D-Day Dice 2E

I played the first edition of D-Day dice several years ago and was frustrated that I could never get a copy of my own. When I saw the release of 2E I grabbed a copy without hesitation. Thematically I would likely never have purchased the game if I hadn't played a friends copy, but the simple mechanics represent the theme so well it's one of the great selling points of the game. D-day dice is a semi-cooperative game in which you and up to 3 friends play allied forces storming bunkers across various battlefronts, each with it's own strategy and hazards. The Yahtzee style dice mechanic allows you to attempt to requisition forces, items, courage needed for your assault. You are limited to staying in each zone for a maximum of 3 turns and each advance escalates the danger for your troops and the escalation really adds a nice bit of tension to the game. It is roll-to-win so a bad roll can really hinder your forces or even cause you to lose the game, but admittedly that's one of the things that makes this a great game thematically. You can really feel the frustration of needing more troops or supplies only to find yourself on the battlefront lacking the required reinforcements. The game is cooperative in that every player has to make it to the bunker in order to succeed. Players are able to trade forces/items, etc as needed so long as they are in the same zone but otherwise have limited ability to influence each other's forces. Some may find it frustrating that they succeed in every task only to have a single player with a bad string of rolls lose the game for everyone, but again this makes the limited cooperation even more important. The game hosts a solo campaign that feels similar to the cooperative game, but definitely has it's advantages and disadvantages that I'll leave you to discover for yourself.

I was looking for something that didn't take all evening to play and this fills that spot. About 45 minutes per game and plays solo (although up to 4 can play) so I can play 2-4 times in an evening. It has the feel of larger games but the mechanics are smooth and easy to grasp. If you aren't into a lot of dice rolling this isn't for you, I like not knowing how the luck of the dice are going to be, weather to try and advance or hang out one more turn where I am and try to get more men. It has great replay value as there are different approaches up the beach that could be made and many different map boards come with the game. If you are looking for that WW2 game that doesn't take hours upon hours to set up and play and don't like tons of rules to learn this is the game for you. Can't wait to try some of the expansions, this is my new travel game when time is limited and so are the friends.

This game hit all the spots. I love dice manipulation, and I love war games. As much dice rolling as you do...and you do a lot, the theme still amazingly shines through. And there is a TON of stuff in this box, with many many different maps to play through. I haven’t even gotten to the expansion I ordered yet because there’s so much to go through in the base game. Big fan of D-Day dice!

It's a dice roller! Has a good theme, I love that it's co-op. There are a lot of rules to keep track of, but fortunately it has an excellent instruction book and tutorial missions that slowly introduce all the elements. If you like co-op and rolling dice, I recommend it!