War Chest designers reunite for WWII deckbuilder Undaunted: Normandy

War Chest collaborators David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin are following up their stripped-back historical wargame by diving into the combat of World War II.

Undaunted: Normandy is a two-player deckbuilding game set in June 1944 after the D-Day landings. Each player controls either the US troops joining the Allies in occupied France or the German forces defending against the advance.

The game is built around a campaign inspired by the real-life history of the US 30th Infantry Division, featuring a series of missions central to the conclusion of the war.

Gameplay involves players playing cards to gain initiative, issue commands to their units, request reinforcements and manage unavoidable casualties caused by machine gun fire and mortar barrages, with each loss removing a card from that side’s dwindling deck.

Undaunted: Normandy has seemingly been a project long in the works, with Thompson and Benjamin saying it was one of the first designs they started collaborating on.

Illustrating the game will be artist Roland MacDonald, who followed up a career working on video games such as Total War: Shogun 2 with tabletop credits on the likes of the Stop Thief! remake, Kaiju Crush and Battle Line.

Undaunted: Normandy is due for release this August from Wildlands and The Lost Expedition publisher Osprey Games.