====== OGRE Digest, November 1st (Last: October 31st) ======== ===== LADdie we hardly knew ye. From: "Chris French" ===== Off road tires for OGRE hunters From: Kirk Hunt ===== Alternate play sequence From: David Morse ============================== [First off, I'm declaring next week to be Mark IV week. Everybody please come up with your thoughts as to how to use or oppose the Mark IV. What's the special occasion? Well you might need the tips because you can preorder one now. http://www.sjgames.com/miniatures/ogre/mk4/ -HJC] ===== From: "Chris French" Subject: LADdie we hardly knew ye. Umm, what does "LAD" stand for, and what is the background? (Assuming this has been answered elsewhere, can you point me in the right direction?) [Light Attack Drone http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0224 -HJC] > [See http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/servitor/Ogreindex/OGRTROOP.htm -HJC] I have the first _OGRE Book_, which contains the "original" (no refs to SHVYs, etc.) version of the article; that's why I mentioned doing that. BTW: I have never had problems with allowing HWZ a full 16-hex range. In fact, the _OGRE Miniatures_ values convert quite nicely. Even "normal" INF can be used -- assume that some dead MI suits were examined by the Other Side (or that the Terrans are having to pump out "obsolete" suits for some reason). > [The term was first defined in Philip Rennert's article on page 114 of > the new OGRE Book. And can be found in final form on page 34 of Ogre > Miniatures (under Resolving an Overrun Attack). Right. Thanks. > [Then they simply dismount at the end of their turn and mount at the > start of the next turn and are never shot at on top. -HJC] No, no no. By way of explanation, here's the normal turn sequence: Side A First Mvmt. Phase (incl. recovery of D'd units) Side A Firing Phase Side A Second Mvmt. Phase Side B First Movement Phase (incl. recovery of D'd units) Side B Firing Phase Side B Second Mvmt. Phase Take a Inf. unit riding a GEV unit from Side A. The GEV moves in the Side A First Mvmt. Phase, and the Inf. dismounts, remaining in the hex with the GEV. That Inf. unit may not attempt to remount un- til the Side A First Mvmt. Phase of the following turn; Side B has its entire part of that turn to pound the snot out of the Inf. And, of course, if in the next Side A First Mvmt. Phase, the Inf. does mount up, it cannot dismount until the Side A First Mvmt. Phase after that. Sorry for the lack of clarity. > [That's for ordinary trucks, not overgrown off-road SUVs armed and > armored well enough to take on LA traffic. Personally, I'd say these > vehicles had "Light" mobility mode. -HJC] Umm, where's "Light" mobility mode? [Same as a Light Tank. Ogre Minis calls it Movement Mode: TNK. -HJC] And by the way, I learned to drive in LA-area traffic. Heck, I remem- ber not being allowed to go out to recess due to excessively brown air, that's how far back I go. (Of course, since I hated recess and the other students, I greatly enjoyed smog alerts. :) ) > From: "Noah V. Doyle" > Subject: Formula munchkins > I'm not sure - I'd think that the substance of the tires would be far more > susceptible to the heat pulse from a 'close' range blast, than the treads > of a standard MBT. Treads have rubber in them -- not a lot, but some. Besides, if it's that big a problem, then don't run pneumatics. I sus- pect there's some materials out there that could be used for tires. > And don't let that stop you! :) I use all sorts of Microarmor, tracked and > wheeled, for my Ogre games. Sure, they die and die, but playing without > all the 'fancy' stuff can be very interesting. Makes you realize just how > damn powerful a Mk. 3 is, let alone anything bigger. And why the Big Four ended when the Combine started building those *&^%$#@!ing things. Hint: An OGRE is *NOT* a Defensive Weapon -- it is fundamentally an Offensive Weapon. > In fact, I've considered running a con game (maybe when Gen-Con comes to > Indy), where I'll teach the Ogre Minis rules, and people can bring -any- > 1/300/285/6mm units: Warhammer 40K, Ogre, Micro-armor (Modern), Battletech > - even the new-scale Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles minis can work. Unit > cards are easy to prepare, and hand out multiple copies of. Get 'em all on > the table, and start blasting. Too bad _Killing Zone_ is dead in the water (excuse the pun) -- you could use old _Harpoon_ minis as cyberships. (Hey, don't laugh, the next-gen DDs are expected to have only 70 or so crew. And where do you think the first cyberships came from? :) ) Why, yes, I *do* have cybership designs lying around, why do you ask? :) > [And with Da Formula you can even balance the forces somewhat. > > Here's an oddity I've been toying with. > > Small Hex GEV Here's a simpler solution: _OGRE_ Classic -- 1/2" counters on 1/2" hexes. Yes, I'm being a smartarse. I hate the current trend towards making nice half-table $10 games cost $2,000-$3,000. Dead Trees Forever! :) CF ============================== From: Kirk Hunt Subject: Off road tires for OGRE hunters >From: "Noah V. Doyle" > >I'm not sure - I'd think that the substance of the >tires would be far more >susceptible to the heat pulse from a 'close' range >blast, than the treads >of a standard MBT. There are high tensile, high temperature plastics in commercial REALverse use right now. They act a LOT like metal(s). At "close range" it's a question of whether the electronics, the flesh or mechanics give out first. In the end analysis, it doesn't really matter...the armor stops moving and firing. Desertcat Purveyor of Pulse Rifles ============================== From: David Morse Subject: Alternate play sequence >This leads me to another topic: > >Many moons ago, I tried playing _OGRE_ (OK, _GEV_) with a >"unified" Movement Phase: > >1) First Movement Phase -- each side takes turns moving a unit >2) Fire Phase -- each side takes turns making attacks, and results are > totaled (not to mention a few units) >3) Second Movement Phase -- each side takes turns moving GEVs. > >The result I got was much the same as the "proper" turn sequence, >save that the GEVs died early in the game rather than late. > >Has anyone else tried this, and if so what were the results? Sounds interesting! I think MSL tanks would also occassionally get the first shot on other armor ... which they need, badly. I can see why the GEVs would be super-weak. I'm not sure how to rebalance them, but one advantage you could give them would be to let them always move /after/ all non-gev units. They're still going to get brutally owned by HVY and LT though. Here's a possible sequence of play: 1) Movement-conventional 2) Movement-Gev-1 4) Fire-GEV 5) Fire-conventional 5) Movement-Gev-2 I'll assume everyone is playing with minis at this point, as well as a bunch of extra 1/2" counters gathering dust. In steps 1,2, and 5, put one counter for every mini eligable to move into a hat. Draw them out at random. A unit of that type and nationality now has to move. Then place the counter alongside the unit so you don't forget it has moved. When its your chance to move a unit you may also "tap" other unmoved units you own to move at the same time. This will allow you to perform overruns with more than 1 unit at a time. (Tapped units have their counters removed from the hat). Rules common to both fire phases: Players resolve their attacks in any order. Units eligible to fire in this phase which are destroyed or disabled before they get their chance still get to fire. GEV-Fire Phase: Roll a die for every GEV or LGEV eligable to fire. On a 4,5, or 6 they /may/ declare and resolve their attacks before other units. Otherwise they are relagated to fire in the conventional phase. (Giving GEVs first shot all the time is too good. Giving them first shot none of the time is too bad). Conventional fire phase: Everybody else gets fired. The advantage of the "hat" is that you don't have to worry about complex initiative rules. In most of the systems I've seen ppl ineveitably sacrifice their LTs to give their Mk V the last move. Which is kinda unrealistic, IMO. >> The hit and run ability of GEVs make them the most powerful units when >>terrain is not a factor. >> > >When is terrain not a factor? On the ogre map. On the south third of the GEV map (usually). ============================== 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