D-Day. Normandy. No event is more remembered from WWII, nor more dramatic. The most ambitious amphibious invasion in history, it paved the way for the liberation of France and the final defeat of Hitler's Germany in conjunction with the relentless Russian horde. It was a military spectacle of epic proportions.

Nor has it been slighted by the game design community since commercial wargames first started to appear. D-Day was one of the Avalon Hill classics, back in the early '60's; games have appeared regularly since. So why, then, (you may ask) do The Gamers want to put out their own version of the battle?

Because in all this spate of publishing activity, no one has focused on one of the most critical aspects of the invasion: the landings themselves. Books and movie images have given us glimpses of what it was like to splash ashore on that June morning, dashing across a beach shrouded in smoke and churned up by the relentless fure of German defenders, but games have ignored this picture to examine larger aspects of the battle.

Room for One More

We decided that there was room for another D-Day game; one that spotlights the gritty details of getting ashore and staying there.

What's more, we had the perfect system, already very well received: The Tactical Combat Series (TCS), introduced by Bloody 110. At 125 yards to the hex, platoon level and 20 minutes to the turn, Omaha represents a game of ambitious scope for us. With four maps and almost 1700 counters, it will be a true monster, and the largest project we have attempted to date. It will faithfully recreate the initial landing period in the 1st Infantry Division's sector of Omaha Beach, for the first two days of the battle.

Ultimately, Omaha will link up with another game of similar size, to cover the rest of the 29th Division on the western half of Omaha, as well as the rangers around Pointe Du Hoc.

[Ed. Note: That game's production will be based exclusively on how well Omaha is received. If Omaha is mediocre seller, 29: Let's Go! will not be produced.]

Originally, Dean was supposed to design this game, but in light of his accident in June of 1990, it became apparent that time would become a pressing issue. Therefore, I assumed the design duties in midstream. Dean had already done significant work on the landing system and more general special rules, but all of the scenarios and most of the testing still lay ahead. In order to ensure that adequate time would be available to properly develop the project, we pushed its intended publication date back a few months, from June to October, 1991.

Detail

Omaha examines the landings in great detail, from the unlikely survival of the DD tanks, to the task of moving inland. The game starts on D-Day, 6:40 a.m. June 6th, and lasts until Noon June 8th, though there are several shorter situations. The focus of the game is for the Americans to get across the beach, and then secure a lodgement to protect the beachhead.

The German task is to prevent this occurrence. The action can be fast and furious, as the German attempts to halt the tide of U.S. troops being hurled at him. U.S. Iosses can mount quickly and, the American player must beware of excessive casualties, since this is another road to German victory.

First the Americans must land, and the U.S. player is given several options to choose from. He may elect to use the historical landing schedule provided in the game, (which provides a detailed picture of the U.S. forces as they actually arrived) or may instead devise his own landing scheme.

The force lands in three waves -- 6:40, 7:40, and 10:00 a.m.. After that, all U.S. troops must arrive via transport landings. The troops in a wave are assigned to boats (or boat groups, for the smaller craft) and must roll for both survival and scatter. The survival roll can range from easy to lethal, depending on the boat-type and cargo. Swimming DD Tanks and Dukws loaded with artillery are going to have an especially difficult time beaching, while it will be rare for an infantry laden LCA to go down. Scatter is where the real nightmare begins. Each beach (Fox Green, Easy Red, etc.) is subdivided into six sectors, and random die- rolls distribute arriving troops to wrong sectors and even wrong beaches at will.

Command Problems

This scatter brings into sharp focus the command problems inherent in amphibious operations. Units were trained extensively on their specific invasion tasks, and spent hours memorizing the features of their particular landing site. Unfortunately, the vast majority of forces touched down anywhere from several hundred yards to more than a mile away from their proper beach sector. To better simulate this restrictive planning, orders in the game are keyed on sectors and the U.S. player will find at least 95% of any orders he has drawn up voided. (Never fear, there is provision to skip the unecessary creation of Op Sheets, if you desire.) A unit that lands in the wrong place may not move off the beach to start attacking inland until it either gets new orders, or moves laterally along the exposed beach to find its correct sector.

There is a third method available: leaders. Leader counters land with the various troops and provide the motivation necessary to start moving inland. They are selected at random from the larger pool of commanders of the various battalion and larger size units, and are the real key to U.S. success. Leaders may use anyone within a certain command radius to start moving and fighting, regardless of orders. While they only stick around until noon on June 6th, they can be decisive.

No matter how quickly the U.S. player gets inland, he must still resolve himself to one thing; he will suffer heavy losses. The Germans, while thin on the ground compared to the U.S. hordes, will have their hands full firing everything that will shoot.

After the first wave lands, the German player may feel heartened, since it is smaller and unlikely to make much headway. As each successive wave touches down, however, he will feel the pressure of the relentless U.S. advance. There is only one thing he can do: Keep shooting.

A variety of scenarios examine various aspects of the landings, and the inland actions as well. The landings can be played in one, two and four map versions, using either th~ historical schedule or a new one devised by the U.S. player at the start of the game. There are two versions of the full game, one for the historical situation and one examining the impact of implementing Rommel's plan for deploying the panzers along the coast. In the latter, the rapid arrival of large elements of Panzer Lehr can throw quite a scare into the Amis.

All German reinforcements enter via a Variable Arrival Table, which keeps each game fresh. Each arriving unit will have its hands full, particularly in the aftemoon of the 6th, when the U.S. starts to move inland in a big way. It will be a bloody and desperate battle for both sides.

Force Mix

One of the most interesting things about Omaha is the mix of forces each player commands. The German is especially blessed in this regard. Among his forces are two new unit types: pillboxes and rocket pits. The pillboxes tend to function as stationary tanks, but have both powerful AT guns and strong area firepower as well. With a defense of 6, they can absorb a lot of fire before being knocked out.

The rocket pits are one of those bizarre little weapons systems that the Germans seemed particularly gifted in creating. They are just as advertised, a hole in the ground with a rocket in it. The German has ten of these static units, which function like singularly inaccurate mortars. These are hardly Hitler's secret weapons, but who could resist their inclusion? (Historically the Germans had about 40 of these things placed on the bluffs above the beach, and reports of their usefulness are obscure at best.)

Of course, tanks, infantry, assault guns; they're all there, including the supremely powerful infantry platoons of Panzer Lehr's recon battalion. With firepower ratings of 15 (lots of MG's) woe to the American platoon that tangles with them at close range.

The U.S. OB was more traditional (familiar units, but plenty of 'em) but did lead us on some interesting little chases. One of the teapot tempests was over the arrival of the Ist ID's recon company, equipped with M8 armored cars. Finally, we obtained a copy of the Recon's Afier Action Report (AAR); it told us that the cars didn't land until June 10th. Sixty men (two platoons) did come ashore late on the 6th, though no one is clear on what they accomplished prior to the arrival of their vehicles. I'm sure someone will find a use for them. Numerous other little successes filled in the gaps, especially conceming the assault landings. Much research was needed to fill in those blanks.

Game Behind the Game

It quickly became apparent that there was a game behind the game here: the tremendous efforts of the American engineer forces to clear the beaches and turn a deserted, bullet swept beach into a major port overnight. The engineer brigade commanding this activity included over 12,000 men and 1,000 vehicles in its ranks (larger than many divisions) and its inclusion would have doubled the U.S. countermix.

Furthermore, inclusion of its vitally important but tedious job would have rendered Omaha one of the most boring games in history. Ergo, those of you out there dreaming of logistical glory must look elsewhere, this game abstracts the engineering functions in favor of the combat. Combat engineering functions have been factored into the effects of the regular infantry.

Having run through playtests several times now, I think that gamers will find Omaha readily playable, despite its size. Furthermore, the very scope of the game makes it great for team play. I hope that, once published, we'll hear from quite a few gamers who've joined the "Omaha Beach Club" (High surf, Hostile natives, No beer) and have their own stories to tell. [Ed. Note: More on the Omaha Beach Club next time!]