Memoir ’44: Pacific Theater

Overview
Storm the beaches of Iwo Jima in this latest army pack for Memoir ’44. Here you get to play either the U.S. Marines using base game figures or the new Japanese army figures that come in this box.

Pros
Really changes up the game play compared to base game.
Don’t need any other expansions to enhance this like the other army packs.
Captures the characteristics of the two forces.

Cons
Not enough missions!

Gameplay

This expansion really alters the base game’s gameplay with new army rules for Marines and Japanese. It really makes it fresh, especially if you’ve only played the base game for a long time without any other expansions. The most interesting rules are for the Japanese Army that really reflect the fierceness and tenacity of their fighting style. The most potent is that Japanese infantry can attack with an extra die in close combat if their unit is at full strength. So the marines player may want to focus on damaging each infantry in range, before taking out a whole unit. Especially when you factor in the next rule that allows the Japanese infantry to move two and still battle if they end their second move adjacent to the enemy. That’s a one two punch if they are at full strength. Not only that, but the Japanese must ignore the first flag rolled against them which reflects their mentality that it is dishonorable to retreat in battle. So you may be thinking that the Japanese sure get a lot of cool rules, what about the Marines. Well, they do and it’s basically the ability to always order an extra marine of your choice depending on the section your command card activates. That may not seem like much, but believe me, it’s a HUGE advantage to be able to activate another unit and bring it’s power to bear on the enemy. This rule captures the mobility and adaptability of the Marine Corps.

Also, there are lot of other neat things put in this expansion that adds to flavor of the pacific theater. There are new jungle tiles that almost act like forest tiles. Then you got rice paddy tiles, trench tiles, mountain tiles, beach tiles, airfields, and hospital tiles (help recover lost figures). The cave tiles are awesome in that they let the Japanese infantry move from cave tile to cave tile with no penalty even if the cave is across the board. Marines can seal up caves to prevent that. This really captures one of the biggest
problems the Marines had in WWII against the Japanese, and that’s rooting them out of the caverns peppered across many islands. One of the scenarios has night rules that can have the Marine player
biting his nails praying that the sun will come up soon. I could go on, but this covers to bulk of what is cool about the Pacific Theater expansion.

Conclusion

This is by far my favorite army pack expansion for Memoir ’44. I admit, I’m slightly partial, because I have family that fought in that theater.. particularly at Iwo Jima. However, I just like how well this expansion captures the fighting spirit of both forces, that brings a unique experience to Memoir ’44 gameplay. I honestly don’t mind playing both sides when I get an opportunity to play. I also like that you can buy this expansion and play it right out of the box with the base game with no other enhancements. For example, the Eastern Front and Mediterranean Theater packs really could use the “Winter/Desert” board, so their tiles don’t look so aesthetically unpleasing against the green board of the base game. Also, the gameplay of the other army packs don’t differentiate themselves from the base game that much compared to Pacific Theater. My only disappointment is that there aren’t enough missions for this theater compared to the rest of battles covered by all the Memoir ’44 expansions (Campaign Book Vol 2 helps).

If you’ve been playing Memoir ’44 base game for a long time and are looking for an expansion that drops right into the game and freshens up the game, I couldn’t recommend this expansion enough.