Utah & Omaha

Joni Nuutinen

About this game

Utah & Omaha 1944 is a strategy boardgame set on the WW2 Western Front modelling the historical D-Day events at battalion level. From Joni Nuutinen: By a wargamer for the wargamers since 2011. Last update late October 2025.

You are in command of the American force carrying out the western part of the 1944 Normandy D-Day landings: Utah and Omaha beaches and the airborne landings of the 101st and 82nd paratrooper divisions.

The scenario starts with the 101st Airborne Division dropping during the night in the first wave and the 82nd Airborne Division on the second wave west of Utah Beach to control the key causeway and seize the crossing towards Carentan, and in the big picture, to speed up the drive to Cherbourg to secure a major port as quickly as possible. On the morning of June 6th, American troops start landing on the two selected beaches while US Army Rangers targeting Grandcamp via Pointe du Hoc split up in the chaos, and only some of the units land on Pointe du Hoc while the rest land on the edge of Omaha Beach. After seizing the heavily fortified port city of Cherbourg, the Allied plan is to break out from the Normandy bridgehead using the western coastal road network and ultimately break free via Coutanges-Avranches and free France.


Thanks to detailed battalion level simulation the number of units can be high during the later stages of the campaign, so please use the settings to turn OFF various unit types to reduce the number of units if that feels overwhelming, or use the Disband action by selecting a unit and then long-pressing the third button for over 5 seconds.

Increasing the variation of units' location from the options will make the initial airborne landings a very chaotic affair, as the airborne supplies, units, and commanders will spread all around the French countryside. Some unit overlap is possible in these situations.


FEATURES:

+ Thanks to months and months of research the campaign mirrors the historical setup as accurately as possible within a challenging and interesting game-play


“We’ll start the war from right here!”
-- Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., assistant commander of the 4th Infantry Division, upon finding that his troops had been landed in the wrong place on Utah Beach

Ratings and reviews

Very much enjoying this. I prefer Battallion level units rather than Division as its more tactical. And units get wiped out less through flanking. Which I feel is a mjor flaw of some of the other games. It feels very much like the GMT Game board game Normandy 44. My only criticism is, I would prefer unit patches on the units rather than images of soldiers or tanks. The Ranger units have this and look aesthetically pleasing. Great game.

very good and the game still is updated bringing new changes long after purchase. Very good developer.

So far very challenging. But enjoying it alot!

What’s new

+ Landing bombardments visually marked on the map
+ Settings: Filter opponent animation
+ Fixes: unit icons lost on some devices, storm effected even if turned off, during landing units of different sides might share a hexagon