Memoir '44 WWII Boardgame at It's Best

Memoir '44, by Richard Borg and Days of Wonder, is a marvelous World War II game, with features of traditional board games and war games. Fans of Risk and Stratego will easily pick it up, as well as players of popular miniature war games like Warhammer or Flames of War. It offers a little something for every gamer.

Memoir '44 game play revolves a large hex based board; one side that is reflects a pastoral setting, while the other shows a Normandy style beach. To make each battle unique, players can setup hex shaped tiles on each hex on the map, representing trees, water, towns, bridges, forts, etc. From here, players also can add bunkers, barbed wire, tank traps, and other obstacles represented by plastic pieces to the board. Finally, players setup their troops, provided in the form of plastic miniature soldiers, tanks and artillery, all nicely modeled and quite detailed.

Game play takes place in turns, with players using cards issued at the beginning of the game to decide what they can do, choosing the best cards to use from their collection for each turn. A wide variety of good and balanced cards makes for some interesting play, and the cards are nicely illustrated as well. These cards offer simple moves, like move only 1-2 units of troops in your left flank, or offer bonuses like air strikes, etc. Using the right cards at the right time will vastly affect the battle, and will help immensely.

The rulebook is very well written, with clear cut rules and illustrations that show exactly what needs to be done. While a few rules don't make perfect sense (i.e. a unit of troops that is reduced to just one figure can still shoot with the firepower of a fresh, four figure unit), most make perfect sense, and are easy to follow. The game set come with everything you need to play pretty much any WWII scenario set in the European theater, and includes several pre-designed scenarios, like Normandy, and several others, in the rulebook. The rulebook also has several useful hints and tactics for playing the game, and really gives a great overview of the game.

It could be argued that Memoir '44 is not a 'hardcore-enough' game to satisfy grog nards and WWII gamers who are more fond of a simple map with a thick rulebook, and could care less about the nifty design and slick packaging of Memoir '44. While this is certainly a fair enough criticism, it should be noted that Memoir '44 is a very solid game, and does a decent job of representing a mix between a tactical level skirmish and an overall larger operation in WWII. If you're looking for a great WWII game that is nicely designed, and easy to pick up and play, take a look at Memoir '44.

By Phillip, www.associatedcontent.com