Memoir '44?

 

  

Memoir '44? Where did this come from all of a sudden? Well, for the last year or so, as I pondered the game projects I want to tackle in retirement, my WW2 Desert MicroArmor is high on the list. I have all of the relevant forces involved, a great deal of them mostly painted (thanks, Baron!), so it basically comes down to basing and terrain. 

But whoa, that depends on the rules to be played, right? Hmmm. If I just play Armoured Storm, a fun little game of tank battles by Daniel Mersey, I don't have to base the minis at all and terrain is simple. Although I like this game a lot, I really want to play with ALL my toys: armor, infantry, artillery and airplanes along with entrenchments, emplacements, etc. Yes, Armoured Storm has some of the emplacement aspects (Strongpoints) but it is very stylized to keep the emphasis on tanks.

I really want to play more of a combined arms game at the grand tactical level - more like the company as the basic maneuver element. I have been looking seriously at Rommel by Sam Mustafa, which uses the company as the basic unit. Rommel uses a "Good, Better, Best" system (remembered from my old marketing days) to rate offensive strength and a 3-tier track for attrition: 3-2-1 is Good; 4-3-2 is Better and 5-4-3 is Best. It is a good game, but I can't make the toys look good on the table. The grid gets too big when the shooting ranges "look right" and the opportunities for modeling terrain are very limited (western desert, remember?). 

Then Prufrock commented on my most recent Red Alert post, and that reminded me that I'd recently viewed his latest post on Memoir '44. We both like the Commands and Colors sytem and he seemed to get good games from Memoir '44, so I downloaded the rules from the Days of Wonder site for a fresh look. First thing I noticed was that the Units were comprised of 3 or 4 figures; if you consider a figure to represent a platoon, and 3 or 4 platoons to be a company, a Unit in the game could represent a company. And the 3-dice combat and armor/infantry interactions "feel right" at the company level. After a little experimentation, I decided I REALLY like the look of the MicroArmor toys on the 4" hexes.

But I just can't get past the fact that all the armored units are the same. I began to wonder (of course I did) if there might be a subtle way to layer some differentiation onto the armored units without changing basic rules or changing the number of combat dice rolled. While wondering, I recalled that Rommel's combat values were only a point or two different at full strength in most cases. Using Rommel's mid-war unit stats I created a "Good, Better, Best" system using re-rolls.

In the case of Attacking armored units, all German units are Best (Proven), and get to re-roll one Miss (a "Miss" is any result that doesn't have an effect). All British and 1941 or later Italians are Better (Trained) and don't get a re-roll. Americans and 1940 Italians are Good (Unproven) and have to re-roll one Hit. Infantry don't have any re-rolls, but there is a simple way to denote Green or Veteran status if ever needed (see chart following).

When Defending, armored units are designated Light, Medium or Heavy based on mid-war western desert usage. The Attacker re-rolls one Miss against Light units, doesn't re-roll against Medium units and re-rolls one Hit against Heavy units. There are also a few extra traits like Fast, Slow or Close Support, also in the chart following.

This isn't intended to radically change any of the basic interactions; just to add a little easy-to-apply chrome if you're rivet-counting-inclined. Of course a real rivet counter stopped reading a while ago! If you've read this far, I would love to hear your thoughts, pro or con. No, other than rolling some dice around, none of this is game-tested yet.

And to close, today's my birthday! Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Battles & Brews Again

 

While the outside game was going on - and it was WAY hot outside - I set up for Armoured Storm, which was a much easier and faster prospect than prepping for one of my F&IW games! We played a simple meeting encounter scenario with 3 players a side each commanding two platoons of 5 "early war" tanks each, with 2 HQ tanks to deploy at will; two flanking armored forces meeting head on.

Shooting range was the length of the 6-foot table but anything over 20" was only possible on a roll of "10" on a D10. . . and of course two of these improbable shots took out two German Marders in the first couple of turns! Afterwards, the shooting at long range proved completely ineffective and both sides closed to better the odds.

The British "Honeys" and the German PzKw IIs took the brunt of the damage dished out, the Honey platoon becoming the first Unit to be knocked out completely.

 

 After about two hours both sides had lost about a third of their tanks and decided to call off their attacks, satisfied with a "draw."

Armoured Storm is a fun little game, that could be bigger if you wanted it to be. It has simple intuitive mechanics with a system for setting initiative and orders for each turn that involves both sides and is almost a "sub-game" in itself. Give it a try - the price is right!

Battles & Brews

 

 I planned to put on a F&IW game at Battles & Brews this weekend and completed the bases on these Rangers a couple days ago to premiere them at said game. These are "repaints" - check them out here in the Wayback Machine. Then I hurt my hand and decided I didn't want to haul all the required terrain and heavy metal so. . . I am opting for a "lighter" game to make it easier on my sore hand. 

We're going to play Armoured Storm by author Daniel Mersey, of Lion Rampant fame.

 

This game will be "lighter" all around - way less terrain and tiny (MicroArmor) tanks. We played this once a couple years ago; here are some photos from that game that never made it into the blog.

 

The highlight of this game for me? I volunteered to command the weakest German tanks on the field, a platoon of PzKwIIs. We went "hull down in the pass" to protect our left flank and "brewed up" an entire platoon of Crusader IIIs that intended to roll right over us!
 

 

Maybe I'll see ya this weekend.

 

How did I miss this?

 

 

The second edition of This Very Ground - now subtitled Victory or Death - was released in a Kickstarter last year by Brigade Games and the original author, Keith Stine, and I just found out about it! Don't know how I missed it, though there seemed to be relatively little fanfare around it. This Very Ground was the set of rules that started my gaming journey in the French and Indian War. And it has been a journey.

I lived in the Twin Cities area from 1996 to 2001, and then moved to Tulsa, OK for work. I traveled some as part of my duties and on a trip to Minneapolis I had an opportunity to revisit an old haunt, our FLGS, The Source. It was on this trip that I purchased This Very Ground after a quick perusal in the store. I had to cross the I-35 bridge afterward, and later that afternoon while sitting in the hotel bar, I saw on the CNN national broadcast that the bridge had collapsed! Wasn't actually a "close call" as I had crossed it about 2 hours prior to its collapse, but it was a fluke that I was in the city at all.

The games in the early posts of this blog were all played with This Very Ground, a fun set of rules with innovative approaches to alternating unit activation and "volume of fire" representation and reloading. The use of D10s and percentile morale mechanics made it scalable, too; unit sizes from 5 to 25 or more figures were easily managed.

So why did I move to another set of rules? I eventually found the morale system to be really ineffectual, and Officers didn't do much other than rally off Unit Disruptions, which happened so frequently in my experience that it had little effect on the game overall. But the rest of the game was elegant, mechanically consistent, had good period flavor and was fun to play.

Lo and behold, these are the two areas that received the most attention in Victory or Death! The movement, firing and formation mechanics are basically intact from the original edition, but the command and morale systems got a thorough revamp. Activation is still alternating, but Officers use Command Points to Activate Units and effect Unit performance with a few appropriate Commands. Morale still uses Disruptions as the main "control" lever, but now Officers, and even the Units themselves, have more options and responsibilities for managing them.

One aspect of the original rules I really liked was the Testing to Charge mechanic, and how hard it was to actually get into a Melee, and that once a Melee was initiated, it was a one-turn fight to the death. That mechanic has been modified - and may not have been simplified - but it is still in Victory or Death.

Like all the other "black powder" rule sets we've seen of late, the focus of Victory or Death has been expanded beyond the French and Indian War, but has been limited to conflicts in North America. Rules and army lists are provided for King Philip's War, French & Indian War, American War for Independence and the War of 1812.

All of the rules that were released separately after the first edition covering Cavalry, Cannons & Boats are now collected in Victory or Death and updated to the new mechanics where needed. No additional volumes to buy!

The one thing I find lacking is a unit deployment system. There are 4 scenarios included - one for each of the 4 conflicts mentioned previously - and you can extrapolate a basic deployment system from the rules in all four, but deployment is so key to a game's play I find this a big miss. Again, the deployment system from Sharp Practice 2 might have to be borrowed. 

And the caveat: I haven't played This Very Ground: Victory or Death yet, but am really looking forward to putting "the old friend" on the table.

While we're on the subject of deployment, another of the Too Fat Lardies' (with Reisswitz Press) rules for WW2 deserve a mention.

The Patrol rules are really fun and create a real sense of the "fog of war." Unfortunately for me, they are aimed - as usual - at post-Normandy combat, so I probably won't even try 'em out until they release rules for the Western Desert.

Lastly - and certainly not "least" - I got my second CoVid vaccination shot! Hopefully that means a facemask-to-facemask game in May or June. Bring on "the normal."

See ya.

Memorial Day, Martian Legion and Two Hour Wargames

Jack is no longer with us, but he wants to make sure we remember to thank our veterans for their service and their sacrifices on this Memorial Day. I think those of us who turn history into games have a special responsibility to remember those who made the history in the first place.

Next topic: there's a book called The Martian Legion that I was able to resist for a long time. But I caved; it's about John Carter and Barsoom, after all. And every other character ERB ever created. . . and just about every other Pulp character ever created. It is a big, beautiful over-priced book that is supposed to be a big, beautiful mash-up of ERB and The Pulps. I have a feeling I'll be underwhelmed by the big, beautiful mash-up but the book itself is big and beautiful and the paintings by Craig Mullins are EXACTLY how I picture Barsoom.

The unveiling. . .

 
It is beautiful. . .

Next Topic: Two Hour Wargames. They are not for everybody, but I am a fan of the "reaction" mechanics and the way that you are forced to manage the battle as opposed to commanding it. The only character you are ever in complete control of is YOU, no matter what set of rules you are playing. . . or genre or level of command. AND you can play solo. Really solo, against the game rather than just playing both sides "honestly." AND the "fog of war" is real, due to the game mechanics. Watching the movie Midway this morning reminded me just how critical that "fog" is to a more "realistic" impression of history in our games.

So I am going to spend some time playing through some THW rules for the French and Indian War and World War 2, and eventually Sci-Fi and Pulp (Barsoom, again?). Not exclusively, but seriously.

See ya!