D-Day at Omaha Beach Unboxing / Decision Games - Historical Game - Solitaire Wargame - J Butterfield

[@soloboardgaming]

Each time I see that map I just love it. And the more I see of the game, both here and via your recent Twitter posts, the more my interest grows. Great job!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks, SOLO! I know you would love this one. I just know it! :)

[@chiproush7480]

looking forward to seeing it played

[@ZillaBlitz]

Me too! I'm about 1/3 of the way through playing the learning scenario and have digested most of the Basic rules. It's REALLY FUN. :)

[@DragonsAteOurName]

I‘m so looking forward to you playing this game, you are so excited it gets me excited too!

[@ZillaBlitz]

I'm almost done with a first learning game. Really fun, going to finish this first game, play another, then try a video I think of the learning game.

[@DragonsAteOurName]

@@ZillaBlitz Yes! Show us what you learned!

[@steveoh9285]

An AMAZING game! Well worth the time to learn, it’s so clever and tense.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Totally agree, just a great game all around. :)

[@davet010]

Looks good, Zilla. When you mentioned that the cards function as random generators as well, I'd definitely be putting them in card sleeves (and if it's a 55-card deck, you might get away with one pack.). Definitely want to see this one played ! The historic booklet looked good as well - though I've obviously seen The Longest Day too many times, as the booklet page showed Gen. Cota, and I instantly thought 'Robert Mitchum !'.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yep, cards are sleeved and I'm about 1/3 of the way into the learning scenario. It's really fun. I think I might play the learning scenario a couple of times and then try to make a video on that part, as it's a fun way to show gameplay and seems to be presenting some challenging decisions. Really impressed with it so far.

[@MyParedrus]

Very good presentation Mike! As usual! You kind of sold me to buy and try this out :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks, Panos! If you get it, I'd be curious to hear how you like it. I've got about 3-4 hours into it now, playing the first learning scenario slowly as I get comfortable with the mechanics, and I'm loving it so far. I'm hoping to make a short video series on it after a couple more games played.

[@MyParedrus]

@@ZillaBlitz already ordered! So I will let you know how I feel about it. Thanks again!

[@davidsheahen3549]

Hi, Zilla. I've got this on my table right now - up to turn 28, might just have a chance for my first-ever victory. All depends on the last few events and fire cards, of course! I've got Peleliu and Tarawa as well, enjoy all three of them. Looking forward to your vids of this!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Most excellent! Fingers crossed you can make it! May the cards fall in your favor. :) ~ I'm playing the Easy Fox learning scenario at the moment, and things are one card away from disaster. But yeah, it's really fun.

[@uwebech5825]

Thanks for this ZB. I'm still trying to crack Peleliu so I'll be holding my fire on this one for a bit.

[@ZillaBlitz]

I ended up ordering Peleliu too, because I've heard they play quite differently, but the overall style of play is obviously very similar. I'm really liking what I'm seeing so far.

[@ThymeKeeper]

I sleeve almost everything these days. I used to not sleeve at all. I'm just paranoid about cards getting beat up. My favorites are the Dragon Shield sleeves that have the matte finish on one side (because they don't slide around as much when stacked up) and the extra-thick "premium" MayDay sleeves. A good sleeve helps shuffling because you can just mash two stacks of cards and they will sort of naturally slide together. You will as much variation in opinion on sleeves as you will whether or not something or other qualifies as a wargame :D.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Oh, thanks Marc. I got some Ultra Pro sleeves that seem to be working well, but I'll check out those other ones too. I've not been sleeving cards unless I feel like I'm really going to pound on them, but sleeving these cards was painless and fast, so I might start doing more of it. They also just feel better to handle. :)

[@ThymeKeeper]

@@ZillaBlitz The Dragon Shield sleeves in particular are pricey. Definitely not something to commit to until you're sure. Also, the matte finish side is sort of textured and doesn't really work for anything with double sided cards.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Sounds like marriage! Wow, those are pricey, $11 for 75 sleeves on Amazon. But if they're that good, I bet they are worth it!

[@ThymeKeeper]

@@ZillaBlitz Buy one box to check them out. If you don't like them I'll buy them off of you :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Whoops, I missed this! (Easy to miss comments on comments on YT). I will have to pick up a box then to try them out, for sure. :)

[@HissyCat]

Look beautiful, would love to see your play thru. Since no dice, are you going to water test the cards? lol

[@ZillaBlitz]

I've actually been thinking about how bad of a shuffler I am, and if I'm actually doing a good job mixing the cards up. But that's probably a different story!

[@freakyzed8467]

Jealous! My copy is headed its way to me, but in in the hands of FedEx right now. Wish me luck, who knows when it will show! 😁

[@ZillaBlitz]

Nice! I'd be interested to hear how you like it. I've lost my first learning scenario (catastrophic loss on Turn 15) and have started my second one. :)

[@thecustardprophet8434]

As a novice boardgamer I'm really surprised you can get that much replayability with no dice and just a handful of cards to determine the randomness. I'm probably being super naïve.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yes, I can see how it might appear that way. But one mechanic in the game is that you are pulling German counters from a pool of hidden counters and setting them up on the board hidden. So until you attack the position you don't know what particular strength it might be, and what sort of combination of weapons you'll need to take it out. And reinforcements come in randomly as well, and each German position can have 2 counters in it, both of which you don't know. So I think each game will play out quite differently. We'll see!

[@gregroberts7343]

Hi Mike thank you for this review. I want to buy a wargame to play solo and I want to play something that limits the luck involved. I have been looking at Undaunted Normandy in the solo version and Memoir 44. Omaha looks more challenging and appears to have less luck involved but doesn't have many scenarios so going forward might not provide replayability like the others. Can you help me decide which of these games to buy first? Thank you Greg

[@ZillaBlitz]

Hi Greg - Happy to help! I think the depth from D-Day at Omaha comes from its difficulty level, not from its scenarios. It's likely to be a game you play many times, learning a little more each time you play, until you finally get to a point where you can win the game. I'm somewhat familiar with Undaunted gameplay but not with Memoir '44, but I think the biggest difference between these two games and D-Day at Omaha is their complexity. D-Day at Omaha is a significantly more complex game with a deeper ruleset and more complex gameplay. Undaunted and Memoir '44 are great games too, at an easier-to-learn level of gameplay. I think that complexity is a big factor in the decision, to be honest, as I think all 3 games have good replayability and depth. The other element is that D-Day at Omaha Beach is designed as a solo game, whereas the Undaunted series has had a solo mode added to it. I'm not sure about Memoir '44, but I suspect Undaunted and Memoir '44 shine best as 2-player games.

[@gregroberts7343]

Thanks Mike. I purchased Undaunted Normandy and Reinforcements and I will buy D Day at Omaha Beach as well. Solved my dilemma. 😄 I have got plenty of work ahead of me to learn these games but looking forward to it.

[@GreySectoid]

I'm new to wargames and this looks interesting but how can it be so expensive, for similar money I have bought huge eurogame boxes. Maybe it's limited print or something which raise price of regular board games as well.

[@ZillaBlitz]

It looks like this game is currently out of stock from the publisher, which can drive up prices for a while until more get printed. If you're new to wargames, that tends to happen now and then with wargames, as many of these publishers have small print runs that can easily get sold out when the game is popular. There are games that will go up 3x or 4x in price while they are out of supply. I'd also argue that wargames on the whole tend to be more expensive than Euros, for the same reasons that they have smaller print runs that make the per unit cost to produce higher than it would be for a typical Euro.

[@gregroberts7343]

Hi Mike I have watched a bit of an Omaha playthrough. It seems to be all driven by what cards you draw and what it tells you to do. The player never makes an independent decision. It appears to be all luck. How does Omaha get you to make independent decisions?

[@ZillaBlitz]

I mean, the cards are controlling the enemy forces and to a certain degree you are going to bet plastered on the initial approaches to the beach, but once your units are on the beach I feel like you've got lots of decisions about who to move/attack and where to attack. The beginning might be out of your control in some ways, much like the real battle.

[@gregroberts7343]

@@ZillaBlitz Thanks Mike. I have moved further into the Playthrough and I can see as the US forces you make decisions about movement and actions. I am getting close to getting out my D Day at Omaha Beach and commencing the actual game process. 😊 I come from a chess background, where every move is a strategic or tactical decision with no luck or chance. So I need to get used to some elements of chance and luck in other wargames.

[@scottpalmer829]

The green and red killed me. I have a form of color-blindness which involves having less sensitivity to green and red or something like that). I had to sell the game. By the way, thanks for your excellent channel and videos.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Oh, that's unfortunate. I have a few friends with the same thing and I know how hard it is when information is red/green dependent. Totally understandable, be nice if it could be adjusted to not be this way.

[@dliston1]

can anyone recommend any war board games featuring Operation Dragoon?

[@ZillaBlitz]

Off the top of my head, Worthington is running crowdfunding now for their new travel solo game called Operation Dragoon: tinyurl.com/2xqr97la

[@dliston1]

@ZillaBlitz oh great! Thanks for the info. Can't believe this topic is so thin to be almost non existent. Maybe someone can use Liberty Road to build a scenario. I always wanted to purchase

[@vstar7196]

This game has been out for over a decade and you’re just “opening the box” now? A little late to the game.

[@ZillaBlitz]

For sure, I've come back to tabletop wargaming a year ago after 20+ years away. My goal is to do unboxing videos on games I pick up, whether they are old or new. Fun to do, and I figure people can skip over them if they have no interest. :)