategic fighter and bomber assets, ground-support units, flak, V-weapons, and of course, lots and lots of armour and infantry and the odd paratrooper or cavalry unit to choose from.

* Special Actions: Special actions are an innovative rule system to account for the large historical territorial gains that occurred over the course of a two-month game-turn, without bogging the game down with multiple player-turns. Using Special Actions, players can purchase additional movement phases and combat rounds, amphibious and airborne assaults, and even to take actions during the opponent's combat phase.

* Rulebook and Playbook: The 24-page rulebook is clearly written with many examples. Also included is a 24-page playbook. The playbook includes player notes, designer notes, optional rules, scenarios, index, and an extended example of play highlighting the May/June 1940 turn, revealing tactics for successfully attacking and defending.

Europe Engulfed plays quickly with a very historical feel. Many players have indicated that the actually feel the pressures and stresses felt by the strategic-level commanders in the real war. We know of no other European Theater of Operations game that plays this fast and with this much historical value.

Contents:
* Two full-size colour 22" x 34" mapsheets
* 176 (5/8 inch) colour counters
* Assorted Player-Aid Cards
* 68 die-cut round markers
* Dice: 24 (12 each of 2 different colours)
* 283 Wood Blocks
* Rule Book
* Play Book