Ogre Battles

Auroch Digital has teamed up with legendary tabletop game company Steve Jackson Games to release a digital version of Ogre. Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Ogre will feature turn-based tank strategy and incorporate a range of unit types, from infantry to hovercrafts to the titular Ogres: giant robotic tanks.

The game will also include a number of different maps, missions and game modes, including a story campaign co-created with Steve Jackson Games as well as custom skirmishes and online turn-based multi-player combat. Screenshots suggest that Ogre will utilize a hex-based grid map similar to the original tabletop game.

From Tabletop to Screen

First released 40 years ago as a tabletop war game, the original version pitted a giant robotic tank – the Ogre of the game’s title – against an enemy base defended by conventional tanks, soldiers and artillery. Steve Jackson Games, the same studio responsible for such other cult tabletop favorites as Car Wars, Illuminati and the Munchkin series, has released a number of editions since, as well as a sequel, G.E.V., and a spin-off, Shockwave. Most recently, the company ran a massively successful Kickstarter for the 6th edition in 2012. They also published a reprinted version of the original 1977 game in 2014 and sold it for the original price of $2.95.

While Auroch Digital’s adaptation marks the first video game version of Ogre since the 1986 release from Origin Systems, it’s hardly the Bristol-based studio’s first excursion into tabletop game adaptation. The same studio is behind the recent adaptations of the cult Games Workshop favorite Chainsaw Warrior. They also developed Last Days of Old Earth, which – though not based on a tabletop game – incorporates similar mechanics and setting.

Ogre is due to be released on Steam October 7th of this year. In the meantime, watch the official trailer below: