The OGRE Apotheosis

Cyrano · August 02, 2014, 12:28:10 PM

As those who I met at Origins know, the scandalous pricing of the Ogre Designer's Edition at the Steve Jackson Games booth compelled me to buy angry and pick the creature up via Amazon...with free shipping...I'd like to see one of Bezos' drones deliver that...I recommend a quad-hitch.

I post this to say, for the record, that this game is the apotheosis of both Ameritrash gaming and simple boyish love for bitz porn. My son and I have been slowly assembling ogres, bases, turrets, &c., &c., as we play since coming back from ORIGINS...in JUNE...and we're still not done.

My plan is to stick four legs to the bottom of the box and turning the bastard into a coffee table.

A truly remarkable thing...

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

bob48 · August 02, 2014, 12:44:20 PM

Quote from: Cyrano on August 02, 2014, 12:28:10 PM
As those who I met at Origins know, the scandalous pricing of the Ogre Designer's Edition at the Steve Jackson Games booth compelled me to buy angry and pick the creature up via Amazon...with free shipping...I'd like to see one of Bezos' drones deliver that...I recommend a quad-hitch.

I post this to say, for the record, that this game is the apotheosis of both Ameritrash gaming and simple boyish love for bitz porn. My son and I have been slowly assembling ogres, bases, turrets, &c., &c., as we play since coming back from ORIGINS...in JUNE...and we're still not done.

My plan is to stick four legs to the bottom of the box and turning the bastard into a coffee table.

A truly remarkable thing...

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

ROFL ;D

Staggerwing · August 02, 2014, 01:52:12 PM

I purchased mine from NWS and I second the assessment- the box is big enough to make a soap-box derby racer out of. :))

GJK · August 02, 2014, 11:31:24 PM

I remember the game being fun in a "cute" kind of way. Certainly was worth the $5 for the little "pocket box" version. Is the coffin box (sorry, you said coffee table box

) worth the sticker price? I've been on the fence for this one for a while....thinking my son would possibly enjoy it...maybe even more than I would. Thoughts?

Staggerwing · August 03, 2014, 06:21:38 AM

It's hard to say. The pieces are gorgeous and obscenely thick and the maps are very nice. I bought it more as an investment so I have not put any of the game components together.

Yet...

Cyrano · August 03, 2014, 10:44:45 AM

OK, Staggerwing, you and I are gonna thumb wrestle on that one...investing in board games...some people.

For GJK, this one is kind of tricky. For $2.99, you can have the basic OGRE game as re-issued by SJG and it will use precisely the same rules used by its much larger cousin. For a few more bucks you could blow up the map many-fold, enlarge the counters, mount them, and play a game as big as your heart desires. You can, courtesy of the Kickstarter, download the OGRE app and use it as a nice record keeper without charge.

All that said, value for dollar, I'll go with one of the fine fellows from the Grogheads booth at Origins who described it as the best $100 he'd ever spent on gaming. I would agree. I can't precisely say why, although the embarrassment of riches that comes with it does make me want to roll about in it like Scrooge McDuck. And, FWIW, my 6-year-old likes it a great deal and has actually asked to play it when given a choice.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

Staggerwing · August 03, 2014, 10:53:44 AM

Quote from: Cyrano on August 03, 2014, 10:44:45 AM
OK, Staggerwing, you and I are gonna thumb wrestle on that one...investing in board games...some people.

Ha! I don't mean that I expect to get some kind of financial return. I've never gotten a game with that in mind. I mean that I might be able to trade it in the coming years for something else that's out of print but that I lust after. If that does not happen I can still play it since I actually like the game!

Arctic Blast · August 03, 2014, 04:00:16 PM

I've seen it, I like the sound of Ogre...but I'm just not interested. I have nowhere to store the damn thing, and who is using thousands of units at a time in a game of Ogre? This actually seems (to me at least) like too much of a good thing.

Cyrano · August 04, 2014, 06:14:36 PM

For what it's worth, it also includes G.E.V. and various expansions so there's more in there than just OGRE.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

ArizonaTank · August 07, 2014, 03:31:20 PM

Quote from: GJK on August 02, 2014, 11:31:24 PM
I remember the game being fun in a "cute" kind of way. Certainly was worth the $5 for the little "pocket box" version. Is the coffin box (sorry, you said coffee table box ) worth the sticker price? I've been on the fence for this one for a while....thinking my son would possibly enjoy it...maybe even more than I would. Thoughts?

I remember the original plastic baggy game being somewhat entertaining, but not very replayable (for me anyway). Since one side had the Ogre uber-unit and that's it, I just never saw much tactical variety.

Based on my old experience, I never got into the latest version. Having said that...one of my gaming buddies, a super serious guy in real life, is absolutely gaga over the most recent version. But I suspect in his case it's just the minis... Anyway I sit on the sidelines until the price drops.

Arctic Blast · August 07, 2014, 08:44:19 PM

Quote from: ArizonaTank on August 07, 2014, 03:31:20 PM
Quote from: GJK on August 02, 2014, 11:31:24 PM
I remember the game being fun in a "cute" kind of way. Certainly was worth the $5 for the little "pocket box" version. Is the coffin box (sorry, you said coffee table box ) worth the sticker price? I've been on the fence for this one for a while....thinking my son would possibly enjoy it...maybe even more than I would. Thoughts?

I remember the original plastic baggy game being somewhat entertaining, but not very replayable (for me anyway). Since one side had the Ogre uber-unit and that's it, I just never saw much tactical variety.

Based on my old experience, I never got into the latest version. Having said that...one of my gaming buddies, a super serious guy in real life, is absolutely gaga over the most recent version. But I suspect in his case it's just the minis... Anyway I sit on the sidelines until the price drops.

Take a look at online stores, man. Prices are already dropping because they're stuck trying to store 10-15 of those massive things.

TacticalWargames · August 07, 2014, 10:03:52 PM

Car Wars is the Steve Jackson game I owned when younger..along with it's expansions Truck Stop and Sunday drivers. Now if he made a deluxe version of that I'd be putting it down on my Xmas list.

Cyrano · August 10, 2014, 10:11:57 AM

One of the brazilian stretch goals associated with OGRE was a similar Car Wars reboot.

I played Car Wars obsessively all through high school out of the little plastic box. Probably didn't do as well as I might have in certain science classes as I was busily designing cars. I was never much of a fan, though, of the later evolution of the game. It became too complicated for what it was.

Also, his vehicle aerial roll rules -- necessary for certain high-speed jumps -- were tortuous.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)