====== The Ogre Digest, October 6th (Last: October 2nd) ======== ===== Opinions on a game mechanic From: Stephan Beal ===== Targeting the articulation joint From: "Wray Odom" ===== Ogre Fiction From: SciGuyFla@aol.com ===== Remember the Alamo From: "Henry J. Cobb" ============================== From: Stephan Beal Subject: Opinions on a game mechanic > From: "Paul Chapman" (sorry, i don't have the original post in this mailbox, so i can't quote it.) One option which comes to mind is: when a unit comes into contact with the Ogre (enters it's hex), there is a chance (say 1-4?) that it can "talk the Ogre into converting." This gives the players a real risk: if they convert it, great, if not... toast. ----- stephan Generic Universal Computer Guy stephan@einsurance.de - http://www.einsurance.de Office: +49 (89)  552 92 862 Handy:  +49 (179) 211 97 67 "...control is a degree of inhibition, and a system which is perfectly inhibited is completely frozen." -- Alan W. Watts ===== [Does it depend on how much firepower they bring to the chat? -HJC] ============================== From: "Wray Odom" Subject: Targeting the articulation joint To an extent I might agree, but generally I think of a crittical hit as an attack with a low probability of success (indeed, it should be otherwise the OGRE is at a signifficant disadvantage.) However looking at it the waist doesn't appear any more difficult to target than, say, an AP. Nor could it have a stronger defense value than the turret of a main battery. In short it does not seem like a low probability target. ===== [If during design it was found to be a weak point in the armor then wouldn't armor have been shifted from the other points to that point? Actually, I agree that Ogres are weak against side attacks. They present thier largest target profile to the side and the armor is thinner and less sloped. But the Ogre knows this and it's main battery penetrates three times as much armor with the direct fire darts as it does with the indirect fire nukes. (According to Gurps Ogre which has the LGEV penetrating more armor on the first shot than a Missile Tank...) -HJC] ============================== From: SciGuyFla@aol.com Subject: Ogre Fiction I had a couple of quick questions for you.. 1) I am writing some OGRE fiction. Who do I send it to so it can be reviewed and maybe used in an OGRE product (or at the very least, read by some OGRE fans...)? 2) Should the fiction tie into a scenario? I would like to do this, but am having some problems (that leads me to my next question...) 3) Does anyone have any kind of stats approaching official for the Nihon Dragon? and finally... 4) I am now stationed at a base (thank you UBL for the extended Drill weekend!) for a year or more doing the war stuff for real. I have a few (very few) hours a week for free time and would like to try some OGRE via e-mail. Any rules you guys know of to do this - or opponents for that matter? Thanks, Roger "St. George" Morgan ===== [Send it to Pyramid! http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/ While the Nihon captured a few Chinese Dragons, I haven't heard about them deploying any of them. The stats for the Nihon Ogres can be found in Gurps Ogre. Lastly see: http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/board/ for PBeM games. -HJC] ============================== From: "Henry J. Cobb" Subject: Remember the Alamo "Major Davies, instead of returning to the front directly, I want you to cut through those woods with your heavy armor company and disrupt the French supply lines." The scenario is Breakthrough, with the attacking force as Combine Set 3, Heavy Armor Company and the defending force as Paneuropean Set 3, Superheavy Troop and Missile Tank Squadron. (See http://www.sjgames.com/miniatures/ogre/ for the details). When I tried this the Combine armor went up the west side on the road with stacked squadrons while the defender had his Missile Tanks stacked in 1408 with the tanks off to the west, each tank with a full load of infantry. The defenders responded by sending the Light and Missile tanks west along the road while the Superheavies cut across to the northwest of the swamp. On the third turn the Combine spread out and offered a range five first shot to the Paneuropean Superheavies (thereby not offering a transported infantry shot...), but the French turned that down and went on the defensive in the city around 0410. On the fourth turn the Combine rushed up and got a 1-1 on one Superheavy by combining fire from a Superheavy and a Heavy (X'ed) and a 1-2 on the other with a Superheavy using both guns at range three (NE). The surviving French Superheavy stayed in town while a lone Light Tank was pushed forwards and the infantry stacked up in 0410. The combination of Light Tank and Superheavy Tank Xed one Combine Superheavy while the other Superheavy gun Disabled a Heavy Tank. On the fifth turn the Combine moved up again, running their surviving Superheavy over the forwards Light Tank ("Should have kept a squad jack!" "It's Jacques!" Boom!), blew away the platoon in town and disabled the surviving French Superheavy with ranged fire. The Missile Tanks finally got into play but didn't score much. At the end the Combine moved one Superheavy and four Heavy Tanks off the north edge on the ninth and tenth turns while leaving a Light Tank carrying a squad behind, for a net score of 61 VPs ahead. Ouch! Two things I noticed was that it was difficult to keep the Paneuropean forces together in rough terrain (as I'd suspected would be the case) and that the results of attacks on Superheavy tanks can be very decisive, one way or the other. I suspect that my leading with the Superheavies was a big mistake with the Combine Company and that I should adopt a diamond formation with the three heavies up front and a Superheavy right behind them to balance out their ranges and (relative) defense strengths in each squadron. The Superheavies won't get the full advantage of their strike range and they'll hardly ever use their AP, but they just might live long enough to be worth the cost. I'll have to see how well Paneuropean Set 3 defends against Combine Set 4, the GEV Company, for a more traditional Breakthrough scenario. (Though the Pansies should get at least another two platoons to match the two additional armor units worth on the other side. Or switch to Heavy Weapon Squads for the French Light Missile Tank!) Henry J. Cobb ogre@sjgames.com Archives at http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 2001, by Steve Jackson Games.