[Ogre] random Ogre thoughts, questions, tangents

[Mark and Rachael]

1. Missile Rack Question.

My friends and I have always played under the
assumption that taking out a missile rack takes out
ALL missiles associated with the rack. Maybe this is 
because of the way the record sheets are laid out. For
the fencer sheet, for example, there are 4 clusters of
"missile bubbles" to mark off, with 5 missiles each,
which seemed to me to correspond to the 4 racks. The
rules don't address this, but I can see three ways of
playing...

a) Only one missile is lost per rack (the loaded one)

b) All missiles associated with a rack are lost

c) No missiles are lost, only the rack (the missiles
aren't loaded until fired)

How do other people play?



2. Fuzzy Thoughts.

The complaint about Shockwave units unbalancing things
has been hashed and rehashed for years, online and
off. I don't argue that these units can seriously mess
up some of the original G.E.V. scenario, but they
actually work well to offset each other in
rock-paper-scissiors fashion. 

Superheavies do more than their share to offset the
LGEV swarm strategy. Consider equal VPs- 5 LGEVs
against 1 SHVY. They still only have 1:2 odds. And
then the SHVY is going to take out two of them, and at
2:5 they can't even attack on the following turn! And
in situations with even more LGEVs against multiple
heavies, the LGEVs fair even WORSE... they can only
spread out so much without double stacking. And if
they stack, then lookout! Spillover at 1:1 odds. Or
instead of double stacking, they can park within the
SHVY's movement radius and be automatically overrun
without a chance to put up a fight. 

The point: if you're sick of playing an opponent who
frequently engages in fuzzy strategy, start taking a
few superheavies. They are worth more than their point
allotment against LGEV swarms, and I'm not sure that
can be said for any other unit.

Of course, fuzzies will always beat up OGRES...

3. Upcoming Scenarios Announcements

I'm glad to see there's still some community out
there, as I'm working on a couple scenarios. I'd love
any feedback or playtesting when they are ready.

One scenario, 'TO THE RESCUE', involves a number of
infantry surrounded in a city under siege. The
rescuers are coming, but so are enemy reinforcements.
The infantry must be escorted off map to score VPs.
Choice of units will make for some interesting
strategies... better to invest in several GEV-PCs to
shuttle the squads away quickly, sacrificing armored
punch? Or better to stock up on heavier units, and
then escort the infantry on foot at a snail's pace? Of
course, there's a compromise... take only 1 or 2
GEV-PCs and make multiple trips to and from the map
edge. But with the incoming trickle of enemy
reinforcements, even this approach might quickly reach
a state of diminishing returns. Should be an
interesting challenge when it's finally balanced.

The other scenario, 'ACROSS THE CHANNEL' represents a
GEV raid across the English Channel at it's narrowest
point, in the area between Dover and Calais. The Brits
defend with marines, a handful of their own GEVs, and
some land-based howitzers and missile tanks. The GEV
map can be used if you assume it's all water except
the far north and south hex rows, which are land. The
scale is almost accurate... the actual Channel would
be about 6-7 hexes wider at this point than the GEV
map will allow. You could also bash a map to make it
more accurate and better looking.

Then there's the "SEALION" variant of this scenario,
where the attacker scores VPs for getting his marines
into Britain (off the north map edge).

It may take me a few weeks to work out the kinks in
the scenarios. Then I'll fire them off to the mailing
list.

cheers,
Mark