Wednesday, February 12, 2014

#1: Memoir '44 (Mark's 100 - 2012)



Memoir '44

Mark's Ranking
  • 2012: 1st
  • 2010: 2nd
  • 2005: 3rd
  • chosen on all three lists
BoardGameGeek
  • rank: 78
  • rating: 7.54
Print Status
  • in print
Why It's On The List
  • The best (and best supported!) of the Command & Colors games... it combines a wonderous toy factor (plastic army men & tanks!) along with remarkably evocative recreations of WW2 battles. This is the perfect collision of all the eras of my gaming life: it's got enough warfare & tactics for the chit-pusher in me, the gorgeous plastic bits remind me of the day we cracked open Axis & Allies for the first time, and the speedy gameplay fits my current lifestyle. The plethora (si, Jeffe) of scenarios is a definite point in favor of Memoir '44, as well as one of the cleverest 'fog of war' mechanisms ever - the command deck.
Tips & Tricks:
  • Memoir '44 is splendid right out of the box... though the first couple of scenarios are probably the weakest and don't show off the game as well as they could. (They do a good job of getting players used to how the game works.) Don't give up on it until you've played some of the later scenarios.
  • There are a LOT of expansions... and I personally own at least one or two of each of them. (Point of fact: my Memoir '44 collection weighs over 30 pounds now.) There are no duds in the set... though probably the least valuable to a casual player is the Terrain Pack.
  • There's a desktop program for playing Memoir '44 online that is very good... I just don't get to play it as much as I'd like.
  • My favorite way to play is 2 player Breakthrough (using the Breakthrough deck included in the Winter Wars expansion). Close behind that is playing in Overlord (multi-player team) mode or playing a campaign (using one of the Campaign Books).
Extras

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If you feel a need to catch up on my admittedly-aging Top 100 as of February 2012 list, you can check out:

2 comments:

  1. Glad you've reached the end of this and I've really enjoyed the series. Memoir '44 is a game I enjoy but rarely think to pull out to play. I need to try the best scenarios from the base game so which do you recommend?

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  2. Garry - I don't have access to my Memoir stuff right now... so here's a suggestion.

    Use the Official Scenarios list on the DoW website (http://www.daysofwonder.com/memoir44/en/content/scenarioapp/) and set it for "only *** scenarios" + "West" for front. Any scenarios that have a PDF file next to them will either be in the base scenario book OR you can simply download from the web.

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