Steve Jackson Games OGRE: Old School @SJGames

I'm a huge OGRE fan. I cut my teeth on it w/ a copy of GEV my sister got me decades ago and have picked up most of the stuff for it since then including being one of the custom sheet sponsors for the Deluxe Edition Kickstarter a bit back.

Currently they are running some 40th anniv. specials and re-releasing expansions in .PDF form.

Ogre 40th Anniversary Release: Shockwave

The game of Ogre has evolved over the years. Beginning as a humble Microgame in 1977, it has grown and expanded to become the beautiful monstrosity that was Ogre Designer's Edition, released in 2013. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Ogre moves forward with Ogre Sixth Edition and the upcoming Ogre Reinforcements. This month, we're featuring digital re-releases of three classic, hard-to-find Ogre supplements: Shockwave, Ogre Reinforcement Pack, and Battlefields. 

G.E.V. was the first expansion of Ogre. It was initially published as a stand-alone Microgame, focusing on the non-Ogre units and introducing rules for terrain, overruns, and more. These two Microgames formed the core of all future rules.

The first true supplement to the Ogre/G.E.V. line was Shockwave. Released in 1984 and reprinted in 2000, it brought Light GEVs, GEV-PCs, Marines, and the Superheavy Tank to the game. New targets were published as well, including reactors, strongpoints, hovertrucks, and more. 

But that was not what truly differentiates this supplement! Ever wonder what caused all those craters on the Ogre map? Shockwave details rules for Cruise Missiles (and their associated crawlers) to unleash this massive destruction upon the terrain. Additionally, rules for Lasers and Laser Towers give the poor defenders a chance at shooting these devastating weapons down!

I have multiple hard copies of all of them and they're all great to play.  Most of the material is in the ODE edition but the rules aren't in the OGRE 6e or the pocket edition.

Kickstarter: HopJockey

From the universe of the Gamers and Journey Quest comes Matt Vancil's new book: Hopjockey.

Hopjockey is the umbrella universe that connects the rest of my work. For over ten years, I’ve been setting up the story by leaving clues in the movies and shows (and elsewhere) as to how everything connects.
Narratively, Hopjockey is its own standalone piece of fiction. No wider knowledge of the movies is necessary to enjoy it or understand what’s going on. It’s the main story in a wider universe, and the first in its own series—pending this first one getting funded, of course.

Go forth and support.

More Brady Campaign Nonsense

From their latest mouth foaming hysterical email:

The Department of Justice just removed the names of half a million fugitives from justice from our nation's background check system, against advice from the FBI.
President Trump hasn’t even been in office two months; yet, his administration is now allowing 500,000 people — who just days ago were prohibited purchasers — to buy guns. We’re talking about fugitives and people with mental illnesses so severe they may be a threat to themselves or others. In other words, some of the exact people Brady background checks were designed to block.

Hadn't heard about this one so I looked it up.  To tell you just how disjointed these people are, even Bloomberg's dedicated anti-gun 'media' Trace couldn't spin it as anything more than clearing up some bureaucracy.

Department of Justice officials have settled a long-simmering internal dispute over who qualifies as a “fugitive from justice” when it comes to gun possession — making it possible going forward for some people with outstanding arrest warrants to buy firearms legally....In doing so, the Justice Department effectively sided with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the agency that is responsible for enforcing federal gun laws. The ATF had long argued that language in the Brady Act — the 1993 law that created the federal background check system — requiring federal agents to block gun sales to fugitives should be interpreted to mean people with arrest warrants who have fled across state lines. The FBI, which runs the background check system, had adopted a broader definition, blocking sales to anyone with an outstanding arrest warrant.

How 'longstanding"?  Covering four different administrations, two Democrat, two Republican.

From 1999 to 2015, the agency had refused to track down about 2,000 weapons in cases where the FBI determined after the sale that the purchase should not have been allowed because the buyer qualified as a fugitive under its expanded definition — anyone with an outstanding warrant.

From the ATF:

In an email, an ATF spokesperson cited the federal statutes, which define a fugitive from justice as someone with a warrant who has fled across state lines to avoid prosecution or giving testimony.

Of course the Brady's have to close w/ their trademark stupidity:

93 percent of Americans are with us. The only ones who aren’t are the same number of people who think the moon landing was a hoax, and Donald Trump.

They honestly believe this.

So clearing up some red tape between agencies that has spanned near 20 yrs is all the NRA and Trump's fault.  If you ignore all the facts.