The Longest Day

The Longest Day is a World War II board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1980 that simulates the Allied D-Day invasion of June 1944 and the subsequent Normandy campaign. Background In early June 1944, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy. Although German forces were not able to eliminate the beachhead, they were able to contain Allied forces within the Contentin Peninsula for almost 8 weeks. The Allies finally broke out with simultaneous attacks by British and Canadian forces (Operation Goodwood) and American forces (Operation Cobra). Description The Longest Day is a game for two players (or two teams) that covers the Allied Operation Overlord from the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, to the Battle of the Falaise Gap in August 1944. With more than 2600 counters, The Longest Day is a monster game (having more than 1000 counters), and has been characterized as a "complicated simulation" that takes a long time to play. Components The large game box weighs nine pounds (4 kg) and contains: Six 14" x 22" mounted hex grid map boards and one 8"x22" mounted mapboard, scaled at 2 km (1.2 mi) per hex 2603 counters that use German rather than NATO symbols to differentiate infantry, armour, artillery and cavalry Reinforcement and unit entry tracks for both sides Charts for various aspects of the game