From: Mark Jackson Subject: [spielfrieks] Memoir '44 - a few scenarios Pegasus Bridge (#1) Allies win 4-1 (played solitaire) Not a bad starting game (though I'll argue here in a minute that #7 is also a good intro scenario)... but pretty frustrating for the Axis player. The Germans have a better defensive position but only 6 infantry units compared to the 9 infantry units of the American player. The advantage in using this as a starting scenario are the limited terrain types & the absence of armor & artillery units. === Sainte Mere-Eglise (#2) Axis wins 4-2 (played solitaire) This scenario has a parachute drop which is pretty cool (take 4 American infantry figures and drop them from 12 inches above the board)... 3 of the 4 units landed safely, but they were quickly cut apart by the German advance. The scenario stayed even for a little bit, but once the Germans were able to get their armor unit into play, it was pretty much over for the Allies. (Thought: Allies must hit fast & hard in this scenario in order to keep the armor from being a factor. Alternately, they need to use "Barrage" or something similar to beat down the armor unit.) === Vassieux, Vercors (#7) Axis won 4-0 (Randy & Ryan - Axis, Mark & Richard - Allies) First, hats off to Days of Wonder for adding the card holders... this made playing a four player game of this VERY workable as we could look at the cards & consult. Ryan & Richard had not played Battle Cry or Memoir, so this was a great way to teach them without sitting out the game. This is another good introductory scenario... again, it's just infantry vs infantry, albeit German troops vs French Resistance cells. The Germans came hot & heavy from their first turn, and unfortunately didn't roll a lot of retreats (Resistance can retreat 1-3 spaces and also may battle when it moves into forest or town.) Which means that we didn't have much chance to mass a fighting force against the German troops before they picked off 4 of our units. Sigh. Of course, we needed a rematch. === Montelimar (#12) Axis won 6-3 (Randy & Ryan - Axis, Mark & Richard - Allies) A much wider scenario, with tanks, artillery, Panzer Grenadier units, and victory point objectives... the Allies shot into an early lead by going on the offensive, but some bold use of armor by the Germans turned the tide and won them the scenario. So far, this was my favorite scenario... more flags for an objective allowed some give & take to develop, plus there are some nice issues with terrain. === General (ha! pun unintended) Comments It's going to take Battle Cry players a bit to get used to the different odds & terrain powers... this is not a bad thing, but I found myself making tactical decisions last night based on my "gut" from playing a lot of Battle Cry. (Different odds: the dice have 2 infantry men, 1 tank, 1 retreat flag, a star & a grenade on them... grenades are wild cards [and the only thing that kills artillery], stars are no hits [except for some special cards in the deck].) It is much more difficult to "blow away" a unit in Memoir '44... it takes combined firepower to make it happen. There are no "bad" cards in the deck... even weak cards can be helpful. (Like Recon: Activate one unit in the ____ flank. has the added bonus of allowing you to draw two command cards & keep one.) Special cards that in Battle Cry would simply clog up your hand now have alternate uses: Armor Attack can be used to activate 1 unit if you have no armor, for example. And there are no "killer" cards like All-Out Offensive... which, frankly, I enjoyed, but did unbalance the game (Battle Cry) a bit. The game is more fluid: infantry may move 0-1 & battle OR move 2 & not battle; armor may move 0-3 & battle; infantry who close assault (attack from an adjacent hex) may move into the hex they attack if it's vacated); armor may overun (like close assault for infantry) but they get to attack again. (It was an armor overrun at Grane that sealed our fate in the Montelimar scenario... Richard, you were right. We should have used our "Barrage" on those armor on the right flank.) So, is it "better" than Battle Cry? I'm leaning towards Yes, though I'm a awfully big fan of Battle Cry (due to the theme and many happy hours playing it.) It still has the randomness of Battle Cry but I think there's more opportunity for decision-making here. Now that I've "trained" 3 players, I'm looking forward to more opportunities to play... and more scenarios! thanks again to Richard Borg & the guys at Days of Wonder for creating & publishing this game! mark aka fluff daddy ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70 http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/grQolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe: spielfrieks-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com To email the moderators: spielfrieks-owner@yahoogroups.com Spielfrieks on the web -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spielfrieks Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spielfrieks/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: spielfrieks-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/