Niche Memoir '44

After his first games last week Daniel wanted to play more Memoir 44. And he fancied some off-beat scenarios. He rather liked the look of my Port Stanley 1982 scenario, so we started with that. It's not a great scenario, with limited options for the (British) defenders. But it's quick and plays well if you swap sides. Basically you get to see how each player gets to do against the overwhelming Argentinian assault.

Daniel took the Argentinians in the first game. You can see their main force bottom left and a couple of units at the very top. The British defenders are in a line across the middle. The 'rivers' represent coastline and are impassable, so most of that bottom section is sea. 

A win for Daniel. On the left he has ousted the defenders of the Research Station whilst on the right he finally took Government House after a long fight. The British still held Port Stanley, but only just. 

As the British I scored one medal to Daniel's four.

On the next game I played the Argentinians (represented by the German figures). Here they are starting their attack on Government House.

A lone unit from the main Argentinian force moved ahead of the others and quickly took the Research Station before then pushing on to ort Stanley itself. As the British Daniel went for the bold move of using one of the weak Falkland Island Defence Force units on the offensive, partially to take pressure off Government House. He almost destroyed an Argentinian unit, but it rallied (the Medics and Mechanics card) and hit back, taking out the Defence Force unit and winning the game 4-0.

For a second scenario I dug out one from the 'net - the 1935 Battle of Dembeguina Pass, part of the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. In this fight a force of Eritreans under Italian command and with tank support are blocking an Ethiopian advance on Dembeguina Pass. However they discover that the Ethiopians have also occupied the pass in their rear and that they are surrounded. It makes for a tough force, with the Italians fighting in two directions, whilst the Ethiopians are somewhat dispersed and have to try and concentrate forces to score a victory.

I took the Italians in the first game. Ignoring teh Ethiopians to my front I headed for the pass and attacked the defenders on the heights, ousting most of them. 

The Italians can call for reinforcements, which include more tanks. Despite a roadblock these bold CV35s pushed down out of the pass and attacked the main Ethiopian force, to give the Italians a win. It was a close game though - a final score of 6-5

We swapped sides. Daniel went for a defensive approach and I attacked with the main Ethiopian force in all three sectors. The fight for a mountain on my left cost me some troops, but I held off an Italian attack on by blocking force on the right. The main fight was in the centre. Daniel got overconfident and despite being able to bring up his reinforcements (which requires play of a centre-sector card) chose not to. Then, with the battle finely balanced, came the time he really needed the reinforcements, and he didn't have a card to deploy them with. I threw my Ethiopians into one final assault to pick up a 6-4 win, giving me a 12-9 victory overall. This was a really good scenario, and we both enjoyed it immensely.