Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
As part of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944, the British 6th Airborne Division took part in Operation Tonga, to capture and destroy several bridges on the Orne River and Caen Canal and to secure important villages in the area.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Grid Movement
Move pieces between adjacent spaces on a regular grid.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Action/Event
Cards can provide player actions, trigger events, or force a choice between them.
Hexagon Grid
Use a hexagonal map where each space connects evenly in six directions.
Variable Set-up
Starting conditions, resources, or layouts change between plays.
Read the full game description
As part of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944, the British 6th Airborne Division took part in Operation Tonga, to capture and destroy several bridges on the Orne River and Caen Canal and to secure important villages in the area. Bad weather and difficult landing conditions meant that units were scattered and often had to fight in smaller, weakened forces. Fortunately, the German resistance was, on this occasion, inefficient. In Battles of Normandy, you will be commanding whatever British units happen to be available in order to take strategic positions on the map. German forces may not act with the full efficiency that the German army was known for, but they will nonetheless put up a fight. This book builds on my previous book-based game, The Fields of Normandy. It is not a sequel, and the rules are different, but it is aimed at the same audience – those who are relatively new to wargaming and would like to “dip the toe” and those who, like me, would rather play something than have time for nothing. The aim here was to produce a fairly traditional hex and counter wargame experience with simple rules and a manageable “opponent” which will not take up too much time or effort to operate, especially once you have grasped the basic system.