Ogre...Kickstarter...you in?

Possibly worth a new thread ... but, fuck it: I'm not up for the F:AT Moral Outrage Police right now.

So here's your link to what looks like a great WWII sim for the iPad:

kck.st/I5cHzt

There's some big names involved. But it's a small studio, so that should pass the infamous "integrity test."

Funding looks promising — more than 50 percent in just a few days. It should make it, although it's certainly not a force of nature like this Ogre thing.

Well goddamnit. And it's a Butterfield game, too; if this works reasonably well, I can see RAF or one of his other solo designs coming down the road. I have no use for the iPad at all--what my phone can't do, I just don't need to do on a portable system [and I'm *brutally hard* on portable devices to boot], but I'm starting to get a bit hacked off about the increasing number (and quality) of the damned thing as a boardgaming platform. But I *really* don't want to spend 5 bills on the thing. Wonder if there will ever be a reasonable secondary market for the things down the road. I don't need or want a phone plan for the thing as I'm happy to just piggyback off my own WiFi.

(Frankly, I'm getting to the point where I'd just pay $100 for a friggin' iPad iOS emulator and be done with it...)

Ok, back to Ogre. I really *can't friggin' wait* for this thing to come out. The one thing that now bugs me a bit is SJG thinking he put his stretch goals too close together. While I don't doubt that he had *no concept* of how quickly this thing would take off or the levels it would hit, I do also think that the stretch goals help fuel the thing. At least for me, those stretch goal goodies are generally what prompt me to back projects. I don't want to see the next project set up like Queen's kind of lame-ass approach. (And, yea, I'm a greedy fucker. I'm OK with that....)

Dogmatix wrote: Wonder if there will ever be a reasonable secondary market for the things down the road. I don't need or want a phone plan for the thing as I'm happy to just piggyback off my own WiFi.

The iPad2 can be had direct from Apple from $399. And, yes, secondary markets exist, eBay among them. Skipping the cellular part is fine, too — I've owned two of the three models and never bothered with it. Just give me my WiFi, baby.

That's Shenandoah Publishing. Didn't we do an article on them here? I read one about a year or so back and I thought it was on F:At. They sound like they have two feet firmly planted.

GameStop is selling used iPads. Right now they're still pretty salty but I imagine that will bend downwards after a while. But how long does the battery pack last on an iPad? That's essentially the death knell for the machine and makes them less valuable used. They ain't exactly a durable good.

S.

I get that there's some nostalgia going on and its a lean, easily learned system, but I still don't really "get this". someone put 2 videos of gameplay on BGG just recently and I'm like... er, OK; yeah, not really selling it to me dude.

You guys that love this, whats so good about it, no seriously, ok, you can slag me off first, but then at least tell me, really, compared to any other number of wargames, combat games, dudes on maps or corridors. Whats so cool about this, why would I want a stupidly large version instead of just printing out the nicer looking minimal older style or even the redesigns that subsequently got blitzed.

accidental double post

bah humbug


like, what in the name of flying fuckadoo is this? some kind of trash tow truck add on?
www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1046149/ogre

whereas, THIS
www.boardgamegeek.com/image/896557/pocket-armies-red-storm

is a tank. Which looks cool

ldsdbomber wrote: You guys that love this, whats so good about it, no seriously, ok, you can slag me off first, but then at least tell me, really, compared to any other number of wargames, combat games, dudes on maps or corridors.

If you think people are going crazy for this just because Ogre is such a good game, then you've really missed the point.

Same thing I've said all along, if you have to ask, it's not for you. That's absolutely not meant as a snark comment, but it's the simple truth of the matter. It's a basic 80s-vintage CRT wargame that a lot of folks cut their wargaming teeth on. This particular edition is much like the totally pointless but really beautiful L2 Design upgrade of Avalon Hill's The Russian Campaign. If you loved the game, you'll buy the update. But there's no reason for someone new to the game to run out and buy this. Ogre and PanzerBlitz were the first 2 hex-n-chit games I ever bought with my own cash and played to death--and I still play both of those games today. From there it was on to Squad Leader and Panzer Leader (and I still play PL too; Squad Leader, not so much). It's a nostalgia purchase without question; but it's also a game I'll happily play.

And, if you've never played with the SJG cut-'em-out counters, you won't start here. That uncoated stock is complete crap. I've gone through 4 sets of counters over the years thanks to fingerprints, fuzzy edges, counter values flaking off, and all the other things you get with 1/2" squares overprinted on Grade D paper stock.

Finally, frankly, no, that tank doesn't look "cool." It looks like every model produced since 1946. It's a [really] nice repro of something you've seen a billion times and have about 10,000 different representations of in the endless supply of WWII wargames on the shelves. It elicits a yawn from me, but whatever floats your boat.

Conversely, Ogre/GEV has a kind of under-represented theme in the wargame niche. I'm a big fan of Laumer's Bolo books and Drake's Hammer's Slammers series; Ogre is a chance to fight the Bolo wars, and GEV/Shockwave is the same basic tech you get in Drake's Slammers books. Nerdy nostalgia? Yep. Easy to learn and play wargame? Yep. But if you have no interest in hex-n-chit wargames, this won't get you started. If you think wargames are supposed to be "conflict simulations" [an idiotic term that I've railed about elsewhere] and there isn't enough "fidelity" with CRT-based combat, this game sure as shit ain't going to bring you into the light. It's probably most comparable to something like Avalon Hill's Afrika Korps, Gettysburg, D-Day, TRC, and/or any of the other oldest of old-school wargames that you can think of.

thanks guys, OK, I get it!

Fake Kickstarter campaign found out:

www.theverge.com/2012/4/30/2990064/fake-...-forced-to-shut-down