Sampling OGRE Designer's Edition

I made it up to Dragon's Lair last weekend and managed to catch a demonstration of the massive new OGRE Designer's Edition from Steve Jackson Games.  Al, one of SJG's Men in Black, was on had to run the game and give out swag.  I thought he looked familiar; he was previewing the new edition of OGRE a year ago at the 2012 Millenniumcon. 

As you may already know, this game is frackin' huge--a ginormous box that ships at 24 pounds, with massive maps of the OGRE and GEV battlefields and scores of counters.  While the conventional armor and infantry use flat counters, the giant cybertanks are depicted by 3-D cutouts that you assemble.  They looked good on the board, giving the game more of a miniatures vibe than a boardgame feel (and I'm not a purist; I usually play with minis but use the boardgame rules anyway).

And how did the game play?  Smooth as ever.  Two other players, Henry and David, each took a Mk III against my and Al's conventional defense of two command posts.  Al even provided the Ogre War Room app for his tablet, as you can see in the upper right of the photo above.  This free software for phones and tablets is a playing aid that keeps track of damage to your OGRE electronically.

So the app tracked our damage, but Al and I didn't do nearly enough to stave off the inevitable cybertank victory, as they all but eliminated the defending units to grind slowly toward the CPs.  Still, we did some damage to the machines, and had a great time doing so.  And after the game was over, I received the pocket edition of OGRE, which won't hit stores until next year!  Nice.

So I've got a very portable version of OGRE to take with me on trips.  And I just found out my copy of the big game has arrived as well.  I can't wait to pick up my very own copy of the Designer's Edition this weekend.  It will be a blast!