Memoir '44 (M44) PBeM Reports Updated April 28, 2025
2025 PBeM Tournament
 

A total of 34 players participated in the tournament, which included players from 6 different countries and 4 different continents! This is an increase of 9 players compared to last year. This year the scenario played was random for each match.

Stage 1 - Round Robin

Three of the 4 groups were very tight. In all 4 groups, the eventual 3rd and 4th place players lost to both the 1st and 2nd place player (with only one exception). Every match was critical to the outcome. Undoubtedly many fates were decided by a handful of critical dice rolls.

  • Group 1 - Joe Harrison 1st, Justin Hasty 2nd. A tough group, including both eventual finalists.
  • Group 2 - Jon Manley 1st, Michael Lyman 2nd
  • Group 3 - Laurent Lemaire 1st, Frederik De Buck 2nd
  • Group 4 - Geoff Heintzelman 1st, Jeroen van der Ham 2nd. Geoff (7/7) was the only player to go undefeated in Round Robin

    • Stage 2 - Single Elimination

    1st Round:

    Justin Hasty def Geoff Heintzelman (11-9) at Breakout at Klin. Justin had seemingly endless supply of multi-front cards to impressively gain 5 medals as Russians, while Geoff's cards and dice were less than ideal. The key sequence may have been in the second game, Justin's assault center as Axis which set up Armor Assault, invaluable cards as Axis at this scenario.

    Laurent Lemaire def Frederik De Buck (18-16) at Braskir Offensive. Game 1 was a war of attrition, as is typical for this scenario. Atypically, the objectives stayed unoccupied for a long time. Game 2, Frederik was handicapped when his powerful mobile artillery unit was destroyed on the first turn, followed by too many recons and probes throughout the match.

    Jon Manley def Joroen van der Ham (9-6) at Knightsbridge. Both players pulled off improbable wins as Allies, with the help of some great cards for a 4 card hand. Joe Harrison def Michael Lyman (12-7) at Battle of Warsaw. Joe had great cards (especially for center section) throughout the match, and he unsurprisingly played them very effectively.

    Semifinal and Final:

    Justin Hasty def Laurent Lemaire (10-5) at Martinville Ridge. In the first game, an early ambush allowed Justin to be aggressive, followed by an armor unit surviving many dice. Mid game 4/4 grenades doesn't hurt to finish off 2 two-figure units. Laurent was hamstrung by poor cards, too many recons and probes. In the second game, Laurent had a lot of trouble hitting infantry with his dice. Justin was able to take advantage of this and occupy the hill medal objective while Laurent's tanks could do nothing but helplessly watch.

    Joe Harrison def Jon Manley (9-8) at Escape via the Coastal Road. A classic scenario. And a clash of two of the best memoir players in the USA and world. Game 1, Joe was able to amazingly exit 5 units! Aided largely by Jon's lack of cards on his right flank early in the game. Between the exiting, a lot of infantry fighting happened on the Allies right flank. Game 2, Joe's opening hand was average but not great, I bet he was worried, but luckily for him neither was Jon's. However, Joe quickly drew 2 assaults and an attack on the vital right flank and was able to eliminate Jon's infantry units who were trying to exit, to win the match.

    Joe Harrison def Justin Hasty (11-7) at Japanese Counterattack. Game 1, daylight came quickly, including 2 stars on the first roll, which really helped Joe as the Allies as he was able to use his artillery early. Justin did not have the cards early on to mount an attack on the Japanese left flank, which is typically the best strategy. Mid game his cards improved but too little too late. Joe's experience and patience definitely showed as this game played out, as this can be a tricky scenario to play as Japanese. Game 2, Joe started by rolling 4/5 hits on his first turn. He also had a behind enemy lines card in hand, with permanent medals available for the taking took away any suspense about the match. Soon Joe played a 6-unit infantry assault, assault left, move out, another infantry assault and did a lot of damage before Justin was able to fend him off. Amazingly, daylight never got higher than level 3.

    Congratulations to Joe for winning his 3rd Memoir '44 BPA championship. Thanks everyone for your participation. I heard from several players about the random scenarios. Although the vast majority of scenarios were perfectly fine for a tournament, occasionally the more luck based desert scenarios were played. All players knew this was possible and bravely that chance to compete. Next year we will play specific scenarios which are more strategic and less dependent on luck.

    Full Standings: https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=317988

    2024 PBeM Tournament
     

    A total of 25 players participated in the tournament, which included players from 6 different countries and 4 different continents! The scenario played for all matches was The Meat Grinder, which was the #1 ranked scenario on the old Days of Wonder platform. It features USA Marines vs Japanese at Iwo Jima.

    Stage 1 – Round Robin – Players were randomly divided into 4 groups by Boardgame Arena’s algorithm and played a match against each player in their group. Group 1 was the only 7-person group and had the tightest overall standings. Dan Winnowski (6-0) won the group. There was a 3-way tie for second place between Jeroen van der Ham, David Schneider, and Marc Gibbens at 4-2. Jeroen van der Ham advanced with the best tiebreaker, a cumulative medal differential of +15. Group 2 was won by Frederick De Buck (5-0). He is a well-known player in the Memoir community from Belgium who has won numerous tournaments. Caley Roark (4-1) came in second, losing only to Frederick. Group 3 was won by Julian Dalla-Barba (5-0). 2nd place went to Carl Chauvin (4-1) who edged out Jon Manley. The key match was a head-to-head match which Carl won 12-11, that lasted only 4 hours. In the process, the game knocked out Jon Manley who has won the WBC Memoir ’44 tournament twice. Group 4 was won by Geoff Heintzelman (4-1) with lopsided games and a score difference of +27. Ethan Parks (4-1) earned second place to round out the 8 player field for the single elimination phase.

    Stage 2 – Single Elimination – 8 players qualified for the single elimination stage

    Dan Winnowski defeated Ethan Parks (12 to 11) – Ethan took out Dan’s engineers early, then aggressively attacked on axis left, but Dan had assault center which yielded 3 medals, finest hour finished off the last unit for a 7-4 win. Game 2, Ethan’s early artillery bombard posed a major problem throughout the match, Ethan stormed the hills with general advanced, DFHQ, inf assault, also took out Dan’s key artillery on the other side and got 5th medal mid-game to clinch the match despite poor cards throughout, Dan had a 3 medal turn not too long after that to make it close, 12-11.

    Jeroen van der Ham defeated Julian Dalla-Barba (14 to 8) – It seems the score was reflective of the hit %s, 45% to 35%

    Frederick De Buck defeated Carl Chauvin (14 to 8) – A fast and furious 3-hour game.

    Caley Roark defeated Geoff Heintzelman (13 to 12) – One of the closest matches, 6-7 and 7-5. Tied on figures overall.

    Semifinal

    Game 1 – Dan Winnowski defeated Jeroen van der Ham (14 to 8) – A rematch of the top 2 players from Group 1. A lot of fighting at distance leaves Jereon up 4-3, Dan assaulted the center, including rolling armor over mines, ambush caught Jeroen off guard, a 3-medal turn including reaching a retreated infantry unit ended the game suddenly for a 7-5 win. Game 2, early on some great dice for Dan and terrible for Jereon, throughout the match Dan kept chipping away at Jereon’s units mainly with artillery units eventually getting the 14-8 win.

    Game 2 – Frederick De Buck defeated Caley Roark (14 to 8) – A slow start, with action at a distance and poor dice, no medals until move #92, kind of a weird game with below average dice overall. Game 2, Caley was notably aggressive with flame thrower tanks, Frederick was aggressive a couple times, kamikaze with his infantry charging off the hills.

    Final – Frederick De Buck defeated Dan Winnowski (14 to 9) – Frederick used infantry assault, assault left, and some great dice to decimate Dan’s right flank early, then Dan had no cards to respond, dig in stuck in Dan’s hand the whole game and subpar dice certainly didn't help, Frederick won 7-3. Game 2, Dan had great cards but Frederick’s were too, but the trend of Frederick’s dice above average and Dan’s dice below average was impossible to keep up with, culminated by Dan’s 0/5 pot shots at taking out a long infantry figure and then Frederick medic back to full strength. For the match Frederick’s hit percent was 41% and Dan’s was 32%, against a player like Frederick that's not going to get it done.

    The top six finishers of the tournament were:

    1. Frederik De Buck
    2. Dan Winnowski
    3. Caley Roark
    4. Jeroen van der Ham
    5. Geoff Heintzelman
    6. Ethan Parks