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Review. Undaunted: Normandy
Sergeant Deckbuilder, Riflemen Dice
When a game about the Second World War carries “Undaunted” in its title, the game focus is obviously not on fear. Even some pathos and hero worship shine through. In any case, the authors of the game manual considered it worth sharing that the 30th U.S. Infantry Division, which inspired the game, was considered to be the “best” of the war in Europe by contemporaries.
By UDO BARTSCH
fortunately, that does not have conse quences.
Both sides start with identical or sim ilar card decks. Four cards are drawn to form a hand, one determines the initia tive, the other three can be used for ac tions: units attack or they move through the terrain with the goal to take control of strategically important spaces. Scout ing troops will have to go first before others can follow. Commanders order units, bring new cards into the game, or draw additional cards from already exist ing troops and add them to the deck. If I am planning an attack with my Riflemen
squad A, it helps to stock up on a lot of relevant cards so that they get their turn more often. However, this is how I also become predictable. Each hit against the shooters costs me an associated card. In the worst case, I happen to have one in hand, have to discard it, and therefore, lose the action.
Thin decks provide more game control, their shortcoming is their vulnerability. If I can’t discard another card even though I have to, the unit token disappears from the board. It can possibly get recovered later, but then I will have to place it back at the beginning. The unit’s hard fought
land captures are lost. Planning the deck, intentionally putting it to gether and, depending on the battle situation, changing are the
components that set Undaunted: Normandy apart from other war games. Different considerations have to be made than in usual deck
building games.
The maneuvers in the terrain
are no selfstarters. Starting points
T
annihilation on both sides. After winning the land from the edge of the forest to the riverbank, lots of discarded cards pile up at the edge of the battlefield. They carry names like Fritz Wolf, Frank Lee, Rein hold Schröder, Bob Benjamin, Hermann Ziegler, Otis Washington, Dieter Pohl and thus remind us of real victims of war.
The overriding theme, of course, is the liberation of Europe from fascism. But this is not the focus of Undaunted. We play small individual battles
that would have taken place
in a similar fashion after the Allies landed in Normandy. But Undaunted: Norman- dy is not a simulation. It is a game. The actors deciding the war are Sergeant Deckbuilder and Riflemen Dice. The Ger man side can also win. And
here would be plenty of potential for scare. Quite a few of the twelve
scenarios end with almost complete
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Photos: Bartsch, Becker / Illustration: Giant Roc
