Well, okay, it's not really a pocket box, it's a plastic box made for a VHS video cassette, but it's close. Some of Steve Jackson Games first releases back in the late 70s and early 80s were in small, thin plastic boxes called pocket boxes. They were about the size of a mass market paperback book but less than an inch thick, so they really would fit in your pocket. He published many games that went on to be classics in this format: Ogre, GEV, Illuminati, Raid on Iran, and Awful Green Things to name a few. Most of these have been reprinted in larger formats since then, but Ogre and GEV have been out of print for the last five years or so.

And now they're back! I'm not really going to go on and review the games themselves. They're great, simple games of tactical armored combat in the near future. In Ogre, many tanks, GEV (hovercraft), and infantry gang up on the Ogre, a computer controlled war machine so immense that it cann't be destroyed . . . but it's guns and tank-style treads can be. In GEV, the same units and rules apply to more conventional combat -- assault on towns, command posts and enemy strongpoints. And while Ogres can be used, the game works equally well without them.

The game is very simple, but still engaging. It can be taught in 10 minutes and easily played by pre-teens. I still remember teaching my 10 year old non-gamer sister how to play one summer.

This re-issue is very attractive. A full-color cardboard sleeve surrounds the video box. Inside the black video box is the rule book, the single-sided map sheet, 3 sheets of counters, a ziplock bag, and a reference sheet. The rule book is double-sided -- read it from the front it's the Ogre rules; read it from the back it's the GEV rules. The map sheet is 23" x 15.5" and has both the Ogre map and the GEV map on one side. The 3 counter sheets are all the same and give you ample counters to play any of the scenarios or any you make up. The double-sided counters are printed on cardstock and must be cut out before play. All in all, a very nice package.

I do have two criticisms of this version of the game. The reference sheet has the combat results table on one side and an advertisement of the other. It would have been much more helpful to print the terrain effects chart on the back instead of the ad. Also, the ziplock bag is too small for all the pieces. It would have been a much nicer to include 2 baggies (one for each side's pieces) or at least a larger one.

SJG is also planning to re-issue and expand the Ogre universe by re-printing Shockwave and the Ogre Reinforcement Pack, and by producing new items such as GURPS Ogre and Ogre Battlefields. For more information on these product, visit their website at http://www.sjgames.com/ogre

--Tim Morgan

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