OGRE!

I'm traveling this week for a work conference, but wisely (it happens sometimes, don't roll your eyes at me!) I packed a game with me that I have had for some time but never played:

pictured: a square black chit with a white silhouette labeled MARK III OGRE on an off-white map with a hex-grid and a portion of the OGRE logo.

I'm not going to really review the game - after all, this is the Ziplock pocket edition of Ogre that came out a few years ago from Steve Jackson games as part of a Kickstarter, and later for retail sale (I acquired my copy at a DragonCon several years back). But I do want to mention that the components are rather nice - and while the map may not match the Burning Mountains map for paper quality, the counters are thick and easy to handle. Helpfully, the rules are straightforward, mostly, and are presented in a slim staple-bound volume.

Here's the setup I came up with for the first scenario - Basic (Mark III) Scenario. The  defender set up a defensive line with a mix of Ground Effects Vehicles (GEVs) and heavy tanks. The idea being that the GEVs, with their two moves per turn, could race up, fire and fall back, while the heavy's could pummel the Ogre with their attack strength of 4.

The Ogre set about destroying the opposition from the get go - launching a missile to instantly blow up a GEV as a sort of warning about what was to come if the defenders insisted on standing in its way. Even when it appeared to be at an extreme disadvantage, it proved surprisingly difficult to damage. In retrospect, the defenders should have concentrated on taking out the treads, not the weapons systems.

The defenders think they have this all figured out.

Time and again a wall of defenders set up perfectly, only to be destroyed, disabled, or overrun.


The Ogre took several turns to systematically eliminate all enemy armor and then proceeded to steam away from the remaining infantry, past the lonely howitzer, towards the command post.

A showdown between the howitzer and the Ogre. The howitzer's immobility would be its downfall.

The howitzer managed a little damage before being rammed out of existence. The CP fell shortly after.

The Ogre stands upon the broken ruins of the command post.

I called the game at this point. The Ogre still had a secondary battery remaining and all but one anti-personnel weapon. So, while they might not have been able to overrun all of the infantry, the odds seem high that it would have,

Victory to the Ogre.

Verdict:  A fast, fun game that I am looking to playing again.