====== OGRE Digest, December 9th (Last: December 6th) ======== ===== Crowding out the LGEVs From: David Morse From: "Chris French" ===== Hammer & Anvil AAR, LGEV rams From: David Morse ===== GEV scenario for you From: David Morse ============================== From: David Morse Subject: Crowding out the LGEVs At this point I've forgotten the original proposal, but was Henry's suggestion to give a rattler variant a strength 1 attack in a 1 hex radius around the impact? If LGEVs are a problem for you, allowing an Ogre to swap 6/5 "rattlers" for 6/4 "clusterf*ckers" (with the radius) should shut up the swarm. When CFs detonate in radius of an Ogre, resolve a strength-1 tread attack and strength-1 AP attack, and that's all. A multi CF attack results in multiple strength 1 splashes, not a single strength-N splash. Missiles should be secretly declared in advance. Missiles racks may choose ammo freely from all types in magazine, but each rack must designate a type of missile as "on deck". This "on deck" missile is the one that is destroyed when the rack is Xed. Once "on deck", a missile can't be sucked back into the magazine, its up and out. I was thinking of giving the same splash damage to howitzer's shots, but howies have so many weaknesses that it really wouldn't help them against most of their foes: Ogres, Superheavy tanks, even the lowly MSL matches up well., and wouldn't care about the splash. Splash only helps versus GEVs, LGEVs, and LTs, which are really the least of the HWZ's worries given the "free infantry" rules and traditional european terrain. It might help MSL though. But there's simply no way to work that into canon if the HWZ doesn't get it. :-( ===== [Against GEVs I'd rather trade off warhead than range. Say range 6, attack 4 against the primary target, attack 2 spillover in that hex and attack 1 spillover in each adjacent hex. If that was the alternative, I'd replace every Ogre missile issued to my forces with that weapon. -HJC] ===== From: "Chris French" Subject: Crowding out the LGEVs > [Wouldn't the LGEVs carry nukes of their own? -HJC] Umm, no -- LGEVs can barely carry an anti-armor gun, much less a missile carrying a Real Nuke. (I suppose players with a Nihonist bent could specify certain LGEVs as "Special Attack" units -- no Attack Strength at all, but when "fired", is treated as a Cruise Missile....) > Having been one of those cardboard counters in the Med and North > Atlantic, I suggest you put yourself in the place of those parents, wives, > and children. Modern war is bloody, and usually unnecessary. Pity those > most willing to start it never seem to be the ones fighting it... I see you couldn't even be bothered to actually read what I wrote before replying. The NYC Draft Riots of 1863 began as a reply to the Regularly-Scheduled Bloodbaths the Army of the Potomac was taking part in -- the riot proper began when the casualty lists from Gettysburg were published. (And the North *won* that battle!) The point being: Even when one's side is winning, if the kill lists are long enough, the Opposition will be calling for some- one's head. > [You'll note that the trigger for SJ's Last War is the usual suspect, > Fear. You can almost see the roots of it growing now. -HJC] Actually, what I'm seeing looks more like the lead-in to _Battle- tech_ than _OGRE_. NATO expanding to cover the whole world. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer. All hell breaks loose. The smart folk leave this godforsaken rock. Etc. Mmm -- space _OGRE_. Steal the movement rules from _Triplanet- ary_; handle combat as normal; adapt armor units to be various types of starship; voila! (Anyone who has SJG's _Star Fist_ has the movement rules for _Triplanetary_. In fact, _SF_ specifically describes itself in part as "_OGRE_ In Space"....) Damn, I wish there was a proper gaming con up here so I could test this out.... > [There was a slightly more analog feel to the slopes in Battlesuit > than simply having slope hexsides. Not quite sure what you mean here. I do like _B_ for having actual terrain features -- _OGRE_ is nice, but, umm, we have *hills* around here.... :) > Here's a new twist. Wanna play OGRE but don't have dice? Then play > diceless Ogre! In the immortal words of _Knights of the Dinner Table_'s Brian Van Hoose: "DICELESS?? Mother of Blessed Dice-Rolls preserve us. I hear the barbarians pounding at the gates." Seriously: Is it that hard to write the numbers 1 through 6 on sepa- rate pieces of paper, put them into a cup, mix them, and draw one piece out? CF ===== [The GURPS Vehicles design I'm working on for the Gremlin LGEV carries four Hypersmart missiles on hardpoints under those huge wings. Each of those missiles is 3,000 pounds and a cruise missile warhead is only 127 pounds. -HJC] ============================== From: David Morse Subject: Hammer & Anvil AAR, LGEV rams My pal and I played 4 games of "Hammer and Anvil" today. Maybe interesting are the results: First game: Ogre falls on one flank, defeats it in detail, attacks second flank, limps home persued by a GEV or three (total Ogre victory) Second game: Ogre falls on one flank. First five 1-1 shots by defense destroy the main and all four secondaries. Ogre resigns. Third game: Exactly like first game. Fourth game: Upgraded to advanced scenario. Defender decided to concede the north-central map to the Ogre, buying time to consolidate a unified blockade in the central south. However Mark V persues a flank and missiles it into the ground. The defense doens't ever get together a "big wave", but eventually knee-caps the Ogre to death. (draw) Conclusion: the best defense, especially in the basic scenario, is to avoid conflict for the first couple turns while concentrating forces to stop the Ogre. Note: the fourth move saw the use of a GEV ram to do the final point and get the Ogre down to M2. How do we feel about this technique? Also, c'mon now, shouldn't LGEVs do 0 when ramming/being rammed? ===== [The published LGEV weighs 59 tons and can go 300 mph. By GURPS Vehicles that should destroy 1/8th of a Mark V's total track hit points in a ram. -HJC] ============================== From: David Morse Subject: GEV scenario for you The Cornered Beast http://66.93.230.14/~dm/ogre/cornered-beast.txt An Ogre has successfully destroyed an enemy installation, but on the way back to friendly territory it is cut off by a superior enemy force. The Ogre requests help from its HQ, then rolls to the bottom of a deep lake. Will it be able to hide long enough for the relief force to arrive? (This was to be my GEV scenario contest entry, alas it was rejected for being over 8 months late) ============================== Send all submissions or mailing list changes or problems to ogre@sjgames.com Archives for this mailing list may be found at http://www.io.com/~hcobb/ General online support for the OGRE game is at http://www.sjgames.com/ogre Ogre, G.E.V., Shockwave and other products mentioned here are trademarks or registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy at http://www.sjgames.com/general/online_policy.html