D-Day at Omaha Beach

Description: D-Day at Omaha Beach is a wargame focused on America's most bloody and heroic day in World War II. The player(s) control the US forces landing along the five mile stretch of Omaha Beach on D-Day and their desperate struggle to establish a viable beachhead.

In D-Day at Omaha Beach, player(s) only play the US forces, with the German forces controlled by the board. The game covers the entire first day at a time scale that varies from 15 minutes per turn (during the initial landings) to 30 minutes per turn later in the day. Units are companies and include assaulting infantry, engineers and amphibious tanks.

Event cards keep the action flowing and the rules simple, while controlling German strategy and introducing extensive historical detail. The game includes amphibious landings, German artillery and rocket barrages, US naval bombardment, tides, engineer operations, and intangibles such as US leadership under fire and the initiative of the American GIs.

Scenarios: The First Waves (two to three hour playtime) introduces the basics of the game in a recreation of the initial assault. Beyond the Beach (four to five hours) picks up on the high ground at 10:00 a.m. and adds rules for German tactics. D-Day at Omaha Beach (seven hours) covers the entire day, from 6:15 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Optional rules explore what-ifs, such as more pre-invasion bombardment or the arrival of German armor.