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 Gameplay The game includes five scenarios that range in playing time from 3 to 12 hours: Normandy Invasion Attack on Cherbourg Operation Cobra Mortain Counterattack Falaise Pocket The game uses "Programmed Instruction" to teach the rules: The first scenario uses basic rules, and each succeeding scenario introduces more complexities. Once the five scenarios have been completed, players have learned all of the rules and are ready to play the complete campaign game. Each turn represents one day in game time. Wargame Academy rates the game's complexity as 6 on a scale of 10, and estimates a campaign game would take 30–50 hours to complete. Publication history The Longest Day was published by Avalon Hill in 1980, with cover art by Rodger B. MacGowan. It was designed by Randall C. Reed, who also designed the counters and maps. Reed was the head of Avalon Hill's research and development staff in the late 1970s, and was one of the first new Avalon Hill employees after the Charles S. Roberts era. He later left Avalon Hill to work with wargames for