Control of the Center

One of the principles of movement which is true in both Memoir 44 and chess is ‘control of the center’. If you have control of the central battlefield, as commander, you are able to swing your troops from one side to the other, if needed.

In a number of scenarios the middle section is not simply flat terrain. It is often occupied by hills or forests. Especially in the case of hills, in Memoir44, as in real life, control of higher elevation always gives an advantage to whomever controls it. And of course, the forests provide excellent cover for all units.

This is even more so in the case when the hills are in the center of the battlefield. From there your troops can dominate the whole section. This is especially true if you are controlling those hills with armor. Even better are forests on hills. From there, they can be a controlling force for much of the battlefield.

Defensive Terrain Considerations:

Some terrain lends itself much better to defensive positioning. In many of the scenarios with hedgerows, you have to very carefully move around in such a way to gain minor territorial advantages which can accumulate over the course of a game to a hit here or there.  This will gradually degrade the enemy to the point where there is a sudden breakthrough, and it seems as if the entire force is collapsing at once.  But it only seems that way, as they were losing the power to respond as their units were hit again and again from better placed units in good defensive positions.

Section Analysis:

Read the battlefield terrain before you begin.  Determine where you are strong and weak.  Examine the enemy positions. Where are they strong and weak?  Your goal, as stated by Sun Tzu, is to “attack the enemy where they are weak and you are strong.”  Seems simple, but can easily be overlooked in the heat of war.

Special Territorial Objectives:

Your battlefield movement can be influenced by potential territorial medals. This increases the pressure on your opponent, because they have to defend not only against losing units, but also must prevent you from moving ever closer to the territorial medal. 

Winning with Movement:  You must win on your Move as well as your Attack

Many people playing Memoir 44, seem to think that the only time they are beating the enemy/opponent is when they roll a successful dice attack and take out an Infantry, Armor, or Artillery figure or unit.  But that is only half the game. The other half is the positional movement game in Memoir 44.  Just as in chess, the relationship of where you are moving your forces, even if you do not attack during a particular turn, is just as critical as the attack itself. 

After all, once you attack, the dice are completely in charge of whether or not you win.

But where you move your forces is completely – within the constraints of the cards you have – up to you.  You are the general of your forces, and you can decide where they move.  Shall they lodge in the city, or shall then encircle the city and attack the enemy from each side?  Shall they just move into covered forest positions, and not attack at all? Or shall they stay in the open and get a 1D or 2D attack this turn, rather than a 3D attack from the forest later on?

All this to say, that positional movement is a huge strategic decision in each game. 

Sometimes you may be better off to not attack, but to put your forces into positions where they can deliver more devastating hits later on.

The other factor you must consider with movement is that when you place your forces into strategic attack positions you automatically limit the movement of the enemy.  That is, since you have, for example, created a kill zone between three forest hexes, you have now effectively shut off an entire area from the enemy.  They will not risk their forces, so they will go elsewhere.  So you are shaping the direction and the movement of your enemy by your troop placement. 

Finally, of course, if you see troops in positions of weakness, either as isolated units far away from support, or units which can become encircled by the enemy, or pushed back against the border, etc., then you must move your troops into positions of strength. 

You can set yourself up for future win, or loss, depending upon how you place your troops.

So to summarize, the three values from effective movement and placement of your forces are:

1.  Prepare for future devastating hits

2.  Prevent the movement of the enemy forces

3.  Prevent encirclement by the enemy

======================================================================================================================================