My brother Jordan and I played about 5 games of Memoir '44 last weekend. I taught him on Saturday night, after we had all played a game of Bohnanza, and neither of us wanted to stop playing after our second game got over at 1 am. There is something about moving army guys around on a board that just makes sense to any male of any age. If there ever were a game that dads should play with their sons, this is it.
The premise of the game is simple: one side is Axis, the other side is Allies. Cards in your hand dictate where you can move, and battle dice decide the outcome of your action. Seem kind of boring? Not when you add in historical accuracy for each of the 60 something scenarios, plastic army men, tanks and artillery, and a fully customizable double-sided board that is laid out in a hex pattern. The game plays fast, there is much to remember regarding modifiers, but once you play, it makes sense.
The realism in certain boardgames is staggering. When I play Memoir, I hear the shouts of young men who may someday be our grandfathers. I hear the dull clanking of steel track on tanks as they move through the woods. I can feel the heat from a mortar gun firing, and feel the percussion from the rounds battering the earth in the distance. But I can't help but smile as I see the joy on my brother's face as I know he is enjoying this as much as I am.
There have been many lives lost throughout history so our country can not only exist, but thrive in its existence. Too many Memorial Days pass where I do not tell my father-in-law "Thanks for enduring Vietnam for me". The history in Memoir '44 shines into far deeper reaches than the simple playing of a game. And any time that I can share that with another person, especially one of my brothers, the depth of my happiness knows little boundaries.
Thanks Jordan for playing a few rounds. I can't wait to play again. Don't lose that youthful joy.
ps One of my favorite things that June ever did for me was to learn how to play this one night. And she liked it. Then, as if that were not enough, she sewed me army green bags with hand-knit stars on them to store the army men in.
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3 comments:
jaybird...i love reading your words again...you can put them down so picturesquely! (is that a word?!) and thanks for getting your brother into board games...it's such a great way to pass the evening! i love to watch the board competition...such smiles of joy, shouts of laughter, concentration, rivalry ....hmmmm
Great blog Jason! You've hit on the reason I find myself drawn to wargames -- they connect me to the past. My Dad served in the South Pacific '44-'45 and his old huntin' and fishin' buddy landed at Normandy. Most recently, I find myself turning to east front games, remembering the struggle Natasha's grandmother faced. It seems odd, but connecting through something as trivial as games, reminds me of how horrible those conflicts were and makes me hate war all the more. Odd.
Keep up the great blog -- post a link at BGSprfld!
Larry
I had a friend growing up who had a grandfather who still had shrapnel in his lower leg from D-Day at Normandy. It gives me pause to think that for most of us, those sacrifices are abstract--things that exist only in movies or in our minds as scarlet memories.
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