I have been holding off on writing this one for years now so that we could get more plays of wargames focused on the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord. Now, we still haven’t played some of the classics…in fact, I have Breakout Normandy, SCS Day of Days and GTS Utah Beach amongst other solidly on my Shelf of Shame, but we have played a pretty good sampling of games on the topic and I think that I can render some thoughts on what games we feel do the invasion the best. So, without further ado, here is my Best 3 Games with…D-Day!

3. The Dark Summer: Normandy, 1944 from GMT Games

We played and fell in love with The Dark Sands a few years ago and now are very interested in The Dark Series and it’s very engaging Chit-Pull Activation System that tells a fantastic and interesting narrative of battle and decides both the order of player turns as well as what type of actions they can take. The next game in this series was a big hit with us and is The Dark Summer: Normandy 1944 from GMT Games.

The best part of the design is the Action Round chits and the fact that the weather, also drawn randomly from a separate cup of different weather chits, determine the number of Action Chits placed in the cup that round. This shows how important the weather was on the effectiveness of Allied air superiority and Allied shipping across the Channel. The bonus of this Chit Pull System is that The Dark Summer is an excellent game for solo play.

While the game is large in scope as an operational design, it is designed with moderate complexity and is very playable. The game does however cover all the most important elements of the campaign. There are rules for the D-Day Landings, untried German strong-points and Ost battalions, Allied tac-air and carpet bombing, Allied artillery superiority, German nebelwerfer and flak guns, Allied naval support, the conquest of Cherbourg, exiting and re-entering the map, and variable entry and possible delay of both side’s reinforcements.

I also very much enjoyed the slight bit of abstraction used to keep the game at a playable state with fewer counters on the board and the entire campaign fits on a single map. An amazing accomplishment that I felt was well done. The game also abstracts the assault on Cherbourg for the pocket at Falaise by using a box. The Cherbourg Box allows the Germans to defend the peninsula and the Americans to capture this port in a very simplified fashion with its own CRT. It might sound crazy but it works well at the chosen scale and size of the game and really creates some logistical and planning challenges for the players to deal with.

We posted an interview with the designer Ted Raicer on the blog covering the design and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2020/03/16/interview-with-ted-raicer-designer-of-the-dark-summer-normandy-1944-from-gmt-games/

Here is a look at our video review of the game:

If you are interested in The Dark Summer: Normandy, 1944, you can pre-order a 2nd Printing copy on the P500 for $41.00 on the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1006-the-dark-summer-2nd-printing.aspx

2. Fortress Europa, Designer Signature Edition from Compass Games

Fortress Europa is a game that’s been around for an age and is definitely a classic wargame. Originally released in 1978, the game was a follow up to the wildly successful The Russian Campaign and while a lot of people have played it, it is widely considered second fiddle. Part of that is the nature of the conflict, historically speaking. Allies land, build up force, break out and then traipse across France and head to the Rhine. The German player in this one will be conducting delaying actions, organized retreats and opportunistic counter attacks. In game terms, that just isn’t as dynamic as something like North Africa with the ebbs and flows of control and power, or even East Front games from Barbarossa to Bagration.

I think that maybe I am just easy to please, or just inexperienced, but we had a blast playing this for a day. It’s a two player game, that’s very easy to solo (there’s several hidden units), uses two maps and has a classic wargame feel to it. From what I can tell almost all of the game is exactly the same as the last edition from decades ago, and the DSE just brings the production quality forward. The counters are clean, clear and a larger size than the originals, which for me is the biggest improvement. Lacking any real experience with older titles the tiny small red and blue counters are just not as functional as modern ones.

Fortress Europa is a mini sand-box style game of the Liberation of France in 1944. I say sand-box because you can stage the Invasions from basically anywhere, each coming with it’s own set up instructions and constraints. Sure, doing it at Normandy gives you the capacity to land the most forces, but sometimes those Champagne landings in the south look really appealing, especially after your brutal initial landing rolls. And they will be brutal. Invasions are not easy. I think we re-did the beach landings two or three times because of terrible rolls leaving the landing forces in tatters.

But that’s what this game is about. Land forces, establish a beach head, land the mulberries and try to breakout. Liberate Paris and race to the German border. When the storms hit and wreck your mulberries though it can wreak havoc with your supply and command. The mulberries and ports you control determine how many steps of units you can have and use in France, so a wily counter attack from the Wehrmacht can really screw up the Allies. That’s something I enjoyed. This wasn’t a linear simulation. It was a game. There was space for both players to conduct operations and make some meaningful choices and not just run, run, delay by the Germans, although they will have to do that at some point.

I also wrote a series of Action Point posts detailing different aspects of the game and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Setup and Invasion Phase

Action Point 2 – Specialized Units

Action Point 3 – Air Craft Mission Chart

Action Point 4 – Examples of Combat

Here is a look at our video review of the game:

If you are interested in Fortress Europa, Designer Signature Edition, you can order a copy for $85.00 from the Compass Games website at the following link: https://www.compassgames.com/product/fortress-europa-designer-signature-edition-2/

1. Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy from GMT Games

The ’40X Series is not a formal series or category of games from GMT Games. However, typically the term is used to refer to a collection of games sharing certain key characteristics such as operational level WWII campaigns that have key concepts and mechanics such as the Zone of Control Bond or ZOC Bond, Desperate Defense and a few other aspects. Typically, these are designed by Mark Simonitch and some of the games included in this category are France ’40, Holland ’44, Ardennes ’44, Normandy ’44, Salerno ’43 and North Africa ’41 to name just a few. The system is really solid and are playable hex and counter wargames. We have played most of them, with the holdouts being France ’40 and Ukraine ’43 as well as the few as of yet unreleased titles including North Africa ’40 and Italy ’43, which are currently going through the design process. While there are other games in the series that I like more, Normandy ’44 is a fine example of what a D-Day focused wargame should be.

The best parts of the system are on full display including the concepts of Zones of Control and ZOC Bonds, low counter density and the use of airborne operations and Desperate Defense to tell the sweeping narrative of the D-Day invasion. I think that one of my most favorite aspects of the game was the concept of having to land and then focus on the breakout as you are trying desperately to get your supply set up with your Mulberries and then getting control of the few coastal roads that run east and west to allow for the proper movement of your forces to push the Germans back. The Cherbourg Peninsula is a primary target of the Allied effort and it sits in a nice position on the board to create lots of tension and difficult fighting. The other really great aspect of this part of the battle, and the real reason for the 82nd and 101st Airborne drops in support of the beachhead at Utah and the fighting here is really difficult and just feels true to the historic narrative. The game really sets this up as a race to see which side can grab and the hold the spots in order to create second beachhead at Omaha to protect the flank and further Commonwealth beachheads to the east to furnish its strategic depth. This game is just so very good and as Operational simulations goes, really seamless in the way the gameplay and rules work together. I think that as I have played several of these D-Day games, I have begun to get the feeling of how and when to strike with both the attacking Allies and the defending German as the game really is about time. Forcing your opponent to take one more turn to get off the beach, briefly driving them back to cause a further log jam of units and to eat another turn. The Germans will not win the game in the normal fashion but will win by dealing the Allies just enough to keep the key victory hexes out of their grasp.

The game just feels very desperate on both sides as you fight to gain a foothold or fight to slow that down. Just a very well done game and the system used really highlights the aspects of the campaign well and creates a very enjoyable and playable experience.

Here is a look at our video review of the game:

If you are interested in Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, you can order a 4th Printing copy for $66.00 on the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1091-normandy-44-4th-printing.aspx

I would expect lots of comments on my choices as I am sure that many wargamers out there have played way more games on the subject than we have but here you have it….my list of the Best 3 Games with…D-Day! Please let me know what your favorite games are on the subject.

-Grant