Thoughts about Memoir ‘44

Saving Private Ryan, Memoir ‘44 style

I have a particular fondness for Memoir ‘44 - the Richard Borg designed Command and Colours WW2 board game - and rather like a comfortable pair of carpet slippers it occasionally pops up in the forefront of my gaming thoughts as being a safe bet. The rules are very ‘light’ in terms of detail although successive expansions to the core game have added additional layers of complexity to the system. It is still great fun to play though. Over the years there have been a whole heap of fan based additional bits and bobs so the gamer is really spoilt for choice as to what to do with the system once the official scenarios have been exhausted. Indeed, Bob Cordery devised his variant entitled MOMBAT - Memoir of Modern Battle - a few years back and I had enormous fun using them.

I enjoy playing the game face to face using the command cards but traditionally have not bothered using them when fighting solo. I have softened my stance in this respect and so will now happily use the command cards in an unbiased and evenhanded fashion.

There are a number of expansions to go with the base game, most of which come in and out of availability on what seems like an ad hoc basis so for the ardent collector it is often a case of ‘getting it while you can’. Back in the day I would have slavishly acquired everything I could, regardless of whether or not I actually needed it, and would then have probably sold it all on. I currently own a couple of copies of the base games - useful for ‘Overlord’ style larger games -, the terrain pack and the Operation Overlord set and whilst I like the idea of a number of the other expansions I have downloaded much of the material contained therein from the Days of Wonder website. I may look to get a couple of the desert/winter game boards at some point which will of course mean getting the Winter Wars expansion.

Using the models contained in the game is a quick and easy option but it would be nice to use specific kit in some way. I have seen many Command and Colours games using figures on a hexed table top and some of these are quite beautiful to look at (MSFoy I am looking at you!) but for my needs I am looking at something altogether rather more basic. I am happy to use the Memoir ‘44 game boards as they are but with the addition of 3D terrain. It will require smaller figures but not many of them and the whole thing will look rather attractive and have the advantage of being nice and compact. I have thought about using 12/10mm models but at the moment am looking quite seriously at 3mm. Easy to paint, cheap and with a pretty good selection of identifiable types, the scale has much to commend it. Add in those lovely Brigade Models buildings (1:1200th) and I reckon there is the makings of something rather handy looking.

In a roundabout way this post is linked to that of yesterday for one major reason. The material I am looking at in 1:600th (3mm) comes from Tumbling Dice, as do the ships for the WW1 project.

Mr Sulley will be busy methinks, in a small way….