[Ogre] Ogre Christmas Ornament Review

[Andrew Walters]

Since they're the first new Ogre products in a 
few months, they deserve a proper review. So 
here's a first look at the

Disclaimer: I'm completely biased.

First, to those upset that Warehouse 23 is now 
selling these instead of Ninja or a second 
edition rulebook, I'm not sure there's something 
there to be mad about. New vehicles and books 
require not just capital from SJ Games, but staff 
time. I'm guessing with these things you send the 
artwork off to the laser people and they send you 
back a box full of pieces you can sell. I think 
the nice folks in Austin know what we would like 
to see, but they can't give it to us. They know 
these are not our heart's desire, but they're fun 
and they are doable. So here they are. What's to 
grouse about?

And they are fun. If you like Ogre, you'll like them.

As for the actual ornaments, they're quite nice. 
I expected them to be thin, they're actually 
nearly 5/32" thick,  over 1/8".  The Mark V is 
made of smooth maple, and the G.E.V. is made of 
cherry. The lines are crisp and even throughout, 
no sign of compromise for this new format. On 
very, very close inspection there are some short 
missing line segments and some short bits that 
I'm not sure belong there, but you have to look 
hard. Both curved and straight lines are very 
faithful to the originals, and the "technical" 
lines on natural wood grain give a nice 
discordance.

The negative side? The brass wire rings at the 
top are flimsy. They're also not closed, so they 
come out. Probably fine if all you do is hang 
these on the tree, but if you do anything 
creative with them :) they require adjusting, or 
replacing, but that's not a big deal. Each piece 
also features a small ® (that's the 'R' with the 
circle around it, if you're software doesn't like 
the real symbol) on one side only. Its 
unobtrusive on the Mark V, but on the Galahad its 
imprudently positioned on the front edge of the 
skirt, instead of being hidden on the body. 
Pretty minor.

It occurred to me while handling them that they 
might be fun to paint. But I've got other things 
to paint.

I've never been a fan of hanging things from rear 
view mirrors, but I've never had the chance to 
hang an Ogre there, either. My Honda now has a 
Mark V hanging in it, and my wife has happily 
accepted the G.E.V. for the van. My son is happy, 
my daughter is exasperated.

I probably won't actually hang them on the tree: 
Christmas has enough trouble maintaining its True 
Meaning without pretending cybertanks somehow 
honor the spirit of the season. On the other 
hand, we have a lit NCC-1701 on there, so who 
knows what we'll do.

So they're here, they're nicely made, they're 
fun, I've bought five and I'll buy more as soon 
as I think of more applications.

Andrew