From: aebrain@a...
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 10:04:00 +1000
Subject: Re: Ogre ( was Depraved..).
> > Ogre for microarmor, Regarding Ogre, there are the following variants, in chronological order of appearance: The Old Original "Ogre", sister-game "GEV" and supplement "Shockwave". These are boardgames, played on a normal hexed map using cardboard counters representing individual vehicles or infantry squads. Ogre takes place in a radioactive desert with many craters and piles of rubble on a small map, 1 Cybertank vs Conventional force. GEV allows 2 conventional forces in a less completely wrecked environment, one still with towns, woods, streams etc. Shockwave adds new units, expanded rules, large nukes etc. "Ogre Miniatures": basically the above played with miniatures, where 2" = 1 hex. There are a few minor rules changes to do with ramming, plus much stuff about things falling off cliffs and other things only found on a tabletop rather than a map, but basically the same game as Ogre + all expansions (which deal with different terrain types amongst other things), some new units thrown in such as obsolete tanks, militia etc. "Ogre Deluxe": The rules from the Ogre boardgame, plus an identical map with larger hexes, plus miniatures enough to play the basic scenario. Essentially the miniatures replace the cardboard counters. There are many packs of reinforcement units (whole companies etc) available, plus individual minis. The rules don't deal with towns, cliffs, woods etc. only craters and rubble. To expand my earlier post, I'd recommend starting with Ogre Deluxe, then getting a reinforcement pack or two with new unit types not in the basic box, then moving to Ogre Miniatures (using the same minis). This provides an upgrade path from basic mechanics of moving and firing a few unit types on simplified terrain, expanding the unit types, then use of more terrain types and templates rather than hexes.