More Ogre! Back to Basics - The Pocket Game

A sight no one likes to see outside their CP...

and no...it isn't your Amazon Prime delivery truck!                                                 Fnord - trump putin disputin'

The classic pocket edition re-issue from a few years ago - I bought all 4 copies from my FLGS when I saw them! And the Car Wars pocket edition...can't find it at the moment, however. This was the best promo evah!! I still have three mint in plastic that I'm hoarding, like an ogre.  :)


The classic Ogre game - pocket edition reissue - is truly a bland map. I would like the one with the craters actually mapped out, but am grateful for this one. I LOVE the counters!

Below, Paneuro forces selection v. MkIII, a Mechanized Infantry company, basically. For the 12 Armor Units, I picked two Howitzers HW, then two each of Heavy Tank HT and Missile Tank MT, and four GEV. The infantry INF are freebies with the scenario.


And this is my setup. CP at center, two equal flank forces, GEVs on the outside, no one in range of even an Ogre missile on the first turn. The Ogre really only has two choices v. a mirror defense: First, go straight down the middle and to heck with the flanks. Second, go down an edge and protect one flank with the board edge. Unless there's an opportunity to hit a few armor units on turn 1 or 2 due to a bad setup, I feel the board edge offers the best attack. I compute it as 4 hexes longer but it forces the defense to get a bit crowded and that can slow them down a bit or limit their chances to get into firing position. Open to suggestions, however!


Turn 1. Ogre making its attack run, defense starting to form up.



Turn 2. Ogre continues its merry way, the defense positions for a flank envelopment while remaining mostly outside of threat distance [since this is a Move & Shoot turn sequence, TD = move distance PLUS weapon range, or 8 hexes for missiles, and 6 for Main battery, 5 for Secondaries].


Turn 3 Ogre. IT decides oncoming HT is worth a missile, only needs a 2+ to do something and if Disabled the HT can be easily run over. Unfortunately, IT rolls like a mechanical moron. What The Ogre, man!?  WTO, WTO, WTO! Can't make it up...man, I love dice games...sorta...


Turn 3 Paneuro. MT gets in range and knocks out the Main Battery - ouch! With its three most powerful weapons ineffective, I'd be ready to throw in the towel...but OGRES don't sweat!


Turn 4 OGRE. IT goes lateral. I felt IT had to move in close and knock out a couple of the armored units with ITS secondaries. The crowded field of Pan vics created the opportunity, and staying a hex closer to the targets kept IT out of range of the Howitzer. But considering ITs dice track record thus far I toss down the dice with grave misgivings...

...that are unwarranted! Two Heavies and a GEV knocked out!


Turn 4 Paneuro. The GEVs get on both flanks and let it rip, but only the MT draws blood, knocking out a secondary. Three secondaries is still a pretty potent threat to half an armored company!


Turn 5 OGRE. It advances on the HW but takes a little detour to wreck some GEVs.

Turn 5 Paneuro. The envelopment continues, with a MT and two GEVs leading the charge of a pile of INF against the monster. With three 5s, ALL Secondaries are destroyed!  Woo-hoo!


Turn 6. With its teeth yanked, the OGRE starts the final drive against the CP. All Paneuro fire is directed against the Treads, needing a 5+ to destroy Tread Units = to Attack Strength. Both Howitzer's miss [!] but an outstanding series of rolls by everyone else makes up for it a bit.


Turn 7 OGRE. Still, IT has three movement and closes in on the HW.


Turn 7 Paneuro. Everyone closes in and despite some missing by the HW [a theme that will continue...] Team Euro manages to take out enough treads to put it down to 2 movement. This means 5 turns to knock out the CP v. 3 turns, a huge difference! The HW crew may not care, however...


Turn 9, OGRE runs over the HW, which makes it's only contribution to the battle - the mangled bits of gun and the detonation of some rounds carelessly left out results in ONE tread unit destroyed. Still, they died manning their gun...Paneuro shooting was pathetic, just a couple of hits.


Turn 10. OGRE cruises along 2 hexes, it is two turns from running over the CP!
The Paneuros finally get a hit with a HW, and altogether knock out 11 TUs!


Turn 11, the OGRE closes in for the kill. The pressure is entirely on Team Euro at this point. Desperate measures motivated the socialist slugs to get focused, and they take out ALL remaining TUs!  The beast grinds to a halt as the worlds largest combination ash tray and door stop.


Turn 11 redo!  All this time, I totally forgot about the Anti-Personnel guns! They should have been shooting up the INF the last several turns. Just to see what would've happend, I made several rolls for them, and it almost certainly would have made a difference, with nearly all the INF dead. Oh well, this was the first time back in a long time, so I have to give myself a bit of a break!


Wow, what a game! There is something about trying to kill an Ogre that is tense - very tense. I didn't think the Paneuros could do it, but after a bunch of disappointing rolls - mainly by the howitzers [may they RIP] - the lowly GEVs and such beat the monster down.

I have to try again...I think the Ogre can win with a different strategy...

Back on Tracks: "Ogre", by Steve Jackson in the 21st C.

YOU CAN RUN, PUNY HUMAN...BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE!!

well, you CAN hide...it just doesn't make any difference, really. From "The Ogre Book" below, p.22

Steve Jackson's "Ogre" came out when I was just a kid, in 1977 to be exact. Despite the fact that it was dirt cheap, and Allied Hobbies in Montgomeryville Mall carried it - and lots of other affordable pocket games by Metagaming and others - I somehow didn't notice it until middle school. It may have something to do with the huge social distraction caused by the release of "Star Wars" that same year. Note, when I say "Star Wars" I mean THE "Star Wars", as in what is now called "Episode IV: A new Hope". No one who was around for the original ever calls anything else to my knowledge.
Or, it may be because we moved states that summer, and that big relocation was dislocating. Long time ago...


The original edition game cover- blown up and a cover for my big white binder of Ogre stuff. I missed this game's release completely due to unknown circumstances.

In the end, it was actually a friend that introduced me to it. I don't know if I saw it at the store but wasn't interested in huge cybernetic tanks [possible, unlikely], or if I was just distracted by other pocket games like "Melee" and "Wizard". But eventually my game pals brought it to school and we played it at lunch - constantly. 

This is the version I bought from Allied Hobbies - long since lost like all my original stuff


There's just something about a huge cybernetic monster tank that is instantly appealing, and the efforts of the defense to stop it are a classic "David and Goliath" tale. But, without all the "God is on his side" stuff, of course. Anyway, even though the Combine is North 'Merica, and the Paneuropeans are - of course - European, one can't help but root for the little guys. They can even get flat-out run over [pun intended]!
An original ogre record sheet I made on my dad's super stinky copier - the ink was nasty! No idea how this survived the ravages of time, but I discovered it jammed in with a bunch of old game junk.


Ogre grew a bit over time, adding in the almost-as-cool G.E.V. pocket game, which I liked even more. Plenty of articles were written and these were eventually compiled into a book, magazine really, that is still fun to peruse. A few of them predict  future technology and military hardware that seemed likely at the time. Interestingly, some of it is here now, while others don't seem to have a likely near-future possibility. 

For instance, computer technology has become exponentially smaller and more powerful. But battlesuited infantry and the Ground Effects Vehicle for which the sequal game "G.E.V." is named are unlikely in the next 20-30 years. Presently, helicopters do the  job of GEVs just fine and fly low enough to take cover almost as well. And an completely armored battlesuit is unlikely to be man-sized.

my 1982 copy cover

Fnord! there's no disputin that Trump trumps dat Putin! Fnord!

So there will be more posts on this - a lot more.  As we draw closer to the historical era of the game, c.2085, the design and dynamics of the game are a classic that is waiting to be rediscovered for old and new players alike.

One of the nice by-products of Steve Jackson still being around is that he periodically brings things back, keeps them alive, updates classic designs a bit, etc. Below, we have a new twist - in fact, a new product - from a different company, presumably designed by request and under license, etc.


Ogre: Objective 218 is a small box game by Your Move Games [CLICK], a remake of their popular The Battle for Hill 218 game which has good reviews where it counts [CLICK]. This remake has great graphics and is a pretty simple but challenging game. I finally convinced Mr. Winkie to give it a go, and the cool illustrations of military vehicles got him pretty enthused.

Mr. Winkie is getting considerably taller and can take on an Ogre now!

It took a couple of careful read-thrus of the rules, but we got started quickly. Basically, each side has a home base with an impassible no-man's land between [in this version, it's a radioactive crater, fittingly]. There's an imaginary grid of card "slots" that are playable to either side. The catch is that almost all cards can only be placed in a continuous chain of supply with the friendly Command Post, which also has to be continuously manned. 

In addition to the placement challenge, all cards can also Target enemy units and Attack enemy units. When you place a card it can attack - and automatically destroy - an enemy card: the requirement is that it be in a slot that is being both targeted by a friendly card and attacked by the new card. Once placed, cards are only part of the logistical chain and do not attack any longer.

Fitting to the period, the Ogre version has Ogres and Cruise Missile cards that are more dangerous, and of course all the usual suspects like GEVs, Lt GEVs, Heavy and Missile Tanks, Howitzers, etc. All have slightly different supply, targeting and attack attributes. Putting them all together to achieve a plan is not easy since you draw and play cards from a personal deck, and which cards are drawn has a big impact on your plans.

Below, a few turns into the game, Mr. Winkie is kicking my @$$, advancing on both flanks and having knocked out two of my units while I haven't killed any of his.

note cruise missiles and damaged ogre cards off to the side for use later.

A few more turns in, I've managed a bit of a comeback, having advanced down the left flank. My right flank is still threatened, however.

Mr. Winkie attempts to camouflage behind his cards


Couple of games later - plays in about 15-20 minutes, we are both helping each other learn strategies and errors. We've both won and lost. It's easy to get distracted by your opponent's threats or your own plans, and then lose.


Next day, we banged out a couple more games. I put up a good fight in this one, but lost with less on the field at end.

The game is easy to handicap, you can just remove cards from your deck. In our case, I took out one of my two Ogres and used only 1 of 2 cruise missiles.  That being said, it is a bit advanced for a 10yo, IMHO. While the rules aren't hard to pick up, coordinating the cards according to the rules is easy to mess up. For example, the GEV card supplies on diagonals, but targets and attacks orthagonally, not diagonally, while the Missile Tank supplies orthagonally, attacks diagonally, and targets BOTH orthagonally and diagonally!  Building a supply chain and making attacks can get a bit complex.

The Ogre itself is pretty nasty - when placed it makes two attacks and doesn't need support, and it has a strong supply chain. Playing your Ogre correctly can win you the game, especially if your opponent has spent his cruise missiles.

In the end, I think this is a great game to toss in a brief case [or backpack] and keep on hand. You can teach someone to play quickly, but they won't get bored. It may require some intestinal fortitude of a new player unless they are a confident gamer, however. At about $10-14 retail, this is a must for any fan of the Ogre milieu!

Back on the Net...liking it and not!

With the combination of government mandates and fearful friends and acquaintances, there's not much live gaming going on. Tempting as it is to push it, I'm hoping that with only 0.0000375 of my state's population having the bug, in another week the situation will - still - not be statistically significant and we can get back to a  more normal pace.

So, while I'm back blogging and checking out blogs, I would prefer to be gaming live - I miss you guys, *sniff *.
:)

Meanwhile, I have wrapped up Army education and done some spring cleaning [of which more to do...]. In terms of gaming, I took a couple down from a shelf to run thru. The first is one of an embarrassingly large collection of British in North Africa WWII games. As it is one of the shortest, "Desert Duel: First Alamein" by LPS Games got its first go.  Detailed reviews [HERE] at BoardgameGeek.

I found it pretty easy to set up, and the components are pretty good - the map I rather liked, the counters were "OK".

Conveniently, the rules are to the right, part of the map. British setup has a series of boxes on the battlefield, too far apart for good mutual support [as in real life...didn't learn anything from Gazala debacle]. Below, the Germans in blue to Northwest, British in a sort of orange sand color East and South. Reinforcements fit on the turn track.

When you start getting into it, the mechanics are a mix of the usual and a few interesting bits and pieces. It is not a revolutionary design. Most units have a strength of 2-4 and attrit by losing a point or two in combat. There's a sort of quality roll that affects things [higher quality units last better]. The use of a mandatory retreat mechanic combined with a zoc rule that blocks retreats makes this feel much like other games - block with a zoc and destroy the stack.

However, this is hard to do at times - your own stacks are vulnerable when you spread out, and after destroying a stack you are scattered around the desert and can get enveloped yourself. I made several notes about changes to make based upon reading Niall Barr's "Pendulum of War" including limiting British movement somewhat. Then, got very distracted by Army education and had to eventually clean up the stalled game that was gathering dust. It and others will get investigated as I return to the desert with miniatures - soon - and look for the perfect board game to use as a campaign system.

Just last few days, I had a real hankering to return to the modern era - Army education does that to my gaming habits. I have been really eager to continue my investigation of the "First Battle" series of boardgames by Frank Chadwick, most of which are GDW from the 1980s or so. My first one is the wonderful "Team Yankee" on which I've already posted HERE, and which I plan to continue playing. It is a 1 counter = 1 vic or squad level game.

But I had a hankering to try another one, a gateway game to the series that was a convention giveaway. "Battle for Basra" is a bit stripped down, and each counter is a company instead of a single tank [!]. The higher level of play has a few changes to the TY mechanics. First, it manipulates the turn sequence to give extra advantages to the US player instead of just making all their counters "super awesome" as a mechanic. The turn sequence is:
US Shoot
US Move
US Shoot [again!]
Iraqi Shoot
Iraqi Move
In essence, all US forces can Shoot - Move - Shoot in their turn, while the Iraqis can only Shoot - Move. This seriously degrades Iraqi combat potential as they can't maneuver and attack at all. They are forced to sit and await the US onslaught, and then survivors [if any] get to fire back and retreat. Second, the turn sequence has no interaction like in TY - there is no opportunity fire at all, and all units can shoot in the proper phase without it impacting their move and vice-versa. This means all US units can Shoot up the defense, close in and finish it off at point blank range with no return fire - ever. Looks pretty grim, but here goes!

I opted for a defense in depth, putting all the infantry in a wadi that confined the US to the NW board corner. Backing them up are the T55s and BMPs w' ATGMs - they have great range and are almost a threat to the Abrams! A highway under construction [HUC] is the next line of defense, full of the rest of the infantry. The US force of Bradley's and Abrams enters in the small space and right off the bat has to blast away to get some more room! The key US decision is how to crack the defense - fast and dirty by advancing into point blank range, or carefully peeling the onion apart?


Just to try it out, I went in close, but not into the same hex. At a range of 1 hex, the infantry are nothing to fear while the Abrams attack value is doubled for under half range.

I lost a couple of Bradley platoons due to hot die rolling by the Iraqis.

Turn 2, the Abrams dashed thru the gaps, enveloped the T55s and their BMPs, and...

...ate them for breakfast and lunch!


Turn 3, the US armor crashed into the infantry holding the HUC, and ripped them apart - lots of 5-1 attacks. The Iraqi reinforcements then entered [rolled each turn for the turn number or less, classic old mechanic] and deployed.


These were then eaten for dessert! With a few BTR platoons left on the table, I called it a day for the Iraqis.


Turn Sequence mechanics...some thoughts.

The novel use of two different turn sequences for a game is a great idea - it takes into account the outstanding ability of the US forces to fire and maneuver, and do it much faster than the Iraqis. The Iraqi turn sequence, however, confined them to one tactic - wait, shoot, then scoot. Not only do they have weaker gear, but they have half the opportunity to fire, or none at all if they maneuver into range. For a company level game, that is harsh [even if realistic given the history]. I can live with them only shooting once, but I think they should be able to shoot-move, or move-shoot.

In the end, I decided to use the TY sequence of play:
A Shoots
A Moves [B opportunity fires]
A Shoots
B Shoots 
B Moves [A op fires]
B Shoots
Catch is you can only fire in one of the shoot phases, and Op Fire [in opposing turn] if you didn't move. So you can shoot in the first or last phase, then gain the Op fire and shoot again in the enemy player turn for double the shooting - but you can't maneuver, you are committed to lots of shooting - elegent! The contrast tactic is to shoot then maneuver into cover - it halves your rate of fire and a fast-moving attacker can close in on you, but you don't take much return fire.

In TY, missiles can't move and shoot at all - it is a very tactical level of play. At this higher company level I imagine they are taking turns maneuvering then loosing missiles, so I did permit it.

This time it was much harder for the U.S. I imagine them greatly fatigued from a rapid advance and running low on ammo, so relative performance is a bit closer [just...a bit]. With a possibility of moving and shooting, all the Iraqi armor had a threat range of 10-11 hexes and set up farther away. Below, I divided the Abrams and Bradley's up and sent them in close - I promptly lost two Bradley's to excellent Iraqi rolls of a '1'! A third took a temporary "Damaged" result. Yikes!


I re-thought that, and tried again, this time I held off with the Bradleys. With a defense of only '4' [the Abrams is a...14!] they need to hang back and use their 20-mike-mike to soften things up a bit. Forgot to turn the Bradley counters back over, but you get the idea. Meanwhile, the Abrams pile onto the Iraqi left flank, looking for a break-through!

And unsurprisingly, they get it!

They take a tiny bit of heat in return thanks to some great dice by the desperate Iraqi forces - two Abrams are "Damaged". Note: I also decided to give the bottom of the combat chart a minimum D result on a '1' - even if the attacker can't get 1-4 odds. I figure being shot at is stressful and wears people down, at least. I did not use the "two 'D'  and you're destroyed result for those units, however. I figure they just don't have the firepower to damage the Abrams. Thus, the "D" is more like a "Disorganized" result.


Turn 1, Iraqis move up, getting their BMP's in range with their ATGMs. They completely miss however, needing a 1-2.


US Turn 2 ends with a huge whole in the Iraqi left. On Iraqi 2, the right fist Iraqi armor knock out an Abrams with an ATGM! 

Encouraged, the Iraqi tanks advance and D one Abrams, followed up by their BMPs


U.S. Turn 3, the first fire phase counterpunch from the US ATGMs is super nasty, and most of the T55s are knocked out, along with two BMPs from the center.

Turn 3 Iraqi reinforcements arrive and move up the road. I decide to use the triangular fortification to hide behind, while moving up the slower BTRs.

Turns 4 and 5, the US trashes most of the Iraqi armor with their tanks and ATGMs and start maneuvering out of the corner in which they've been confined. The Iraqi armor shifts south to hide out of LoS behind the triangular fortrification.


Turn 6, the US rapidly advances down the center road and begins attriting the infantry in the HUC. A counter attack by Iraqi T72s is heroically executed...

...and they knock out two Abrams!  What!!!???

Their joy is short-lived, as they are all destroyed.

With nothing but weak armor destined to die to the US ATGMs, and the infantry going to get chewed up by the last tank platoon and mortars, I called it quits - but it was a much more exciting game.

So, the turn sequence...it's critical to not only shape tactics but  to make the game dynamic. Clearly, more to be said about this in another post on the First Battle series. Am particularly interested in "Blood & Thunder", an East Front WWII version that represents the culminating development of the rules, far as I can tell. And...I acquired a mint copy at a great price through Boardgame Geek!