"Overlord? I'll give you Overlord!"

The big day looms!
So, DiceCon East 2010 is tomorrow. I've been beavering away at the Memoir'44: Operation Overlord game Badger and I decided ourselves upon last November. Simply turning up on the day with some friends wasn't good enough for yours truly though. Oh no; I had to go and complicate things by using fB to network and build for the day:

• I put the 'event' up on fB, under the World War 2 Tactical Guild- the moniker of the mailing list I started after the success of CC@UK Expo'09.
• And I couldn't help but put in my tuppenceworth over on DiceCon East 2010@BGG.

As a result of these efforts it looks like our Overlord games will be 4-handers at least, so that's a result I guess. :-)

'Operation' Overlord: old wine in new bottles?
I confess that even my inner completist grumbled when I lashed out on Memoir'44: Operation Overlord unremembered months ago: I'd hardly played Memoir in more than 2 years; and anyway, why buy when you can play for free with the Overlord rules long long available @DoW? Where would be the added value I was asking myself.

The contents of the traditional M44 small expansion box are certainly value for money:

• A rules booklet.
• 2x 64-card decks of special Overlord Command cards.
• 178 new tokens.
• A new set of 8 battle dice.

Good value, like I said.

Ferreting around the new box as you do, my attention had been most attracted by those counters. They are there so that you can use M44-OpO to play Overlord games without having to buy a second basic set, a nice touch IMO. They are very pretty and the aging grognard in me couldn't help but see their potential for DIY projects.

It was only when I started my final preparations for Sunday's game that I realised there's more to those cards than just a graphic redesign of the familiar old Command deck. The original Memoir Overlord game was played with cards designed for use in 2-player games on a single map; the original Overlord rules had to take account of this. The new decks are custom designed for Overlord play, which results in minor rules tweaks. The overall impression is very good and I'm looking forward to seeing everything roll out on Sunday. :0)

Bloody Omaha, again!
There are many Overlord scenarios available to choose from, but I expect we'll start at the beginning, with Omaha Beach.

Like I said, it's been a while since I was last into M44 in a big way; but, checking out M44@DoW during my various preparations, I was pleased to see that their fan support continues to be top class. There are shedloads of scenarios, with different ways to view the list and to download the scenarios: good solid material in other words. I can assure you dear readers that I really appreciated these qualities when I was getting myself sorted for tomorrow. -@--@-

Newsflash!
The aforementioned Combat Commander tournament was recently confirmed for UK Games Expo'10; there's an entry for it on TacG_WW2@fB, naturally enough. Writing about my small efforts to big up our Overlord game at this year's DiceCon East served to remind me that I'd better knuckle down soon to the labour involved in organising this event.

Meanwhile: see you on the other side! ;)