Summary
A game for 2 players
Play time is around 45 minutes
Publisher is Elwin Klappe
Introduction
Clash – D-Day – Special edition is a beautiful, turn-based board game for 2 players, that is set during the longest day in history: D-Day. Take control over the Allies and Axis forces and get ready to conquer the necessary beaches and areas. Outwit your enemy, make tactical decisions and think ahead. Prepare and take action in the greatest seaborne invasion that changed history on June the 6th, 1944!
Setting up the game
First, we’re going to setup the main board. Then you flip the coin to see with if you are Axis or the Allies.
Shuffle the Victory cards and the Objective cards and make 2 separate decks and place both on the game board. Both players then receive an Objective card. This card is your objective (goal) for this game, you can win the game to complete this objective card or when you have conquered 3 beachheads.
Keep the objective card secret from the other player.
Both players then place all units open on the table and next to or beneath the Battlefield.
Let’s play
The game is played in different rounds till one of the players reach their objective or when one of the players has conquered 3 beachheads.
Each turn you have 4 action points and may choose the following actions to play;
1 action point; Place any unit on the beach
2 action points; Take any rearmost unit on any beachhead and place it to the front of the beachhead where you have taken it from
2 action points; Retreat a leading unit and place it back in your stock
3 action points; Retreat a leading blocked unit and place it back in stock
Once you have used all your action points your turn ends and your opponent can start his turn.
Some important notes;
– When you place a unit on the beach, it always start from your own side. When moving a unit forward it has to be in contact with another unit;
– You can’t have a gap between their own units, it needs to be an uninterrupted line
– Unused action points are lost and can’t carried over between rounds.
– Units can never overlap
Attacking
At some point during the game, your units will clash on the beach. Because your opponent will try to prevent you reaching the end of beach or you want to conquer the beachhead and want to destroy your units. When 2 units clash, the strongest unit wins. The unit that is the strongest will stay on the battlefield and the weaker unit goes back to the stock. When the attacking player still has action points, he can use them to fill up the open space and maybe attack again.
Who defeats who? This is a fun part of the game, you can compare it with rock, paper and scissors. Tank defeats infantry, Infantry defeats Anti- tank mine and Anti- tank mine defeats a tank.
The weaker unit will always be removed from the beach, when there are same units for example infantry units, then the higher ranked unit will win the battle.
What if both attacking units are the same?
When during a battle, both attacking and defending unit is the same, both are returned back to stock from the battlefield. In this case only both units will be removed, all other units will stay on the battlefield.
Blocking
When you want to stop the opponent for example, you just got one more 1 action point left, you can place a strong unit in front of the line. Blocking is don’t touching and attacking the other player. When you opponent wants to play, he cannot place a stronger unit anymore and must retreat a unit and then he can place a stronger one.
Conquer a beachhead
When you reach the end of the beach with any unit, you now have conquered this beachhead. You cannot overlap the battlefield so you must choose any unit that can fit in the open space on the beachhead. When you’ve conquered it, you place one of your markers on the end of the beachhead. Now you receive a Victory card.
Important note! When you have conquered a beachhead, you can’t retreat any unit from that beachhead!
Different units
In Clash D-Day each player (Axis and Allies) have the same units, below we will explain a little about these units;
Anti-tank mines
The Anti-tank mines defeats all Tanks but can be defeated by all Infantry and the Spy.
Tank
The Tanks defeats all Infantry but can be defeated by the Anti-tank mines and the Spy
Infantry
The Infantry defeats all Anti-tank mines but can be defeated by the Tanks and the Spy. The infantry has also different ranking units, From low to high ranking;
Privates
Corporals
Sergeant
Special Units
These are very cool but also very strong, both players got 4 different special units:
The General; The General is like other Infantry units but he is the strongest in command. The power of this unit is his length.
The Spy; The Spy is the most cunning unit in the game, it can defeat any other unit! He can only be stopped by another Spy, when they clash both units will go back to the stock. But like other stronger units, in this case he only defeats the first 2 units in line.
The Artillery Tank; The Artillery Tank behaves like a normal tank but he also can flank beachheads on the left and the right 3 beachheads away. It can only flank weaker units but when he attacks the lower unit must be removed from the game but also the units in front of this unit. Including any stronger units! This is a very strong unit because it can hit 3 beachheads at onceThe Mortar; The Mortar has the special ability to attack from a distance. When placed on the battlefield you can only attack the lowest ranking Infantry unit on the left and that unit has also to be exactly 2 beachheads away. When the Mortar attacks, the lower unit must be removed from the game but also the units in front of this unit including any stronger units!
Game ends
The game ends after any player has reached the Objectives that are described on the Objective card.
Conclusion & final score
Difficulty: 1.50/ 5
Re-playability: 8
Our score: 8 out of 10 dice
First we have to say again, this is still a prototype but a very nice one. Also we’ve received with an explanation of the components that they have used for the prototype but also what they want to use for the final copy. The quality but also the design is very nice, and we really like the artwork.
Both in the rules book but also the tiles are very nicely designed, the Spy is in my opinion the coolest next to the Command Tank.
Overall impression of the game
Clash D-Day is a great 2-person wargame with a theme that you really can feel when playing it. In the game you play as the Allies or the Axis. Setting it up is easy but when you start playing it is a very nice game. Especially the battle among yourselves with which beachheads are you going to try to conquer or manage to block the opponent to complete your objective card and win the game.
If you manage to conquer a beachhead, you will receive a Victory card but be careful which units you use. After completing a beachhead, you are not allowed to take back the units to use them later.
It played differently than anything we’ve ever played before. It makes it very nice that you can’t just use certain units, but also you can quickly start over again if you hit the wrong opponent. The quality of the components makes the game even more great. The game takes about 30/ 45 minutes but of course it also depends on the choices you make, am I going to block an opponent or do I choose to attack.
Clash D-Day is a game that belongs on your shelf when you’re interested in WW2 next to your other war games!
We want to thank Elwin Klappe this preview copy of Clash: D-Day. If you’re interested then you definitely have to check out the Gamefound campaign and back this great war game!
