Having Fun with "Memoir '44"

So, what are your plans for New Year's Eve? Wine, women, and song? I'll tell you what I'll be doing. I'll be sitting at home playing quick and easy boardgames such as "Memoir '44." (And maybe drinking one beer, or maybe two or three.) If your are not familiar with "Memoir '44" let me just tell you that it is a very clever, very easy, WWII combat boardgame. It's a bit like "Axis and Allies," but whereas "Axis and Allies" is at the strategic level, "Memoir '44" is at the operational/tactical level. It is easy to set up, learn, and play a quick game or two, or even three, in one setting on your kitchen or dining room table. The game comes with numerous soft plastic tank, infantry, artillery, sand bag, barbwire, and obstacle pieces. It also comes with a double-sided game board so you can run beach scenarios or normal terrain scenarios. There are numerous double-sided hexagonal terrain tiles for creating many different scenarios, each one having a total different terrain situation. The game's utilizes a card system that limits what you can do each turn; so you have to choose wisely. Some of the cards only allow you to activate 1 to 3 units in your center, or right, or left flanks. Some of them allow you much more latitude, and some of them allow you to put a real big hurt on your opponent if you are lucky enough to draw them. Learning when to use the right card at the right time is an important, and fun, part of the game.

My son and I have been having a good time with the game. We are working on the Normandy scenarios that come with the basic game box. We just finished playing through the first Normandy beach landing scenario (Sword Beach) which is a big challenge for the allied side. We played it through four times before I finally proved that the allied side can win the scenario.

"Memoir '44" has become a very popular game system with several expansions and web site support. The publisher is called "Days of Wonder." We have two of the expansions but we still have a long way to go with just playing through all the scenarios in the basic box. The next one on our list is Point du Hoc. That should be interesting!