Review request - Memoir '44

Since we have boardgamers coming on now, I figured I would tap their vast experience.

FoW didn't do it for me, so I'm looking for a good WWII fix. Been thinking of Memoir '44. Who has played it? What do you think about it? Good points, bad points, better alternatives?

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10630

BGG is a pretty good barometer for game reviews.

But nothing will compare to the opinion of a gamer who you've known for a while and you know their pet peeves about boardgames.

Memoir 44 is a nice game, but if your looking for a detailed ww2 game, it's going to be way to simple. It's a 2 player simplified war game. It's quick and easy to play, with pretty nice production values. Again it's all very simplified, you have tanks and infantry as simply a category, your not going to have detailed tanks like these are Panthers... these are Tigers.. it's just tanks.

Lot of scenarios and expansions really add to the game and with all the scenarios you can play quick versions of many historic battles.

If you want something more detailed, you might want to try 'Tide of Iron' instead. It's basically like Memoir 44 Extreme with lot more rules and details. Only problem is the added complexity makes the game much longer to set up and play compared to Memoir 44 which is a quick and fast game for 2 ppl.

Other WWII games that are popular are Conflict of Heroes and Advanced Squad Leader.

Squad Leader, I just can't recommend, it's popular amongst the hardcore simmers but it's very complex and it's a game that is hard to keep up with since it has new rules added to it constantly and to play someone is difficult as you gotta make sure your on the same page. The game also is very base board game, no flashy pieces, simple card board, kinda ugly.

Conflict of Heroes is a simpler game than Advanced Squad Leader and is similar in presentation, but is more fun while still being complex and strategic.

If Memoir is too simple for you, go with Tide of Iron or Conflict of Heroes. If you want a nice flashy looking game with production values, go with Tide of Iron... if you want detailed realism, you go with Conflict of Heroes.

Endre, what do you mean FOW didn't do it for you. I never saw you play once ? Did ever really play a full game of it?

Have you ever tried Axis and Allies minis ? Its kind of a mix of FoW and a Board game like Memoir. Best of both worlds IMHO.

@Kyle - Thanks! I hadn't even heard of Conflict of Heroes. I've been looking at Tide of Iron too, but it looks kind of obnoxious to set up. I'll definitely give your recommendations some deep thought.

@Ovich - I played FoW with a friend of mine at my place a few times. It was too much of the 40k feel, I want something with a greater sense of grand strategy, and in this case I prefer the controlled board game-style scenarios (which may even be uneven) over the typical even match of tabletop minis games. Plus to be honest, I don't like the hobby aspect of FoW - the scale is too fiddly to be enjoyable to paint, too many units are the same, and the infantry looks really weird. Almost super-deformed cartoony. Just don't enjoy painting them.

@Frantic - I looked at Axis & Allies minis, and to be perfectly honest, I am really turned off by the collectible aspect of it. Too many bad CCG memories of ending up with crap I don't want and a struggle to put together what I do want.

Conflict of Heroes has one several awards and has very favorable word of mouth, your likely gonna want to check it out then. Conflict of Heroes is releasing it's second game soon which focuses on Kursk in 1943. They have about 3 more Conflict of Heroes coming out in the near future as well, basically each is a stand along game but they all use the same rules, just different settings. http://academy-games.com/index.php/home/conflict-of-heroes-coh

Tide of Irons big problem is the set up, I have the whole game and its sets, but really to set up and then teach players the rules, it really is drawn out. It's a fantastic game but requires lots of patience.

Go with the Axis and Allies series boardgames. Simple,fun and on a strategic scale. Get the anniversay addition. It has all of the major powers including Italy and China. Of course that requires 6 players to really be enjoyable. There's an Axis and Allies Pacific which only requires 2 players. There's also a Battle of the Bulge version and I believe a Normandy one.

Memoir - bought it, played it a couple of times, and then put it away and didn't touch it again until I traded it so I could get into FoW.

Now, I enjoyed it when I did play it, but just didn't touch it again.

If you want grand strategy, don't go for ASL. It's exactky what it says it is, Squad Leader. Tactics, not strategy.

The Axis and Allies games are not bad, they are generally abstract overall campaign strategy games, though if your looking for more detail to your game I wouldn't invest in them. The basic Axis and Allies game I really can't recommend at all, the game just has gotten stale over the years and once you have played it several times with the same people, the game pretty much will play out exactly the same each time. They have added some optional rules in newer editions and some additions to spice it up though. It's basically like a more complicated version of RISK with a WWII theme. The other Axis and Allies games are more campaign specific and have different rules involved as well, a bit more detailed for working with smaller scale of conflicts.

TheLimey wrote:

If you want grand strategy, don't go for ASL. It's exactky what it says it is, Squad Leader. Tactics, not strategy.

Scale does not determine strategy, ASL has just as much strategy if not more than some of the other WWII games, I would say the game is just overly intensive and just way too much given to a person.

The line was grand strategy, which I would argue you don't get in ASL. Strategy yes, grand strategy no.

Well hes looking at titles like Memoir and Tide of Iron, such games won't give you "grand strategy" if your looking at it from a large scale territorial control game.

Axis and Allies and Attack! are probably the most well known of those types of games, and really I wouldn't recommend Attack! to anyone, what a shit game.