- BGG rank
- BGG #16,298
- BGG rating
- 8.8
The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame
2024
Rules assistance for The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1 player
- 50–70 min
- Complexity 2.5/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame
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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame is a board game released in 2024 for 1 player and 50–70 minutes per game. It was designed by Mike Lambo and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, and Hexagon Grid.
About the game
This is a sequel to The Fields of Normandy 2. It is a stand-alone game, not an expansion. It is a solitaire wargame. This game is a fairly quick playing, highly replayable and fun experience, whilst maintaining the need for tactical thinking and decision making. In the game, you will be controlling small groups of soldiers consisting of three Rifle Squads, a Machine Gun Team, a Bazooka Team, a Mortar Team, a Sniper Team and a Lieutenant, moving them around the hex maps and undertaking other orders to achieve the objective. The Fields of Normandy XL is an accessible, portable, solitaire "hex and counter" style war game in a book. 12 Full colour mission maps, rules and a counter sheet are included (to be mounted on card). You will need to provide 2 six-sided dice. Due to a range of factors, many troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were scattered and struggled to come under the control of division headquarters. Many of these troops formed into small groups, organised by officers and NCOs and fought behind enemy lines for up to five days. Although mainly fighting for their own lives, these groups also helped to clear significant parts of the more organised German resistance. If you have played The Fields of Normandy 2, then you will already be familiar with many of the rules for The Fields of Normandy XL. However, there are some material differences to look out for: Maps consist of almost twice as many hexes – 48 hexes compared to 28. There are now 15 potential enemy positions for each mission compared to 12 and these are, to some extent, positioned randomly each time rather than being fixed. Missions run to a maximum of 14 turns compared to 10. Maps include a new Terrain feature – Walls (instead of fences, which had no gameplay effect). Walls do have gameplay effects. Your US force now includes two new Units – a Lieutenant Unit and a Sniper Unit which both have their own Order charts. The Lieutenant now calls in Artillery strikes and therefore US Rifle Squads no longer do. US Rifle Squads can now clear Mines (or more thematically perhaps, establish a clear route through them). There is now a stacking limit of three US Units per hex. A German Tiger (tank) might appear! German Snipers are now a separate unit and operate independently to Rifle Squads. German Artillery usually has more than one possible location hex per map. -description from designer
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- (Self-Published)
Questions and answers
The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame supports 1 player according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The listed playing time for The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame is 50–70 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame has a complexity rating of 2.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame belongs to these categories: Wargame, World War II, and Book. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, and Hexagon Grid. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame are: Mike Lambo. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Fields of Normandy XL: A Solitaire Wargame as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.