Ogre Miniatures Rules

  

The Ogre Miniatures rule books stands as the central pillar for playing Ogre on wargame terrain.  It is both a testament to the popularity of the original game, and the levels that one can stretch a set of rules to convert them from being a hex map board game to one that can be played on a green tabletop.  I have a confession to make though, I have never played Ogre Miniatures on the wargame table.  Why, because I don't have a big enough table to play the game as written, and I also have certain reservations about the conversion.

The ground scale of Ogre Miniatures is two inches to 1500 metres, or approximately one mile if you prefer Imperial.  At that ratio the miniatures are at best tokens, and at worse things that are far too large, which get in the way of playing the game; in short gonks.  Also, because the original game is based on hexes that are units of area, the miniatures game conversion causes for me problems around measuring a straight line distance versus counting areas.  This is a problem one also encounters when playing BattleTech.  The two systems of counting distance are sufficiently different in their assumptions that for me they break the flow of the game.

If I lived in an ideal world where I had a house with a dedicated wargames room, and the financial resources to throw at my hobbies that meant I could do whatever I liked, then I would use Kallistra's Hexon range, which would meet my needs to have nice looking terrain, and no need to muck around with converting rules that changes the flavour of the game being played.  I also think that the Ogre miniatures line are the Redheaded stepchild of Steve Jackson Games.  I believe this because they don't fit within what SJG see as their core products, namely games using paper and card.  However, I also think that the miniatures played on the hex map boards are the epitome of the hybrid board wargame. 

So here's hoping that Ogre Miniatures go from strength-to-strength now that the Ogre Designer Edition has reinvigorated interest in the line.

  

Dalek Size Comparison

I posted here about the Daleks one can now get by buying a copy of Risk, see here for details.  When I posted my news on TMP a while back there was a general discussion that revealed a third option, namely using Dr Who mobile phone charms that offer Daleks.  So I went and bought one and have taken a size comparison picture for you all to judge for yourselves.

So from left to right we have a Dalek from Risk that measures 16mm, my white metal Daleks that are 14mm, and the mobile charm Dalek that measure 18mm.

Without doubt the latter is rather charming, if you will pardon the pun, being prepainted and all.  However, the cheapest I've seen was around £2 per figure, and up to £8 per figure, or even more if you try and buy them from Germany.  That's $3 to $12 dollars per miniature for my American readers.  At the cheaper end for a nicely painted model it's steep, but bearable.  Above that I think you would have to have more money than sense to go down this route.

The Risk Daleks are plain, need work to add details, and of course painting.  However, for £40, or about $60 equivalent I guess, you would get 126 New Who Daleks, and 84 New Paradigm Daleks too.  On the bangs per buck level this is quite attractive, but remember you have to finish and paint them.

I think I shall keep an eye out for more cheap Dr Who mobile phone charms, because with a bit of modification to the base they could be reduced in height enough to be compatible with my white metal Daleks.
  

Blast-Tastic

 

I had meant to do a couple more posts in January, but for various reasons, like it became February for one, I failed to do so.  First off I would like to announce that I shall be taking my Ogre MIB roadshow to Blast-Tastic, which is a new SF wargames show to be held in Bristol in October.  You heard it here first.

So this weekend I was inspired to do some painting, as I would very much like to be able to run an extended Ogre game from using one of the GEV scenarios.  Of course to do that I will need more North American Combine models, and a Pan European Ogre.  The top picture shows the first of the now completed Combine models that only need varnishing before I can field them.
 

The above picture shows the Pan European Fencer with a few friends.  Some new additions being light GEVS and light tanks, with some more heavy and super heavy tanks, standard GEVs and personnel carriers to add depth to my current force.  Once the above have dried over night, I shall start the first of three washes that I use for weathering.