Back to Earth and Back in Time

Getting the Drop on Some Germans...

Some of the stuff in the box.

Well, we’ve been in fantasy land and a galaxy far, far away... maybe it’s time for a return to Earth!

Now, if you know wargames, well, there are wargames and there are wargames. Some players are fond of extremely complex historical simulations, with lots of specific unit counters and intense rules and sub-rules and sub-sub-rules. While there’s a lot of fun in that, personally I favor a more relaxed type of game— not the least reason being that less-complicated games, as a rule, tend to play a bit quicker. That works out well with my limited gaming schedule, and also means I’m more likely to entice my teenage son into spending an hour or so facing the old man across a table. (If you’ve got a teenager, you know that’s quite a feat to pull off— especially if food isn’t involved.)

A New Classic: Memoir '44

One of the games that will draw my son in is Memoir ’44 by Days of Wonder. Created by Richard Borg, this recreation of World War II battlefield warfare is both pleasingly simple, yet surprisingly effective at capturing the feel of the era— and it’s challenging and fun to play.

If you’ve ever played Borg’s Battle Cry (Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro), BattleLore (Fantasy Flight Games), or Command & Colors (GMT), you’re already familiar with the basic concepts of the game: Two armies face each other across a large hex map, with terrain features represented by hex tiles (allowing for multiple scenarios to be easily created with the same features). The battlefield is divided into three equal sections by dashed red lines: Left Flank, Right Flank, and Center (always relative to the player’s view; one player’s “left” is the other’s “right”).

Control of the forces is determined by a hand of cards, drawn by both players from the same deck. Each card designates one or more sections in which a player may issue orders to his troops, as well as the number of those troops which may move and fight in that section. So, for example, a card may state that the player can move and fight with two units on the Right Flank. If played, the player may only move and shoot with two units, and those units must be in the rightmost section of the battlefield (relative to the player’s view). If the player doesn’t have any units in that section, the card is useless. If he has only one, he can move it but the extra unit move is ignored. If he has three or more units in the Right Flank, he can choose which two move and fight, but the rest do nothing. There are also cards with special effects, like restoring lost forces, or calling in artillery barrages and “air strikes” (basically, attacks against any enemy unit, regardless of location), and more.

Terrain affects movement, offers protection from attacks and/or limits the ability to attack, and blocks line of sight. Terrain includes hills, forests, waterways, towns, hedgerows, etc., as well as special features like bridges, fords, bunkers and so on.

Units typically consist of two, three or four figures, depending on whether the unit is “artillery,” “armor,” or “infantry,” respectively. The figures represent the “hit points” of a unit— one hit removes one figure, which is an easy and effective tracking system. Otherwise a unit’s strength remains the same regardless of how many hits it takes. If a unit typically rolls three combat dice, it rolls three dice whether it has four figures or one remaining. Otherwise the number of dice can be modified by range or terrain effects (usually a penalty), or boosted by special cards.

The dice are unique, displaying images representing infantry (2 sides), armor (tanks), a grenade, a flag and a star. If you roll the symbol of the unit being attacked, each symbol equals one hit on that unit (the “tank” symbol represents hits against both armor and artillery). The grenade is a “wild” hit that applies to any unit, the flag forces a unit to retreat a hex (1 hex per flag rolled), and the star is usually a miss (certain cards can change this). Note that while infantry units take more hits, they are more likely to be hit than others (50% chance vs. 33% chance).

The game is played in scenarios based on actual WW2 battles, sometimes with special scenario rules based on the history of the event. Victory is gained by eliminating complete enemy units— one “Victory Medal” for each unit, regardless of type— or by achieving battlefield objectives (usually taking and holding a specific town, hill, bridge or other terrain feature). Typically a side must amass four to six Victory Medals to win, as set by the scenario. The first force to achieve the required total wins the battle.

And that’s pretty much it— simple, but quite versatile in play, and very challenging as you struggle to plan how to use your cards most effectively... especially as each player is limited to a hand of six or fewer cards, depending on the skill of the historical commanders for each side. Since you don’t know what new card you will draw at the end of your turn, you can’t be certain that your strategy will work as planned. If you’re not careful, you might even wind up with your forces essentially stuck in one section of the battlefield, unable to take action because you don’t have a card for that section in your hand!

My son and I have played the game several times, but as we’d not touched it in a while, I opted for a simpler scenario to get started— but it’s no less an important battle for that!

The D-Hour of D-Day

The scenario selected was in fact the first battle of D-Day. In the early darkness of June 6, 1944, gliders filled with British commandos flew behind German lines into Occupied France. Their objective: seize two key bridges across the Caen Canal and the Orne River, and hold them for the Allied advance later that day (assuming, of course, the Allies were successful in defeating the German defenses at Normandy). In history, the gliders landed with pin-point accuracy, giving the commandos complete surprise on the German defenders, and both bridges were swiftly secured. Although two separate bridges across separate waterways were involved, the battle has always been named after the bridge over the canal and the famous “flying horse” badges of the men who captured it— the Battle of Pegasus Bridge.

The Battle of Pegasus Bridge

The Beginning of the Battle: The gliders have landed.

The scenario begins with the gliders already “landed” and the troops deployed. The view is from the Allied Commander’s “side,” so I will refer to the battlefield sections accordingly. In the Left Flank are the Pegasus Bridge and canal (no units may cross the canal except at the bridge; however, they may freely shoot at enemies across the canal). In the Center is an impassable pond and a few woods (the latter block line of sight, stop a unit’s movement when entered, and provide a -1 attack dice protection for a unit inside a wood). To the Right Flank are the Orne River and bridge. Grey units are German infantry, Green units are British infantry (green figures are interchangeable among the Allies, depending on scenario, so some visual discrepancies from the actual troops present should be forgiven).

To reflect that the Germans were caught unprepared, the German Commander begins the battle with only two command cards versus the Allied Commander’s six. However, the German commander adds an additional card each turn (as he “comes to grip” with the situation), though his maximum hand size is four cards. That might seem unfair, but watch as the fight progresses and you’ll see that even an undersized hand can be very, very good.

In this scenario (and in history) the British commandos have the first move. Alas, I didn’t have particularly great command cards, but I could at least advance a few forces here and there. I opted to start off with an attack on the forces guarding the canal bridge, in hopes of driving them back and gaining some early Victory Medals (note that in this scenario, the two bridges each represent a Victory Objective for the British side— one Victory Medal each towards the required goal of four).

Early A.M., June 6, 1944: The commandos advance...

My initial charge clearly caught the Germans half asleep. Despite being hampered by barbed wire (the grey “jelly rolls” on the board), which penalize attacks by one die for any infantry shooting from the barbed hex, I managed to wipe out one entire infantry unit— one Victory Medal gained in the very first move!

The German Commander responded with an echoing move, bringing up his forces on my Left Flank to protect the bridge. He also succeeded in reducing my leading unit by half. No commander likes to see that!

The Brits face stiff resistance!

Turn 2 saw the Germans far more ready for battle, issuing orders to units on both the Right and Left Flanks! (A “Pincer Move” card— wish I’d had it.) On the Right, he occupied the Orne Bridge, preventing an easy grab by me, while on the Left, he took out my weakened unit and set up a fire team across the canal to harass my supporting troops! 1 Victory Medal for him— (Lucky kid. Grumble.)

(You can see in the photo that I had limited card choices. Two were for my Right, where I had zero forces, and I had drawn no moves for the Left, where the action was the hottest!)

Bringing in the reserves— one hopes not too early.

I decided to use an “Infantry Assault” card, which allows all the infantry in any one section to move (and move an extra hex, too). Although I had wanted to use it when I could actually turn the move into a broader firefight, I decided I had to bring in my back reserves to shore up my badly mauled Left. I also moved units into the Right flank to menace the Orne Bridge. On both sides I managed to weaken his forces, but gained no VMs.

Still, I thought things were looking up... but the German Commander had other tricks up his short sleeves.

What Happened?!?

The Jerries fight back! I say, that smarts.

Look at that photo. Just look at it. WHAM. I lost another whole unit on the Left, underwent a general retreat there, and saw my Right almost shattered by two guys running off a bridge! Another one of those dang Pincer Moves— what, do they print them in Berlin? Now the kid had two VMs to my one! Blimey!

Oh yeah? Well... take that!

Fine. I had forces on the right now, so I could use that blasted Probe card I’d had since turn one, and attacked with two units. RAT-A-TAT-TAT! Those two Jerries should’ve stayed on the bridge. That gained me a second VM, too, and allowed my attacking unit to immediately gain a free advance into the space vacated by the enemy— one step away from claiming the Orne bridge!

But Fritz wasn’t done yet— he responded in the same area, and took out a three-man unit! (Lousy dice— bet they were made in Berlin, too.) Now he had three VMs— just one away from victory.

That could not be allowed to happen! History was at stake! Plus, he’d lord it over me for the rest of the night!

A battle in the balance...

Time to pull out the secret weapon. MUAH-HA-HA... wait, that’s probably not right for this genre.

Uh... “For King and...”

No, these chaps probably just yelled, “At ‘em, lads!”

I played the “Behind Enemy Lines” card, which allowed me to advance one unit three hexes (normal max is two), fight, and advance three more hexes. Roaring out of the woods, a fresh unit of commandos poured down on the German left, avenging the lost British comrades and then racing to claim the undefended "Horsa" Bridge.

HISTORY IS SAVED!

It was a timely play, as that move netted me two VMs and the game. 

Victory for the Brits! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

T’was yours truly who claimed the laurels for the evening— though, very nobly, I did not lord it over my son, but offered him a gentleman’s handshake. That’s sweet victory enough for the old man.

After Action Debriefing

My son put up a good fight, and the game was in the balance down to the last (one mark of just how good a game Memoir ’44 is). If I hadn’t drawn the Behind Enemy Lines card, I’d have been facing real trouble. (I will note that I had the Ambush card, and completely failed to use it an opportune moment— not an unusual drawback for a card you play out of turn. One has to remember one has it when the other guy makes his move. Instead, I was too busy reacting to the danger to recall I had a handy solution. "Typical officer," my men probably muttered.)

In any case, even this basic scenario (which features only infantry) is a solid challenge and a lot of fun. If you have the game, I hope I’ve whetted your appetite to pull it out again. If not, I encourage you to find a copy!

--- Howard Shirley

P.S. Oddly enough, my version of the game— which I picked up used— did not have enough components to actually lay out the Pegasus Bridge terrain as pictured in the book— there simply aren’t enough canals (straight waterways). I think, however, that's probably true of the standard boxed game, too, as the component count is right for my set. So in setting this up, you have to use the curvy river pieces instead. The game effects aren’t any different, but I find the straight components fit actual overhead pictures of the canal and river at the time:

The "Pegasus" Bridge and Caen Canal (upper left)
and "Horsa" Bridge and Orne River (middle left)
Horsa gliders (for which the Orne Bridge was renamed) can be seen in the photo as well (click to enlarge).

Fortunately, I also have the Terrain Pack expansion set, and between the two I could approximate a somewhat “historical” look.