Unleash the OGRE!
06 May 2012 12:13 Filed in: Games
OGRE was my first true science-fiction wargaming love. It shares its birth year - 1977 - with Traveller, the granddaddy of science fiction roleplaying. I'm not certain if it was my first wargaming love, but it may have been. I certainly purchased it around the same time that I was reading Charles Grant's seminal 'Battle: Practical Wargaming' from the local library in the sleepy commuter village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire. I can remember going into the local toyshop - back in the days when the village still had one - and seeing a small selection of Metagaming's pocket wargames and Basic Dungeons & Dragons (the blue book box before the red box). I was so excited.
I can remember buying OGRE - it was a toss up between that and a game called Chitin, but the tanks won - and starting to save to buy D&D. I'd been tempted towards that as well by the book 'What is Dungeons & Dragons?', a Puffin book written by some public school types that hooked me into the whole idea of roleplaying. I was gutted when it was bought by someone else (unbeknownst to me, my parents for my Christmas present).
One of the other reasons I think I bought it was the fantastic Winchell Chung picture on the front which promised one hell of a fight.
Anyway, OGRE. The principle is simple. A huge, nuclear shell lobbying cybernetic AI tank attacts a Command Post guarded by a mix of hovercraft (GEVs), missile tanks, heavy tanks and infantry. Either the OGRE will die, or the CP will. The game is simple, the sole rules reference being needed is a combat results table combined with the ability to work out odds. I played this game again and again, both solo and with others. Although its very simple, there is enough randomness and strategy variations to make you want to keep coming back for more everytime you play it.
When the game was rereleased around 2000, I bought back in and purchased pretty much everything, except for the second scenario book that I just found out was printed in 2005. The whole game, counters, rules and dice with all the expansions fits nicely into a VCR case. Perfect to take away when travelling. Unfortunately, the arrival of the two boys has meant that it's been neglected for the last 5 years.
I was very excited when Steve Jackson, the author, announced that he was going to be bringing OGRE back in a huge new 6th Edition 'OGRE Designer's Edition'. It's always had a special place in his heart as it was the first game that he designed. When I say huge, the game has a monster box with an estimated weight of around 15 pounds (7 kg) due to the component quality and numbers. Have a look at the box in the video! I was then instantly disappointed when I found that the Kickstarter campaign was going to be US-only, unless some practicable way could be found to ship the package at a reasonable cost. This has since been fixed, but as you can probably guess, shipping that kind of weight air freight isn't cheap. It's around $90 to the UK!
The Kickstarter campaign (a win-win way for the publisher to gauge support) has taken on an OGRE-like approach, massively exceeding the $20,000 initial target and crushing all the stretch goals in sight. What's a stretch goal, you ask? This is when the publisher (or Kickstarter campaign creator) pledges to do extra things in the event that funding reaches certain levels. For example, additional components, better quality product and so on. As I type this, the campaign has broken through $570,000 with 5 days to go.
Isn't it amazing that a 35 year old board game can attract such support? There's a lot of love, excitement and nostalgia driving this.
Interestingly, Zombicide, another boardgame but a new one, has - in its last 12 hours - just broken the $720,00 barrier having trailed behind OGRE until the end of the week. It's great to see boardgames prospering in our digital media world, powered by a digital campaign system and the buzz on the internet.
Now I just need to find some time to play this kind of thing. Or wait another couple of years for Nathan to be old enough!
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PS There are missing posts from April, including a rant. They’ll appear in due course.
Bedtime Reading
We've had a bit of a break from the usual bedtime stories that Nathan has over the last 3 weeks as we've been reading “the Hobbit” night by night. It was actually at his request but I guess that's really my fault. About 6 months ago he wouldn't sleep, so I was asked to read him a story to try and get him to settle. The only problem was that we didn't have any of the books he liked to hand. So I gave him an oral version of the Hobbit as he lay in bed and ever since then he's asked me to tell them about Smaug the Dragon and Bilbo Baggins.
It's been great fun, and he's only been scared once. He asked me to stop doing Smaug voice when Bilbo met the Dragon. Anyway we should have finished it tonight but he fell asleep 3 pages from the end, just before the hobbit returns to Bag End to find all his personal effects being auctioned off by his over-eager relatives!
It's been great fun, and he's only been scared once. He asked me to stop doing Smaug voice when Bilbo met the Dragon. Anyway we should have finished it tonight but he fell asleep 3 pages from the end, just before the hobbit returns to Bag End to find all his personal effects being auctioned off by his over-eager relatives!
Jill and I were struggling to decide what story to try next and we're now tempted by the classic "Swallows and Amazons" as he loves the Lake District.
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Produced with Dragon Dictate 2.5
Achievements
24 Mar 2012 21:23 Filed in: Personal
Nathan has had a busy few weeks, starting with successfully swimming 5 m on his own to get his national swimming award and move up to the Orange group from the Red. He's really confident, very different to a lot of the children in his group who are older and bigger than he is. That's probably the Water-babies sessions he went to from an early age showing.
Even more impressively, he is gaining more and more confidence on his bike ever since we got the new, bigger, faster and yellower model. The other weekend Jill asked me to take him out to burn off some energy and get him out of her hair. I decided a bike ride was a really good idea. He was very excited and worked really hard. We went out on the Harland Way, a national cycle route that runs behind our house, in the direction of Spofforth village. I kept on asking him if he wanted to stop but he always said no. In the end we went all the way to Spofforth and back again. There is a great little pub at the end of the cycle path, but I didn't think it was appropriate to go and buy him a celebratory pint, even of lemonade. He was ever so proud when he told his mum that he'd managed to cycle for 5 miles in total. He keeps asking me when we can go for a "longer"cycle ride so he can have a “bigger number”
Aidan is also doing well, in both his speech and walking. He is now standing freely and doing little walks when he thinks we are not looking and otherwise surfing around the room using the furniture for support"
There are very clear names and phrases coming out now which can be startling on occasion.
"Hello Der", is a favourite!
“I did dat", is another that he takes great delight in, especially if he's being a bit naughty!
And scarily, “what dat?", is getting increasingly common.
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Produced with Dragon Dictate 2.5
Even more impressively, he is gaining more and more confidence on his bike ever since we got the new, bigger, faster and yellower model. The other weekend Jill asked me to take him out to burn off some energy and get him out of her hair. I decided a bike ride was a really good idea. He was very excited and worked really hard. We went out on the Harland Way, a national cycle route that runs behind our house, in the direction of Spofforth village. I kept on asking him if he wanted to stop but he always said no. In the end we went all the way to Spofforth and back again. There is a great little pub at the end of the cycle path, but I didn't think it was appropriate to go and buy him a celebratory pint, even of lemonade. He was ever so proud when he told his mum that he'd managed to cycle for 5 miles in total. He keeps asking me when we can go for a "longer"cycle ride so he can have a “bigger number”
Aidan is also doing well, in both his speech and walking. He is now standing freely and doing little walks when he thinks we are not looking and otherwise surfing around the room using the furniture for support"
There are very clear names and phrases coming out now which can be startling on occasion.
"Hello Der", is a favourite!
“I did dat", is another that he takes great delight in, especially if he's being a bit naughty!
And scarily, “what dat?", is getting increasingly common.
--
Produced with Dragon Dictate 2.5