OGRE redux

Steve Jackson Games' OGRE and GEV were my first introduction to wargaming in the 1980s. Although we moved on to miniatures and tabletop wargames in a few years, my friends and I started with the simple pocket-sized "mini" games of OGRE and its sequel/development GEV. I organized a reunion with my buddies from Secondary School who I haven't seen for years, and we replayed a game from 1989! You can see the side by side photos - on the left is the game we played 36 years ago, and on the right, the same setup (with a larger version of the map and older versions of us!)

Left: 1989. Right: 2025. Same map and scenario, just bigger!

The maps were downloaded from the Warehouse23 website, where they have a free set of Print and Play maps and counters; I managed to print out the two maps that matched the original GEV and Shockwave maps we used in 1989. The larger hex sizes were much appreciated - we're not as young as we used to be, and the 1.5 inch hexes were much easier on the eyes! 

The two maps are the G1 and S1 maps, which are the current larger versions of the original GEV and Shockwave maps

We used the OGRE 6th edition rules, which I bought from the website, though we ended up recalling most of the rules from memory and we ended up playing something like what the rules were like in the 1980s when we last played, omitting newer rules and units like the lasers, heavy weapons teams etc. One thing I will say is that the OGRE rules have become less streamlined over the years, as more units and accompanying rules have been added. The original OGRE was simplicity itself: one giant tank on one side, and a limited range of conventional units on the other. Terrain was limited - either a barren wasteland or a radioactive crater, the former being a "no effect" on movement and the latter being out of bounds to all units. The only variation were the uncrossable ridges. With GEV (a sort of sequel, but more like a development of the game) we had fully varied terrain (forests, swamps, cities, roads etc), a few more conventional units, and a few more rules to accommodate them. Then came Shockwave and the Ogre Reinforcement Pack, and we got cruise missiles (the first and only flying units) and laser towers to shoot them down, and a whole new stable of Ogres beyond the Mk III and Mk V. It's around this point that the ruleset becomes noticeably unwieldy, and the subsequent developments in the 90s and 2000s have added to these rules without any streamlining or change - in effect, we've glommed on more and more special features, unique units, rules and their exceptions, without a lot of re-organisation and rationalization. So we ended up reverting to a sort of time capsule of the rules from the 80s, based on our memories of how it played, and what we were used to. Accuracy wasn't as important as agreement: even if we might have got some specifics of the rules wrong, as long as both players agreed and it was subsequently consistently applied, then the game kept going.

Larger hexes, and larger counters mounted on 3mm foamboard

I also printed the classic counters set (free download) and mounted them on 3mm foam board to make them easier to pick up (the original thin cardboard counters were fiddly, and would be a challenge now to speedy gameplay). The thick counters did make stacking awkward - a stack of 5 units in one hex (the max permitted) became quite a tower (as you can see in the photo below), but on the whole I preferred the ease of use. I tried to add some color to the "disabled" side of the counters, by splashing a bit of red paint on them, for a "bloodied" effect. It worked well for the black on white counters (which were the Paneuropeans, if I recall) but not so much for the white on black (the Combine) so I stopped doing that for the remaining counters.

All in all, a wonderful reunion of friends, over a game that last brought us together 36 years ago!