#TBT/Throwback Thursday ~ Ogre

Marc M, January 9, 2025

 

As a kid in the 80s, Ogre, the hex-and-counter wargame set in the distant year of 2085, had a lot going for it in my mind.

• It was cheap. I think I got my first copy for less than $5.
• It was small. The game board was only 8-1/2 by 14 inches and there were only a handful of 1/2-inch counters in play during a game.
• It was easy to learn. The small rule booklet was only 16 pages long.
• It had giant robotic tanks.

click images to enlarge

A Brief History of Ogre

Ogre was the first game design from Steve Jackson. Metagaming Concepts published the first edition of Ogre in 1977. Jackson later formed Steve Jackson Games and took over publication. The game depicts warfare in 2085 where an Ogre, a massive, robotic tank with primary and secondary guns, tactical nuclear missile launchers, and anti-infantry weapons attacks an enemy command post. The defender’s forces are more conventional, though adapted for the future setting, with infantry, tanks, howitzers, missile tanks and hovercraft, known as GEVs (ground effect vehicles).

My Ogre

 

Ogre originally came in a plastic bag for around $2.95 and included a very basic black and white map. I think I probably picked up my first copy in the mid-80s. I’m guessing it was the 1982 third edition. At that point, though still inexpensive, Steve Jackson Games was packaging Ogre in a plastic clamshell case with upgraded components. In my copy:

• The map was a sheet of glossy paper. It was color, though with a really limited palette.
• The 112 counters were printed on black and white glossy card stock. In this edition they were double-sided, but I had to cut them out myself.
• The manual booklet had a few illustrations and included the combat results table and a few Ogre record sheets you could copy to keep track of damage to the unit.

 

The Basics of Ogre

There were two primary scenarios, one basic and one advanced, each pitting a lone Ogre against the more traditional force defending a command post. In the advanced scenario, the attacker got a newer model Ogre with better weapons and the defenders had more units. Variations on the main scenarios offered defending Ogres or Ogres on both sides. The counter set included Ogres, vehicles, armor, and infantry for both sides so you could also create custom scenarios. The rule book included some optional rules around camouflage, mines, and self-destructing Ogres to add a bit more depth.

 

The Basics of Ogre

There were two primary scenarios, one basic and one advanced, each pitting a lone Ogre against the more traditional force defending a command post. In the advanced scenario, the attacker got a newer model Ogre with better weapons and the defenders had more units. Variations on the main scenarios offered defending Ogres or Ogres on both sides. The counter set included Ogres, vehicles, armor, and infantry for both sides so you could also create custom scenarios. The rulebook included some optional rules around camouflage, mines, and self-destructing Ogres to add a bit more depth.

 

More Ogre

Ogre has been through several editions, including, Ogre: Deluxe Edition, a 1987 release that was more of a standard board game size and replaced counters with standup game pieces. GEV and the infantry-focused Battlesuit were standalone games from the Ogre universe. I never played Battlesuit, but I had a copy of GEV. It added depth and replayability to the Ogre series with additional rules, new unit types and a larger game map with more varied terrain.

 

There were expansions: Shockwave (1984), Ogre Reinforcement Pack (1987) and Battlefields (2001). These included features such as new rules, replacement counters, new units, Ogre variants, new scenarios, and new maps. There was also a miniatures rules set. Sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s I picked up a copy of the repackaged Ogre/GEV, which included both original games in a VHS case.

 

The Latest Ogres

In 2012, a Kickstarter campaign for Ogre: Designer’s Edition showed there was still lots of love for the series, with pledges far exceeding the $20,000 goal. While Ogre started as a simple, pocket-sized “minigame” with really basic components, Ogre Designer’s Edition was huge. It included material from the original games as well as expansions and was larger than full-size, with five map boards, hundreds of oversized counters, and constructable chipboard Ogre miniatures.

 

The latest physical release of the game was Ogre 6^th Edition in 2016. It was kind of a middle ground between the original edition and the Designer’s Edition. It’s basically the original game supersized, with a 21-inch by 34-inch mounted version of the original map, oversized versions of counters, and buildable chipboard Ogre and command post miniatures.

 

In 2017, Auroch Digital released a digital adaptation of Ogre. It offered single-player and player vs. player modes and had the look of a miniatures game on a hex grid map.

Seeing digital Ogre and then Ogre 6^th Edition rekindled my interest.

 

Getting Back Into Ogre

I purchased the PC game, dug out my old copies and eventually bought Ogre 6^th Edition. Replaying Ogre is a nice reminder of the enjoyment I got out of the game as a kid. It’s still possible to get new versions of Ogre games.

 

Ogre 6^th Edition is still available, as well as a comparably sized edition of Ogre Battlefields. You can pick up assembly-required pieces for the miniatures rules. The original expansions are still available as PDFs and a couple as printed and bagged sets. It might be fun to pick up some of the more economical add-ons for my original games and then who knows – I’d really like to get that expansion for the sixth edition at some point. Ogre was a key part of my wargaming experience, so it’d be nice to have it well-represented in my library.

 

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