Ogre: Objective 218
Ogre: Objective 218 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Everything needed to play Ogre: Objective 218 is included in the box.
In addition to this rulebook, you get a two-part crater centrepiece and two decks of cards (Combine and Paneuropean). Each deck consists of the following cards:
- 7 Infantry
- 5 Missile Tanks
- 3 GEVs (Ground Effect Vehicles)
- 3 Heavy Tanks
- 3 Howitzers
- 3 Light GEVs (Light Ground Effect Vehicles)
- 2 Cruise Missiles
- 2 Ogre Mark IIIs
- 2 Damaged Ogre Mark IIIs
Setup
Assemble the crater centrepiece by joining its two parts. Place the crater in the middle of the table, oriented so that one command post is in front of you and the other is in front of your opponent. You control the command post in front of you. Take the deck of cards that matches the faction of your command post.
Remove the two Cruise Missile cards and the two Damaged Ogre cards from your deck and place them face up to one side of the table (see Figure 1). Shuffle the remaining cards and place them face down in a pile near you. You will draw cards from this pile.
Each player draws five cards, looks at them, and chooses two to place face down underneath their pile of cards. Each player now has a starting hand of three cards.
Determine at random which player will play first.
Turn Sequence
The first player draws one card and then plays one card onto a virtual grid (see Figures 2 and 3) around their command post. On each following turn, each player draws two cards and then plays two cards. Once played, cards never change position, and the only thing that can remove them from play is enemy attacks.
If at the start of your turn your command post is not occupied, your only legal plays are:
- Deploy a unit onto your command post.
- Deploy a Light GEV without supply.
- Use a Cruise Missile (see Light GEV and Cruise Missile).
Using a Cruise Missile counts as playing a card. Deploying an Ogre counts as playing two cards. Therefore, after you have played an Ogre or a Cruise Missile, your hand size will increase the next time you draw cards.
When the card piles run out, play continues until no player has any units left in their hand and all Cruise Missiles have been used. If only one player still has cards, that player keeps taking turns until all of their cards are used up.
Supply, Attack and Target
Each unit has three characteristics, shown on grids on the right-hand side of the card:
Supply. Each unit has a supply diagram, in which the square with an X represents that unit on the virtual grid. The supply icon indicates the squares where cards can be played later, provided there is an unbroken supply chain from that unit to your command post. These squares are considered "supplied" (see Figure 2).
Your command post has a supply icon, which means it is always supplied. You may play any card from your hand onto your command post. The supply diagram of a played card indicates the legal squares for playing future cards.
The crater represents impassable terrain. It counts as a square on the virtual grid, but no card can be played onto it.
Linking your units strategically will help you advance toward your opponent's command post. When your opponent destroys one of your units, some of your other units may be cut off from the supply chain (see Unsupplied). You cannot link new units from any unit that cannot trace an unbroken supply line to your command post.
For example, if you play an Infantry card onto your command post, the square below it and the squares immediately to its left and right now become squares where you can play your next card. Because cards cannot be played onto the crater, the square immediately above the Infantry unit is not available, even if that square is being supplied (see Figures 2 and 3).
Wherever possible, units must attack at the moment they are deployed. They do not attack at any other time. In most cases you may choose only a single unit as the target of an attack, so you must declare which unit you are attacking.
Attack. There are two types of attack: combined attacks and individual attacks. Each unit has an attack diagram, in which the square with an X represents the unit on the virtual grid. Units show two different attack icons: the combined attack icon or the individual attack icon. These icons indicate the conditions the unit must meet to make the attack, as well as the squares the unit can attack.
Combined attacks. If a unit's attack diagram shows a combined attack icon, the unit must make a combined attack. This type of attack requires that you have two of your units in play. The enemy unit must be within the combined attack squares of the attacking unit's attack diagram. The enemy unit must also be within the target squares indicated on the target diagram of a unit that is already deployed.
If the conditions above for a combined attack are not met (for any attacking unit with a combined attack icon on its attack diagram), the unit cannot attack. It is still deployed onto the virtual grid, but it does not destroy any enemy unit.
If the requirements for a combined attack are met, the unit attacks and the enemy unit is destroyed (or, if the target is an Ogre, the attack damages the Ogre; see Ogre below). Destroyed units are removed from the game and placed on a discard pile.
Individual attacks. If a unit's attack diagram shows an individual attack icon, the unit is powerful enough on its own to make an individual attack and does not need the help of any other unit. When you deploy a unit with an individual attack, you destroy one enemy unit that lies within the attacking unit's attack diagram squares (or damage an Ogre, which can withstand two attacks; see Ogre below). Destroyed units are removed from the game and placed on a discard pile.
Howitzers are long-range weapons with a single individual attack: they cannot attack the square immediately in front of them.
Target. The square marked with an X represents that unit on the virtual grid, and the target icon indicates the squares that unit can target in order to take part in combined attacks with other units (see the Attack section above). An enemy unit that lies within the target squares of a friendly unit is being targeted, and it can be attacked by new friendly units.
A unit does not have to be connected to the supply line in order to assist a friendly unit in a combined attack.
To insist: a combined attack requires both a combined attack icon (provided by a newly deployed unit) and a target icon (provided by a unit deployed earlier) to indicate the square occupied by an enemy unit.
Unsupplied Units
When a card is left without supply…
- It is NOT removed from the board.
- It CANNOT use its supply diagram to supply other units.
- It CAN use its target diagram to help target newly deployed units.
Ogre
Special rules apply to the Ogre:
- Deploying an Ogre counts as playing two cards, so it must be the first (and only) card you play that turn. This also means your hand size increases by one after you play an Ogre.
- The Ogre makes two attacks when it is deployed. It may attack the same square twice, if you so choose.
- It takes two attacks to destroy an Ogre. When it is attacked once, replace the Ogre card with one of the Damaged Ogre cards you set aside during setup. When it receives a second attack, the Ogre is destroyed.
- Damaged Ogres have reduced attack, supply and target diagrams.
Light GEV
The lightning bolt icon on the supply diagram of the Light GEV indicates its special ability to make a lightning attack (see Figure 5). The following rules apply to Light GEVs:
- To make a lightning attack, place a Light GEV on any empty square of the virtual grid. It does not need to be in the supply chain. Then, if possible, make an attack using the rules for combined attacks.
- A Light GEV cannot occupy your opponent's command post and win the game unless it has an unbroken supply chain to your command post.
- A deployed Light GEV cannot supply other units unless it is part of an unbroken supply chain to your command post.
Cruise Missile
Instead of playing a unit from your hand, you may use one of your Cruise Missiles. Place the Cruise Missile face down to show that you have used it. It destroys any one enemy unit in play (or damages an Ogre). A Cruise Missile that is face down cannot be used again.
Winning the Game
There are two ways to win a game of Ogre: Objective 218.
- If you occupy your opponent's command post, you win immediately.
- If both players have drawn and played all of their cards, and each has used both of their Cruise Missiles, the player with more units in play wins. An undamaged Ogre counts as two units. The game can end in a tie.
Balancing Skill Levels
To even out the odds between an experienced player and one who is learning the game, you can start the game with one or both of the experienced player's Ogres damaged, or have this player start the game with only one Ogre in their card pile and/or have only one Cruise Missile available.