People had another name for the big warmachines – one drawn from the
early combine units and, before that, from dark myth.
They called them Ogre’s...
Iconic description, nearly the equal of Free Trader Beowulf, and one
that no-one ever forgot, not even thirty years after the original game came out.
This was the original Ogre (I know the one depicted isn’t first
edition), and it had all you needed to play the game neatly packaged away inside
something the size of a video cassette box.
The boards, while just glossy paper folded up, was full colour.
The pieces were neatly printed, and while you had to cut them out because
they were only thick cardboard, not pop out pieces like most games are these
days, but certainly enough for the time it was made.
Ogre is a simple game and for those that aren’t familiar with the
concept of it, the OGRE is a cybernetic tank, automated and directed for one
purpose only, to destroy the enemy command centre. The nature of the game is a simple one, the
Ogre goes from one side of the board to the other and back, trying to wipe out
the command centre as it does. If it
manages to make it to the command centre and back, it wins, anything else is a
win for the opposing team. It uses
simple mechanics with the amount of attack and the amount of defence being
cross referenced on a table to show what damage is done to both sides.
None of the units that come up against an Ogre have a chance one to
one, but the concept of the game is to have one side with overwhelming single
unit superiority against a swarm of enemies.
In the larger games, it’s possible to have several Ogres against a whole
board of smaller adversaries, making for truly epic battles whilst still
retaining the speed of play.
And so it came as no surprise to me when it was announced that they
were making a new version of the game, with full size models and bigger board
and everything else.
The question of course is does making something bigger and shinier make
it better?
It would be nice to say no, that the packaging of a game shouldn’t make
any difference to a game, but when you consider that the game being looked at
today, it might just put the lie to the statement.
This is the new Ogre...
Roughly the size of an Ogre compared to the old version...
As can be seen by the multiple layers, there’s a number of thick
cardboard maps to show off the maps that were.
And then the Ogres which need a layer all of their own...
And then the other boards...
And then the regular troops...
And this is how a regular game might look when it gets set up now...
And after a few turns...
And most likely a few turns later when there’s only the artillery left
to try and stop the damn thing...
There was enough material in the original to make for an interesting game
and a number of scenarios that while essentially being the same, provided
enough variation to enjoy over an extended period of time, but not with enough
variation to make it anything special.
Heresy?
Maybe, but the thing with Ogre is that while it’s a good game, it takes
a while to set up and you don’t play for that long, it’s fun while you play it,
but the lack of variation after a while can cause it to stagnate, which for me
is a problem. Where you get some games
like X wing that constantly bring out new models and new tactics so you have to
continually evolve your game to keep up with what’s going on (and that’s a
whole different rant when it comes to collectibles), something that would
benefit this particular game infinitely would be mission cards or special
tactics, things that changed it from being a “Drive at the enemy and crush them”
scenario into something else...
Don’t get me wrong, Ogre is a good game, and the new set makes it
easier to play (No fun with fiddly counters and flat paper sheets that need
weighting down), plus the Ogres themselves are far more evocative of what they
should be when you’ve got them on the board and that all helps towards the
feeling of the game.
So the question was does making something bigger and shinier make it a
better game...? Is the increased price tag justified by the amount of shiny you’re
getting hold of?
In the case of many games, I would have said no, but when you’re
playing a game like this?
It’ s definitely Go Big or Go Extinct J
Now if we can only convince Steve Jackson to get the Pacific Rim
licence and stick Jaegers and Kaiju on the field...
