Axis & Allies D-Day Edition Due in May 2004

In honor of next year's 60th anniversary of D-Day, Avalon Hill, a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro, has announced plans to release Axis & Allies D-Day, a new, stand-alone extension of the classic strategy game Axis & Allies.

Axis & Allies D-Day will allow players to re-create the largest combined military operation in history: the morning of June 6, 1944, when Allied forces stormed Normandy's beaches.

Scheduled for publication in May 2004, Axis & Allies D-Day will feature detailed game components, including a new blockhouse piece, an extra-large game board and original artwork commissioned exclusively for the D-Day game box, according to a press release.

Other elements of this new Axis & Allies game include a pre-set card deck with three card categories -- Order, Tactics and Fortune -- which add increasing depth and complexity to the game.

Order cards determine play sequence and break turns into distinct phases, Tactics cards offer players more strategic opportunities, and Fortune cards add an element of unpredictability. Axis & Allies D-Day is designed for two to three players and can be played in two hours.

Axis & Allies D-Day begins as plans for Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-held Normandy, are underway. 130,000 soldiers of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States are assaulting Fortress Europe. You and your fellow world powers control their fates.

One side is the Axis: Germany, which has turned the beaches of Normandy into a near-impenetrable stronghold. Breaching its defenses are the Allies: the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The future of Europe, and of the world, hangs in the balance.

Axis & Allies D-Day follows the successful Axis & Allies Europe and Axis & Allies Pacific. Earlier, Wizards announced plans to release a new version of the basic game in March 2004 under the Avalon Hill label. Axis & Allies D-Day is part of Wizards of the Coast's Avalon Hill line of games, which includes Axis & Allies, Axis & Allies Europe, Axis & Allies Pacific, Risk, Risk 2210 AD, Diplomacy and more.