Ogre
A game for 2 players designed by <PERSON>
"I have wanted for years to do a BIG version of Ogre, it was something I needed to get out of my system."
― <PERSON>, interview with The Big Board , 19 October 2013
"There's enough in that box you can split it with your next door neighbour, never speak to him again, and you'll both have enough to play."
- ibid.
Introduction
I still remember being invited to join the gaming club at my school. We met every day at lunch in the basement and we had a nice big room all to ourselves. We were all there because we loved games. Collectively we had all grown up with games, mostly chess, card games, Risk, Monopoly, and the usual titles.
My father was in the military and the turnover at the base school was high, so we had a constant flow of people coming and going. One of the new kids arrived and has this little game in his backpack. He asked if anyone was interested in trying it out. We looked at the small map and thin cardboard sheet with tiny counters that we had to cut apart with scissors. It was my first encounter with hex and counter wargames.
It was Ogre.
Ogre came from MetaGaming, and it was the first in what they coined microgames, a term that soon became the name for a whole category of small inexpensive games. You can check out the very interesting history and evolution of these kinds of games at the online Classic Microgames Museum.
Those original games were meant to be inexpensive to buy and easy to play. At one point I even owned all 22 of the original MetaGaming microgames (and the MicroQuests, and the MicroHistory series).
Ogre was a revelation to us pre-teen lads and the gaming club soon became a feeding frenzy of game buying and trying out all kinds of other games. Melee and Wizard were mainstays that led us into all manner of RPGs, this new to us hex and counter thing led those of us with bigger allowances to pick up some Avalon Hill and SPI titles, but there was simply no getting around the bang for the buck that those microgames provided.
Ogre fired up our youthful imaginations. Who didn't love the idea of a giant cybernetic tank inexorably across the map towards that nice command post?
MetaGaming released a sequel to Ogre called G.E.V., which introduced not only new units, but also a map with more interesting terrain and new Ogres and some scenarios where both sides could have Ogres and combined forces.
The new Ogre Designer Edition (ODE) contains both the original game and what came with G.E.V. and much much much more.
Components
Here is everything you need to know about Ogre Designer Edition - the game weighs 28lbs. 12.72kg for us metric types.
Oh wait, you wanted more information? Here's a photo from SJGames' <PERSON> showing what's in the Kickstarter package.
The box is enormous. 52
I honestly don't know where I'm going to put it. I don't care. Space will be found.
To give you some sense of perspective, as someone who backed at the $150+ level, I got an early copy of Ogre Pocket Edition, which is the same size as the original game. You could fit over 1000 of that original game into the ODE box.
Component quality is absolutely top notch. There are eight GEV maps in the box. I don't have the table space to hold them all, but I can't think of a scenario I won't be able to play. The Ogre map itself is a gorgeous thick behemoth that fills my dining table with gaming goodness.
And the inserts! They are hands down The Best Inserts I've ever seen in any game. There are two garages with labels in the bottoms to show you where everything can go. The maps protect and contain all the units and pieces that go into the bottom of the box. There was a lot of very clever engineering design that went into this.
Photos do not do it justice. Seek out one of the many unboxing videos to get a better look at them. It's absolutely outstanding.
What about the rest? There's one copy of the rule book, a scenario book, and two laminated sheets with templates of the Ogres. There's also a free app (iOS, Android) for the purpose.
The Kickstarter edition of the game comes with a simply astounding 38 sheets of counters. 40 if you pledged at the $150+ level, which got you two sheets of Things Go Boom. In all there are over 1000 counters to represent the broad array of units, terrain overlays, buildings, Ogres, and other markers. 336