Days of Wonder - Memoir '44 - Board Game

I held off from buying this game for about 6 months. On the one hand I really wanted to check it out, but on the other I'd heard a bunch of negative reviews that criticised it as being too random and lacking much strategy. Not that I'm an avid war-gamer or anything, but the idea of requiring the right cards to make your moves seemed limiting.Thankfully after trying it myself, those worries have been put aside.The first thing I noticed was how nice the box is. It's a hefty package with great evocative artwork and a glossy magazine finish. Opening it up revealed the same level of quality throughout from the excellently written rulebook to the large board and many miniatures. Even the insert is really well designed, the whole thing feels like it was lovingly put together.Speaking of that rulebook, it really is one of the best ones I've read in recent memory. Logically and methodically laid out, the rules are explained very easily in the most concise way possible. It's easy to flip through it for reference too whilst the included cards provide some reminders of the basic troop and terrain rules.Each turn you'll be selecting an order from one of your available action cards, enabling you to move units from a certain area of the board or perform a special action that may do a number of interesting things. This system actually works very well as it drastically speeds up the game, reducing the potential for analysis paralysis. It also ties into the game thematically, with certain sides given a bonus in hand size to represent superior infrastructure of the army during the specific historical scenario. What's more, it makes it feel a bit more like issuing orders in a war rather than playing a game - as you often have to make the best of a bad situation or respond to unfortunate twists and turns. It can occasionally be frustrating when you have a hand full of useless cards or your opponent gets a hand full of powerful cards, but this rarely damages the game itself.Another thing I wasn't sure about before buying was the dice and their icons. The idea at a glance that you needed to roll the symbol of a man on in order to hit infantry seemed a little silly and childish. Of course it wasn't until I played that I realised, it should have been obvious, that this is exactly the same as rolling dice with numbers on - the difference is that this system avoids you having to look up multiple stat sheets to correspond different unit types to required dice rolls. What they've done is condensed tons of information, that in another game might be a nightmare, into the dice themselves. This is a really clever little touch.The game itself is a lot more involved than I had thought. Whilst it's true you can only pick from a number of action cards, these still enable you choices in which units you select and what you do with them. The dice can occasionally be a bit cruel, but no more so than any other dice based strategy game (ie most of them!). Most importantly, this rarely feels like a game that's super-competitive and it's quick and easy nature means you won't get frustrated when things don't go your way. Whilst you'll still of course be trying to win, I've always enjoyed each game and not been that bothered if I've lost.The rulebook comes with a bunch of different scenarios that are designed to recreate historical battles, complete with background text for each one. There are also a huge amount of downloadable scenarios, as well as multiple expansions that can add variety to gameplay. There's plenty of content here to keep you going though, so this can be a game that you'll be playing for quite some time.I think Memoir is a great game and I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger on it. Whilst there are reviews out there that call it random and light, what they fail to emphasise is that this is a quick and fun board game, not chess or a heavy war-game. It has plenty of depth for what it sets out to achieve and it does so in great style. I actually find myself quite immersed in the battles and it makes me feel like a commander doing my best to turn the tides or war without giving me the headache-inducing burden of making the perfect strategy. This is an easy game to learn, easy to play and runs in under an hour making it very accessible.All round I think it's a great game and if you're interested then you should give it a try without being too influenced by any of the negative reviews.

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.