Bolt Action: D-Day Overlord Book Review

By Troy A. Hill

Images from the book and/or the

The latest addition to Warlord Games series of campaign books for Bolt Action, Campaign D-Day: Overlord (D-Day), lives up to my expectations.

Almost every WWII game with an ongoing campaign or theatre of operations book is releasing something this year. The year of 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the breaching of Hitler’s Fortress Europe. Warlord has a fitting combination of games for their soon to launch

That campaign is to combine results of their three flagship WWII games: Bolt Action, Cruel Seas, and Blood Red Skies.

While Warlord has not released details of that campaign yet, the book for D-Day is sure to figure into their plans for the campaign.

The Book

This campaign book is similar to the other campaign books for the Bolt Action game under 2nd edition. It weighs in at 216 pages, more than the predecessor from first edition, Battleground Europe: D-Day to Germany (BE), which Amazon lists the print edition at 108 pages. Because BE includes a scenario for recreating a slice of the Gold Beach landing, D-Day refers players back to that book for the specific mission.

That, however, is the only mission so referred. D-Day includes 19 other missions from Operations Neptune and Overlord that will give their historical oriented players a wide range of playstyles to test out on their gaming tables.

Like the other, newer, Bolt Action Campaign books, D-Day is a history of the period, interwoven with missions appropriate to the Bolt Action table-top field of battle. The latter sections of the book give new special rules, new units for this theatre, as well as new theatre selectors. In addition, there are familiar names in the Normandy Characters section.

These include the likes of: Maj. John Howard, Lord Lovat, Maj. Kieffer and others for the British, Von Der Heydte and Von Luck for the Germans, as well as “Dutch” Cota, Ronald Speirs, Harrison Summers, along with Lts. Turnbull, and Winters for the US.

Historical vs Competition

This book, out of all that I have encountered from the Bolt Action system begs to not be included in competitive (tournament) play. The inclusion of the Forward Naval Observer is an obvious reason that platoons from this book may contain overpowered or underpriced units for competitive play.

Or, as Topher from the Juggernauts podcast might say, the sneaky cheese potential is high. In my opinion, the units in this book are best played in the scenarios herein, or other similar scenarios outside of a tournament. Tourney Organizers (TOs) who wish to include the theatre selectors and units from D-Day will need to add the proverbial fine-toothed comb in their review of which units and selectors should be allowed.

The Scenarios

D-Day gives players a wide range of mission styles to choose from. A gaming club, or pair of gamers could easily begin with scenario one, and work their way through the book to experience a wide variety of missions, list styles, objectives, and gaming approaches. I can see where many of these missions might easily land in the new Overlord D-Day 75 years Campaign.

Some of my favorite scenarios from this book are the ones from the Neptune timeframe, right before the beach landings. Most of these use Night Fighting rules (and sometimes the Flare rules.)

Operation Titanic pits the British SAS and their gramophones against German forces. In this mission, the Brits gain one victory point per German Unit drawn onto the table because they’ve come to investigate the recorded sounds of a battle being played by the Brits. The German forces have to locate the recordings, destroy them, and wipe out the SAS units.

Pegasus Bridge gets not one, but three different scenarios in the book. For those who have the actual bridge model, it’s still useful, but doesn’t factor it’s entire length into any single scenario.

The Coup de Main mission has the British attempting to knock out the MMGs defending the bridge. The British Gliders land at the beginning of the scenario. In missions like this one, the unit lists are provided to recreate the historical nature of the actual events. Here, the British player gets to field Maj. Howard (and a buddy), four paratroop sections, and two units of Airlanding Royal Engineers. Composition of each unit is provided.

Facing them is a detailed German force of five inexperienced MMGs, four Osttruppen squads, a 2nd Lt. with two buddies, and one med AT gun.

For players not looking to recreate the battle as it was, the scenario would still play well, if the points stay balanced (do the math and see what each side would have in the lists as given).

The next scenario involves the British force taking the West Bank of the bridge. They must secure the two buildings (the cafe and the fortified house) on the bank. They begin their deployment on the bridge itself.

The US Airborne aren’t left out. They get a handful of scenarios at the beginning of the book. Scenario 5: Skirmish in the Dark is interesting. In it, ad-hoc forces, representing the hap-hazard combination of men and equipment that came together following night jumps in high winds, challenge the German forces searching for them. Reserves are randomized – not only in what side gets reserves and how many, but also with tables (2d6 value) for the type of unit.

Brécourt Manor will be familiar to fans of the Band of Brothers. This scenario pits a force of Lt Winters and his Easy Company force against the Grenadiers and MMG teams guarding the big guns at Brécourt Manor.

Objective XYZ showcases the actions of Sgt. Harrison Summers (a special character in the book). Summers, faced with an ad-hoc platoon of paratroopers who weren’t keen on taking on a mission that should have been given to a battalion. Seeing the reluctance of his men, Summers kicked in the door to the first building and blazed away with his SMG.

Sainte-Mere-Eglise is a scenario that gives German forces a chance to even the odds against the invaders with a 1200 to 1000 point advantage in force construction.

Beach Landings: Whenever we think of D-Day, the infamous beach landings are probably top of the mind. There scenarios to help recreate slices of these monumental events. Utah, Omaha, Fox Green, Juno and Sword are all included in scenarios.

US Rangers fans will have a chance to test their troop’s mettle in the raid on Pointe-Du-Hoc. Players of Canadian forces will be able to show their tenacity as A Company, Royal Regina Rifles assault the guns of WN29 on Juno Beach.

Fighting Inland scenarios brings the 21st Panzer Division to retake or destroy Pegasus Bridge. Lebisey Wood pits British and Canadian forces against the Kampfgruppe Oppeln Armoured Reinforced Platoon. The book finishes with La Fiere Bridge, where US Airborne forces under Major Frederick Kellam try to hold off the advance of a platoon from the German 100th Panzer Replacement and Training Battalion.

New British Units

We will have stories later to highlight the new German and American forces. Below, you will find a quick recap of the new British Units.

By far, the most interesting addition to the British forces is the Forward Naval Observer. If a British force includes a free artillery observer, it may be upgraded to the Naval version for plus 50 pts. Otherwise, the Naval Observer is 150 pts (Regular), and 165 pts (Veteran).

This observer can call in the offshore guns. Since many of the scenarios in the book include bunkers, this inclusion is not surprising. It will probably be regarded as out of balance with the vast majority of competitive-play lists, and I won’t be shocked to see it not included on allowed tournament builds.

The range of Fire for Effect increases to 1d6+9 (instead of +6). When rolling to hit each unit, the roll to take pins is 1-4. A result of 5 is a near miss, with suitable bad nastiness. A direct hit on a result of a 6 means a 4″ template, and a pen value of +6. There is more to this rule, and I’ve included enough to show some of the substantial changes.

Airborne Pathfinders Section

This is the only entry which begins with “…for the purposes of the generic Reinforce Platoon selector from the Bolt Action rulebook…” and includes selectors from the Armies of Great Britain book that include paratrooper or glider infantry squads as appropriate.

Other units in the book include Airborne Royal Engineers, Beach Assault Section, and Command/RMC Sub-section. There are a number of Parachute sections, including Breaching Section, Diversion Section, Support Group, Special Assault Section, and Taping Party.

The book also gives options for a Pioneer Section with Bangalores, a Royal Engineer Demolitions team, SAS Deception team, and a 591st Parachute Engineers.

New vehicles include the Sherman DD, Crab, and Dozer. In addition, the big gun of the Churchill AVRE is included. This tank features the Petard Mortar (heavy howitzer) for 290 pts (regular). The AVRE may add the ARC, Bobbin, Bullshorn Plough, Fascine, or Small Box Girder attachments from the Battleground Europe books.

Overall Rating

In general, I’m pleased with this book. Author Robert Vella had a difficult task of bringing the character and feel of a huge event, Operations Neptune and Overlord, into a game system designed for a four foot by six-foot gaming table using 1:56th scale figures.

As I stated above, the book and its components are best used for historical play. Some of the units and selectors, however, won’t be out of balance in a major way for tourney play. The scenarios and the Naval Observer probably won’t fit most tournament events. For the history-oriented player, this book has more than enough to keep a gaming table busy for most of a year. Players can easily adapt the scenarios into what-if type of games. The author even gives one example of such early on. What if more of the air landing troops had landed closer together?

I’m looking forward to playing many of these scenarios at our local club. We’ve already been working through some themed Overlord D+1 or D+2 games.

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Troy is the editor of NoDiceNoGlory.com, as well as a retired journalist, aspiring indie-author, and all-around grognard.