Memoir 44 for The Great War

I've been researching Britain's 'Other Theaters' of the Great War recently, especially in the Middle East. Along with the period itself, I have been researching some popular World War I games and working on ideas for converting other rules.

I think Memoir 44 has some potential here, especially if the scenario design goes beyond breaking the enemy army. Objectives and uneven casualty scoring should go a ways toward encouraging offensive and defensive play (although even the defender needs some maneuver options - ie. reserves, counter attacks, etc.).

So, here's some ideas I that I will playtest - some are applicable to the early war (1914-1915), some are particular to British/Commonwealth and Ottoman forces.  


Machine Guns: 
Typically a battalion asset (ie a section of 2-4 guns to support four rifle companies). I'm thinking 3 attack dice with rifle range or rifle range +1 hex. Machine guns get a free attack anytime a card specifically activated their section of the battlefield (Left, Center, or Right) - ie. they don't count toward units activated per the command card. They may receive orders applicable to artillery (there may be some artillery cards that just won't work with this). Machine gun sections should have two hits. I would put them under the same kind of movement/attack restrictions of artillery units, except in regards to line of sight (LOS).


Dice Results:


Grenade: Equals suppression, which requires the owning player to treat the suppressed unit as two units for the purpose of activating. Suppressed units cannot move and they may only have one attack dice. Grenades  equal hits if unit is already suppressed. 


Flag (Retreat): Retreats supersede suppression. If an infantry unit takes a flag (retreat), a grenade (suppression), and a hit, resolve as follows: remove one figure for hit; retreat unit one space; unit suppressed. 


Tank: Tank results equal well-placed bombardments or infiltrations that nullify terrain advantages for that attack roll. No actual damage to the defending unit, but this will help out when the terrain allows the defender to ignore some results. Not much help if the terrain only reduces the number of attack dice.  

I will do particulars for the British/Commonwealth and Ottoman troops in a following blog. I'll say right here that these two opponents should not play interchangeably in the game - some tweaks to dice results and card play should capture some of the early war potential for these armies.