Gaming Disasters… Part II

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So months went by and I attempted to introduce Car Wars to my friends. I only got as far as pulling out a road section and pushing the counters around. “Vrrrroooomm! You see? And then they shoot at each other!”

Years went by and I bought the Deluxe edition, the Double Arena, East Midville, and… (trumpets sound!!) and Autoduel Quarterly. Those magazines were great. They were perfect for taking them to school and reading them in class. I remember reading the article on Corporate Autodueling during home room. Too cool! I had to have one! So I gave myself $100,000 and bought some cars. I got a Peregrin, a Rambler, and a Starhawk. (They just so happened to be the other vehicles in that issue.)

Those ADQ’s were so compact, you really could take them anywhere. I took that same issue on a camping trip along with my pocket box. Some of the other boys _really_ wanted to play. That was kind of scary to me because we didn’t have a table to play on. I finally succumbed and we played in a little sandy area. I got out my counters and showed them everything I knew: “Vrrrroooomm! You see? And then they shoot at each other!” Then the sun started to set and we couldn’t really play anymore. Oh well.

It was really fun. Well… at least until someone set a flaming hot pan on top of my magazine. Never leave your ADQ’s on top of a patrol’s cook box!

Gaming Disasters… Part I

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I bought Car Wars when I was just a kid. I remember it just like it was yesterday.

We had this gigantic bicycle store in my town. They even had a gigantic bicycle on the front of the building. Odd place; they’re still in business today. You’d walk in, though, and go to the back and up a ramp and they had all sorts of hobby stuff. An electric train ran all around the section. It was mostly model stuff, but they had one little rack of Car Wars stuff for some reason.

There they were… little black pocket boxes and zip lock baggie expansion sets. I was enchanted. I bought the game and went home. I was just a kid, though. It had to be just the 4th or 5th grade or so. I opened it up and read through it. It was the coolest thing I’d ever bought.

I couldn’t really figure out how to play and I didn’t know anybody that could pick it up with me. I don’t know what happened exactly, but somehow I got frustrated. I went to my brother to ask him to help me learn to play it. (He’s eight years older than me.) He wasn’t very helpful and something sort of pushed me over the edge. I think I just wanted him to play with me and he wasn’t even going through the motions of explaining or reading the rules. I burst into tears.

“I just wha-wha-want to play this game!!!”

I’ll never forget that next moment, though. There I stood… hoping that somehow my big brother would have mercy on me and take a couple hours to play the game with me. He looks at me… pauses a moment. Then:

“They should never have sold this game to a little kid!”

He turned and walked off. I pulled myself together and went back to trying to figure it out myself. If only I had bought Ogre instead– and if only Ogre came with some decent solitaire rules– maybe then I would have grown up to be a regular person…. [Rolls eyes and chuckles at self.]

Gaming Note– Good solitaire rules for Ogre appear in The Ogre Book.

Ogre Miniatures

Had a blast a couple of weekends ago playing Ogre Miniatures. Here’s a photo:

It was the closest I’ve come to playing a Convention-quality type game.

The geomorphic hex map pieces were really cool. They’d be perfect for Battletech. That was my biggest irritation with that game back in the day– the maps for it were lousy! Especially after you played a lot of Car Wars….

Ogre: What to Buy First??

If it’s possible, I recommend getting “OGRE: Ogre/G.E.V.” It combines both Ogre and G.E.V. into one economical set– but unfortunately it seems to be out of print. I don’t see this on ebay very often. I don’t think the rules or components have changed at all from when Steve printed his “black pocket box” version– but be aware that a few significant rules imbalances were fixed after the original 70’s microgame edition.

“Deluxe Ogre” and “Deluxe G.E.V.” are more expensive, but they come with large hex maps and tons of beautiful miniatures. They have turned up on ebay fairly often. Deluxe G.E.V. is still in stock at Warehouse 23, but you will only get enough mini’s for one side in that set. If you have the time and the money to get into this, these sets have a lot of value. You may be able to attract more players with the miniatures version, but if you already have some gaming buddies that enjoy thinking and tactical play, then you may not need the glamour and glitz of the miniatures.

All that said… what would be the _BEST_ first purchase? “OGRE: Ogre/G.E.V.” is definitely the best value and will give you everything you need to let you determine if you want to invest in the miniatures. If you can’t find that, you can do what I did: purchase the old black pocket box editions of these games on ebay. Get G.E.V. if you want a more of a straight ‘wargame’ feel, whereas Ogre has a few elements that are reminiscent of Car Wars and Battletech.

Why is this ‘Car Wars Player’ playing Ogre? The lack of new Car Wars material has cooled my zeal at the moment (particularly the lack of a 5th edition design system.) But I’m also older and I have less free time than I did back when I was a teenager. Ogre is compact and portable. It’s easy to teach others how to play it and it can be played on half of a kitchen table. Game sessions can be run in under an hour and several games can fit into those rare longer sessions. Also… there is just about zero bookkeeping involved with the game, so a series of Ogre sessions will be about _play_ rather than fiddling with stats. Finally… it just feels too cool to go over to a gaming buddy’s place and pull out that classic Ogre “pocket box.” It’s not as impressive as a huge miniatures spread, but no other game packs as much punch in such a small container.

*** UPDATE (Thanks to Henry Cobb!)

Ogre/GEV may be available at these sites:

http://garysgamesandhobbies.com/ogre.asp

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1556344260/104-5166492-3789530?v=glance

Also… you can check out Ogre Lite to get a feel for the rules before you shell out your hard earned dough:

http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/resources/ogrelite.pdf