Combine & Pan Euro Laser Towers

A little over two years after Don Hawthorne kindly sent me these, I've finished assembling them, slapped on some paint, and I've now managed to take some pictures as proof of completion.

It's super nice to now have laser towers for both the North American Combine and Pan European Federation.

I still have a number of Ogre miniatures that need painting, but I've managed to acquire a Vulcan Ogre, which is missing some parts, for my Ogre/GEV collection/ plan of world domination to come to fruition.

Catch you all on the bounce. 

SJG Ogre Miniatures Wargame

 

This piece is going to be a criticism of the Ogre Miniatures wargaming rules by Steve Jackson Games.  If you've followed my blog for any length of time it should be obvious that I have played a fair few game of Ogre/GEV, and have a sizeable collection of the miniatures.

The picture above is proof of that.

Let me start by stating the obvious, the board-game is a classic.  Now that has been said let me explain what makes the rules for playing using the miniatures less than a fully satisfying miniatures playing experience.

It's quite simple really, the photo above is almost the perfect illustration of the problem–range to move ratio.  It doesn't matter what ground-scale conversion one uses: one inch to the hex, two inches, three or even four the problem remains, and the larger you go just makes other things more difficult too, like the size of the table need to play on.

In Ogre, units move one to four or more hexes per turn.  The range of the weapons is one to three hexes, with specials like howitzers being an exception, and cruise missiles of course, which in my experience are scenario specific.  Also, in Ogre terrain blocks, as in costs movement points to cross, but line-of-sight is is irrelevant to targeting an opponent, as it is abstracted as a defence bonus.

So what's the problem?

When the distance you can move a unit is as great or greater than the range you can shoot, what you have is a high level (more abstract) game, and miniature wargaming tends towards a lower level (less abstract) game.  The move to range ratio is a big issue here, because it just doesn't give the feel of a miniatures game.

As a player of miniature wargames I want tactical problems arising from terrain blocking line-of-sight and manoeuvre, which is why I use my miniatures as tokens on a hex map board.
  

Be Careful What You Wish For

Saturday there was no archery, so I was free to do something else instead of shooting sticks at round things.

Serendipitously, one of my MIB colleagues (Steve Jackson Game Men in Black game demonstrators)  was over from the States.  So, after an exchange of emails and messages on Facebook, we arranged for David to come around and play a game of Ogre/GEV.

I suggested we played my Escalation scenario (now subtitled: be careful what you wish for), which I had demoed around various wargame shows three years ago.  Yes, it was as long ago as that.  Running the scenario would be a good test of the game as I would be playing against someone who knew the rules rather than introducing new players to the game.  It's a bit ironic really, given I haven't played for nearly two and half years I was a bit rusty and forgetful, but David rocked.

What I learnt is that I'm going to have to think about how I word the victory conditions; mostly down to the fact that the scenario is unbalanced and is not designed to have a clear winner, but rather to demonstrate how the Last War progressed i.e.: how the GEV green map ends up turning into an orange Ogre map.

I also need to add another howitzer to the nominal attackers side, perhaps even some more infantry, and I think change the GEV mobile command post to a slower tracked mobile command post, as I think it would add more tension to the game.

And courtesy of David a picture of the start of the scenario, before things got all gnarly.

  

SF Wargame Rules: What I Want

The above is a crop of a picture I got from Catalyst games showing off their BattleTech rules.  I must admit my first reaction was this is not exactly selling BattleTech as a fun game to play.  What I want are a set of  rules that I can use while playing a game.  The above is pretty much my definition of a set of rules that would slow down the game every time one wanted to refer to them.

So I want rules that are really, really accessible.  A good example would be the rules booklet for Star Wars: X-Wing.

But what I want most of all are a set of rules that give me the feeling of playing in the future, which Star Wars: X-Wing fails to do, being WW2 combat in space!  Unsurprising given the source material, and don't get me wrong I love playing the game.

To put it plainly, a game must not only to have the tropes of SF (Robots, Rockets & Rayguns), but it has to feel science fictional, which is something that's very hard to pin down.

Partly I suspect what would make game feel like the future are things that traditional wargames have toiled against down the years: too much information from having the models on the tabletop and knowing the outcome of every move your opponent makes during the game.  So, it seems to me that what are seen as bugs in traditional historical wargames could be made to be seen as features in a science fictional setting.

Perhaps that's why SF wargames are so popular?  I jest slightly, as I don't imagine for one minute that this is a concern for the average punter who buys a game like Warhammer 40K.
   

Plastic Ogre Miniatures Success

  

As the KickStarter page says, "1,529 backers pledged $124,628 to help bring this project to life."

 

Well done.

 

As you can see from the picture you get a shed ton of miniatures, and can also buy them with the colours reversed: blue Ogres and red vehicles or green Ogres and vehicles.  I imagine for the majority of players they will be happy to use them as is and won't end up painting them.

 

Now the question is when will Steve Jackson Games bring out an edition of Ogre with miniatures inside the box?

 

You may not agree with me when I say that the future of the game lies in broadening its appeal with plastic miniatures, but my guess is that the cardboard version appeals to old grognards for nostalgia reasons: it's like the original game, but larger so that I can read the writing on the counters now that I'm old and can't read the original chits even with my glasses on.

 

As marketing strategies go that one is time limited.  The future lies in attracting new players to the game, but I could be wrong.  Only time will tell.

 

Still, very excited to see the return of Ogre miniatures.

  

Deluxe Ogre & GEV

   

I've sold my Lumix DMC GF-1 to my friend Roger who then turned around and surprised me by giving me these two deluxe set of Ogre and GEV.  I was gob smacked as in bowled over by his present.  It was exciting to open up the boxes and check out the original circa 2000 castings of the super heavy tanks that have minor differences to the later production runs.  The infantry in both sets are very welcome too, because while one can still get then from Steve Jackson Games the prices are beyond my current means.  And of course I now have another Mark 3 Ogre and two more metal command posts, which I think are nicer than the later resin versions because the details are clearer.

So expect to see more Ogre/GEV miniature goodness soon.
  

Pan European Federation: 7e Brigade Blindée (BB 7)

  
I'm renaming my French Pan European Federation 7th Demi Brigade Légion Etrangère to 7e Brigade Blindée, "Force et Audace" (in English 7th Armoured Division motto Strength & Daring), because a Legion force is primarily infantry that are deployed to former French colonies, and I want to field an armoured formation.  So I've based my organization on the current 7e Brigade Blindée strength, but I added a squadron of Hussars to the command, which means the brigade will be made up from the following regiments:

1er Régiment de Chasseurs (1er RCh)

Doppelsoldner and Fencer from the 1st Battalion.  One more Fencer to be assembled and painted.

A Mark 3 from the 2nd Battalion.  The rest of battalion has yet to be assembled and painted.

The cybertanks will be organized into two Battalions of three Ogres, with each Ogre counting as a Squadron.  The 1st Battalion will have one Doppelsoldner two Fencers, and the latter can be fielded as either the A or B model.  The 2nd Battalion will have one Huscarl Mark 5 variant and two Mark 3s.

4e Régiment de Dragons (4e RD)

Four Squadrons of three Troops: Two squadrons of 12 x Heavy tanks, one squadron of 12 x Light tanks, and one squadron of 6 x Super heavy tanks (one troop from each squadron shown, I have a number of models waiting to be painted).

4e Groupe d'escadrons de hussards (4e GEH)

Four Squadrons of three Troops each consisting of: 12 x GEVs, 3 x GEV-PCs and 3 x infantry platoons (this is one of two squadrons I have painted, with two more waiting to be painted in due course).

35e Régiment d'Infanterie (35e RI)

Four Companies each consisting of: three infantry platoons, two GEV trucks and four LGEVs.

152e Régiment d'Infanterie (152e RI)

Four Companies each consisting of: three infantry platoons, two trucks and three Light tanks.

8e Régiment d'Artillerie (8e RA)

Two Batteries of five Mobile howitzers (the other battery still waiting  to be painted).

 1er Régiment d'Artillerie (1er RA)

Four Batteries of five Missile tanks (only two batteries shown as rest need painting).

54e Régiment d'Artillerie (54e RA)

One Battery of five Howitzers and one Battery of five Cruise Missiles.

Apart from the nominal inclusion of a command post support formations are not needed for most Ogre/GEV scenarios, but I have models to represent logistics support (trucks) and air defense assets (laser turret/towers) that the Ogre/GEV rule set supports for the following formations:

19e Régiment du Génie (19e RG) (engineers and recovery vehicles).
7e Compagnie de Commandement et de Transmissions (7e CCT) (signals).
Batterie de renseignement de brigade (BRB 7) (intelligence).

 Finally, I will put my spare Ogre into a recon regiment.

Escadron d'éclairage et d'investigation de la 7e Brigade blindée (EEI 7) "The eyes of the general"

One Mark 2 Ogre for light recon work.

Notes.
Nomenclature: Troops = Platoon, Squadrons = Companies
   

North American Combine 2nd Heavy Armour Brigade Combat Team

In the process of answering my friend Clive's question of why I brought so many miniatures to Blast-Tastic, the answer here, inspired me to finally got me working on naming my North American Combine force.  I finally decided that they will be called the 2nd Heavy Armour Brigade Combat Team.  In my mind they will be from the 7th Army's, 3rd Division.

Got have a name for ones armies, it makes them feel more connected to history.  The heavy description appended is made up to to account for the presence of Ogres.  The 2nd HABCT will consist of the following elements:
  
  
10th Battalion, 77th Ogre Brigade "The Red Eyes"

4 x Mark 1 Ogres (I still have to get around to painting the other three Mark 1s that I have).

3rd Battalion, 35th Armour Regiment "Conquerors"

2 x Company's each consisting of 4 x Light tanks, 8 x Heavy tanks, and 2 x Super Heavy tanks.

3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard"

4 x Company's each consisting of 4 x GEV-PCs, 4 infantry platoons & 3 x Light GEVs.


1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment "Fighting Sixth"

3 x Troops each consisting of 8 x GEVs and 4 x Light GEVs.


2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment "Proud Americans"

4 x Battery's with 4 x Missile tanks in each (showing three of the four batteries I have painted).

In the US Army each brigade also has a small support formation, but as in most games of Ogre/GEV these will only need to be represented for specific scenarios.

Though I won't be fielding models of all the HQ elements,  I do have four models, one for each of the non-Ogre Battalions.  I will also have some models to represent logistics support and air defense assets in the form of hover trucks and laser turret/towers that the Ogre/GEV rule set supports.  In addition I plan to make some recovery vehicles, also  if I ever get a model of a Vulcan Ogre it will be assigned here.  So nominally attached to the 2nd HABCT will be the following:

555th Engineer Brigade

74th Brigade Support Battalion

In addition, I will have models to represent the 3rd Division's artillery brigade, usually abbreviated as DvArty.  As an aside the troops on the ground often refer to DVArty as DimArty, which is no doubt coloured by their experience of calling in artillery support:
   
  
C Battery, 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment "Tiger Brigade"

1 x Battery of 4 x Mobile Howitzers.


B Battery, 3d Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment "United We Stand"

1 x Battery of 4 x Howitzers.

C Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment "Viking"

1 x Battery of 4 x Cruise Missiles).

When deployed on the offensive the brigade combat team will be allocated a Slice of the divisions support assets.  This will be more Ogres as follows:
   
  
1st Battalion, 77th Ogre Brigade "The Red Eyes"

1 x Mark 6, 1 x Mark 2S Ogres.

3rd Battalion, 77th Ogre Brigade "The Red Eyes"

1 x Mark 5, 1 x Mark 4 Ogres.

5th Battalion, 77th Ogre Brigade "The Red Eyes"

1 x Mark 3b, 2 x Mark 3 Ogres.

Finally, to round out my force, I will have one Ogre Ninja, which I'm going to assume is an asset attached to the 7th Army's, 3rd Division:


2nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade "The Eyes of Intelligence"

1 x Ogre Ninja.

Many thanks to Owen for helping me understand modern US Army formations.
  

Dragonmeet 2014: Escalation

The last official MIB demo game of Ogre/GEV with miniatures at Dragonmeet. I wore my Steve Jackson fluorescent orange and green Ogre T-shirt for the occasion. The scenario was one of my own devising, and was designed to be unbalanced so that a new player would have a better chance of winning.

More miniatures than you can shake a big stick at. KR Multicase FTW.

I managed to run three games during the day. The show was packed and very busy, and quite frankly as I was running the games on my own three was all I could manage. 

I actually adjusted the force composition you can see above before the second game started to give me three GEV-PC carriers to move my troops around to bolster my limited force. I woke up today quite hoarse, and was told I sounded sultry by my partner.

Ian was the first winner, seen here pleased at destroying two of my three command posts. The other was a GEV-MCP, which can be seen running away.

Justin won the second game, and was a really good sport for posing for this photo. Again I was forced to retreat my GEV-MCP off the board and concede the game. I shall be writing up this scenario with notes for a future issue of Miniature Wargames & Battlegames magazine with lots of ideas of force compositions etc.

Friends came and said hello during the day, so hi to Adam, and people who had played last year came and thanked me for the running the game.  

Finally, I was surprised and delighted to meet my old friends Pat and Bill who use to run Warlord Games. Haven't seen them since I went for the funeral of another friend of ours, Kevin, and we had a lot of catching up to do.

Pat on the left, center is Kelvin a member of their RPG group, and Bill Forster author of The Norway Mission on the right. 

More Pictures of Ogre at Blast-Tastic

Now my partner has processed the images taken last week, here are some more pictures of Ogre.  So far I've been invited to attend three other show next year with my Ogre miniatures.  I can afford one, maybe a second at a push, but three. I'm so flattered, what can I say.

The above picture shows theset up. 

North American Combine forces are on the top right of the picture ready to sweep forward, to attack the Pan European Federation bottom left forming a defensive line. This is the basic 16 armour units and 18 infantry platoons, but I should've given more thought to the Combine's deployment.

If SJG were still pushing Ogre as game that they wanted demoed then their would be more incentive at one level. Though to be absolutely frank the rewards versus cost of being an MIB are at best marginal.  

And again I don't demo the game for the freebies SJG send me, they are for me bunce.

The ceasefire agreement has collapsed and now the North American Combine have escalated their attack by bringing on the big guns, in this particular instance a Mark 3 Ogre. Rolled for when the initial attack failed to see if the attack escalated. 

Given that the miniatures are out of production, and the game is out of print, this takes everything down a peg. I will go and run a game next year for the simple reason that I like playing Ogre/GEV.

The Mark 3 sweeps down the flank and is about to destroy a howitzer. At this point the valiant  freedom loving Pan European defenders think they are going down hard. 

This reminds me that one really doesn't need the official miniatures though.  

There are lots of 6mm manufacturers who make appropriate models to play Ogre with; apart from the Ogre itself, but even that need not be a problem.  So, I plan to show off my third army, made from other manufacturers, and will pimp other ranges that I like, too, in due course.

NB: To answer Clive's question of why I brought so many extra painted miniatures than needed for the game the simple answer is just because more is always better. The other reason is choice. Had anyone wanted to change the ratio of units they could've have. I believe that allowing choice is a good thing.

Finally, another blog with a report about Blast-Tastic! here.

Ogre at Blast-Tastic! 2014

This was the first time Michael of Angel Barracks had run Blast-Tastic! It was a small specialist SF&F wargame show, which will hopefully grow and fill the space left by the SFSFW Ragnarok shows of years gone by.  

I had gotten myself into a bit of a tizzy over preparing for the demo.  

This meant I ended up painting for a few hours everyday last week to get the North American Combine forces presentable. Note the description, presentable. There's still another lot of painting to do to get them finished. I was lucky that everyone was kind enough to not notice, and or even say how good the miniatures looked.

Regardless of my panic, I had a blast running the GEV variant of Ogre with a scenario of my own devising called Escalation.

In the picture above:  Steven is leaning back as his Ogre prepares to destroy my Command Post. I was just explaining a rule before he chortled with glee as the Ogre's missile reduced the target to rubble. 

It's a variant of the Ceasefire Collapse scenario where at the end of the game the loser rolls a D6 and gets bonus victory points. The loser can either use these points to turn their loss into a victory, or buy more forces to continue the attack. My opponent who lost the initial attack chose to escalate, and was able to bring on a Mark 3 Ogre. 

The game came down to a nail biting last throw of the dice.

I still need to polish the scenario victory conditions and point values, and I hope to write it up for Miniature Wargames & Battlegames in due course. In the meantime I will be submitting a review of the show for Henry in the next week or so.

Well we got back from Blast-Tastic! pretty much creamed crackered from driving down to Bristol on the Friday evening, setting up for the show and then driving back via way of Reading for a meal out with our friend Clive (who came to provide moral support for my demo of Ogre) on Saturday evening.

Miniature Wargames Issue 373

I got my issue of Miniature Wargames with my Ogre article in it at the weekend.  What can I say that doesn't sound like self-promotion?  Its got my Ogre article in it, enough said OK?  Above is an alternative picture that didn't make the cut.

For any SJG people reading this, especially Brian, a copy is winging its way across to you now via airmail.

PS: Ogre fans go and buy a copy of Miniature Wargames #373 now.
   

Ogre Miniatures Furore

Bonjour Matelots ;-) 

Blog Advisory:  I have a snarky sense of humour, see example above, and if you are easily offended by it then perhaps you should stop reading now.  This advisory is to flag that I am British, live in England, which is a part of Europe, and that American cultural language and social assumptions are only one of many in the World.

I'm also incredibly old, and still talk about SF shows that were made before some of you were born.  So you may find it hard to understand my metaphors; in addition my humour may offend those who are sensitive to things that trigger a strong negative affective response.  I offer no apology if it does.  With those terms and conditions, and allowing for any errors and omissions, lets start.

If you've not come here from the SJG forums, then this post may fly over your head. 

The Ogre miniature line was put back into production last year as part of SJG promise from the Ogre Kickstarter.  After Xmas a price rise was announced, and a big furore arose over how much they were going to cost now.

As a result SJG pulled the line from sale to review their marketing and costs.

This has in turn caused another furore.  In my opinion, the attempt to avoid the adverse consumer reaction only generated bad feelings amongst the rabid Ogre community, but SJG were on a hiding to nothing over this matter, because no matter what they did they were caught in a Catch 22 scenario.

The arguments around the price of the miniatures provoked these four responses:

1. Why can't the miniatures be made through contract casting to make them cheaper?

2. What about licensing them out to another firm to cast who can make them cheaper?

3. You could always start your own casting company and watch the money roll in.

4. Wouldn't it be cheaper to make them in plastic?

I'm now going to take all of the above apart.

1.  First off you have to find a contract casting firm that will take on the job, and that is easier said than done.  Secondly, said contractor will charge SJG for the casting, because they want to make a profit too. 

Therefore, it is highly unlikely, that SJG can then sell the miniatures at a price that will make them a profit that is any cheaper than the price they put them up for sale after Xmas, which caused such an outrage in the first place.

If I were at SJG I think that I think I would be saying to myself something along the lines of, "Produce a few miniatures they said, make some money they said, have some fun they said, welcome to the party pal," (in John McClane's voice from Die Hard).

2. Licensing another firm to produce Ogre miniatures requires that there be a firm who is interested in paying SJG money for the privilege of casting miniatures of a range that the other firm will never own the intellectual property rights to.

This cuts into the other firms profit margin, because the cost of the license will have to be added as a factor into the final selling price.  Much easier to cast models that one owns the IP too, and be done with it.

3.  This comment was actually made by someone associated with SJG, but I've included it here, because it makes a very salient point.

It stems from my two previous comments that even if one had a pot full of cash to start up one's own business, one would inevitably be faced with the bottom line; which is keeping one's company profitable.  Assuming that one loves the SJG Ogre range so much that you just have to get out there and do it, then what you are faced with is tying yourself down to being a small manufacturer of someone else's IP.

Wave bye, bye to your free time, and don't expect to be driving a Ferrari, or the company having its own Learjet any time soon.

4. The simple answer is no, and saying that other wargame firms produce plastics misses the fact that they may have economies of scale that SJG will never have for a line of Ogre miniatures in plastic.  And it gets worse than that, because the quality of the plastics that one could afford are probably not going to satisfy the needs of the customers who want Ogre miniatures.

For example take CGLs plastic mechs that are included in their boxed sets of BattleTech.  While CGL have included improved models of four of the mechs, the rest of the plastic miniatures are best described as adequate; where adequate means good enough for getting players into the game, but not meeting the needs of players like me who are into miniatures, and who like modifying their models.

So, I shall continue to hope that SJG do start selling the metal miniatures again, but I will not be telling them how to do that, because you know what?  They are not stupid, and know all of the above far better than some random person on the internet with an opinion.  "So been there, chewed gum, kicked ass, and if anyone asks have I paid my dues; the cheque is in the post pal," (in the voice of Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China for those too young to know).

Have Ogre Will Travel

 

As you can see I now have a copy of the Ogre Designer Edition, and I have the canvas bag to transport it where needed.  So, to all my friends who are reading this, do you want to come and play a game at my place?  Conversely, I have Ogre and I will travel for the privilege of destroying your forces, crushing your command post, and hearing you lament the bad luck of your dice.
   

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.

  

Dragonmeet 2013

 

My second year at Dragonmeet as a MiB demoing Ogre, with an example of the 6th Designer Edition to show on display to overwhelm all those who passed the tables with its sweet Ogre goodness, and by sweet I mean wicked awesome contents.

I arrive toting my box of lead miniatres only to find that the new Ogre box weighs more than my collection of metal miniatures.  

How extreme is that? Totally extreme.  

Roger had set up the orange map and I put out a force with three each of the GEVs, missile tanks and heavy tanks with one howitzer and command post and eighteen infantry for the demo games (I handicapped myself to make it easier for the new players to win, as last year I found it was too easy for me to walk all over the Ogre).

I was pretty much nailed to the chair throughout the day, apart from the necessary toilet breaks, and going to get a coffee and a sandwich at lunch.  

Didn't really get to look around the show as I was having way too much fun playing Ogre.  

Roger spelled me for one game and I ran the rest during the course of the day.  All but one of the players I demoed the game achieved victory, with ironically the most experienced gamer losing to me, which was the only game I won, which I thought was a good outcome.

  

The highlight game was taken the two young lads who had played in a game with their father/uncle and treating them to a Mark 3 cybertank each and upping the defenders accordingly and letting them have at it. 

They had to stop before finishing the game ,as they had to go off, but they were well on the way to winning and they appeared to have a good time.

Ogre 6th Designer Edition

For those of you who are not obsessed by giant cybertanks and SJGs Ogre/GEV game you may have missed the fact that this weekend was the official launch party for the game that weighs twenty-eight pounds.  All the excitement can viewed by clicking the link above.

The big announcements are four supplements called Assault Packs with new units to play with.  The Golem Ogre and the Chinese Dragon hybrid crewed Ogre being the biggies, the others include assault GEVs and missile GEVs.  Now all I have to do is cross my fingers and hope that they will make miniatures for these.

One of my two orders arrived this week, so I now have four super heavy tanks, eight Yankee light tanks and twelve Ranger heavy tanks to add to my North American Combine force.  Unfortunately, the parcel with the Mark 1 & 2 Ogres has not arrived.  I fear the worse has happened and the parcel has gotten lost in the post.
  

Operation Dragonmeet

KR Multicase foam trays are wonderful for storing and transporting one's miniatures.

Well here they are, my force for the OGRE demo. This photo doesn't show everything as there is an extra layer of infantry under the infantry you can see on the left. Still spaces to expand a bit more, but my Combine infantry and vehicles will require separate trays, which I guess I will rotate with the Pan Euro forces as required?

 

This was the board we use, from the Deluxe Ogre set that Roger brought in.  

Set-up was done by me on the fly as we didn't have Steve Jackson recommended layout to hand. The plan was to have the players be the defenders, and let them have a couple of extra armour units, but that plan was changed to just letting them be the Ogre.  So, I took one GEV to make up to my full 12 armour units for the game.

 

My other five Ogres were put out on display for people to look at and handle. They were much admired and people all thought the use of magnets to join the two halves together was good. All down to seeing Daniel, the Ogre line developer, doing this to his Ogre models.

The first game, and the first take down of an Ogre for the day. So close, and yet so far. The second game and the second Ogre is taken down by the defense, with enough defenders left that this counts as a total defensive victory.

Roger, my new cell leader and Southern head honcho setting up the day. I'd arrived early and he helped me to put out the display boards he had brought back from Essen.

 I was at the show for eight hours, and five games of Ogre for new players. 

On reflection, given that I played the defense for four out of the five games, the Ogre only won once when I was helping two friends to play the game against each other, I think that I'm going to have to reduce the defense force by one or two armour units, when I play defender, to give new players a better experience of the game.  

It's not that I don't like winning, but that's not my role when demoing, and I know the stats and the tactics far too well for my own good.

I got to briefly rush around the show while catching something to eat, and bought two books from House Atreides, a second hand stand, for five pounds each.  A nice condition copy The Ogre Book, first edition from 1982, which is good to have as my copy fell to bits and had to be put into sleeves.  

The second book I got was a  copy of Heavy Gear's Life on Terra Nova in reasonable condition, which will help me get into the game's background more.