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Heroic Knight
 
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Sunday, November 09, 2008 6:56 PM
Posts: 245,
Visits: 1,267
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'Memoir 44' is an excellent 2-player wargame that can be played in about half an hour... that is to say 30-45 minutes including setup. The board is a hex-grid with tiles to overlay terrain, units come in three types (Infantry, Armour and Artillery) and every attack is made using 1 to 3 dice depending on the type and range. Each die has 2 'kill infantry' results, 1 'kill armour', 1 'kill anything', 1 'retreat' and 1 'miss' and each result that matches the enemy type removes one figure from the unit being attacked. If the last figure is removed then the unit is destroyed and the attacker gains a victory point.
This is all pretty simplistic, but what saves it as an interesting game is the Command and Control mechanic: cards. Each side has hand of cards and take turns playing one (and re-drawing). Most of these cards are section cards and allow you to activate 1,2,3 or all units on one flank or in the centre. Only units that have been activated can move and/or fire... thus if you have no right-flank cards then you can't attack the enemy on that flank. Some cards are special cards that let you do funky stuff. This may seem like it'll really slow you plans down, and it will, but it affects the opponent just as much and it can sometimes pay off to take your time about things to build up a supply of cards to sustain an attack in one section... or risk living 'hand to mouth' as you pray that the card you draw as a replacement is helpful.
All in all, this means that sometimes getting a good hand of cards is better than getting good dice rolls: for example jockeying your tank units into striking range ready to use an "Armour Assault" card that gives them an extra dice in close assault that turn. Picking up the second 'Armour Assault' card after playing the first is considered to be rather jammy, but sometimes an attack can just run out of steam as you continually fail to pull cards that move the things you want to.
The game is all done in scenarios, such as Operation Goodwood or Pegasus Bridge... you can make them up and try to ballance them, but there are no 'points' for units or random terrain generators. It works really well to simulate the D-Day landings and associated campaigns and the author has printed scenarios for a lot of the famous engagements in that campaign. He also continues to support it by publishing more on the web, combined with 'russian front', 'desert warfare' and 'Pacific battles' expansions which add colour and introduce new scenarios, without bringing in game-breaking new rules.
All in all, it makes for a tidy little wargame that you can play in a lunchbreak without breaking rule 7. Nice!
http://www.memoir44.com/
Dave 2 / Man in Blue
LT - Artfiel Macenion Duvall, Knight of Celestial
EOS - Weeping Boar, War Sayer of the Mystwalker Tribe Maelstrom - Tal Rufen, Quicksilver Trading Riftworld - Cpl Caplin San Angelo, 48th Assault Recon
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