SATURDAY GAME. MEMOIR '44: THE BATTLE OF ARRAS.

This battle took place a few months ago, in June. It is part of one of our occasional Saturday games, where we get to play games that would take too long for an evening. 

This was a 'Breakthrough' scenario from Memoir '44. It used the larger board and needed components from several of the expansions to play. The winner was the first to 12 medals. I took the Germans and Rick the French and British. 

The initial set up from my (German) side of the table.

The Allies advance. The Germans counter attack on the right.

The British advance is stalled. The Germans take Arras.

The Germans hold Arras.

The British advance is renewed. An entire German unit is destroyed in one go.

The French begin their attack. Faced by German 88s

Which are quickly dealt with, thanks to a fortunate dice roll!

The German line stabilises. The infantry dig  in and prepare to face an all out Allied advance.

The French advance continues. A German Panzer unit is destroyed. 

The French came off best in the armour duel on the left. Only a depleted infantry unit stands in their way. The British attack has worn down the defenders on the right.

The last German hope if stopping the British tanks was the mobile artillery. Forward they came, only to be destroyed in one shot. This allowed the tanks to move forward unhindered.

The game ended when the Allies reached 12 medals. Only 4 complete German units remained. The French had suffered heavy casualties, but the British still have strong units.

The Germans retained control of Arras.

This was a closely fought game. the British advance stalled as they struggled to get the right cards. The French were luckier. Once battle was joined, the Allies had a succession of 'lucky' dice rolls at crucial times. Once the Germans started losing units, the balance quickly swung in the Allies' favour.

MEMOIR 44: EASTERN FRONT.

During my never ending attempts to de-clutter my flat, I came across my Memoir '44 collection.I keep a notebook with the results of past games. It showed that the last time I had played was 8 December 2011!

To put that right, our Thursday game a couple of weeks ago was the Suomussalmi scenario from the Russo - Finnish war (scenario 38). This saw a Soviet held village being attacked by Finnish ski-troops, with a Soviet relief force trying to break through the Finnish defences. We managed to play the game twice during the evening. I took the Soviets first.      

The set up. The Soviets hold the village. The Soviet relief column is at the bottom left.

Early in the game, the Finns attack.

The Finnish attack, well under way. 

The Soviet forces whittle down the attacking ski troops whilst keeping pressure on the roadblock.

The first game ended 6 medals to 2 in the Soviet's favour.

For the second game, I took the Finns. 

The Soviets got good cards and my dice rolling was poor. I managed to whittle away at the Soviet units, without getting decisive die rolls needed.

In the end the Soviets ran out winners by the same score as in the first game: 6-2. 

It was good to get back into the game. This scenario was a bit of a challenge. After game discussion came to the conclusion that the only way for the Finns to win would be for them to concentrate on getting medals, rather than taking the village. The results recorded on the website seem to fall 50/50, which does not bear out our experience.

However, I think it has inspired us to continue playing. There are a lot of scenarios and expansions to get through!