General Howitzer’s Field Guide to Memoir 44

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GENERAL HOWITZER

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Rats in a Factory

Rats in a Factory

by | Apr 29, 2025 | 1942, Armor, Artillery, Infantry, Location: Russia, Map Type: Overlord, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Overlord Game, Scenario, Strategic, Sword of Stalingrad, Theater: Eastern, Urban

Rats in a Factory [ Overlord ]

Rats-Factory_title

Rats-Factory_right2

Rats-Factory_right1

Rats-Factory_Left2

Rats-Factory_Left1

Rats-Factory_center2

map for Rats in a Factory

Rats-Factory_center1

“Rats in a Factory”—Stalingrad, late ’42. You want to know what hell looks like? This was it.

The Germans thought they could storm into those Red October, Barrikady, and Tractor factories like it was just another checkpoint. What they walked into was a damn grinder. Concrete, steel, smoke, and blood—that’s what those factories became.

The Soviets didn’t fight for blocks—they fought for bricks, for stairwells, for every bolt and beam. One room would belong to the Germans, the next to the Soviets. Sometimes they were fighting in the same building—on different floors. It was war in a cage, and every inch came with a cost.

The term “Rats in a Factory” wasn’t poetry—it was reality. Men crawled, fought, and died like animals in a twisted maze of rubble and twisted metal. **Snipers in shadows, ambushes around corners, grenades down stairwells—**no rules, no rest, no mercy.

And guess what? The Soviets held. They bled the German 6th Army dry, right there in that industrial slaughterhouse. That stand helped snap the spine of the Nazi push in the East.

You want a lesson in raw, unbreakable resolve? Look no further. That’s what it means to fight like you’ve got nothing left to lose—and no intention of backing down.

~~ General Howitzer

18 VP’s

card

Card Balance:

Allies – 9 

Axis – 10

Complexity:

5

Conditions:

Urban

Context:

Historical

Location:

Stalingrad

Year:

1942

Theater:

Eastern

Campaign:

Summary:

This is an Overlord game.

Objectives:

  • 18 Medals including both Permanent and Temporary Medal Objectives.
  • The 5 road hexes exiting the Axis player’s baseline are Permanent Medal Objectives for the Allied forces. The Allied player gains the Medal when he occupies the hex at the start of his turn.
  • The 5 road hexes on the Allied player’s baseline are Permanent Medal Objectives for the Axis forces. The Axis player gains the Medal when he occupies the hex at the start of his turn.
  • The 9 factory hexes of the Dzerzhinskiy Tractor Factory form a Temporary Majority Medal Objective worth 2 Medals for whoever controls the majority of its hexes.
  • The 7 factory hexes of the Red Barricades Factory form a Temporary Majority Medal Objective worth 2 Medals for whoever controls the majority of its hexes.

Terrain:

Urban factory complex with any factory and city hexes.

Troops:

Allies – 21 Infantry, 6 Armor, 3 Artillery

Axis – 20 Infantry, 12 Armo, 4 Artillery

Special Rules:

1.  Temporary Medal Objectives   

2.  Permanent Medal Objectives

3.  Temporary Majority Medal Objectives

 

medal allies 

Allied Strategy:

1.

medal axis

Axis Strategy

1.  

Author:

Days of Wonder

Link:

Place Battle Reports on a scenario page, or specify its scenario name in the shortcode.

Sword of Stalingrad

Sword of Stalingrad

by | Nov 30, 2024 | 1942, Armor, Artillery, Countryside, Infantry, Map Type: Standard, Medal Objectives, Memoir 44, Scenario, Strategic, Sword of Stalingrad, Urban

Sword of Stalingrad

Sword-Stalingrad

Stalingrad. July ’42 to February ’43. One of the bloodiest, ugliest slugfests in the history of war—and the place where Hitler’s dreams started bleeding out in the snow.

The Germans charged in hard, aiming to take the city and crack open the Soviet underbelly on their way to the Caucasus oil fields. They bombed Stalingrad to rubble, thinking they could steamroll the Soviets in the ashes.

But rubble favors the defender—and the Soviets fought like wild dogs in every street, every cellar, every damn staircase. House-to-house, room-by-room, tooth-and-nail. The Germans took ground, lost it, and bled for every inch.

And then came the real punch: a Soviet counterattack that closed the trap, surrounded the German 6th Army, and squeezed until there was nothing left but cold, hunger, and surrender.

Stalingrad wasn’t just a Soviet victory—it was the beginning of the end for the Nazi war machine. From that frozen hellhole, the Red Army started marching west—and they didn’t stop till they hit Berlin.

You want to talk grit? Talk Stalingrad. That’s what happens when an enemy pushes too far and meets a defender with nothing left to lose.

~~ General Howitzer

17  VP’s

Card Balance:

Allies – 9

Axis – 10

plus Combat Cards

Complexity:

5

Conditions:

Urban

Location:

Russia

Year:

1942

Theater:

Eastern Front

Campaign:

Context:

Historical

Summary:

This is a massive and complex scenario with many strategic elements that makes for an exciting and challenging game.

Objectives:

17 VP’s (!), including numerous territorial medals

Battlefield:

This battlefield has countryside on the Axis side, and urban factories, towns, and other buildings on the Allied side. It is a quite complex battlefield.

Troops:

Allies – Infantry, Armor, Artillery

Axis – Infantry, Armor, Artillery 

Allied Strategy

1.  Historically, the Russians were defending themselves from the Nazi’s, so much of this scenario is spent behind sandbags, attacking the enemy where you can, to degrade their offensive capabilities.

2.  You need to protect the territorial medals which are available to the Axis, should they gain control of various railroad stations, the central hills, or the factory complexes.  At the start of the game, you will be granted control of these and the three medals that go with them. But as the game proceeds it will be increasingly difficult to defend and keep this territory and its medals. 

3.  Your left flank is the most medal-rich area for the Axis to target.  So be prepared for an attack there. Manage your cards so that you can respond to aggression.

Axis Strategy

1. This game is won by making your forces mobile.  Invade the city hexes with your infantry, and get your armor onto the Allied back row to start snatching those territorial medals. 

2. There is a large hill and woods complex in the center section which is worth two VP territorial medals. Control it with both infantry and armor.

Author:

Days of Wonder

Battle Maps, Vol. 3

Link:

Place Battle Reports on a scenario page, or specify its scenario name in the shortcode.

Secret Link