MEMOIR '44 BLACK SAND INFERNO: IWO JIMA UNLEASHED - PREORDERS - FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING

MEMOIR '44 PACIFIC THEATER
BLACK SAND INFERNO: IWO JIMA UNLEASHED 🇺🇸🇯🇵
DELUXE VINYL EDITION • 5-MAP TOTAL BREAKTHROUGH SUITE 🪖

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🗾 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND — THE BATTLE FOR IWO JIMA

On the morning of February 19, 1945, a thunderous naval bombardment shook the Pacific as nearly 70,000 U.S. Marines stormed the black volcanic shores of Iwo Jima, beginning one of the bloodiest battles of World War II 🇺🇸.

Their mission: seize a tiny, 8-square-mile island—a strategic stepping stone just 750 miles from Tokyo. Iwo Jima’s three airfields would become vital as emergency landing strips for B-29 bombers and fighter escort operations over Japan 🇯🇵.

But the island was no simple conquest.

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi 🇯🇵 and more than 21,000 entrenched Japanese troops had transformed Iwo Jima into a fortress of tunnels, pillboxes, and hidden artillery. Instead of banzai charges, the Japanese relied on defense-in-depth, forcing the Marines into a brutal slog through ambushes, mines, and volcanic hell.

Each inch of ground was paid for with grenades, flamethrowers, and bayonets. Tanks bogged down in the ash; caves and spider holes claimed men unseen. The infamous flag raising on Mount Suribachi occurred on Day 4—but the fighting raged for 36 grueling days.

Over 26,000 U.S. casualties (including 6,800 killed) and nearly all Japanese defenders perished, many by honorable suicide. Still, the victory was not in vain—over 24,000 American airmen later landed safely on Iwo Jima’s runways thanks to those who fought and fell 🇺🇸.

Today, Iwo Jima stands as a symbol of sacrifice, resilience, and relentless warfare—now brought to visceral life in this landmark expansion:
BLACK SAND INFERNO: IWO JIMA UNLEASHED.

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🪖 DELUXE EXPANSION OVERVIEW

BLACK SAND INFERNO: IWO JIMA UNLEASHED 🇺🇸🇯🇵
DELUXE VINYL EDITION • 5-MAP TOTAL BREAKTHROUGH SUITE

🔥 BRACE FOR IMPACT.

Dive into the most intense Memoir ’44 campaign yet with this massive handcrafted expansion, designed by Carlos Paz and the Beach Masters at Paz Games, to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Iwo Jima 🇺🇸 and the Japanese surrender of WWII 🇯🇵.

Built upon realistic, large-scale, and historically accurate terrain, this expansion delivers full-spectrum combined arms combat across Iwo Jima’s treacherous landscape—featuring new medics, engineers, snipers, and more.

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🗺️ 5 GIANT TOTAL BREAKTHROUGH MAPS

Battle across five interconnected 13×33 DELUXE VINYL maps (2,129 hexes total), covering the entire island—from Mount Suribachi to Airfield No. 3 and Kuribayashi’s HQ.

🔹 Mount Suribachi
🔹 Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue Beaches
🔹 Airfields No. 1, 2, and 3
🔹 Hill 382 ("The Meatgrinder"), Hills 362A/B/C, Turkey Knob, Amphitheater
🔹 Northern ravines, bunker networks, and final defensive lines

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⚔️ ASYMMETRIC OBJECTIVES & HIDDEN DEFENSES

🇺🇸 USMC:
Earn medals for healing, capturing strongpoints, and advancing under fire.

🇯🇵 Imperial Japanese:
Launch ambushes, suicide charges, and tactical sacrifices from hidden tunnels and artillery nests.

This is more than a scenario—it’s a campaign of attrition, adaptation, and survival. No side can win by brute force alone.

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🪖 NEW UNITS & RULES: BLACK SAND INFERNO

🇺🇸 US NAVY CORPSMEN (Field Medics)
Heal wounded infantry, boost morale, and replicate the life-saving role of battlefield medics.

📸 COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHERS
Escort war correspondents to frontlines. Capture key moments and gain bonus medals by surviving the chaos.

⚒️ SEABEES (Construction Battalions)
Clear wrecks, remove obstacles, and build movement paths through black sand to support tanks and jeeps.

🐕 MARINE WAR DOGS (K-9 UNITS)
Deployed with the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, these trained Dobermans and German Shepherds served as night sentries, scouts, and messengers. Their silent vigilance helped detect ambushes and protect Marines under the cover of darkness.

💀 SUICIDE ATTACKERS 🇯🇵
Elite Japanese troops capable of devastating self-sacrificial strikes against tanks, medics, and officers.

🧨 NIKUDAN-TAI (Human Bullet Squads) 🇯🇵
Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi formed these elite 4-man suicide squads, who used explosive lunge mines in close-range assaults to destroy American tanks—sacrificing themselves in the process.

⚔️ BANZAI UNITS 🇯🇵
Infantry masses that charge at overwhelming odds—an echo of Japan’s final war doctrine.

🎯 JAPANESE SNIPERS (SOGEKIHEI) 🇯🇵
Deadly ambushers that disrupt U.S. plans with precision fire and stealth.

🔭 FORWARD SPOTTERS (Both Sides)
Tactical recon troops improving artillery effectiveness on both sides.

⚙️ SHORE PARTY UNITS (USMC Support)
Enhance tank mobility, repair vehicles, and support beachhead cohesion during landings.

🔥 FLAMETHROWER INFANTRY & FLAMETHROWER TANKS
Brutal bunker-clearing weapons with enhanced rules and suppression effects.

✈️ KAMIKAZE AIR UNITS (Axis Only)
Desperate, deadly strikes from above—usable even without New Flight Plan Expansion.

🎯 USMC SNIPER TEAMS 🇺🇸
Elite two-figure teams trained for recon and counter-sniper roles. Strike key units with pinpoint accuracy.

💣 DEMOLITION EXPERT (USMC)
Specialized Marines trained in demolitions and explosives. Expert at destroying bunkers, and disabling enemy fortifications—providing critical support in breaching defenses and paving the way for infantry advances.

Each new unit adds tactical depth and historical authenticity to your Memoir ’44 campaigns—bringing the chaos of Iwo Jima’s volcanic battlefield to life.

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📦 WHAT’S INCLUDED:

✅ 5 Waterproof DELUXE VINYL TOTAL BREAKTHROUGH Maps (13×33 hexes each)
✅ Full rules and profiles for all new units
✅ Custom medal system: based on healing, suppression, and tactical sacrifice
✅ Solo or team play (1v1 to 5v5)
✅ Compatible with all official Memoir ’44 expansions

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🧩 REQUIRES:

🟩 Memoir ’44 Base Game
🟦 Pacific Theater Expansion

OPTIONAL (Recommended):
❄️ Winter Wars Expansion — for Breakthrough decks and optimal card balance
✈️ New Flight Plan Expansion — not required, but adds air support and dogfights

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🔧 CRAFTED BY PAZ GAMES

Following the success of CONCRETE HELL: THE BATTLE FOR STALINGRAD, designer Carlos Paz returns with another breakthrough Memoir ’44 mega-expansion—crafted with hundreds of hours of research, testing, and strategic refinement.
BLACK SAND INFERNO continues the tradition of serious historical wargaming—now with a Pacific twist.

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🛒 IMPORTANT SHIPPING NOTE

📦 This early wave ships beginning Tuesday, 2 September, 2025.
💵 $279.95 is a limited-time early release rate.
🎁 Orders placed on or before August 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM PDT will receive exclusive bonus materials.
📈 Starting 2 September, full retail price of $329.95 goes into effect.

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🇺🇸 Honor the legacy. Relive the sacrifice. Command the inferno.
BLACK SAND INFERNO: IWO JIMA UNLEASHED
Only from Paz Games.

NOTE:

If you’ve been wondering about the Japanese text featured in the BLACK SAND INFERNO artwork — it’s a jisei no ku, or death poem, written by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi on March 17, 1945. Though he penned it that day, he would lead his troops in fierce resistance for nine more days, inflicting devastating losses on the American forces before ultimately falling on March 26 — most likely by his own hand in an act of seppuku, the ritual suicide historically practiced by samurai to preserve honor in the face of inevitable defeat.

As commander of the Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Kuribayashi included three final poems in his last letter to Imperial Headquarters, written after the fall of the island. For him — as for many others — the death poem was a final expression of dignity, loyalty, and stoic resolve. A way to meet death with honor.

Here is the first stanza of one of his poems:

 

"Unable to complete this heavy task for our country,
arrows and bullets all spent — so sad we fall."