Memoir '44

[The Schaef]

... is awesome.

At our Xtreme Game Night last night, when kids were not competing in Gitfiddle Hero: Aerosmith, there was also a board game competition going on.  Some lame-o people were playing Monopoly (yawn) or Go Fish (what are you, 5?), while the kids from my playgroup drifted curiously over to the table where I had clandestinely set up the Pegasus Bridge scenario.

After using the first game as a teaching game, I set up Montelimar, a more balanced scenario that also used tanks and artillery.  They had an absolute blast.  Nathan and his teammate get a moral victory for being down 5 medals to 1, expecting my "Barrage" command card to be the death of them, but Timmy and I decided to aim at a lone tank, and rolled our 4 battle dice.  4 infantry.  No damage.  The table erupted, and in the next two turns, their tanks rolled through our defenses on the left and right flank and took 3 more medals to make 5-4 a lot more respectable than 5-1.

Basically, Memoir is a WW2 lightweight boardgame-slash-wargame using Richard Borg's brilliant "Command and Colors" system of combat.  The game board has two sides, one with a green field and one with a beach landing.  Pick a scenario from the second half of the book (there's like 16), and set up all your little mans and tanks and such around the board as shown in the picture.  There are also terrain hexes that you add to the board to show forests, rivers, towns, etc.  Each player takes the prescribed number of command cards and play begins.

This is how you play Memoir.  Play one of your cards.  Move the number of units listed on the card in the section it says (left, center and/or right).  Those units may shoot at an opposing unit, if they are able and in range, by rolling dice.  Draw a card to replace the one you played.  That's it.

The strategy is in determining what to move and when, given the cards available to you.  Several of the scenarios are unbalanced towards one side or the other, given the historical setup; the Allied Forces win Pegasus Bridge 70% of the time, whereas the Germans win Omaha Beach 80% of the time (showing just how amazing it was that we took that beach on D-Day).  Games tend to play quickly, within 45 minutes, so it's not unreasonable to play both sides of the same scenario and total up your score, so that unbalanced maps are more about how you play each side, and not just happening to be on the wrong side of the table.

There are several expansions available for this game, including one that adds Russian forces, one that adds Japanese forces, one that adds airplanes, and a ton of new scenarios, terrains and bits.  Suffice to say I plan on investing a little bit of cash in filling out this particular collection, including the green canvas bag you can buy to hold all the different boxes! 

[D-man]

I have this game, and I play ocasionally.  I do like the combat system, although it is frustrating when you have 4+ cards that deal with an area of the board where you have 1 unit.  I have one expansion (it's just a Terrrain pack, nothing special) which includes a few new scenarios and a lot of tiles.  It's also annoying that, like you said, about half of the scenarios area weighted in favor of one side or another.  One of them (not sure which one) pits 9 German units and 1 German tank unit infantry against 6 Allied infantry units.  So sometimes we just make our own scenarios and take a picture of them, so we can play them again if we like them.

On a side note, since when is Go Fish an "Xtreme" game?

[The Schaef]

It's mostly about the Gitfiddle Hero.  If I hadn't brought my games, the boardgaming portion would have been anything but Xtreme.

[TheKarazyvicePresidentRR]

Scheaf, Can I come live with you? please? :-p

Richard Borg's brilliant "Command and Colors" system of combat.

I am not familiar with that system, or I may be but am unaware of it. What is it?

There are several expansions available for this game, including one that adds Russian forces, one that adds Japanese forces, one that adds airplanes, and a ton of new scenarios, terrains and bits.  Suffice to say I plan on investing a little bit of cash in filling out this particular collection, including the green canvas bag you can buy to hold all the different boxes!

People don't have those normaly?

[The Schaef]

Richard Borg's brilliant "Command and Colors" system of combat.

I am not familiar with that system, or I may be but am unaware of it. What is it?

Yes, you are, for two reasons.  One, I described it in the "this is how you play Memoir" paragraph above.  Two, after Richard Borg produced Battle Cry for Avalon Hill, a Civil-War game using this mechanic, some other guys from Avalon Hill, erm, "borrowed" it as the main gameplay mechanic for another little game you and I played together.  Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit.

People don't have those normaly?

No, seriously.

[TheKarazyvicePresidentRR]

Yeah I asked that before and read it and forgot to edit it out XD. dude O_O thats awesome.

[The Schaef]

Yeah, either you gotta move to Ohio, or better still (for me), we gotta move down south.  I don't have the luxury of affording a lot of board games, so the ones that I get have to be towards the top of my must-have list.  I paid top-dollar for Queen's Gambit and Epic Duels specifically because they were the Holy Grails of my gaming collection.

And FWIW (cheap plug), the games I offer at my store are universally somewhere between great and awesome.  Like starting at 7 on a 10 scale and climbing.  I can potentially offer a lot more, like fluxx or Larry Boy Go-Fish or whatever but I have made it a point to filter out my selection to games that I personally have played and love, or come highly recommended by others, so that no matter what you buy, it's probably going to be awesome.

[TheKarazyvicePresidentRR]

I remember you saying that at nationals. Kidnap becky and move down here!

Oo I shalt check it out.

[JSB23]

Bring them to '09 Nats

[Master KChief]

if you want to see some really cool games, check out rpgdirector. he has more boardgames than can fill his basement!

[Tsavong Lah]

Schaef, have you ever played Axis & Allies or any of it's spinoffs?

[777Godspeed]

We just played our first game of Memoir 44' ( Pegasus Bridge) and my daughter put the stomp down on me. I was Axis and she was the Allies. I thought I might be able to pull off a win, as I had some good rolls early on and then my good rolls stopped and she started to get the good rolls. For the last 5 turns of the game I had 4 Command cards to order movement on my left flank and I only had 1 unit in the center. 
My daughter is very excited about the game and is looking forward to more play. My boys are also excited about playing and team play. I have the Memoir 44' core set, Operation Overlord pack, Mediterranean Theater expansion and Hedgerow Hell (featuring The Cadets of Saumur) Overlord Battle Map Series - Volume 1. I plan on picking up the other expansions, winter/desert board and the carry bag very soon.
Play was intuitive and my daughter picked up on the game in the first 2 turns with minimal input from me. Strategy is excellent and the biggest plus was that the games don't drag on and on. 30-60 mins and you are playing a rematch or another scenario.



Godspeed,
Mike

[The Schaef]

I have one copy of the base game and Eastern Front, as well as the Campaign Bag.  I'm certainly hoping to get the other expansions sooner than later, but when my tax refund came in, Smirk and Dagger waved their Cutthroat expansions in front of me and I kind of got sidetracked. 

I will issue this word of caution, the bag isn't necessarily a way to sort and organize your pieces.  All it does is hold all the boxes for the game in their own little pockets and pouches.  For M44 fans like myself, that's good enough, but some people were looking for something that would let people unpack and sort the individual pieces (tiles, soldiers, whatever) and were disappointed.  I just want to be sure you know what you're getting before you plop down your $40.

Pegasus Bridge is slanted about 70/30 in favor of the Allies so the fact that you were competitive at the end say something.  But that's what I love about the game, it's light and easy to pick up, it plays quickly, and it re-enacts the major battles of WWII without breaking its own back trying to make every map perfectly balanced.

[777Godspeed]

I saw the 70/30 slant and took the Axis for that reason. Thanks for the heads-up on the bag. Fortunately, I have done a little research on it and found it to be the way you described which will fit my needs and won't leave me disappointed.
I arrived home from work today to see my daughter and youngest son sitting down and playing an impromtu game. I had the rulebook/battle scenarios with me at work, so they made up a scenario and played it out. I am looking forward to the Eastern Front Expansion so we can play out the epic Tank Battles between Russia and Germany.


Godspeed,
Mike

[The Schaef]

The thing that's wacky about Eastern Front, the Russian command orders actually have inefficiency built-in to simulate the presence of the political officer in the units.  You have to put an order down basically one turn in advance, and each "advance" order is revealed and executed on the following turn, so there's always a delay in responding to mounting threats or sudden turns of fortune.  It's an interesting mechanic, in an "I want to strangle the commissar" kind of way 

[777Godspeed]

I read that in the Operation Overlord rulebook and found it a humorous and intriguing way to deal with the "political officer" aspect of the Russian command. All the more reason to give it run. Hurray for inefficiency. 



Godspeed,
Mike

[777Godspeed]

Yes I am necroposting, but..............
I just picked up the Air Pack for Memoir '44.  Has anybody played using the Air Pack?  I'll probably be able to get a couple games in this weekend with the family. It looks extremely cool and adds yet another dimension to an already awesome game.


Godspeed,
Mike

[Kyp Henderson]

I have this game too, I just like Civil War version (Battle Cry) better. My brother and I also don't play to however medals, we play to utter and complete domination.  we have to kill all of our opponent's units.  Kinda cool for some of the more balanced scenarios and with the Battle Cry the reinforcement card is the best card to get, especially when you have counterattack

[JSB23]

Necropost,
Anyway I just got a copy today, hoping to play it later this week

[The Schaef]

Welcome to the club.  We have to have a Memoir blowout at the next Nationals.

I did not post the update here but my collection now includes the base game, Mediterranean Theater, Pacific Theater, Eastern Front, the Terrain Pack, the Air Pack, and the Campaign Book, Vol. I.

I can haz happy

[JSB23]

is pacific theater any good?

[The Schaef]

I like it.  It gives a new dimension to the game in several ways.

The Japs can jump around through caves, entrench themselves and get Close Assault bonuses.

Marines get to move an extra unit with command cards, and have a Counter-Attack bonus.

There are a ton of new bits in the box, rules for Night Vision and destroyer fire from the sea, and some excellent scenarios.

At present it is my favorite of the three theater expansions.

[777Godspeed]

I now have the Snow/Desert board. Gotta get my hands on the Eastern Front expansion so we can play one of the epic Tank battles.


Godspeed,
Mike