Dicefest Sunday

by Susan Rozmiarek

We spent part of a relaxing Sunday playing a few games. I wish we could spend every Sunday this way, but chores and responsibilities often cut into our weekend leisure time. There was an interesting article in today's paper about how Sundays are becoming just another day, no different than the others, in modern people's lives. While I wouldn't want to return to the restrictions and Blue Laws of old, I do yearn for it to be a day to renew the spirit and relax at home with no chores and no errands allowed. But, I'm getting off the subject. On to the games!

Memoir '44

At last, we got to play this game. We've had it for WEEKS now and we finally threw out our flimsy excuses and made the time to take it for a spin.

As recommended in the rules, we chose the first scenario, Pegasus Bridge, for our first playing. Evil Ed took the Axis side and I took up the side of the Allies. As predicted, the greater numbers of Allied forces were able to steamroll over the better defended, but scarcer Axis forces. I had great cards most of the time, while Ed suffered somewhat from the card draw. The dice favored him, however, and he was able to tie me with two medals before I took a bridge and the Axis unit on it, for the win.

Being Battle Cry lovers, this was almost guaranteed to be a sure hit with us, and it was. This was a simple scenario with only infantry and a few obstacles. I'm looking forward to the complications of more type of units. I really like the medals that give the scenarios special goals. Definite improvements over Battle Cry are the rules for retreating, which are much more forgiving and fair.

We hope to switch sides and play the scenario again tomorrow night so Ed can crush me back.

Clash of the Gladiators

I was hoping my son Kevin would want to play Memoir after watching his dad and me play, but he chose this favorite instead. I should clarify that by referring to this as HIS favorite because it certainly isn't mine. Oh, I like it okay enough to play it, but only just. The decisions at the start when making up the gladiator teams are interesting, but the following dicefest feels rather boring to me. Fortunately, the game is short. But still, the preceding Memoir '44 is a much higher quality diefest IMHO.

This was the first time we've played the game with two players and it worked okay, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as it is with more. For one thing, you don't get to come back from the dead as an animal, because as soon as someone is eliminated, the game is over. I was able to pick off Kevin's last team with my last team, after some vicious wild animals weakened his. He still won by a margin of three points, much to his delight.

Posted by Susan Rozmiarek at July 19, 2004 12:20 AM