So, you are trying to beat a tricky adversary across the beaches of Normandy or in a key skirmish across the French countryside, but he keeps getting the better of you? This is my first set of tactics to start to change the way you play Memoir ’44 – there’s more advanced game moves out there, but I think this gives a feel for regular tactics you can use:

During The Game:

Circle of death; This is as bad as it sounds – it’s that point in the game where you move one piece forward only to have three or more pieces shoot back. How did that happen? Well your opponent laid this nasty trap where everything could either shoot you after you moved, or could move and shoot after you moved. This is what you need to do. Position yourself to shoot with force – multiple troops against one or multiple troops shooting back if someone steps forward. Often that’s a U shape rather than a line – staying flat exposes you to a forced push in one part.

Sitting on the lines; Now part of the challenge in this game is that one card, typically, only effects one part of the map. Your opponent strikes and then you can’t counter or you push forward, but can’t take the final strike. Well one way to avoid this is to end turns with units on the lines – units on the lines count in BOTH cards. That means there’s more defensive and offensive flexibility with these units.

Staying in cover; Sometimes you will be offered the chance to move units from cover forward – but without purpose. If you have one extra move, and a unit in cover but away from the fight, think twice before rushing out. If he is cut off from the army / better served carrying on the staunch defence from cover, then just leave him there. Taking him out might just be that easy medal for the opponent!

Don’t give easy medals; Pushing a unit into a trap, or opening up a unit from cover might lead to a medal in the long run, but even more dangerous are the one man units staying in the front line. It won’t take much for them to topple and hand a strategic point to your opponent. With each medal often 25% of the victory, you won’t want to give that away to often. If you can retreat this behind those stronger units in defence, this might be the time.

Positioning for the medals; Just as your opponent will position for those medals – those 1 man troops or those key areas of the map – so should you. Look for that opportunity to sprint across the terrain (even with your tanks) to take a medal. Particularly position for the opportunity to take two in succession – winning that fight on the left flank and then rushing for the bridge the next turn. If you give yourself these options then the opponent doesn’t know where to defend or better still, might not see the second flanking move.

Spreading the commands; Look where you will need to defend and build your attack steadily. Rushing out three cards on the left flank might look good early game, but if your enemy can hold the line and then steadily push you back – they are likely to be the winner. You don’t want to find that you don’t have the cards to counter or indeed the cards to size that last step for the medal! This tactic isn’t just about not rushing forward, it’s about seeing where your enemy will go once your plans are revealed and using one turn in three to build the protection in these places.

No retreat; One great trick, and it’s only occasionally useful, is that a roll of a flag will lead to a hit if your opponent can’t retreat. Seize these situations and avoid setting yourself up!

Order of orders; Lastly, and it’s core, think about what your units can do if you roll a flag with your other unit! In other words, sometimes you will force an opponent back or actually roll sufficiently well to kill that unit – it’s then a question of what you can do with the other activated units. If one unit can only shot the preferred target – start there, and then the other unit might be able to fire elsewhere (although watch out if that unit is unlikely to land a hit vs a fully armed further unit!)

Good luck gaming!