D-Day Dice (Second Edition): Atlantikwall
D-Day Dice (Second Edition): Atlantikwall Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
General Components
These components work in a game of the D-Day Dice base game.
- 6 Battle Maps (3 double-sided boards), which add more beaches and inland terrain to your games. Battle Map N18, Exercise Fabius, included in this box, lets you play the landing exercises that took place before D-Day.
- 2 Vehicles, to add to your Vehicle deck: the Mine-Clearing Tank and the Tractor. Vehicle rules: p. 10 of the D-Day Dice base rulebook.
- 4 Medals, for your Medal deck: the Star of France and Germany adds variety to your base game of D-Day Dice, the Grunwald Cross and the Resistance Medal help the Allied Units in the base game and in the Atlantikwall module, and the Volunteer Service Medal takes advantage of the new Battle Conditions. Award rules: p. 8 of the D-Day Dice base rulebook.
Module 1: Atlantikwall (Components)
For the German player:
- 6 RBN dice (1 set of 2 red, 2 white, 2 black).
- 14 German Specialists.
- 1 Player Aid and 1 German Resource Sheet.
- 14 German Items.
- 1 sheet of counters (12 Machine Gun Fire, 12 Land Mines, double-sided).
- 21 Awards.
For the Allies:
- 4 Regular Items.
- 3 Ranking Specialists.
Module 2: Battle Conditions (Components)
- 50 Battle Conditions.
Module 3: Badges (Components)
- 10 Badges.
Module 1: Atlantikwall
"Atlantikwall" turns the game into a competitive game by introducing the German player, who can play on any Battle Map.
Like all the other players, the German player rolls the dice and accumulates resources, spends them to rally Specialists and find Items, and follows the normal phases of the game. The main difference is that the German player does not move on the Battle Map. Instead, the German player fights from the safety of the Bunker. Think of the German player as the Battle Map itself, defending the beaches against the invaders. Will the Allies thwart the German plans? Will they escape the enemy's cunning traps? Or will they discover that nobody can breach the Atlantic Wall?
Setup
Place all the German Specialists and German Items on the table, in the German Reserve. Shuffle the Awards to form a deck, and place it face down on the table.
Whatever the Battle Map, the German player starts with 4 Soldiers and the Unteroffizier Specialist. The German player also gains 3 Courage for each Allied Unit in play after the first. So 3 Courage against 2 Units, 6 Courage against 3 Units, and so on.
Caption: The German player starts with the Unteroffizier.
Unteroffizier. Reroll 1 die from your Final Tally. You cannot reroll a Locked die.
Add the 3 new Ranking Specialists to the Allied Reserve (the PIAT Crew, the Sniper and the SOE Agent), along with the 4 new Regular Items (Wrong Orders, Sniper Scope, Thermite Grenade and TNT). These cards are designed to help the Allies against the German player; they only apply when you use the Atlantikwall rules.
The German player rolls Red, White and Black dice. These are interchangeable with the Blue dice: if the Allies steal 1 Black die from the German Final Tally, that die becomes Blue, and vice versa.
About Exercise Fabius
To fully enjoy Atlantikwall, the Allies should not get in each other's way on the chosen Battle Map, or the German player will make mincemeat of them.
To help you get used to this module, and to make the game easier against a live opponent, we have provided a relatively easy Battle Map, Exercise Fabius, which gives the Allies a good chance of beating the German player. Once you succeed, you can play Atlantikwall on all the other available Battle Maps.
The German Player
Land Mines and Machine Gun Fire
As the German player, your job is to make sure all the defenses of the Battle Map are in place, to make life difficult for the Allies. At the start of the game, all the Land Mines and Machine Gun Fire (MGF) on the Battle Map are inactive and are ignored by the Allied Units. You must rally the Pioneer and Maschinengewehr-Schütze Specialists to activate these features. Once activated, these defenses work normally. If you lose one of these two Specialists, the corresponding feature becomes inactive again, and can only be reactivated if you rally the Specialist again.
- Pioneer. Activate all Land Mines on the Battle Map.
- Maschinengewehr-Schütze. Activate all MGF on the Battle Map. Rally them to activate the Land Mines and MGF on the Battle Map.
Losing Soldiers
Each turn, you lose Soldiers based on the highest DEF of all the Sectors occupied by Allied Units. If the Allies occupy more than one Sector, choose the one with the highest DEF. You do not suffer losses caused by MGF or Land Mines, and you ignore the attributes and conditions of all Sectors.
Subtract the DEF from your total number of Soldiers. If you do not have enough Soldiers, you do not lose the game! Instead, the DEF of all Sectors is reduced by 1 for each missing Soldier.
Example: The Allies are in a Sector with a DEF of 12. As the German player, you have 4 Soldiers. That means you are 8 Soldiers short! The DEF minus the missing Soldiers, or 12 - 8, means the modified DEF for the Allies is 4. This does not work the other way around: if you have extra Soldiers, the DEF does not increase!
Items or game effects that reduce DEF (such as the Bazooka or the Engineer) only affect the Allies. You must always use the total DEF of the Sector.
If, for any reason, your count of missing Soldiers brings the DEF of a Sector below 0, the negative value is converted into Soldiers gained for each Allied Unit present in that Sector.
Example: The Allies are in a Sector with a DEF of 12 and use a Bazooka to reduce the DEF to 5. You have 4 Soldiers. The DEF minus your Soldiers leaves a deficit of 8 Soldiers. The reduced DEF of the Allies (5) minus your deficit of 8 Soldiers gives a modified DEF of -3; therefore, each Allied Unit in the Sector gains 3 Soldiers!
German RWB Bonuses
The German player's RBN bonuses are shown in the book as six rows of three matching icons. Each row is named below, with its effect.
- Distribution (3 Skulls). These Skulls do not cancel any die. You gain 15 Item Points. OR: Draw 1 Award at random.
- Discipline (3 Stars). Add 1 Black result of your choice to your Final Tally – this can trigger another RBN bonus. OR: You gain 2 Courage.
- Support Troops (3 single Soldiers). You gain 6 Soldiers and 1 Courage.
- Reinforcements (3 groups of Soldiers). You gain 6 Soldiers.
- Fanaticism (3 MGF icons). You gain 2 Stars. OR: All Allied Units lose 1 Soldier.
- Ingenuity (3 Tools). You can find an Item by paying its cost in Item Points. OR: Look at the top 3 cards of the Award deck and reorder them as you wish.
Awards
As the German player, you do not move. Your Courage is used to defend the Reich against the invaders. The High Command rewards you with Awards drawn at random during Phase 4, at a cost of 5 Courage per card. There is no limit to the number of Awards you can draw or play in a turn. If you get a Straight in your Final Tally, draw the Award of your choice for free (then shuffle the deck).
Awards are kept and played like Items: they can be used at any time, even right after being drawn. Once used, Awards go into a discard pile next to the deck. When there are no more Awards in the deck, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
Caption: A basic Award: "Iron Cross. Draw 1 Award of your choice. Shuffle the deck."
While Items and Specialists are considered "known information" in full view of everyone, Awards are kept secret until they are played. The Allies have no way of knowing which Awards the German player is hiding.
The exception to this concerns the Black Awards (Wound Badges), which have a black-ribboned background. Black Awards are to the detriment of the German player, and must be played as soon as they are drawn. Their effects are instant.
Caption: A "Black" Award: Silver Wound Badge. Play immediately! Lose 1 Specialist OR lose 7 Soldiers and all Units gain 1 Soldier.
Phase 7: Assault (in the Final Bunker)
When an Allied Unit enters the Final Bunker of a Battle Map (do not count those in the middle of a Battle Map, such as that of N09: La Batterie de la Mare Fontaine), combat is resolved normally during Phase 6, for the Allies and the German player. This triggers an additional phase, Phase 7: Assault, where both sides compare their remaining forces (remember that Specialists count as 1 Soldier each).
If the Allies have more Soldiers, the German player loses and the game ends. If the German player has more Soldiers, the Allied Unit is destroyed. If there are other Units in play, the game continues and the German player draws 1 Award at random as a war trophy. If several Units enter the Bunker at the same time, the Allies decide the order in which the Units face the German player. If the two sides are tied, the side with more Specialists wins the assault. If there is still a tie after that, the German player wins.
Allied Exchange Limit
The vigilance of the German player prevents the Allies from trading resources in the top row of the Battle Map and in any Sector adjacent to the Final Bunker. Trading dice (via the Lieutenant and similar game effects) is not affected by these restrictions.
End of Game
All the normal defeat conditions apply (if any Allied Unit is eliminated, the game is lost), but there is one exception: if the Allies lose a Unit in the Final Bunker during Phase 7: Assault while other Units are on the Battle Map, the game continues.
The German player loses if any Unit enters the Bunker with a numerical superiority during Phase 7: Assault.
Notes & Clarifications
The German player is not considered a Unit. No card or game effect that targets Units can affect the German player. However, any game effect that targets players will affect the German player.
Black Awards (Wound Badges). As the German player, you cannot choose to lose something you do not have. For example, if you draw the Gold Wound Badge and have no Award in hand, you are forced to lose 1 Specialist. You can only ignore this Award if you also have no Specialists.
When the German player forces an Allied Unit to lose 1 Specialist or 1 Item, the loss is always at the choice of the Allied Unit's player (unless stated otherwise).
MGF silenced by the Grenadier in a Sector. The MGF is considered "removed" and can no longer be activated. The Marksmanship Medal (from the Gott Mit Uns! expansion) cannot prevent this.
"A Handful of Warriors." This rule also affects the German player.
Timing. If the Allies and the German player both try to do the same thing at the same time, such as stealing each other's dice, or if there is a conflict of rules between the sides, it is always up to the German player to decide what happens first or who takes priority. After all, the battle takes place on German territory.
Gold Beach. If 2 Units enter both Bunkers at the same time, treat the situation as if they entered the same Bunker: choose 1 Unit to act first, compare the remaining forces, then move on to the next Unit if necessary. In a 2-player game, the lone Allied Unit is not required to conquer both Bunkers.
Awards. There is 1 Black Award for every 6 normal Awards. If you decide to change the contents of the Award deck, keep this ratio of 1 to 6.
Legendary Units. The German player cannot use Legendary Units, but can play against them.
Tips for Atlantikwall
For the Allied players:
- A good strategy is to put pressure on the German player as soon as possible: rally the Sniper or find a Sniper Scope.
- Time is on the German player's side! It can be advantageous for the Allies to rush the German player instead of staying too long in the lower Sectors.
- Dividing the Allied Units into 2 Sectors with different DEF values is often a good idea.
For the German player:
- Be careful when you give Skulls to Units: they can be used to obtain an Ultimate Gift RWB.
- Do not drink the Molotov Cocktail.
Atlantikwall Solitaire
When playing solo, you face an automated Allied Unit and use modified rules.
Randomly determine the starting Sector of the Allied Unit. It stays 2 turns in each Sector, always moves sideways, until it reaches a Sector on the edge of the Battle Map. Its next move will be to Advance into the Sector in front of it (again on the edge of the Battle Map). Then it will move sideways in the direction of the opposite edge, and so on.
The Unit tries to stay in play as long as possible, so move it accordingly. If it can avoid attacking the Bunker, it will.
The Allied Unit is not affected by Sector attributes, except "Let's Not Stay Here", which forces the Unit to stay only one turn. The Unit's movement is restricted by Barriers, so make sure it does not move into a dead end. If this happens, the Unit is allowed to pass over the Barrier and continue. Since you do not keep track of the Unit's resources, it never spends Courage to Advance.
The objective is to survive the Allies who attack the Bunker. You lose if at any moment you reach 0 Soldiers (remember that your Specialists are worth 1 Soldier each). There is no Phase 7: Assault when you play against an automated Unit.
All normal rules apply, except for the following:
MGF and Land Mines in Solitaire. If the Allies are in a Sector with an inactive MGF, you must make the MGF roll and suffer the losses yourself (including Special Damage, if applicable). You can only ignore this by activating the MGF. The same applies to Land Mines.
Sniper. The Allied Unit rallies the Sniper automatically the first time it Advances. From the following turn, the Sniper fires every turn that the Allied Unit does not move. When you are hit by the Sniper, you lose 1 Specialist of your choice (or your Zwangsrekut – remember that when this card is sacrificed or killed, it returns to your reserve). (The name "Zwangsrekut" is as printed in the source.)
There are two ways to kill the Sniper:
- Use the Sniper Badge Award on the Allies, or
- Use the Scharfschütze 4 times on the Allies (use counters to keep track) – this lets you locate the hidden Sniper. When you do, immediately sacrifice the Scharfschütze to get rid of this Allied vermin!
Waffen-SS and Observer. When playing solo, the Waffen-SS lets you ignore 1 Skull in your Final Tally. Also, the Observer gives you 2 Item Points for each RBN you get.
Close Combat Clasp. When you use this Award, use a separate set of dice to roll a Final Tally (reroll all the dice as if they were yours). You must choose between your original Final Tally or this one. Whichever you choose, then discard the Award.
Dog & Barbed Wire. When you find one of these Items, roll 6 additional dice once to create a trade pool. When you use the Dog, choose 1 die from this pool; with the Barbed Wire, choose 2 dice. If there are no more dice in the trade pool, reroll the 6 additional dice.
Awards and Items unavailable for solitaire play. Remove these cards from your decks when you play solo.
- Awards: Flak Badge; German Cross; Gestapo Plaque; Gold Wound Badge (Black Award); RAD Badge; War Merit Cross; Westwall Medal.
- Items: Booby Traps; Gas; Goliath Mine; MG42; Molotov Cocktail; Tracer Rounds.
Optional Atlantikwall Rule: Blind Start, German Style
When playing as the German player, you can spice up your life by starting with a random number of Soldiers and Courage.
Roll 1d6 per Allied player, all at the same time: choose 1 result to represent your number of starting Soldiers; add the other dice together to determine your starting Courage.
2-player game or solitaire: roll 1d6 to determine your starting Soldiers.
Module 2: Battle Conditions
These cards reflect the unpredictability of battlefield conditions, whether from nature itself or from the risks of combat.
Setup
Shuffle all the Battle Condition cards to form a deck, face down.
Caption: A Battle Condition card. "Cross Fire" (Urgent). During Phase 6, all Units lose 3 Soldiers. Any Unit may lose a Sharpshooter, a Marksman or a Sniper during Phase 5 to cancel this card for everyone. German player: you may rally the Scharfschütze Specialist for only 1 Star.
How to Play
At the start of each turn (before Phase 1), draw 1 card from the deck, reveal it and follow its instructions.
Battle Conditions affect all Units on the Battle Map. When a card affects the German player, this is specifically stated. If it is not written, the German player ignores the card. A card that says "all Units" only concerns the Allies. A card that says "all players" also concerns the German player.
Battle Condition cards override all Sector attributes, and their effects last 1 turn – until the next card is drawn.
Some cards offer the player the option to lose Specialists or Items to cancel the Battle Condition. Unless stated otherwise, these losses must occur when the Battle Condition is drawn at the start of Phase 1. Lost Items are considered used, and a player cannot use an Item or activate a Specialist's ability before losing it.
If a Battle Condition forces a player to lose a resource, a Specialist or an Item that they do not have, that loss is ignored, unless stated otherwise.
Active Skull
An Active Skull is a Skull in your Final Tally that actively cancels another die during Phase 2. In other words, it is a Skull result that has not been ignored by game effects (such as the Sharpshooter, for example) and that is not part of an RWB bonus, an RBN bonus or a Straight.
Optional Battle Condition Rules
Persistent Weather (recommended). When you draw a Weather card, it stays in play until another Weather card is drawn to replace it. Non-weather Battle Conditions are resolved normally, and you add their effects each turn to the existing Weather card. If this causes a conflict between the two cards, apply them in this order: first the regular Battle Condition, then the Weather card (which may cancel it).
Advanced Observation. The following Items can be "lost" to look at the first 2 cards of the Battle Condition deck (the player then puts them back in place, in any order):
- Binoculars
- Rangefinder
- Items with "scope", "glass", "view" or "sight" in their title:
- Artillery Periscope (War Stories)
- Tinted Glasses (Legends)
- Spyglass (Legends)
- Pocket Telescope (Legends)
- Sighting Scope (Legends)
- Bunker Periscope (German Item)
- Sniper Scope
Module 3: Badges
These cards give Units a new way to improve their Final Tally.
Setup
Shuffle all the Badges to form a deck, face down.
How to Play
When Units earn a Battle Cry RWB, they now have the additional option of drawing a Badge at random (doing this means giving up the other Battle Cry options).
Badges are played somewhat like Items (single use, and they can be kept for a later turn), but when they are used, they go to the Badge discard pile. When the Badge deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
Caption: The Military Medic Badge. "You only need 2 different colours in your Final Tally to earn an Ultimate Gift RWB."
A Unit can have more than one Badge, but cannot get more than one in a turn. Badges can be traded between Units occupying the same Sector, under the normal trading rules.
Notes
- Remember: a die cannot count in two different RWB bonuses, nor can it count both for an RWB bonus and for a Straight.
- If you play with the Atlantikwall module, the German player gains 1 Courage each time a Unit draws a Badge.
Optional Badge Rules
Honour Badge (recommended for beginners). Badges are permanent (they are not discarded after use), and their use is optional. They take effect immediately after being drawn and stay with your Unit until the end of the game. Using a Badge's effect is optional: you always have the choice not to use it (if you get a Skull RWB, for example, you may want to ignore your Military Medic Badge, otherwise the 3rd Skull would cancel a die).
If you use the optional Victory Points rule of the D-Day Dice base rules, p. 16:
- For each Badge drawn by your Unit: -10 VP.
If you play with the Atlantikwall module, the German player gains 3 Courage (instead of 1) each time a Unit draws a Badge.
Courage Badge. Units can spend 1 [icon] and 1 Star during Phase 4 to "buy" (draw at random) a Badge. It is not possible to buy or draw more than one Badge per turn and per player. (The first cost icon in this paragraph is a glyph the text layer does not decode; it is shown here as [icon] and read from the page image.)
Assistance Badge. If players find a Battle Map too difficult, give them a free Badge at the start of the game. This can also be used to balance the level between veteran players and new recruits.
Optional Bonus Rules
These optional rules can be applied to any game of D-Day Dice.
Playing with Fire. The "safety limit" of Explosion symbols for each Unit is 2. During Phase 5, for each Explosion above the safety limit, the Unit loses 1 Soldier.
Chaotic Supply. Shuffle all the Regular Items and Special Items together, and split them into two equal decks. Units can only access the Item on top of the deck. When an Item is found, the one below it becomes available. When one deck is empty, only the other deck remains in play. Legendary Items are not affected and can be found normally.
Source Notes
- The source spells the Module name "Atlantkiwall" once (in the Badge rules); it is printed here as Atlantikwall.
- The source spells "Zwangsrekut" in the solitaire Sniper rule; it is kept as printed.
- The source spells the expansion "Gott Mitt Uns !" in the Notes; it is printed here as the product name, Gott Mit Uns!.
- The German RWB and Awards icons on the rule pages are read from the page images and are described by name above.