D-Day Dice (Second Edition): Way to Hell

Expansion for D-Day Dice

D-Day Dice (Second Edition): Way to Hell Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

Components are listed as shown on the expansion's component page.

Module 1: The Way to Hell

3 Sea Maps (1 for each player count: 1–2, 3–4, and 5–6)
6 Landing Craft tokens
6 Naval Specialists
6 Player Aids

Module 2: Gold Dice

4 Gold dice
1 "The General" Ranking Specialist
1 "Supply Bag" Regular Item

Module 3: Special Missions

40 Special Missions
12 Battle Promotions
1 "New Orders" Regular Item

Module 4: War Heroes

25 War Heroes

Module 5: SHAEF

6 Regular Specialists
5 Reserve Specialists
1 Resource Card
1 Unit Marker die
6 RWB dice (1 set of 2 pink, 2 white, 2 blue)
1 Player Aid

General components (work with any regular game of D-Day Dice)

3 Awards (War Campaign Star, War Service Medal, Croix Militaire)
1 Drill Sergeant Ranking Specialist
1 Quartermaster Unique Specialist
3 Vehicles (Tank Destroyer, Scout Car, Amphibious Tank)
5 Battle Maps

Overview

Way to Hell adds new content to the game in the form of 5 independent modules that combine new and previous components in different ways. These modules are compatible with all Battle Maps and each other. Add them individually or mix them up for an epic game!

General components work with any regular game of D-Day Dice.

The Quartermaster and the Drill Sergeant offer your Units a chance to reduce the cost of other cards.
3 Vehicles are added to your existing deck of Vehicles: a Tank Destroyer, a Scout Car and an Amphibious Tank. Vehicle rules: p10 of the D-Day Dice rulebook.
3 Awards are added to your Award deck. The War Campaign Star and War Service Medal add variety to your basic D-Day Dice games, and the Croix Militaire takes advantage of the new Gold dice. Award rules: p8 of the D-Day Dice rulebook.
5 Battle Maps complete the D-Day beaches of the Normandy Landings with Utah Beach and Juno Beach, plus bonus Maps that deal with historical D-Day battles like the Brécourt Manor Assault led by airborne troops and Cosy's Bunker, on Juno Beach.

Module 1: The Way to Hell

"The Way to Hell" module plays like a prologue to a game of D-Day Dice. It is a mini-game in itself, with its own rules. It simulates the rough ride of vulnerable landing craft filled to the brim with nervous soldiers thrust into cold, choppy waters to face a resolute enemy.

Unlike D-Day Dice, as you pilot your loaded Landing Craft each roll tells you how much damage your boat takes and how many soldiers you lose. Will you reach the beach in time, or will your Landing Craft be your coffin?

Game Start

Choose a Battle Map with a beach-and-waterline at the bottom, like Juno Beach, Omaha Beach or Pointe du Hoc. Based on the number of players select the appropriate Sea Map and align its top with the bottom of the Beach Map. Map Sectors are now considered adjacent.

Divide the Ranking Specialists among players as evenly as possible; these will be Passengers transported by the Landing Craft.

Players take the Naval Specialist corresponding to their country and place their Landing Craft marker on the Sea Map, in their Starting Sector of choice. Never place more than 1 Craft per Starting Sea Sector. Unit markers from the base game will not be used until Units have Disembarked.

Players record these starting resources on their Resource card:

30 Soldiers + 12 Courage + 20 Item Points.

How to Play

You are a coxswain, the officer in charge of the Landing Craft carrying your Unit. As coxswain, you will need cunning to evade enemy fire and naval mines, and Courage to approach the heavily guarded beach.

Each Landing Craft contains a Unit of 30 Soldiers. While your Unit is onboard, no Specialists may be rallied and no Items may be found. The only Specialist who can help during the ride is your onboard Naval Specialist (no need to rally him). Each Landing Craft is on its own, so Units may not trade any resources until they Disembark.

Most D-Day Dice base game mechanics apply to this module – players roll until they obtain a Final Tally, lose Soldiers per to the DEF of the Sector, spend Courage to Advance – with key differences explained in the text that follows.

Game Phases in The Way to Hell

Players take their turn simultaneously, following these phases together:

Phase 1, Roll: Roll dice until you obtain your Final Tally.
Phase 2, Upkeep and Combat: Subtract resources from your Unit/Craft.
Phase 3, Shelling: Roll 2d6 to determine which Sea Sector is Shelled.
Phase 4, Move: Move your Craft 1 Sea Sector; spend Courage if you Advance.
Phase 5, Mines: If you move into a Sea Sector with Mines, roll:
- 1d6 for the number of Soldiers you lose, and
- 1d6 for the number of Item Points your Craft loses.

Phase 1: Roll the Dice

Since Units roll to see how much they lose every turn, dice results are treated differently than in the base game.

Dice results in The Way to Hell

SKULL (no effect): Skulls do not cancel dice from your Final Tally. They have no effect.
STAR (lose Specialists): Accumulate Stars normally – however, for every 3 Stars gained you lose 1 Specialist. The Specialist lost can be either the Naval Specialist or one of the Passengers (the Ranking Specialists). Passengers lost this way are missing in action and will not be available on the Beach.
SOLDIER (reduce your Unit strength): Soldiers obtained in your Final Tally are deducted from your Unit total. If the Unit count drops to 0 or less, it is wiped out and the game is lost.
COURAGE (lose Courage): Courage in your Final Tally is deducted from your Unit's total. Courage is necessary for the coxswain to Advance to the Beach. If you reach 0 Courage as the coxswain you will panic, halt the Craft, and lower the ramp early, forcing your Unit to Disembark and wade ashore. Ignore further Courage results in your Final Tally until you are on the Beach.
TOOL (lose Item Points, take damage to your Craft): Item Points represent the physical integrity of your Landing Craft. Your Landing Craft is worth 20 Item Points. Every time you obtain Item Points in your Final Tally, subtract them from your total. If your Item Points total drops to 0 or below, your Landing Craft is destroyed.

Phase 2: Upkeep & Combat

RWB Bonus Changes

When seaborne, you want to avoid RWB bonuses. They trigger penalties. (Each icon below appears in red, white and blue versions; the effect listed applies to the bonus whatever its colour. Icon names are descriptive labels added for this transcription.)

Skull icon, STRAY BULLET: Lose 1 Passenger.
Star icon, DIRECT HIT: Your Craft loses 8 Item Points.
Soldier icon, SHRAPNEL: You lose 4 Soldiers. Your Landing Craft loses 5 Item Points.
Multiple soldiers icon, MAN OVERBOARD!: Lose 6 Soldiers.
Panic icon, PANIC: Your Landing Craft must move laterally this turn. If it can't, it doesn't move at all.
Wrench icon, STALLED MOTOR: Your Landing Craft cannot move this turn.

Rolling a Straight will earn you an Award of your choice, as usual, but you cannot ignore your dice results (they make you lose resources normally).

Once you have subtracted the resources from your Final Tally, lose Soldiers equal to the DEF of your Sea Sector. Each Landing Craft adds 1 to the DEF of their Sector, as printed on their tokens. For example, if 2 Landing Craft occupy the same Sea Sector that has a DEF of 2, the total DEF for will be 4 (2 + 1 + 1).

Phase 3: Shelling

On every Sea Sector, there are symbols called Shell Numbers. During the Shelling Phase (phase 3), one player rolls 2d6, adding the values together to generate a number from 2 –12. Every Sea Sector with the corresponding Shell Number is Shelled. Sectors with Shell Numbers 6, 7 and 8 are particularly risky.

When a Sector is Shelled, all Landing Crafts present immediately lose 8 Item Points and 2d6 Soldiers (roll for each Unit separately).

Phase 4: Movement

A Craft may move 1 Sector laterally (to either side) or it may Advance forward – never backward. Lateral moves cost nothing. Advancing costs Courage as the coxswain must steer the Craft toward enemy guns. Contrary to the normal game, Sea Sectors can be visited any number of times.

The Courage icons (on the left side of the Sea Battle Map) only concern Landing Craft. If you Disembark (i.e., your Craft is destroyed or the coxswain lowers the ramp too soon), your Unit may Advance through the water without spending Courage until it reaches the Beach.

Phase 5: Mines

This symbol represents naval mines and obstacles designed to stop any invading ships. When your Craft moves into a Sea Sector with Mines, roll 2 separate d6. The first die represents your Unit loss in Soldiers; the second die represents the amount of damage (in Item Points) your Craft receives. If 2 or more Craft move into Mine sectors at the same time, each rolls 2 dice.

Disembarking the Landing Craft

There are 2 ways to exit the Craft and to reach the Beach, each with its own conditions. Units may Disembark when their Craft enters the shallow water Safe Zone – either of the 2 upper rows on a Sea Map colored sea green – and then Advance from the shallow waters onto the Beach (see How to Disembark). Alternatively, Units in the top row of the Safe Zone may step directly from the landing craft to the first row of the Beach Map (see Reaching the Beach).

A "forced" disembarkation can occur when the you lack the Courage needed to Advance, or Craft reaches 0 Item Points and is destroyed. If either occurs in deep seas, your troops will drown and the game is lost. If either occurs in the Safe Zone, the Unit survives and the game continues.

How to Disembark: To Disembark, place your Unit marker on the Sea Map in an adjacent Sector to the left or right of the Craft, set it to the red up arrow (the printed rules show this as a red arrow icon), then remove the Landing Craft token. Your Unit cannot move during the turn in which it Disembarks, as it tries to organize and cope with the situation.

After Disembarking: On the next turn, your Unit can wade through the shallow waters toward the Beach. Troops are driven by their survival instinct to reach the relative safety of terra firma, so the Unit does not need to spend Courage to Advance and can ignore all Item Point losses henceforward.

Units in the same Sea Sector may trade resources as per normal trading rules.

Reaching the Beach

Landing Craft can deliver your Unit all the way to the Beach, or you may be forced to Disembark early and wade up to the Beach on foot. Sectors on Sea and Beach Maps are adjacent, so your choice of starting Sector on the Beach may be limited by your position on the Sea Map.

Via a Landing Craft: From the top row only of the Safe Zone, spend 4 Courage to Advance from the Craft directly ahead onto the Beach.

Via the Water: A Unit in the sea can reach the Beach by Advancing from the Sea Map directly onto the Beach Map, which may take a few turns. However, there is no need to spend Courage.

As Each Unit Arrives on the Beach: Stop playing and wait until all other Units also reach the Beach. Then prepare for your D-Day Dice battle:

Ignore the starting resources shown on the Beach Map.
Keep the Soldiers, Courage and Awards earned (if any) when seaborne.
Reset Stars and Item Points to 0.
Discard the Naval Specialist in exchange for your choice of 3 Soldiers OR 2 Courage OR 1 Serviceman from D-Day Dice: War Stories.
Passengers are placed in the pool (those who were lost during the boat ride are casualties at sea and do not go into the pool).

When All Units Are on the Beach: It's time to move out. Remove the Sea Battle Map and start your regular game of D-Day Dice.

Awards During the Crossing

While Units are seaborne, Awards can be earned by obtaining a Straight (you may not spend Courage to draw random Awards). Most Awards must be kept until you have landed, but the following can be played while in your Craft.

Award	In landing craft	Source
Army Good Conduct Medal	Play normally.	D-Day Dice
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal	Cancel any 2 results in your Final Tally, and 1 in another Unit's Final Tally.	D-Day Dice
Cross of Grunwald	Gain 10 Soldiers.	Atlantikwall
Médaille de la Résistance	Each Unit gains 3 Courage.	Atlantikwall
Medal of Honor	Cancel 3 results in another Unit's Final Tally: 1 Red, 1 White, 1 Blue.	D-Day Dice
Memorial Cross	Add 20 Item Points to your Craft. All other Units add +10 to theirs.	D-Day Dice
Silver Star	Play normally.	D-Day Dice
Victoria Cross

Notes & Clarifications

Playing with Legendary Specialists: These are also considered Passengers in the Landing Craft along with the Ranking Specialists, and must board their Unit's respective Landing Craft. They can be lost like other Passengers.

Expansion Module Limits: Gold Dice, Special Missions, War Stories, Servicemen, Atlantikwall, Badges and Battle Conditions are not compatible with the Sea Maps, but can be used once the Units are on the Beach.

Way to Hell Optional Rule

Continuous Play

When a Unit reaches the Beach before the others, instead of waiting it starts to play the regular game. This will create games where some Units are fighting on the beach while the others are still seaborne, and will make trading very difficult. Seaborne Units cannot trade dice through the Lieutenant, nor can they trade resources (even with the Carrier Pigeon).

Module 2: Gold Dice

The Gold dice included in this expansion can be added to any regular D-Day Dice game. A Gold die is played like any other Red, White or Blue die, but it takes the color of your choice during the Final Tally.

There are many ways to use these dice. The most straightforward is to use them with the included cards, The General Specialist, and the Supply Bag Regular Item.

Gold Dice Optional Rules

Gold Solitaire Trading: When playing solitaire, instead of rolling 6 dice for the Lieutenant's Trading Pool, roll 4 Gold dice instead. These Gold dice can be traded as described in the Solitaire Trading rules, but they are considered to be of any color. You cannot trade more than 1 die per turn this way.

The next two optional rules let you use the Gold dice in a different way. They are not compatible with the regular Gold dice rules.

A Touch of Gold: Instead of rolling 6 dice, players may choose to roll 4 dice + 1 Gold dice. When playing with A Touch of Gold, lock only 1 die. Earn an Award if you obtain 5 different results. If the Colonel is rallied, no dice are locked. If the General is rallied, players roll 5 color dice + 1 Gold die each turn.

"RWB & G": Players roll a Gold die in addition to their 6 dice during each Phase 1. Gold dice can be re-rolled like any other die, but have no color. During the Final Tally, the Gold die adds resources like the other dice, but prevents any RWB bonus with a matching result from being obtained by its player.

Wild Dice: Players roll 1 Gold Wild Die in addition to their 6 dice during each Phase 1. The Wild Die cannot be re-rolled or changed in any way. During the Final Tally, players can trade 1 of their non-Skull dice with their Wild Die: the Wild Die takes the color of the traded die, but its result never changes.

When playing with Wild Dice, all Items and Specialists that can change the result or the color of a die become unavailable. For the base game, this means the following Items: Binoculars, Strategic Map, Rangefinder, and Dispatch Case; and the following Specialists: Lieutenant and Captain.

Module 3: Special Missions

Special Missions add challenge by requiring Units to gather specific resources or dice, then sacrifice them in exchange for an Award and a Field Promotion.

Example Special Missions:

PFC. Charles DeGlopper's Stand: This Mission requires you to sacrifice the Hero Specialist, a Battle Cry RWB and 3 Stars.
Lt. W.F. "Cosy" Aitken's Attempt: This Mission requires you to sacrifice either the Sharpshooter or the Marksman, plus the Flame-Thrower Item, while in any Sector next to a Bunker.

Game Start

At the beginning of the game, shuffle the Special Mission cards and place them in a face-down deck. Do the same with the Field Promotion cards.

Each player draws 2 Special Mission cards at random and chooses 1 to keep and 1 to discard. This will be their Mission in addition to the normal objectives of the game. If they fail to accomplish it, they lose the game.

Some Missions require Special Items. If these are not listed for your Battle Map, they automatically become available. For each Item added this way, another of the same or higher cost must be removed (Regular or Special). For example, if your Mission requires you to find Amphetamines and a Lucky Charm, but these 2 are not normally available on your Battle Map, then take out 1 Item costing 12 or more and another Item costing 3 or more from the available Items.

Some Missions require Unique Specialists. Since there can only be 1 Unique Specialist rallied at any one time, Units will have to wait until a Unique Specialist is discarded or lost to rally a new one.

If a Mission requires card types not present in your game (like Legendary Specialists, Servicemen, or Badges), discard it and draw another Mission.

Accomplishing the Mission

After the required Items, Specialists, RWB bonuses and/or resources have been gathered, the Unit holding the Mission card accomplishes its mission by sacrificing them during phase 2. When you accomplish a Special Mission: draw 1 Award and 1 Field Promotion at random.

For Missions that require an RWB bonus sacrifice, you forfeit the RWB bonus but not the dice results that gave it to you. For example: your Unit draws Lt. Cmdr. Ian Fleming's Investigation which requires the Combat Photographer, the Mine Detector and a Special Find RWB. You must obtain a Special Find RWB while the Combat Photographer and the Mine Detector are in your Unit. If you succeed, discard the Specialist and the Item and renounce the Special Find (although you still earn Item Points from your 3 Tools). Your Special Mission has been accomplished so you can discard it.

RWB bonuses required by certain Special Missions can be obtained from many sources: the dice in your Final Tally, an Item (like Amphetamines or the Command Jacket), or other game effects. The same goes for color results.

A Unit may hold the required cards or resources until it chooses to accomplish its mission. If your mission requires you to sacrifice the Lieutenant, for example, it might be worthwhile to use his ability a little before discarding him.

Some Special Missions may not be compatible with some War Stories. If so, draw another Special Mission card. For the purpose of War Stories, Skulls sacrificed to accomplish a mission do not count as "active" Skulls.

If a Special Mission requires Skulls, they are discarded before being able to cancel other dice. However, if you sacrifice a Dead Man's Gift RWB, the Skulls themselves, normally ignored, will now become active.

Servicemen cards from the War Stories expansion that have a Specialist symbol can be discarded in lieu of said Specialist to accomplish a Special Mission.

Field Promotions

These cards can be kept and played at any time except during Combat. They follow the same rules as Items (immediate effect; any DEF reduction affects all players in the same Sector and lasts until the end of the turn). They may not be traded. In some cases, a Unit may have more than 1 Field Promotion.

Special Missions Optional Rule: Mission: Possible

At the beginning of the game, each player draws 2 Special Mission cards at random and keeps both, with the choice to accomplish either mission, both missions, or none. It may be impossible to accomplish all of them.

A Unit that accomplishes a Special Mission immediately draws 1 Field Promotion (but no Award).

A Unit that enters the final Bunker of a Battle Map without having accomplished all its Special Missions pays a penalty of 8 Stars to do so (this penalty must be paid or the game is lost, even if the Unit moves in with a Battle Cry RWB).

Module 4: War Heroes

War Heroes are replacement Specialists that can be included in any game of D-Day Dice. They represent historical soldiers who distinguished themselves during World War II. A remarkable number of true heroes fought in this terrible conflict. The Way to Hell includes soldiers from various cultures and ethnic backgrounds to represent the many facets of the Allied forces. Most War Heroes found here fought in the European Theatre (mainly the Normandy and Sicily campaigns); a few earned their place in history during the war in the Pacific.

Online Bonus Content: a companion guide to the history of these heroes is offered by the publisher at wordforgegames.com/downloads (address as printed in the rulebook).

Game Start

To use some or all the War Heroes in your game, place them in the pool.

How to Play

Whenever you rally a Specialist, you may instead choose to rally the corresponding War Hero (if not already rallied by another Unit). In exchange for the War Hero, pay the War Hero's cost in Stars and lose 1 Soldier.

Regular and Reserve War Heroes: When you rally one, the corresponding Specialist then becomes unavailable for you for the rest of the game.

Ranking and Unique War Heroes: When you rally one, the other version(s) become unavailable for all players.

War Hero cards begin with the title of the Specialist (Corporal Léo Major, Colonel Terence Otway, etc.) they replace. This title is always printed in black while the name is dark red. You can never have 2 Specialists with the same title in your Unit, like a Corporal plus Corporal Léo Major, for example.

It is possible to have more than 1 War Hero with the same title in the pool, as long as they have different names. However, once one is rallied, the others become unavailable. For example, the first player to rally a Scout has the choice to rally a Regular Scout from his hand or Scout Tommy Prince from the pool. If the player chooses Tommy Prince, his own Regular Scout becomes unavailable – the other players are not affected. If the player chooses to rally his Regular Scout instead, then Tommy Prince stays in the pool, to be rallied or not by another player.

Losing War Heroes

They are treated the same as the Specialist they have replaced: they cannot be rallied again once sacrificed or lost.

A Company of Heroes

More than 1 Unit can have a War Hero with the same title if the heroes have different names. This only applies to Regular and Reserve War Heroes. For example, one Unit can have Corporal Léo Major and another one Corporal Bull Allen. A single Unit can never have more than 1 Specialist with the same title.

War Heroes Optional Rule: Lead the Way

This is an alternate way to introduce War Heroes to your game. At game start, place all War Heroes in a separate pool. Whenever you obtain a "Leadership" RWB, you now have the added option to renounce the 3 Stars in your Final Tally to rally 1 War Hero for free. All other rules about War Hero duplicates apply normally. This optional rule only affects Leadership RWBs obtained as part of a Final Tally, not by other means (like Awards or Items).

Note: War Heroes for Specialists found in the War Stories and Overlord expansions are also included here. Even if you do not own these expansions, you can still add Paratrooper John Frost, Pathfinder Jack McNiece and War Correspondent Ernie Pyle to your pool.

Module 5: SHAEF

More than a country, SHAEF actually represents a group of countries: the Allied nations themselves.

Game Start

When players select their countries, choose SHAEF and take the matching Specialist deck, Unit Marker, and Resource card. Follow the rest of Game Start normally, as shown in the D-Day Dice rulebook, p. 4. The Pink dice that come with SHAEF are purely cosmetic, so they function exactly like regular Red dice.

SHAEF as a 5th (or 6th) Player

Follow the normal setup rules as you would for 4 players. Don't adjust the number of Special Items per Battle Map, the maximum is always 4. All other rules of the game apply as written.