=============== OGRE/GEV list, July 16th (Last: July 13th) =============== ===== Battleline in GEV From: garth.getgen@genie.com ===== OGRE split-fire phase From: David Paulowich ------------------------------ From: garth.getgen@genie.com To: hcobb@io.com Subject: Battleline in GEV > Learn Web or die - http://www.io.com/sjgames/ - dinosaurs, Lego, Kahlua! > The heck with PGP keys; finger for Geek Code. Fnord. OK. To learn, someone must teach me: what is "finger"?? I've seen that five times in tha past couple days now ... so I presume it's a Web term and not an obscene gesture. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It probably won't happen, but I'd like to see the Ogre/GEV counters scanned in and posted on the Web page as a GIF file ... that way I could print out as many as I need by running light card stock thru my inkjet printer. I'd also love to be able to create new siloettes for different units such as the Missile GEV by cutting the missiles off a Missile Tank and pasting them on a GEV-PC hull. I could also print out double-sized counters. By the way, is there any chance of more GEV maps coming out?? Perhaps people could design some interesting ones and get the "best" posted on the Web page and/or published in the PYRAMID. Any chance of a computer-program version of GEV ever coming out????? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The other night, my wife reminded me of her first GEV game, several years ago when I taught her the rules. We played the Ceasefire Collapse scenario and I gave her a bit of an advantage. At any rate, she lines up her forces line abreast and began to march them across the map, then stopped and didn't move for two turns, forcing me to attack. So I moved up and fired one-to- one odds on the front line, mainly Heavy Tanks. I figured I'd take out a few, disable a few, and then I'd have the numerical advantage until I could push deeper into enemy territory. That didn't quite happen -- I didn't check the range of ALL her units. I still don't know if it was by design or coincidence, but she had stopped her advance such that the max range hex-row of her Howitzers was the same hex-row as the max range for her Mobile Howitzers (now moved forward) and also the same as her Missile Tanks ... and also the same as the surviving front line Heavy Tanks (very much like the ISC eschalion in Star Fleet Battles). I walked most of my army from a "safe zone" into "full kill zone" all at once. I lost two-thirds of my army that turn. In the second game, we both opted for a mix of Tanks and few GEVs or artillery. I figured I'd kill off her Heavy Tanks first, thus I'd have the fire-power advantage. Meanwhile, she ignored my Heavy Tanks and killed off my Light Tanks first -- and ended up with the numerical advantage, thus was able to overwhelm my forces. I eventually won that battle, but it was a tough fight with some lucky die rolls. Morale: Never underestimate your enemy ... even inexperienced commanders can come up with good tactics and KICK YOUR BUTT. Second Morale: Check the ENTIRE tactical situation over, not just the "immediate threat" areas. Garth L. Getgen SSgt USAF ----- [If you have a Unix account, lookup `man finger`, otherwise you're probably untouchable. -HJC] ------------------------------ To: hcobb@io.com From: David Paulowich Subject: OGRE split-fire phase I would like to start off by recommending Garth Getgen's "Kill the Howitzer" scenario to any new GEV owners. When the defending player takes a pair of Howitzers and four light tanks in the 9.02 BREAKTHROUGH scenario, then the attacker faces the same tactical problems, only doubled! Also in the July 3rd posting were Henry Cobb's split-fire rules for the OGRE. I have some ideas on that subject - but first I will quote a very old posting: > 93: Interesting idea for OGRE phasing > By: Steve Jackson [2] > Date: 22:33 12/9/92 > >came up today at playtest. We were discussing the fact that a tactical >retreat in OGRE is a bad idea - the rules are designed to encourage you >to shoot and keep shooting, not to run away. > >Somebody - I think it was Ray - pointed out that if a unit had the >option of firing either at the beginning OR the end of its turn (or, >logical corollary, at any time during the turn), that a retreat in the >face of superior firepower would become a valid tactic. Assuming that >you have someplace friendly to retreat TO. > >Obviously, it adds bookkeeping. If a unit fires before moving, you must >tag it appropriately, to make sure that no unit ever fires twice. > >Wonder what it does to the flavor of the game? I'll try to find out for >myself, but I'd like to know what other people think if they try it. > SNIP SNIP SNIP This is David Paulowich returning with a modest proposal: Prepare some OGRE counters with the back side NOT identical to the front. One idea would be to omit the "Mark" and have a generic OGRE back for all the counters. In "(5) Fire Phase" all normal OGREs and all other units fire. The owning player of an OGRE has the option of passing up the opportunity to fire during this phase and announcing his decision to flip the counter over - thus allowing it to fire in the Inverted OGRE Fire Phase of the following game turn. Now add an "Inverted OGRE Fire Phase" just before the Movement Phase. In this phase an inverted OGRE counter takes all of its ranged combat for the game turn. The owning player has the option of passing up the opportunity to fire during this phase and announcing his decision to flip the counter over - thus allowing it to operate as a normal OGRE. These rule changes allow an OGRE to fire as it retreats and even, should the tactical situation improve, to return to the attack again. The cost of an OGRE changing its mind twice in this fashion is to miss one complete game turn of ranged combat. My intention is to improve the survival chances of an OGRE, without making it any more deadly in the attack. Playtesting, anyone? David Paulowich paulo@cdngateway.pe.ca CYBERTANK DIVISION FNORD MOTOR COMPANY ----- [I still want split-fire for self-aware OGREs only, at the cost of loosing combining fire (or movement, hence overruns) with anybody else. -HJC] Henry J. Cobb hcobb@io.com http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 1996, by Steve Jackson Games.