More Memoir '44

Caesar came over yesterday to help christen my new Memoir '44 toys. As I'd had a go with the Mediterranean set the day before I got out the Pacific set to use the Japanese army figures. Rather than use the scenarios in the book, I dug around in the Memoir '44 archives and found several scenarios set prior to 1939, covering the war in China and the disputes with the Soviet Union.

I set up the Defence of the Sihang Warehouse scenario (part of the 1937 battle for Shanghai), as it looked like it would give an epic game. On an urban board a small force of Chinese infantry have to defend a block of four buildings against increasing numbers of Japanese attackers. They can score points for pulling back their troops off the board, but risk conceding points to the Japanese for control of the crucial warehouse. The Japanese start with few troops on the board, but get to introduce a new unit each turn, so they have to let their forces build up and then decide the best moment to attack before the Chinese simply disappear.

In the first game I took the heroic Chinese defenders, whilst Caesar was the Japanese.

The outlying Chinese defenders put up an epic defence and cost Caesar a few casualties.

But they were eventually pushed back to the warehouse complex and attacked. The Japanese troops have a number of abilities that make them relentless in close combat, and are very dangerous, especially at full-strength.

It was a close fight, but the Japanese stretched their units just a little too far and the Chinese, down to their last couple of units, picked off enough casualties to score a narrow victory.

We swapped sides. Caesar pulled back his defenders fairly rapidly, giving me chance to build up my forces.

My forces assemble for the attack.

And in they go. By this stage I'd lost a couple of units to a bold counterattack and Caesar had evacuated one unit as well. But things were looking good for me.

Alas, victory was not to be. Once again it was close, but the Chinese defence managed destroy enough units to win, plus Caesar managed to sneak another unit to safety off the board as well.

So we ended the afternoon with one game each and equal on aggregate points. It's a very close scenario with challenges for both sides, and I think is set to become one of my favourites.

In the evening I set up another scenario based on the 1938 Battle of Lake Khasan, which pits the Japanese against the Russians. The Russians are defending a strong ridge-line position, but the Japanese are attacking at night, allowing them an opportunity to get close in before they assault.

Daylight came quickly leaving the Japanese attackers exposed, and they took a lot of casualties. They pulled back with a strong attack on the Russian right, well-supported by armour, and the game went to the last unit. The Russians just clinched a win though.