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As the UK marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, 6th June 1944 when over 132,000 ground troops and 18,000 Allied paratroopers landed in Northern France in Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history, let’s consider what the boardgame world can offer in the way of recreating this epic event.
Fight them on the beaches
The spectrum of games available runs from more abstract conceptual representations like Undaunted Normandy and Memoir ’44 right up to detailed miniatures games like Flames of War’s Hit the Beach and Warlord Games Bolt Action based The Longest Day.
Starting with Osprey’s Undaunted Normandy we are presented with a series of 12 scenarios where US squad level infantry and support fight the German defenders through the French countryside beyond the initial landing sites. The cardboard troops on the variable tile based terrain map have individual names and are controlled by the player’s hand of cards. Whilst the scenarios are historical based, (and sometimes therefore unbalanced), this is a stylised version of events that gives an enjoyable game. This was the first of Osprey’s Undaunted series, extended with Reinforcements and culminating (IMHO!) with the formidable Undaunted Stalingrad.
Memoir ’44 moves us along the spectrum by introducing miniatures. Yes now we have infantry, tanks, guns and various man-made obstacles – sandbags and barbed wire. The large double-sided gameboard gives you countryside on one side and on the other the sea and beach as well so you can recreate a landing. The basic hexes of the board are overlaid with up to 44 (appropriately enough) double sided terrain tiles to vary the layout almost infinitely and these are further augmented by rectangular tiles for bunkersand bridges.
The rules are straightforward and are highlighted on data cards. Your troops fight in squads and when a whole squad is eliminated a victory medal is gained by your opponent with 4 or 5 medals to win the game. Your moves are controlled by command cards restricted to the right, left or centre of the game and whilst this can be sometimes frustrating the system is well enough liked that it has been selling strongly ever since its launch on the 60th anniversary of D-Day!
Flames of War: Hit The Beach Army Set is one of the series of excellent starter sets from Battlefront Miniatures and now we have moved away from any board game focus to enter the world of full-on tabletop wargaming. It contains a wealth of well made and accurate, 15mm, late WW II models plus the rules, unit cards and dice to enable you to play Flames of War battles. Unusually, for these starter sets, it also contains a decent amount of infantry to complement the large number of tanks. This set also has a terrain piece with it, though, sadly, it is a somewhat irrelevant V1 launching ramp. Whilst the individual models are historically accurate their relevance to the box title is less so. The US troops are paratroopers which landed behind the enemy lines to cut off the German reinforcements trying to dislodge the main forces landing on the beaches. It should, more realistically, be called “Hit the Landing Zones Somewhat Behind the Beach” but I guess that wouldn’t fit on the box! You are able, though, to recreate some of the actions of the 18,000 allied paratroopers.
A recent addition from Warlord Games is Achtung Panzer! Blood & Steel starter set. This solely tank based game – 2 Panthers v 2 Shermans and a “Firefly” uses the same scale as Bolt Action but provides more detailed rules that focus on the individual tank crews and their actions. Set in the “bocage” area of Northern France it provides an intense close-quarters skirmish that gives a flavour of what these tank crews had to achieve.
At the top end of the scale for both detailed battle minatures and price we have Warlord Games Bolt Action based The Longest Day. This mammoth box of goodies enables you to bring your US soldiers and engineers ashore from three landing craft supported by 2 amphibious “DD” Sherman tanks and fight your way through multiple beach obstacles to assault the German bunkers and gun positions. Given the depth provided by the Bolt Action rule set this is the most detailed approach to recreating that fateful Tuesday 80 years ago.
Of course, with both the Flames of War and the Bolt Action offerings you can add many other vehicles, troops, information books and accessories to make it as comprehensive as you desire.
Finally Cartaventura D-Day from Hachette Boardgames (due out June 2024) is an interesting alternative approach to the others where you take the role of an 18 year old girl in the French Resistance on the eve of D-Day. Using a system of cards and a storybook approach with evocative watercolour illustrations you act out her attempts to sabotage the Germans. Complete with a historic booklet it evokes the feel of an individual’s journey.
A fuull range then of alternatives then to celebrate your own D-Day re-enactment from simple and stylised to detailed and wide ranging so “Fight them on the Landing Grounds”