What could you do with 16 Ogres (mk I)?

[StormCrow42]

According to the counter summary that was just posted, it appears like the NAC could field 16 Ogre Mark Is. (4 from the NAC sheets, 4 from the flip-side of the PE sheets, and 8 hex-shaped ones from the Black Rose sheets)

What kind of scenarios could you build around that? There are 6 PE Mark I counters left (4 from Black Rose, 2 from the "third force"). Or perhaps this is the first wave of attacks with Ogres and PE doesn't have any.

[hcobb]

Stun and overrun. As I've pointed out before, under Ov6 rules, an Ogre faces little risk from overruning any disabled armor unit.

[KevinR]

Originally Posted by StormCrow42

What kind of scenarios could you build around that? There are 6 PE Mark I counters left (4 from Black Rose, 2 from the "third force"). Or perhaps this is the first wave of attacks with Ogres and PE doesn't have any.

Initial invasion of PE across the channel? Use the Ogres to make a beachhead so that GEVs can land and head off into Breakthrough. (Anything on the surface will be vulnerable until the beach defenses can be taken out, so Ogres driving underwater may be a fine choice.)

Also, thinking of FMG's Nightfall pack, it may well be that the best tool to deal with rogue Ogres is a flock of Ogres, rather than a bunch of conventional units.

[HeatDeath]

Three words: Battle of Montreal.

http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/lastwar/timeline.html

In-universe, the first use of Ogres in combat, the Combine put down a major rebellion in Quebec in 2065.

Per GURPS Ogre, the Combine order of battle was Ogre Mk1's, GEVs, infantry, and a prototype Mk2. The rebels equipment is only described as outdated, which I would take to mean archaic armor, perhaps light tanks, and militia infantry perhaps supplemented with small amounts of conventional infantry. The battle is said to have basically leveled the city, with almost no Ogres significantly damaged.

One of my big ambitions is to map-bash a good map of the greater Montreal area and play out pieces of this battle.

[RadiantPhoenix]

Originally Posted by HeatDeath

Three words: Battle of Montreal.

[...]

One of my big ambitions is to map-bash a good map of the greater Montreal area and play out pieces of this battle.

Is this big enough? (warning: over 4000 pixels wide)

I based it on the sattelite imagery from Google Maps, but it's not entirely accurate (especially the roads), but it is approximately to scale (the distance from the center of one hex to the center of an adjacent hex is about a mile, which is about 1.5 km). AFAICT, all of the railroads into the city are underground.

[HeatDeath]

Wow. That's awesome! Thank you, for all of us!

What tools did you use?

[K-Slacker]

I have a soft spot for the Mk. I.

A while back I posted "The Littlest OGRE" with Mk. I variants throughout the war. Unfortunately, they don't really match the appearance of the ODE counters.

[RadiantPhoenix]

Originally Posted by HeatDeath

Wow. That's awesome! Thank you, for all of us!

What tools did you use?

Google Maps, GIMP, and Inkscape.

1. Take a bunch of screenshots from Google Maps (don't worry, if you need more, you can just go back and take more screenshots). Make sure they're all the same scale.
   ---
2. Import each one as a layer in the same image GIMP
3. Add alpha to each of those layers
4. Cut out the interface from each image, but keep a copy of the scale somewhere off to the side of the image
5. Enlarge the canvas, and arrange them so they form one big image
6. Export that as a regular raster image (png/jpeg)
   ---
7. Create a new image with Inkscape
8. Open the layer menu with CTRL+SHIFT+L
9. create a new layer for the satellite image, and select it
10. Insert the png/jpeg into Inkscape
11. Lock that layer so you don't accidentally mess with it. You will be effectively tracing it with hexes later.
    ---
12. Create new layers for each type of hex and feature you plan to use (don't worry, you can add more later)
13. Open document properties with CTRL+SHIFT+D, and use the grid tab to create an axonometric grid (triangular)
14. resize the grid so that the horizontal distance between two grid lines (i.e., between the vertical lines) is half a mile (0.75 km)
15. Create a hexagon with the stars&polygons tool in one of the layers for terrain types
16. Set the hexagon's color using the swatches on the bottom of the screen
17. Open "Fill & Stroke" with CTRL+SHIFT+F, and set the fill's alpha to 50% (128), so you will be able to see the map through it.
18. Copy and paste that one hex once for each terrain type, and set the fill colors appropriately using the swatches. (the alpha should stay at 50%)
19. Move each hex into the appropriate layer. Now, whenever you click on a hex, you'll jump to the correct layer. -- this is useful, because it means you can easily select and edit all of the hexes of a particular terrain type.
20. Copy and paste the hexes over the map as you deem appropriate
    -----
21. Draw stream and (rail)road lines in their own layers using the Line tool
22. Adjust line color and thickness with CTRL+SHIFT+F
23. To produce the dual-color lines, once you're done, duplicate the layer, select the lower layer, select all the stuff in it, and make the lines thicker and a different color (or select the upper layer, and make the lines thinner, but still a different color)
24. To make the lines opaque, for each layer with hexes in it, select all the hexes with CTRL+A, and put the opacity back up to 100% (255) -- this is why I suggested using layers for each type of hex.

EDIT: Here's an image of the semitransparent hexes
http://i.imgur.com/d1bqlbU.png

[woodwardiocom]

Originally Posted by HeatDeath

Three words: Battle of Montreal.
In-universe, the first use of Ogres in combat, the Combine put down a major rebellion in Quebec in 2065.
Per GURPS Ogre, the Combine order of battle was Ogre Mk1's, GEVs, infantry, and a prototype Mk2. The rebels equipment is only described as outdated, which I would take to mean archaic armor, perhaps light tanks, and militia infantry perhaps supplemented with small amounts of conventional infantry. The battle is said to have basically leveled the city, with almost no Ogres significantly damaged.

The problem is that it was a curb-stomp of a battle. Hard to make it fun for the defending side. The "huge defender victory" conditions would be something like "managed to immobilize an Ogre, and Pierre escaped off the map with at least two limbs".

-JW

[RadiantPhoenix]

Originally Posted by woodwardiocom

The problem is that it was a curb-stomp of a battle. Hard to make it fun for the defending side. The "huge defender victory" conditions would be something like "managed to immobilize an Ogre, and Pierre escaped off the map with at least two limbs".

-JW

I'm thinking the defender has a bunch of command posts that each generate a victory point or several per turn.

It would take an infinite number of Ogres like six to eight turns to wipe out the whole map, just because of how huge it is.

EDIT: It's about a dozen times the area of the standard OGRE map.