Sunday, April 26, 2015

My old-school collection grows ...

Even though I'm a fan of early Dungeons & Dragons, my entry into the game was via the Holmes basic set, followed by the hardback Advanced D&D books. It wasn't till decades later that I found some of the original supplements (in good condition) in a used basic set purchased from a hobby store.
Now my collection is closer to completion. I was able to acquire a copy The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, the third volume of the original edition of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as the second supplement, Blackmoor, both for a reasonable price.
I already have the other supplements--Greyhawk, Eldrich Wizardry, Gods Demigods & Heroes, and Swords & Spells. So to round out my colletion of original D&D books, I need to track down the first two volumes; Men & Magic and Monsters & Treasure.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

OGRE Pocket Edition counter mix

For future reference and for creating scenarios, here's a list of the counters that you get for your three bucks in the ziplock-bagged OGRE Pocket Edition. There are 140 counters total--70 each on two identical sheets. Each sheet break down as follows:

White (PanEuropean/defenders)

  • 5 HVY TANK
  • 5 GEV
  • 4 MSL TANK
  • 4 HOWITZER
  • 7 INFANTRY (3/2)
  • 4 INFANTRY (2/1)
  • 1 CP
  • 3 MCP (D2, D1, D0)

Black (Combine/attackers)

  • 5 HVY TANK
  • 7 GEV
  • 5 MSL TANK
  • 2 HOWITZER
  • 5 INFANTRY (3/2)
  • 3 INFANTRY (2/1)

Light Gray (third force)

  • 2 MCP (D1, D0)

Double-Sided

  • 2 OGRE MARK III (white/dark gray)
  • 1 OGRE MARK V (white/dark gray)
  • 2 OGRE MARK III (black/light gray)
  • 1 OGRE MARK V (black/light gray)
  • 2 CP (D0) (black/white)

That's a lot of counters, more than enough for the standard kill-the-command-post games. So what scenarios come to mind with all these units, especially the conventional forces?

Friday, April 3, 2015

OGRE expansion in the works

In an update to their Kickstarter page, SJ Games announced they're working on a survey to determine the contents of the expansion to OGRE Designer's Edition that was promised as a stretch goal during the funding campaign that would include "new units and at least one map."

No one's asked me, but here's what I'd like to see in an expansion:

  • New maps--either the remaining unpublished two maps from Ogre Battlefields or some new terrain (desert, islands, arctic, etc.)
  • Overlays--some large terrain pieces (7-hex city and water) for those of us who didn't get the Kickstarter-only terrain sheets
  • New units 
    • Infantry--Engineers and Rangers were both left out of the retail version of the Designer's Edition, and so were Heavy Weapons squads
    • Vehicles--Missile GEVs and Heavy GEVs were both featured in Barbarians at the Gates, so I don't know if it would be feasible to reprint them in an expansion. Maybe some naval units ...
    • Ogres--I got enough Ogres.
  • Scenarios--some sort of linked campaign would be nice
Those of you who have OGRE DE, what would you like to see in the expansion?