============ The Ogre Digest, July 21st (Last: July 10th) ============= ===== [sjgames-illuminator] New Ogre Commander From: webmaster@sjgames.com ===== Warfields From: Kirk Hunt ===== Battle of Gibraltar From: Charles Barnett ===== INF riding Ogres? From: "David R. Crowell" ===== Ogre Terrain From: Servitor@aol.com ===== Hidden dangers From: AvaheilDotter@aol.com ============================== From: webmaster@sjgames.com Subject: [sjgames-illuminator] New Ogre Commander SJ Games Daily Illuminator ( http://www.sjgames.com/ill/ ) July 19, 2001: New Ogre Commander -------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Chapman, head of our Miniatures Division, has acquired a new hat ( http://www.sjgames.com/ill/img/2001/ogre_commander.jpg ). A longtime Ogre ( http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/products/ogregev ) fan, he now officially adds the title of Ogre Line Editor to his other duties. He will oversee development and playtesting of new and future Ogre ( http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/products/ogregev ) supplements, expansions, and related goodies for both the boardgame and miniatures versions. ===== [I wish I could sit down and chat with this guy. Mostly, I'd ask about Ogre Minis. Is there going to be another edition of the OGRE Minis book? If so, will it have rule numbers to speed up cross referencing? And what is going to be done about the huge differences between the cruise missiles in Shockwave and OGRE Minis? (The other differences between the board and minis games don't have quite the literal impact of the cruise missiles.) -HJC] ============================== From: Kirk Hunt Subject: Warfields OGRElisters, There's still time to get involved with playtesting, proofreading and other wise helping to help develop the "Warfields" OGREverse campaign system. Send me an email and I'll send you the rules...but you HAVE to contribute feedback or the karma police will rough you up... Thanks for those who have already contributed or were just getting ready to hit the 'send' key... Desertcat ===== Kirk Hunt kirkhunt@theriver.com ============================== From: Charles Barnett Subject: Battle of Gibraltar For John McKnight, and anyone else interested. No, the scenario is not posted anywhere and my understanding is that it was still in development. I don't know if Jeff Crowder subscribes to the list or not. He threatened to run it again in early October. Presumably there will be some changes by then. I don't know enough details to clone the setup. Charles ============================== From: "David R. Crowell" Subject: INF riding Ogres? Anybody have any thoughts on whether or not INF should be allowed to ride on "friendly" Ogres? An Ogre certainly is large enough to carry a sizable number of infantry squads. I would think that the larger weapons firing might have a detrimental effect. Not to mention the "You want me to ride on WHAT!?" factor. No, this is not a call for the Ogre-PC, although if anyone is twisted enough to devise stats for such a beast.... Mostly it was a thought question. Also can Infantry ride Missile Tanks etc? Not that there is much real point in it as they move at the same rate. ===== [See the new Ogre Book, page 99 for one OGRE that carries infantry. There was another in development, but I don't know what's happened to that. -HJC] ============================== From: Servitor@aol.com Subject: Ogre Terrain > Do not breathe the dust. I've actually had somebody ask me "why?" when I've said the same thing and they notice me wearing a mask while I cut. The answer is simple. If you breathe in, say, some sawdust -your lungs, throat and nasal passages will eventually get rid of most of it. But you breathe in styrofoam particles, or worse, resin particles; -that stuff NEVER comes out of your lungs. This is the exact same problems smokers face. Even if they never develop cancer, eventually the surface of their lungs becomes so covered that they have trouble breathing. So please wear a breather (even when just sawing styrofaom with a saw or steak knife). They're available at any hardware store worth their salt. The "paper" types are okay, but the rubber/plastic ones with removable/replaceable filters are the best. You should also wear simple shop glasses when cutting. Hot styrofoam adhereing to your eyeball is not something you want... BTW, lungs have difficulty getting rid of anything you breathe in, so at least wear a paper mask when cutting lots of wood so that you don't have to hack up the dust over the next 12 hours... And speaking of sawdust, its a great substitute for flock when you need to cover a HUGE amount of board. Here's how to do it: Go to your local Home Depot (or equivalent) with a couple of big buckets. Ask the guy who cuts wood for the customers if you can have a few buckets full of their sawdust. I've never had them refuse me. (They're just going to toss it out anyway). Now go to your garage and nail together a simple square frame (one foot square is plenty big enough) out of spare wood strips. Over this frame staple some screening (like you use on a screen poarch) -get the largest scale possible (1/2 inch between the weave is best). Use this to sift the sawdust into another bucket. While the resulting material is not as fine or soft as commercially available "flock", its a heck of a lot cheaper (even if you have to buy the buckets and screening), and will paint up after you've applied it to the board quite well. New subject. Henry said: "Stack? Sounds like GEV rules to me. Against a "Fuzzy" all GEV force, proper use of the missiles is very important, because they are the only two-turn weapon in the Ogre's quiver." Oh, I WAS talking about the hex map game using the full GEV rules (though it applies to miniatures too when you substitute "places the GEVs within 1 inch of each other" for "stacked", and I was referring to a "non-fuzzy" defense (sorry, I didn't make that clear). Against GEV heavy forces, definitely follow Henry's advice. But against a more, ahem, "varied" force, I prefer not to salvo my missiles too quickly. I WOULD like to hear more discussion about tactics, both about this and other scenarios/situations. This is just the sort of thing I love reading about in the digest. So please, let's hash tactics. We can only learn by doing such. best, John Hurtt (Servitor@aol.com) -Yes, I'm a Game Geek. How did you know? -Please visit my website at: http://hometown.aol.com/Servitor/Ogreindex/ogrindex.htm ===== [Against a heavier force, the OGRE is not overmatched in speed and should maneuver to minimise the fire it takes on the way to the CP. So you don't dive into the middle just so you can fire off all your missiles at once. When did Steve write that he likes to move to attack the side of a defending force so that he can kill or disable just about everything that can attack his Ogre on the next turn? Missiles need to be used as part of this plan, to hit the reaction force ready to strike back from just beyond main battery range. As always, heavy tanks are lousy targets for missiles because they're the only targets that aren't a guaranteed kill. (Either this turn or next.) -HJC] ============================== From: AvaheilDotter@aol.com Subject: Hidden dangers << BTW: GEVs are the best unit to (ab)use hidden mines. "Think you can just run away, eh?" Chase. BOOM! -HJC] >> Yep. Any terrain that a unit can use to it's advantage should be so used. Try making an ogre have to attack alongside a 2-3hex wide river. The hovers hop across the water and the Ogre has to ignore them or swing away from the river. Proper placement of the CP and HWTZ can prevent that ... Ad Astra! Stan Leghorn ===== [Fortunately on the GEV map this isn't much of a problem (mostly because there isn't much of value in the southeast corner for most scenarios.), but on some of the new Battlefields maps it could be fun. If time and other units aren't pressing, the Ogre could rumble past the GEVs in safety on the riverbed. -HJC] Henry J. Cobb ogre@sjgames.com Archives at http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 2001, by Steve Jackson Games.