Showing posts with label OGRE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OGRE. Show all posts

19 January 2015

OGRE...the second gambit

Having taken his licks in his first game, Right Stuff was back with another Mk III OGRE to give it another go.  I took a slightly different defensive mix, dropping the Howitzer and grabbing a few more  GEVs.  This is how it went:
Thought I would be sneaky and set up for envelopment from both flanks...
...but he saw that coming...
...and that was the end of that plan!
The OGRE drives up the middle, zig zagging very effectively 
and then just plowed through!
...with devastating results to the defenders! 
Not much the defenders can do at this point!
Doesn't matter what he rolled at this point - a win for the Lad1
So with one game each he has clearly picked up the rules well enough!
The next one will be fun indeed!

14 January 2015

OGRE...opening moves

It was very cool to sit there with the Lad this week, show him how to punch out counters and segregate them into numerous small zip lock bags.  Ahh the memories!
Defensive setup.  The monocolour map is a bit dull I think, I'll be fixing that.
After a quick run through of the rules and some demos of the attack mechanisms it was time to dive in for our first game.  Right Stuff took a Mk III OGRE while I took the defenders.  Here is how it went...
Right Stuff is not convinced that this is a fair fight - he has only one counter compared to all of mine! 
The OGRE advances and he is very wary of those pesky GEV jockeys!
With rolls like those I'm not going to take out many treads...
The first armour units engage, targeting the treads 
The OGRE starts to breakout down the left flank
Almost through! The Howitzer wore a missile just after this was taken.
Clear and with objective in sight! But the treads have taken a few hits and movement is slowed
The chase is on as the nukes fly!
Coming down to the wire and the defenders throw in everything they have left
With the OGRE movement down to 1 it would be a dice off
In the final exchange, a Missile Tank blew off the last few remaining treads, immobilising the OGRE outside the necessary range to take out the CP (but still with many weapons intact) and giving the Defenders a win.

I thought for his first go at a new game he did a good job and understood exactly what he was trying to.  However, Right Stuff was a bit disappointed though he was happy to reset and give it another go...

...to be continued!

13 January 2015

OGRE...The Next Generation

This week was Right Stuff's birthday and nestled amongst his gift goodies was this little treasure - the recent reprint of the original OGRE pocket edition.  

I remember buying a slightly later 2nd edition (the one in a plastic pocket) at his age too as my first war-game and have loved it ever since.  So it was with quite a bit of nostalgia that I thought it would be an appropriate present for the lad as his first 'real' hex and counter style war-game.

He is off reading the rules now getting ready for our first showdown tomorrow night...

Which reminded me of this great post from way way back in the days of BBCs supporting war-games:

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED PLAYING OGRE

1. There are big, bad things out there, and they might come to get you. Be ready.
2. There's no problem so large that it can't be whittled down.
3. You're going to lose a few units along the way, maybe a lot; accept it.
4. A bunch of minor problems, if you don't stamp them out, can wear you down and kill you.
5. Team work is essential. Nobody has all the attributes to succeed on their own.
6. If your movement is high and your defense is low, don't let them shoot at you.
7. If your defense is high and your movement is low, don't run.
8. In the end, only one thing matters. Know what it is, and be prepared to sacrifice anything for it.
9. Time is always running out.

        - by Andrew Walters, submitted to the infamous OGREverse mailing list, 22 Nov 2000.





09 January 2015

Concept tanks

From Hard SF styled to futuristic and anime, you'll find a wonderful range of concept tanks from around the www collected here - great browsing indeed
http://concepttanks.blogspot.com

One of my favs: a SHVY from the OGREverse perhaps?

26 December 2014

A stocking filled with gaming goodies

A delicious grab bag of goodies for yours truly & son under the tree this year - far better than a lump of coal! The Dr Grordbort titles are particularly amusing.  Some great goodies noting my inability to paint or model at the moment.  I really like the themed OGRE dice, given I used to play that game quite a bit and have more than my fair share of versions of it back home.

06 October 2014

OGRE Mk 0.1?

The KV-VI is actually a hoax, started by somebody photoshopping a column of KVs so it looked like one giant tank. But that doesn't mean its not cool of course, or that I don't want one on my WWW2 table!
From: http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=4693

The Russian land battleship - KV-VI Behemoth tank

A fascinating tale of state power over commonsense military design. Stalin wanted a land battleship, and he was going to get one no matter how impractical it was.  Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, new facts have surfaced about the secret weapons developed by the Red Army during WWII.

One of the most fascinating of these was the KV-VI Behemoth. In July 1941, Stalin learned of a single KV-II that had held off the entire 6th Panzer Division for more than a day. With the incredible success of this single tank, Stalin ordered a crash program for a land battleship based on the KV-II design.

It was to have three turrets and be very heavily armed and armored and able to defend itself against all types of attack.

The project was given to the joint team of Kotin/Barkov. When the designers complained to Stalin that the insistence on three turrets made the vehicle too long to have an acceptable turning radius, Stalin's answer was: "It doesn't need to turn, it will drive straight to Berlin."

The final design became known as the KV-VI "Behemoth". The KV-VI was a multi-turreted tank using components of the KV-I and II, Bt-5, T-60, and T-38. The use of existing tank designs was necessary because of pressure from Stalin and the strains put on Soviet industry by the German invasion. Because of its massive weight, the tank was equipped with wading devices permitting it to traverse rivers up to 9 feet deep

The team also designed a removable observation tower that could be used to direct the fire of the howitzers and rockets while the tank was in a turret down position.


Operational History
The first prototype was completed in December 1941 and was rushed into the defense of Moscow. In its first action during a dense winter fog, the rear turret accidentally fired into the center turret. The resulting explosion completely destroyed the vehicle.

The second prototype was completed in January 1942, and was sent to the Leningrad front. This one had indicators installed to show whe another turret was in the line of fire. In its initial attack on the Germans, the tank broke in half when crossing a ravine. A spark ignited the leaking flamethrower fuel and the resulting explosion completely destroyed the vehicle.

The third prototype, shown here, had a reinforced hull and was also sent to the Leningrad front in early 1942. It did manage to shoot down three German aircraft. In its first ground engagement, the KV-VI was firing on German positions when coincidentally all of the guns fired from the 3 O'Clock position a the same time. The tremendous recoil tipped the tank into a ditch and the severe jostling set off the 152mm ammunition, which completely destroyed the vehicle.

After these failures, Stalin cancelled the project, and many of the design team members spent the rest of their lives in the Gulags of Sibera. The KV-VI was nicknamed "Stalin's Orchestra" by the few Germans that encountered it because of the variety of weapons it deployed.

KV-VI Specifications

Crew: 15 men and one Commissar Length: 51 feet, 4 inches
Height: 15 feet, 3 inches Width: 10 feet, 10 inches
Height/tower raised: 37 feet, 8 inches Weight: 138 tons
Engine: 3 X V-2 at 600 horsepower each Max Speed: 13 mph
Max Range: 98 miles road; 43 miles cross country
Armor: 160mm maximum; 7mm minimum
Armament: 2 X 152mm; 2 X 76.2mm; 1 X 45mm; 2 X 12.7mm DShK; 2 X 7.62mm Maxim; 14 X 7.62mm DT; 16 X BM-13 Rockets; 2 X Model 1933 Flamethrowers

 http://forums.filefront.com...

Picture below of the mighty KV-VI Behemoth land battleship as a model, and a rare photo of the first version of the land battleship (note the track covers on the early version that were removed because of high track maintenance needs)

behemoth-tank.jpg - 48.62kb 

23 December 2013

Splitfire

Resurrected from HJC's old OGRE website:


Splitfire

This is a technique discovered by self-aware OGREs. It allows the OGRE to take some of its ranged fire during its movement phase.

During its movement phase a splitfiring OGRE may declare any number of attacks (up to the limit of weapons that it has yet to fire this turn) in any sequence and how it will expend its next movement point.

The attacks are rolled and resolved in the declared sequence and then the OGRE is moved as declared. (This movement may not be aborted, as the shells are assumed to be "in flight" during the time the OGRE is moving.)

Example: an OGRE declares a first attack of a secondary battery shot and a second shot of a single AP gun against the same 3 point stack of adjacent infantry and a next move which takes the OGRE away from the infantry.

In this example, if the secondary battery misses, then the AP shot is wasted in a 1-3 and if the secondary Xs the infantry then the AP is also wasted into thin air, but if the secondary scores a D then the AP will roll a 1-2 against the two surviving squads.

Splitfiring OGREs can sequence multiple AP attacks against the same stack of infantry during a single turn, as long as the OGRE expends movement points between the attacks. (And uses different AP guns, naturally.)

Splitfiring OGREs still only get to fire each weapon once per turn (Outside of overruns), but they get to launch attacks with different weapons from different hexes.

Example: A Splitfiring OGRE with a movement of three, moving through clear terrain will have four points to declare and resolve attacks: Before its first move, before its second move, before its third move and a normal attack phase after movement.

Expending two or more movement points to enter a hex (Say a town or water hex) only counts as a single declared move for Splitfire.

An OGRE may declare that it is expending a single movement point (in any type of terrain) and staying in the same hex as part of a Splitfire attack.

12 April 2012

Ogre Ver6: Designer's Edition

Long time readers may know that Stave Jackson's classic game OGRE was my first wargame and I still deeply love it.  In fact, I think I have everything printed for it apart from the 1st edition game.  Thus I was pretty excited to hear last year about a 6th Edition being developed (see here).
Well, a year later on and this game is now up on Kickstarter!  SJ details why he has gone this way on the project homepage.  $100 will get you signed up for a copy (ONLY if you live in the US though...grumble spit grumble).  Its an awesome package and if OGRE is your thing, go check it out:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847271320/ogre-designers-edition


01 April 2011

OGRE 6th Edition

On my 'likely to get' list - one of my all time favourites, I remember this being one of my first wargames as a lad.
http://www.sjgames.com/ill/a/2011-03-12

20 February 2009

Real Life OGREs?

Havent these guys of Skynet? Davros? We all know these projects have a tendancy to go horribly wrong...
------------------
DARPA seeks self-aware AI robot mega-tanks
We care not who welcomes us, meatsacks - all shall die

By Lewis Page

Pentagon boffinry chiefs have announced that they would like some self-aware computer systems capable of "meta-reasoning" and "introspection". The plan is to place these machine intelligences in command of heavily armed, well-nigh invulnerable robotic tanks.

This latest plan for humanity's subjugation comes, of course, from DARPA - the agency believed to harbour the largest known group of lifelike people-simulant robots piloted from within by tiny, malevolent space lizard infiltrators in the entire US federal government.

The plan is called Self-Explanation Learning Framework (SELF). It is being handled by Dr Mike Cox of DARPA's renowned Information Processing Technology Office.

According to...Dr Cox:

Without a model of self, cognitive systems remain brittle ...


Goal: Provide machines with an ability to reason about their own reasoning... SELF will enable any learning system to explain and repair itself

Task Benefits:

Improved goal satisfaction through self-explanation and meta-control module.

Self-explaining systems lead to better calibrated trust for human users.

It seems that DARPA already has a fearful array of "Intelligent Agent" software at its disposal, so Dr Cox would like his future collaborators to "focus fully on the meta-level" as basic Agent-Smith-a-like killer AIs will be provided as "GFE": government furnished equipment.

Assuming the self-aware, self-repairing, self-programming software can be built, one might ask what Dr Cox plans to do with it.

Rather than attempting like any sane person to unplug the whole system at the wall before it eradicates humanity, Cox believes it would be suitable in the "near term" for "armored combat" and "tactical air" missions. Just to make it quite clear what this means, the good doctor - or anyway the lifelike lizard-piloted simulant which long ago replaced the real Cox - helpfully includes pictures of a main battle tank and a jet fighter, two of the most potent engines of destruction available to the modern military.

It is clear that he intends to place his self-aware 'ware in charge of such kit as the frightful 70-ton turbine-powered Abrams, armoured like a mobile Fort Knox and capable of shooting a hole through small mountains.

Bolo, anyone?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/18/darpa_self_aware_tanks/

02 September 2008