GMT Games

On 6 June 1944, the Western Allies landed in Normandy and, after bloody fighting, gained a lodgement in Nazi-occupies France. It took three months of vicious fighting before the Allies finally wore down the German forces and broke out and overran France.

The Dark Summer: Normandy 1944 is the latest in Ted S. Raicer's WWII operational series that began with The Dark Valley: The East Front Campaign 1941-45. The game uses a chit-pull activation system that determines both the order and type of each sides' actions during the game's ten action-packed turns. The unknown activation sequence means that neither player can take anything for granted.

The Dark Summer covers the entire battle from June 6 to August 21, 1944. Victory is determind by the Allies capturing Cherbourg, exiting units to Brittany and Paris, and preventing the exiting of German units. Players can also win a sudden-death victory if they achieve remarkable success before the end of the game.

The Dark Summer is a game of moderate complexity, but nevertheless covers all the important elements of the campaign. There are rules for the D-Day Landings, bocage terrain, untried units, air support, naval support, carpet bombing, assault guns, Allied artillery supperiority, US Tank Destroyers, and German Nebelwerfer and Flak guns.

A game on an epic campaign that is playable in a single day's gaming and with a small footprint that will allow it to be left set up for study, The Dark Summer: Normandy 1944 is a must-have for fans WWII operational games, or students of the campaign for northwest Europe.