Axis and Allies: D-Day sends me back to those early days, reminiscing about cardboard squares with odd symbols and strange numbers that could only be interpreted by a master of the rules. Except that D-Day lacks those enigmatic cardboard chits, and the rules can be read and understood by a seventh-grader.
Contents
The game components in Axis and Allies: D-Day are surprisingly spartan. They are cast in bluish gray, olive green and khaki. The board, which is a map of Normandy, is short on attractive detail. The cards are well designed, but not the kind of thing you would frame. Considering, however, that this is a game about war, they do a decent job of invoking a drab but desperate mood.
The game pieces are all hard plastic. There are soldiers to represent infantry, tanks, artillery guns, blockhouses and airplanes. These are all sculpted very well, and instantly describe their roles. Unfortunately, I found that these attractive pieces had a tendency to clutter, fall over, and slide into neighboring regions. In the multiple games I played – none of which were finished – we were constantly attempting to figure out where errant infantry units were supposed to be. Especially when units were landing at beachheads en masse, regions would become so cluttered that they simply did not all fit within the borders of their destination. After a couple turns, we gave up trying to make the soldiers stand and just dropped piles of the figures wherever they were supposed to go.
These attractive but unmanageable pieces made me desperately miss the cardboard squares I used as a young man when defending Germany, assaulting Waterloo, or fleeing Gettysburg. While sculpted plastic figures make a game more eye-catching, they are impossible to stack, difficult to organize, and annoying to manipulate. Those little cardboard squares were sorely missed.
The map of Normandy, on the other hand, is quite useful. I vastly prefer the delineation of areas by more-or-less arbitrary lines, as opposed to the hexes with which I grew up. The lines between regions are very clear and easy to follow, and simplify movement by simply assigning a move value of 1 to infantry and 2 to tanks.
The map is also fairly attractive, if a little shy on eye candy. The cities are nicely depicted, but the overall color scheme seems to center around the color brown. Happily, the board facilitates the game a great deal better than it entertains through visual appeal.
Several decks of cards come with Axis and Allies: D-Day. Each of these small decks follows the same drab but attractive design of the rest of the game, and they are easy to read and useful. In fact, I would say that the design on the cards is probably the best in the game.
The Game
The object of Axis and Allies: D-Day varies depending on what side you are playing. The Allies (UK and US forces) have to secure three key cities in Normandy, and they have to hurry. The Axis forces win if they can keep the Allies from possessing those cities until turn 10.
Both sides begin the game by setting up their forces. Shaded silhouettes on the map show where each side places beginning forces, and large reinforcement cards show which reinforcements will enter the game as play progresses. Most Allied forces set up in zones off the coast, waiting for their turn to enter the game through the beaches of Normandy. A handful of airborne troops land inside Normandy, trying their best to dish out some beatings and hang on until forces arrive from the water.
Turn order progresses by turning over the numbered order cards. Each card starts a single phase of a turn – blockhouses firing to sea, Allied forces landing at the beachheads, fighters deploying, Axis attacks, and Allied attacks are each allotted their own phase. Movement might occur several phases before a battle begins, and by following the turn order cards, players never get confused as to which phase they are playing at any given moment.
The order cards start the following turn phases:
* Allied airborne assault – each airborne infantry unit rolls a die to destroy enemy forces. Every roll of 1 destroys an enemy unit. This only happens on the first turn, after which this order card is removed.
* Naval bombardment – Allied forces roll six dice, removing a German blockhouse for each 1 or 2 rolled.
* Fighters patrol – Allies place fighters in selected zones.
* Antiaircraft fire – Axis forces fire artillery at any fighters in their zones. A roll of 1 destroys an Allied fighter.
* Bombers strike – Allies place bombers and roll one die for each bomber. A roll less than 3 destroys an Axis unit.
* Antiaircraft fire – Axis forces fire on bombers. A 1 destroys a bomber.
* Bombers return – Allied bombers are placed back in their airfield boxes.
* Allies move – Landed units may move to adjacent zones.
* Blockhouses fire to sea – Axis blockhouses fire on landing forces. A roll of 3 or less destroys an Allied unit.
* Allies land – Units move from their landing boxes to their appropriate beachheads.
* Allies attack; Axis defends – One cycle of combat ensues with Axis defending. I’ll discuss combat in a little more depth below.
* Axis moves – Axis units may move to adjacent zones.
* Axis attacks; Allies defend – One cycle of combat ensues, now with the Allies defending.
* Allies reinforcements – Roll two dice for the UK, and two for the US. Additional reinforcements may be placed in landing zones (but not on the beach).
* Axis reinforcements – Roll two dice for each of two reinforcement areas. Axis forces place the number shown. At this point, Allied fighters also strafe Axis fighters, destroying Axis forces on a roll of 1.
* Fighters return – Allied fighters return to their airfields.
As you can see, there are several steps to this game that must be played in an exact order. The order cards seem strange at first, but once you play a turn, it becomes obvious how to use these cards. They are actually very handy, providing a step-by-step guide to the game.
Combat is a relatively quick affair. Axis forces line up on one side of the combat board, and Allies line up on the other. Each side rolls a die for each unit. Depending on the type of unit, and whether the unit is defending or attacking, a roll of anything from 1 to 3 will destroy an enemy unit. After combat, any remaining forces are returned to the zone where the battle started. It is not unusual for several units to be remaining on each side after a large fight.
The turns progress fairly quickly, considering the complexity of a single turn. Each phase is short, and nearly anyone can understand how to proceed from phase to phase. Axis and Allies: D-Day serves as a good reenactment of this crucial day in the history of World War II.
Observations and Summary
The hard plastic pieces that slid all over the board and cluttered up smaller zones ended every game before we could get to turn 10. We failed to finish a single game because we kept getting so frustrated trying to remember which pieces were in which zones after cataclysmic events sent pieces all over the board. Those cataclysmic events included a dog scratching his back by the table leg and a bug getting swatted above the board. I could not seriously recommend this game to anyone who has a short attention span or a poor memory.
On the other hand, Axis and Allies is a great strategic simulation of one of the most memorable events in the 20th century. If you can handle the pieces carefully, the game delivers a good time for old-fashioned grognards and younger, more visually-oriented wargamers alike.
Style: 3 – The graphics are nice, but the hard plastic pieces were so unmanageable we were never able to finish a game.
Substance: 4 – This is actually a pretty good game, if you like historic recreations and strategic simulations.
