====== OGRE Digest, Jun 26th, 2003 (Last: Jun 24th) ======== ===== Super Squad From: "Chris French" From: "Noah V. Doyle" ===== super-squad playtest report From: David Morse ===== Cheapass Ogre From: stephan beal ===== Blowing Things Up From: Fred Kiesche ============================== From: "Chris French" Subject: Super Squad > From: "Henry Cobb" > > I guess I shocked everybody into more silence than I intended, so here's > some shilling to make up for it. Not really. I was wondering where everyone had gone. :) > Super Squads. > > In GEV terms, there is only one counter for standard infantry. It is > Atk1/1, D1, M3, 2 VPs. (Multiple squad counters can be used, but they > count exactly as multiple squads, stacked.) > > Infantry are not slowed by any terrain on the map, as they fly over it, but > then they don't get a road bonus either. > > Over water infantry defense is halved (D1/2), as they don't have any cover > and they can't duck underwater because their suits aren't built to work > underwater. (c.f. Marines). > > But Infantry really shine when they can hide under cover. Outside of > overruns when infantry are in woods, swamp, rubble or towns their basic > defense is doubled before counting the terrain bonus, but D results always > kill the squad. So this is a total defense of 4 per squad in woods and 6 > per squad in towns. (For Ogre Minis this double defense also applies when > there is no LOS to the infantry.) > > Example: a MHWZ fires at three squads stacked in a town hex. The > odds on the first squad are 6 to 6 or a 1-1, killing the squad on a roll of > 3-6. The odds on the other two squads are 3 to 6 or 1-2 and because of the > spillover shift, only a 6 will kill each squad. (Average result is one > squad will be lost, so spread them out some.) > > In all other ways just use the printed rules. This is *exactly* how INF should work. Nicely done. (Pity it missed the cutoff for the newest edition.) I assume MAR act much the same way, only they can move and fight in/under water? CF ===== [Yeah, surfaced as clear or submerged for D2 (no LOS) at half weapons damage for selected weapons (those that can fire underwater). They can switch between surfaced and submerged freely during their movement phase or at the start of any of their overrun fire phases. -HJC] ===== From: "Noah V. Doyle" Subject: Super Squad >I guess I shocked everybody into more silence than I intended, so here's >some shilling to make up for it. Sounds like it's about time for a revision of the Ogre-Compatible Wargame Maps article... >The lines are a little too classic Combine for my tastes. (I expected >something more rounded and stealthy.) I wondered about that - I'm guessing the 'stealth' part is massive ECM. How do you hide something that big from a few pairs of triangulating seismic sensors? >The new rulebook can't be too far off, once Evil Stevie gets some time off >from piracy. (And recovers from the Grog.) In light of SJGs recent report on their various projects, I think it might be a while. 'Indefinitely Delayed but Definitely NOT Dead'. Well, it's something. >So here's one change I do not expect to see in the new rulebook. > >Super Squads. Looks pretty good - I need to do some testing of this, versus some of the other ideas that've cropped up here. I especially like the 'D doesn't affect INF' rule; it's clean, no extra counters, etc. If I let INF combine, per the counters, they might be a little -too- powerful, but I'm not sure yet. And just in case someone's missed these, here's some more minis that might be very useful with OM... http://www.tin-soldier.com/doe/doecat.html Noah V. Doyle ============================== From: David Morse Subject: super-squad playtest report > But Infantry really shine when they can hide under cover. Outside of > overruns when infantry are in woods, swamp, rubble or towns their basic > defense is doubled before counting the terrain bonus, but D results always > kill the squad. So this is a total defense of 4 per squad in woods and 6 > per squad in towns. (For Ogre Minis this double defense also applies when > there is no LOS to the infantry.) I thought they were D1 base, so shouldn't that be D2 wood and D3 town? [Basic defense of D1 is doubled to D2 for no LoS then multiplied by 2 or 3 for cover. -HJC] I think super-squad infantry should not count towards stacking limits at all. There are a heck of a lot of buildings in a town hex, its not like they're going to run out of good places to hide. In the following playtest report, I took your rules except D3 in wood and D5 in town. Also I used your suggestion for suppressing fire from MSLs and HWZs, and Grant's suggestion about 2+ squads in a GEV-PC giving the GEV-PC D3. Furthermore GEV-PCs are only 4vp. Enough radical upheaval? Not hardly! The scenario was "Breakthrough", with the defense trimmed back to 18 infantry (from 20), and the offense given the dubious advantage of being able to buy any type of GEV and mounted infantry. The defense armor was 4 missile tanks and 1 howitzer. The fast infantry and prepratory bombardments by the artillery made the LGEVs cower in fear. Nothing "shapes the battlefield" like the ability to drop temporary terrain from the sky. In the end only two LGEVs and one squad of infantry broke through, leaving only two squads of defender infantry to count the dead. VP totals indicated a draw. I caught myself having lots of fun and making "jetpack" noises with the infantry as they were moving. Infantry seemed a lot more consequential. When they died, you cried not because you were losing 2vp, but because they were effective autonomous units packing serious punch. You owe it to yourself to try them out. :) The suppressing fire was also fun. Possibly too good. I let the HWZ split its fire into two three-point attacks when using this mode. ============================== From: stephan beal Subject: Cheapass Ogre Cheapass Games released their long-anticipated Diceland Ogre last weekend: http://www.cheapass.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CAG&Product_Code=CAG527 The rules are available here: http://www.diceland.com/rules.html ============================== From: Fred Kiesche Subject: Blowing Things Up Greetings: Not shocked, just stressed out from work. But thanks for the links, especially the structures. Maybe blowing some things up would help me! :) Fred Kiesche (FPK3) ===== [If we ever see the Ogre Minis computer game then nuclear weapon sfx are a must. Especially the SatNucs where the bus vehicle splits up into a dozen warheads that then shoot star bright jets at the targets and the entire scene whites out and turns into a common fireball. -HJC] ============================== 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