=============== OGRE/GEV list, July 7th (Last: July 6th) =============== ===== Advanced GEV Rules, part three of three. From: garth.getgen@genie.com ===== Reaction Fire From: Chris Camfield ===== GEV Movement Question From: Steve Hodsdon ------------------------------ Subject: Advanced GEV Rules, part three of three. From: garth.getgen@genie.com 5.01 GENERAL. What good are new rules if you don't have scenarios to test them out? You don't have to use any of my rules if you don't want, but that's why they're called "advanced" and "optional". In fact, a couple of these don't use the LOS or reaction fire rules -- like the first scenario. WARNING: I have three Reinforcement Packs and an extra copy of GEV (totaling 5 GEV maps and counter sheets, four Shockwave maps and counter sheets, and four Ogre counter sheets: nine maps and 1904 counters!); therefore some of these scenarios could be quite large. Check out this first one. If it's too big, skip to the last one. 5.02 OGRES ON PARADE. In the year of 2092, the Combine Intelligence Agency located a major Paneuropean Ogre Assembly and Repair Facility (POARF) capable of building the new Mark 7 Ogre. Fearing another offensive was in the works, a preemptive strike was planned. Unfortunately, the factory was well guarded by a division training area. The only option was Ogres -- lots of them. 5.021 MAPS. This scenario uses eight (8) maps: four GEV and four Shockwave maps, placed two east to west by four north to south. The northwest most map is a Shockwave map, ignore the river and lake on this section (treat as clear). The rail bridges crossing the other two rivers may be used by any non-GEV vehicle of heavy tank size or smaller at two movement points cost (infantry cross at normal speed). No town or bridge hexes are destroyed, yet. Use GEV rules 8.03 to 8.06. 5.022 ATTACKER'S FORCES. The Combine (black) forces are quite a task force: two Mark VI's, four Mark V's, eight Mark IV's, sixteen Mark III's, and 32 super-heavy tanks. The super-heavy tanks have been modified to be submersible. The force enters the south edge of the map. The attacker does not have to commit the whole force on the first turn. The attacker may only retreat off the map along the southern edge or the east or west edge of the southern most map sections. 5.023 DEFENDER'S FORCES. The Paneuropeans (white) have defended their rear area well, but never expected to be attacked by such numbers of Ogres. Still, it's quite a match. Place one HWZ in each city larger than one hex for a total of 39 HWZ (there are 42 cities larger than one hex). Spread the rest of the force out with at least two-thirds (2/3) north of the northern (longest) river: 20 MHWZ, 32 SHVY, 70 HVY, 50 LT, 70 MSL, 96 GEV, 64 LGEV, 40 GEV-PC, 48 HV-TRK (VP 2 each), 2 CP Alpha (D3 M0), 4 CP Beta (D2 M1), 388 squads of infantry, and 112 marines. The marine counters represent heavy weapon infantry squads. Additionally, there are several buildings to be placed on the northern most sections: four reactors, four SP-70's, eight Admin-30's and twelve Admin-20's. These buildings may not be placed in cities or stacked with other buildings. The reactors must be at least six hexes from another reactor or a city and two hexes from other buildings (in case of TMI problems). Each SP-70 is assigned a reactor which must be within four hexes. Also with these buildings, which are the Ogre factory, are a total of eight Ogres: two Mark V's and six Mark III's. The Ogres must be within one hex of a SP-70 and may not move or fire until "turned on", as they were sut down for repair or construction. 5.024 SPECIAL RULES. The attacker's SHVY's have been modified to go under water up to three turns at a time, coming up to breath for at least one full turn. While under water, treat it as an Ogre for movement and combat. If it is still under water at the end of the fourth turn after it entered, it drowns and is removed as KIA. The defender's Ogres can not move or fire until turned on. Each operational POARF (SP-70/Reactor pair) can power up one Ogre (within one hex of the SP-70) on turn ten and another every five turns thereafter. The defender sets up first, and the attacker moves first. 5.025 OBJECTIVES AND VICTORY POINTS. The Combine forces want to reek as much havoc as possible, but the main goal is the Ogre Plant at the north end of the map. The Paneuropean forces are there to protect the factory at all cost. To find the tactical winner, compute victory points as per GEV rule 9.012 plus 3 points per town hex, 2 points per bridge, and 12 points per river bridge. CP-Alpha's are worth 12 points, and CP-Beta's are 6 points. Attacker ahead by 1500+ points Decisive Tactical Victory Attacker ahead by 1000-1499 points Marginal Tactical Victory Attacker ahead by 500-999 points No Clear Tactical Victor Attacker ahead by 250-499 points Marginal Tactical Loss Attacker ahead by less than 250 points Decisive Tactical Loss If these numbers seem high, consider that there are 2400+ more VP's in the defending force than what the attacker's total. The Paneuropean Ogre Assembly and Repair Facility (POARF), the buildings (specifically the Reactors and SP-70's), is the strategic goal of the Combine attack: All buildings destroyed and 1500+ Tac VP's Enemy asks for Peace Treaty All buildings destroyed Incredible Victor All reactors and all SP-70's destroyed Total Victory All reactors or all SP-70's destroyed Decisive Victory Some reactors and SP-70's destroyed Marginal -- No Clear Winner All reactors or all SP-70's standing Decisive Loss All reactors and all SP-70's standing Total Loss All buildings standing Incredible Loss No building damaged Planners Court-martialed 5.026 ADVANCED VERSION. If this doesn't have enough death-and- destruction for you; the attacker gets 4 "Little Boys" to replace the Mark V's and 18 additional off-board-fired cruise missiles, and give the defender twelve cruise missile crawlers and four laser towers (placed same as per SP- 70's). Happy now? Thought so. 5.03 TEAM-OGRE. This is a variation off of Ceasefire Collapse (GEV scenario 9.05) with Ogres for four players. Form two teams of two players, one player on each side will run the Ogres and the other will run the conventional forces. The players may NOT talk over plans or tactics during the game. This is to simulate the self-control of the Ogres. 5.031 THE MAP. Use one GEV map and one Shockwave map in your favorite configuration. Set up a DMZ similar to that in Ceasefire Collapse. One of my two favorites is: Shockwave map south of GEV map, one side gets west of the road G0401-S0711-S1816-S1822 to include towns S0810 and S0911, the other side gets east of the road G1801-G2203-G1408-G2315-G1818-S2304 to include the land between the river and road G2315-G1818. The other recommended setup is: Shockwave map west of GEV map, one side gets west of the road/river S1501-S0709-S1816-S1822 to include towns S0810 and S0911, the other side gets east of road/river G0401-G0404-G1408-G2013-G1523. 5.032 SETUP. Both sides 60 points of armor, 45 squads of infantry, and one each CP-Alpha (D3 M0), CP-Beta (D2 M1), and CP-Gamma (D1 M2). Both sides also get two Ogre Mark V's. Cruise missiles and lasers are not recommended for this scenario. Place a screen across the DMZ and both sides set up all conventional forces. Roll a die to see which side goes first and remove the screen. The Ogres enter the map on turn two. 5.033 SPECIAL RULES. No town or bridge hexes are destroyed. LOS and reaction fire rules may be used. Team players may NOT talk plans and tactics during the game. Before each turn, the phasing players each roll one die: the player who rolls high MUST move first. If the die roll is a tie, the Ogre player has the choice to go first or to wait for the conventional forces. If the Ogre goes first and causes an overrun; it may wait for, but not request, reinforcements before resolving the overrun. If the Ogre goes last and sees an overrun it can get to, it may move in; but its help may not be requested by the conventional player nor may it create an overrun getting there. Ogres fire before friendly units in overrun attacks. The die roll procedure is repeated for the normal combat round to see who fires first. Ogres may not combine fire with conventional units. 5.034 LINE-OF-SIGHT / REACTION FIRE. Use of my LOS/Reaction Fire rules is optional if the conventional players agree. LOS/Reaction Fire does not directly effect the Ogres, although it should give them a more dominate presence on the battlefield. This is a good test scenario for those rules. 5.035 OBJECTIVES AND VICTORY POINTS. Reek as much havoc as possible: the team who dies with the most toys wins. See GEV rules 9.053 and 9.047 for more details. 5.036 ADVANCED SCENARIO. If this battle isn't a big enough for your pleasure; you can increase the forces by 50 percent or more, have one Mark V and two Mark III's, add in cruise missiles and lasers, add more maps, or whatever variation you want. It is recommended to keep both sides approximately equal, adjusting for the experience and skill of the players. 5.04 WHERE'S THE ARK? In 2087, the clouds came to the lowlands and it rained and rained and rained. Before long, the Combine forces were looking to enlist the aid of a ship-builder named Noah. The Paneuropean Command found this to be the perfect time to test the latest model of the Ground Effect Vehicle by punching through the armor battalion stuck in the mud. Little did they realize almost a full brigade of fresh, new infantry awaited them. 5.041 THE MAP. This scenario uses two maps: place a Shockwave to the north of a GEV map. Because of all the rain, the ground is quite muddy: all clear hexes cost two movement points for tracked vehicles (MHWZ, SHVY, HVY, MSL, or LT) to enter. GEV's and infantry treat as clear. 5.042 SETUP. The defending Combine (black) forces consist of eight Howitzers; 35 points of armor units none of which may be HWZ's, M-HWZ's, GEV's, LGEV's or GEV-PC's; and 120 squads of infantry on the map, with another 60 squads available as reinforcements riding 10 GEV-PC's and 15 HV-TRK's. Neither side may have cruise missiles, lasers, or Ogres. The defender sets up anywhere south of the river on the Shockwave map. The HWZ's must be placed one per city anywhere except the two cities bordering the river on the Shockwave map. The Paneuropean (white) force of 64 GEV's and 32 LGEV's moves first by entering the map anywhere along the edge north and west of the river on the Shockwave map. The attacker need not commit all the force on the first turn. 5.043 SPECIAL RULES. Bridges and towns are all intact. Of the 120 infantry squads starting on the map, 45 squads are hidden in forest, swamp, or town hexes. Do not place them on the map -- write down their locations. They are exposed and place on the map if they move, any unit in their hex fires or is fired upon, or if an enemy unit comes within one hex. 5.044 REINFORCEMENTS. Starting on the second turn after an enemy unit has crossed the river, the defender get three vehicles (GEV-PC's and/or HV-TRK's) loaded with infantry per turn for five turns. These reinforcements come on anywhere along the south or east edge of the GEV map. 5.045 ESCAPE. Units may only escape (read: retreat) off the map along the edge where they or their reinforcements entered. The attacker may exit for victory conditions across the river on the GEV map. 5.046 REACTION FIRE. My reaction fire rules are highly recommended -- if you don't use them, the defender should lose badly. 5.047 OBJECTIVES AND VICTORY POINTS. The Paneuropean GEV's are trying to punch through the defenses to hit a strategic target deep in the rear area. The attacker get 6 victory points for each GEV, and 3 per LGEV, exiting the map south and east of the river on the GEV map on or before turn 18. The defenders GEV-PC's are worth 9 VP's, the HV-TRK's are 4 VP's each, and the other armor is at half value (due to the mud). Units forced to retreat off the map (not attackers GEV's going for victory conditions) are worth half value VP's to the enemy. Use victory levels listed in GEV rule 9.038. 5.048 BALANCE. Play balance can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the attackers force, or the amount of defending infantry. 5.05 KILL THE HOWITZER. This is a good introduction scenario. It is also a nasty little game for experienced players, or for quick tournaments. The point values are dead even, and it only takes about fifteen minutes to play; but it's not as easy as it first looks -- play it a few times and you'll see what I mean! 5.051 THE MAP. Use one map, either the GEV or Shockwave map, of the defender choice. 5.052 SETUP. The defender get one Howitzers (fixed -- not mobile), two light tanks, and nine squads of infantry (total 36 points). The attacker gets four GEV's and four Light GEV's (also 36 points). Only this mix of forces may be used -- NO substitutions are allowed. The defender chooses which map to use, the attacker declares which side (N-E-S-W) of the map he will enter on. The defender then sets up anywhere on the map. The attacker then enters all the GEV's / LGEV's on the side declared. 5.053 SPECIAL RULES. Bridges and towns are all intact. All units must start/move on the map turn one -- there are no reinforcements. Neither side may retreat off the map. There is no time limit (except maybe during tournaments). Use of the reaction fire and LOS rules are optional provided both players agree. They should be used together or not at all. This will put a new spin on tactics, but should give the defender an edge. 5.054 OBJECTIVES. The attackers objective is to kill the Howitzers, period. Nothing else matters: this is a suicide mission. The game is over when the Howitzer is dead (not just disabled), in which case the attacker wins; when the attacker's force is wiped out; or if one side concedes. 5.055 DESIGNER'S NOTES. I have played this scenario about four dozen times, about half the games as the attacker and half as defender. Results: about 50-50 win/loss ratio as either attacker or defender. You don't get any more balanced than that! Enjoy! If you can, find a place to post sections 2 and 3 (LOS and Reaction Fire rules) on the web, if not the whole article. Thanks. Garth L. Getgen SSgt USAF ------------------------------ From: Chris Camfield Subject: Reaction Fire To: hcobb@io.com (Henry J. Cobb) [snip] > 3.04 UNITS THAT MAY FIRE REACTION FIRE. Any conventional unit (NOT > Ogre, laser, or cruise missile) that is not disabled may fire reaction > fire once per turn. Ogres, being cybernetic-computer controlled, are > not subject to panic; thus do not fire on impulse as mere humans are so > fond of doing. Lasers need time to charge their systems, and cruise > missile crawlers need to program coordinates beforehand; therefore both > are incapable of reaction fire. While I might imagine that this ruling about Ogres is to counterbalance the fact that they cannot themselves be affected by reaction fire, the idea that an Ogre with inhumanly fast reflexes cannot respond to moving enemies seems, well, a little silly to me. :-) My other favourite sci-fi armor game is called Grav Armor (by Heritage/Dwarfstar), which uses an I-move-while-you-shoot and then You-move-while-I-shoot turn sequence. It'd be interesting to see what would happen if you tried playing GEV with something like this, though I suspect that it would upset play balance completely. Chris ----- [Grav armor differs from GEV in the following ways: A: There are no superheavy units. B: Attacks cannot be combined. C: Fire against move. Violating A & B, while retaining C would let OGREs basically shrug off attacks by lesser units. (In my split-fire stuff the OGREs are nasty enough already) -HJC] ------------------------------ To: "Henry J. Cobb" From: Steve Hodsdon Subject: GEV Movement Question (Using the original GEV map...) A GEV can move an extra hex if it spends all its movement points "on road." If the GEV moves (for example) 0406 -> 0405 -> 0505... (bypassing 0404), is this still considered "on road?" I don't think so, telling the computer that its not legal is the challenge... Steve ----- [No, and the best way to handle this is to track roads BETWEEN hex pairs, not inside each hex. (destruction of road in a hex cuts all of it's pair relations. Destruction of a (small) bridge cuts one relation). -Programmer Cobb] Henry J. Cobb hcobb@io.com http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 1996, by Steve Jackson Games.