All right, who can't wait for the Wii?

Cromwell 2026

Peter (NikTheRake) and myself tried this one out last night.

Aim of the game:-

This is an easy to learn wargame. The rules are straightforward and printed on two A4 double-sided pages. One of these sides is an example of play. The object is to eliminate the opposing army and take over all of Ireland. The map of Ireland is divided into four regions (depicting Ulster, Munster, Connaught and Leinster) with each region further divided into areas.

Set up:-

One player begins with control of Munster (bottom left) and the other in Ulster (top right). Connaught and Leinster form a no-mans land in between.

Players take turns placing a unit within their own area starting with the first player and continue until all units are on the board. There is a stacking limit of 5 units per area.

Reinforcements:-

The game differs from other wargames I have played in that you begin with all your units on the board, but you will receive no further reinforcements during the game. Certain areas in each region of the board give the controlling player a token during their turn. Four of these can be traded for a chip which can be placed below a unit. A chip will take a hit instead of the unit.

Action Phases

1. Jet
Can either bomb any enemy land/ water based unit 3 dice or
Battle for Air Superiority 2 dice against opposing jet – a 10 point hit track is provided and once exceeded a hit is scored

2. Move Units

3. Fight (in contested areas)

4. Collect tokens

5. Purchase and Place Chips

Units:-

A simple player aid sheet gives a breakdown of unit movement, dice, any special rules and keeps track of hits on the Jets. Units are summarised (if I remember correctly) as follows:-

Unit Move Dice Special Rules
Jet* Once placed doesn’t move 2 Dice are for defence only. For attack see 1. above
Helicopter 6 2 Must land on a mobile Heli Base
Mobile Heli Base 1 1 If you have more helicopters than bases at the end of your move extra helicopters are destroyed
Tank 1 2
Motorised Infantry 2 1
Hover Tank 3 2 Can move on land or water
Hover Craft 3 1 Can move on land or water
Rocket Launcher 1 2 Can support an attack up to two areas away

for Jet attacks see 1. above.

Hits:-

Any 6 rolled scores a hit

Removing Casualties:-

Each unit is also depicted on a card. A card is placed to the side for each unit involved in a battle (note if you have two tanks and a helicopter are involved in the battle then two tank cards and one helicopter card will be placed to the side). If you suffer a hit your opponent picks a card at random which takes the hit. Remember if the unit has a chip the chip is removed instead of the unit.

Overall Impression of the Game:-

I rate this game a 5 (see rating system below). It’s an enjoyable two-player game, which I would be more than happy to play again on occasion. Very easy to explain and play. The (lack of) reinforcement mechanic stops this relatively simple wargame from outstaying its welcome. The different unit capabilities ensure an element of strategy.

My Game Rating System

10 The Holy Grail of games (still waiting to give a game this score)
8-9 Very good game.
6-7 Good game. Would happily play whenever it’s brought to the table.
4-5 Reasonable game. Would play and enjoy occasionally if it is brought to the table or suitable to play with certain opponents.
2-3 Poor game, but has one or two good points, such as good quality components which can be salvaged for other games (making it worth a couple of quid from a charity shop, but not much more) or I get the feeling there’s a reasonable game hidden in there somewhere if only I could be bothered to look/ invent house rules.
1 Somebody’s had a laugh at my expense. I can’t think of anything good to say about this one (only one game has achieved this, if achieved is the right word, but it’s also the only game I have ever thrown in the bin and I can’t remember it’s name. I had received it amongst a bundle of games from ebay. It was a Power Rangers type game)

If you have a computer, then this is one of the best operational games out there, super deep, super detailed, NOT recommended for the non-detailed oriented.  Fetures include: a 1-2 or 3 days “turn”, leaders managment, pilot training, resources managment, oil, fuel, supplies, production, super accurate OOB, a 40 km map that covers from the western US to India and Mongolia to New Zealand.  Best played PBEM, but playing the AI is good too.  Very well supported by a very dedicated group of designers/players.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/351/details/War.in.the.Pacific.-.Admiral’s.Edition

The design of the Cheap Air Max 2012 has drawn on the design concept of the classic sports shoes. Nike Sportswear combined the latest technology and then spread the original design to various areas.The new air bag of Women Air Max 2011 was very large that even access to the side of the shoes so that the designers had removed the parts of midsole to make an exposed cushion.

Answers.

One they are very different games. They are both smaller scale battles but for the most part all the tank units and infantry and artillery work the same in Memoir while you can have six different units and no two would have the same ability in minis. Any similarities is strictly on the surface.

Memoir '44 is better as you get everything you need to play a lot of scenarios just buying the main game. You need a lot more units to get the same variety from minis as from Memoir and it WILL cost more you don’t have to chase rares and the guy who spent the most doesn’t have an advantage over the cash strapped. They have never ‘rewritten’ the rulebook or made earlier sets obsolete as they add expansions and you don’t need several pages of FAQ sheets to keep track of unit interactions.

Minis is better as you can have much more detailed battles and more mix of units and not just recreate battles but very small parts of battles and some of the pieces are pretty decent models and those Memoir pieces are pretty generic. The variety of units touches on a lot more aspects of combat.

Each has their advantages and disadvantages.  :-)

Oh and one last thing – Go Buckeyes.

Found these:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/28437

http://www.waynesbooks.com/terminator2.html

It’s one of the best DS strategy games out there.

Age of Empires: Kings/Mythology are both good.
They are porting Jagged Alliance and it should be out soon as well.
Panzer Tactics is pretty good too.

Patch - I am a big fan of CoD.  I thought the first was brilliant, and the second was quite solid.  However, check out Red Orchestra if you haven’t yet.  It’s a new take on WW2 FPS, and it’s done well.