D-Day to Berlin is a fast playing game designed to recreate corps level battles of the Second World War, using miniatures to represent the combat battalions and counters to represent the supporting air and artillery assets.
Each player commands 4 to 6 companies of 4 to 12 figures. Games can be played with as few as 17 figures a side. Action is fast and sharp with companies of mixed arms and varying morale types.
The game mechanisms in Day of Battle are designed to give a game that has the feeling of the period, not just the battle.
Day of Battle is a wargame designed for medieval battles made up of unit blocks of 28 or 15mm scale miniatures and uses a mix of D6 dice and regular playing cards for the core game play mechanics as well as the classic (although initiative based) IGOUGO framework which is divided into several sub phases for each players turn. It also features a heavy emphasis on the personalities leading armies and mimics the medieval difficulties of raising armies which adds a lot of flavor to the rules.
The combination of his re-enacting experience and his brother’s writings led Parker away from his normal preference for large scale battles, to focusing on battles that involved not thousands, but hundreds of troops. Parker cites and his reading of Diary of the American War – A Hessian Journal by Captain Johann Ewald as a major inspiration for his rules. Ewald was a light infantry officer who fought in many engagements during the American War of Independence. Parker’s aim is to put the player into the role of leaders such as Ewald by having the player become a “Leader of Worth” (LOW).
I had looked at this rule set back in the beta test phase, when it used a d10 instead of the d6s in this released version. Back then, DDtB used the same battalion per stand structure across battlefield squares (zones) as it does now. I see how it has been improved in the interim period. For now, consider my comments a first look.
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In my last AAR (05/03/2021), I offered a first look at the WWII rules D-Day to Berlin (DDtB) by Chris Parker. On the plus side, I got most things right. On the minus side, I got a few things wrong. Chris set me and the record straight.