Days Of Wonder Memoir '44

Memoir '44 is a two-player game which sits on the edge between being a board game and wargame. Like wargames, the game plays across a hex-based board with miniature figures and pieces representing different terrain. However, the game is propelled by a straightforward card mechanic with no need to use rulers, hordes of dice or complex rules for height adjustment or reinforcements. Memoir '44 reduces the wargame to its most basic components without foregoing tactical complexity. The map is double-sided, with open countryside on one side and a beach landing setting on the other. The game comes with a lot of hexagonal tiles representing different terrain: hills, bocage (the infamous Normandy hedgerows), forests, rivers and villages. Each terrain piece gives extra protection or bonuses to units located in that terrain. Combined with other pieces, such as bridges, bunkers, tank traps and barbed wire, this allows completely different battlefield environments to be assembled in minutes, representing everything from Omaha Beach to the outskirts of Paris to the bridge at Arnhem. Each player picks one side (the German or Allies, usually the Americans but the British or Free French in a few key engagements) and sets up the battlefield as directed by scenario. There are 15 scenarios that come with the game but hundreds more are available for free on Days of Wonder's website (and more still are available through expansions). Some battles will give one side more of an advantage than the other, to better represent historical factors, but the game does try to balance this out over the course of the full campaign. Both sides have access to 3 unit types: infantry, tanks and artillery (there is no air power in the game, but some cards can be used to call in air strikes), which are set up as directed by the scenario. Each side also has a hand of cards (ranging from 4 to 6 per side varying by scenario). These cards have to be used to order your units into battle. The cards allow careful probes (moving just one unit forward), full-scale assaults or special orders, such as launching massive artillery bombardments, calling in bombing runs or allowing one side to dig in with enhanced defences. This card-driven mechanic both makes the game extremely accessible - each card tells you what to do, with minimal need to refer to the manual - but also somewhat controversial for hardened wargamers who may prefer a rule set that allows you to move every unit once per turn. Legion are the stories of players who've set up the perfect outflanking maneuver down the right flank only to not get a single card for the right flank for five turns in a row, by which time the enemy has moved out of position. This reflects the chaos of the battlefield and the complexities of communicating with the front mid-battle, but some players may find frustrating. The cards do make the game extremely fast-moving, though. Rather than the many hours a single battle in a more traditional wargame may take, Memoir '44 games rarely take more than half an hour to 45 minutes, allowing several battles to be played through in a single session. This is great for those with more limited time or shorter attention spans. Memoir '44 is fast, frantic and fun whilst retaining a fair amount of depth. It's a great game for people starting out in board games, and for a focused 2-player game with a reasonable playing time it may have no equal (aside, perhaps, from its fellow games in the Command & Colours rules series, such as BattleLore). The game is also highly modular. If you feel the base game is perhaps a tad simplistic, there are online rules for adding armoured trucks, allowing units to return fire when attacked or even adding aerial units (the older Air Pack is now out of print but a new version, New Flight Plan, will be released in 2019 to readdress this). Official expansion packs add lots of new scenarios and rules, including entire new factions for the British, Japanese and Russian forces (in the Mediterranean Theatre, Pacific Theatre and Eastern Front box sets). The Overlord variant allows up to 8 players to take part in huge multi-sided battles. If you're truly flush with cash, there's even the Equipment Pack which replaces most of the cardboard tokens in the game with miniatures, or online sellers who offer 3D terrain in lieu of the cardboard tiles. But all of that stuff is strictly optional. The base set by itself still allows for a huge number of games and variety. Memoir '44 is easy to learn, tricky to master and educational in how much detail it goes into with each WW2 battle. It may be the best 2-player boardgame on the market (and certainly the best that can be played in such a reasonable timeframe). Highly recommended.

Fantastic game, especially such an old one, it still holds up. Simple enough you can start playing fairly quickly, yet with enough depth and scenarios, including user made (and your own if you feel like creating them), that you won't get bored anytime soon. Highly recommend.

This review is for the MEMOIR '44 base game also known as the core game. MEMOIR '44 is my favorite game of all time. Now let's find out why. MEMOIR '44 is a historically accurate World War II game that features the award-winning Command and Colors Card system. For those readers out of the loop, the Command and Colors system is a wargaming engine that is very practical, easy to understand and easy to teach to new players. The basic elements to the mechanics or engine of this game is a deck of COMMAND Cards (think military orders), which can be classified into SECTION Cards and TACTICS cards, and a set of special dice known as BATTLE DICE. In the Command and Colors System the battlefield is divided into a CENTER section, LEFT flank, and RIGHT flank. Section cards are used to allow the ordering of military unit(s) occupying one or more sections. For example, a LEFT section card will allow you to issue orders (move, battle) to units that find themselves on the LEFT section of the battlefield (the game board) and so on. On the other hand, TACTICS cards are not limited to any section of the battlefield and in general are treated and feel like special cards. Examples of the TACTICS cards include the coveted BEHIND ENEMY LINES card, the AIR POWER card, ARMOR ASSAULT card etc... the latter allows you to issue orders to up to four (4) tank units anywhere on the battlefield and if attacking in Close Assault, the tank units roll with an extra battle die. I would say that is pretty powerful right there... I can hear the revving of the diesel and gasoline engines and the tank tracks rolling over the French countryside in 1944. With the mechanics of the game explained, the MEMOIR '44 base game here provides you with a very clear set of instructions and SEVENTEEN (17) different scenarios to try out your Arm-Chair General skills. SIXTEEN (16) of said scenarios are standard and require what you have in the box. The SEVENTEENTH (17th) scenario is called OMAHA BEACH - OVERLORD VERSION. Overlord here simply means you will require a second copy of the base game to be able to set up and properly play this scenario. What's in the box? 1 double-sided Battlefield board map 144 Axis and Allies Army Pieces including INFANTRY, ARMOR (TANKS), ARTILLERY 36 Obstacles including BARBED WIRE, CZECH HEDGEHOGS (ANTI TANK OBSTACLE), SANDBAGS 44 Terrain Tiles including FORESTS, HEDGEROWS, RIVERS, HILLS, VILLAGES, ETC... 60 Command Cards (MILITARY ORDERS) 9 Summary Cards (CHEAT SHEETS) 8 Battle Dice (SPECIAL DICE) 2 Card Holders 1 Rules & Scenario Booklet After becoming addicted to MEMOIR '44, you can expand your gaming experience with the following expansions to the MEMOIR '44 base game: 1) BREAKTHROUGH: This expansion offers deeper maps and a more in-depth experience of MEMOIR '44 2) WINTER WARS: This expansion brings the BREAKTHROUGH deck to the battlefield. This is what I call the third-generation set of COMMAND cards. 3) The Army packs: These expansions include EASTERN FRONT, MEDITERRANEAN THEATER, PACIFIC THEATER 4) SPECIAL OPERATIONS expansion packs: These really do bring MEMOIR '44 to a new level. You can lay a minefield to stop a column of enemy tanks from overrunning your position, drop your paratroopers deep beyond the front line for a surprise attack, request close air support before sending in your tanks and infantry into heavily defended territory, and send field medics to evacuate weakened units from the battlefield. To conclude, I highly recommend purchasing this game. For the price, what you get inside this box is worth its weight in gold. This is an amazing game focusing on the Second World War and using a fantastic and brilliant game system. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

El juego es sencillo y cumple con la fantasía de dirigir un ejercito, que era lo que buscaba para no invertir en war games que no tengo con quien jugar

Great game to introduce new players to wargames. Lots of scenarios so replay value is very high.