Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2004-06-03 11:07:40
Converted from Phorums BB System

<i>Not show-stoppers, certainly, but players who are fans of Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, or other German-style games may be non-plussed by the amount of unmitigated randomness in Memoir '44.</i>

Personally, I find the randomness of M44 <i>considerably</i> lower than that of The Settlers of Catan, where every game at least one person seems to get screwed by the variability of the dice.

On average, I might even argue that you have better control than in Puerto Rico, because in Puerto Rico you so often lose control based on what actions the other 2-4 players take.

On a randomness scale of 1-10, where The Game of Life is a 10, Monopoly is an 8-9, and The Settlers of Catan is a 5-6, I'd give Memoir '44 a 3-4. As I said, it seemed to have notable/unfun impact for one side in one of the eight games we played (though that was due to getting bad sectional cards, not difference in card strengths), and some impact in at least a couple of others.

But, you know, enjoyment of random elements is one of those things that varies from person to person. Personally, I agree with Bill, that it provides a nice simulation of "the fog of war", and find it quite enjoyable when approached as such.

Shannon