The Daimyo and the Dragon

Colonel Kurita smiled. He had outfoxed his Chinese opposite number, sneaking a Samurai cybertank into a delta, along the bottom of a deep river, and up onto the beach a stone' s throw from the command post. The Chinese were scrambling everything they could spare to defend the makeshift building, but it was nowhere near enough to stop such a powerful attacker. He allowed himself a moment of pride at wielding his assigned weapon so expertly . . . until he noticed that one of the defending unit icons was a flashing interrogative sign. Toggling his headset, he called down to intel.

"At your order, Lord Kurita. I have a reconnaissance drone nearby. Redirecting . . . coming over the ridge now . . . ah! It' s an Ogre! Looks like a Mark III-class, standard weapons loadout though the frame is different . . . trying to come around . . . I'm sorry, Colonel, they've shot the drone down."

Kurita sat back and steepled his fingers. The Steel Warrior could still prevail over his lesser counterpart, though now the outcome of the battle was far from certain. Still, how did the Chinese manage to build an Ogre?

Overview and necessary materials. This is a variant of the standard Mark III Defending scenario.

This scenario may be played with Ogre Designer' s Edition or Ogre Sixth Edition (+/- Ogre Reinforcements). The Nihon Empire: North American Divisions and/or the Uncommon Ogres sponsored sheets are recommended, but not required.

Basic Scenario Setup

Map. Use the standard Ogre map and deployment rules.

Chinese force. The Chinese People' s Army is on defense with 18 squads of infantry and 15 armor units. Additionally, it has one Dragon "cybertank" (see Special Rules). Defending units may be set up anywhere in the North or Central areas of the map. SJ Games has not produced any specific counters or miniatures for the Chinese Hegemony in Ogre, so use the red (Combine) counters and a standard red Ogre Mk. III for the Dragon.

Nihon force. The attacking force is the Nihon Imperial Army. The attacker gets a Samurai (see Special Rules). Use a blue Ogre Mk. V for the Samurai.

No Cruise Missiles or Crawlers should be used by either side.

Special Rules

Nihon Samurai. The Samurai ("Steel Warrior") is a modified, and somewhat more advanced, cybertank based on stolen plans for the Ogre Mk. V (see record sheet). Note the increased range on the secondary batteries, the presence of missile racks, and the additional AP batteries.

Chinese "Dragon." Although far from technologically inferior, China never did produce a proper cybertank AI. Their Dragon "cybertank" actually had a human crew. Against conventional opponents, it was a terror. Against a true cybertank, it was decidedly inferior.

Use a Mk. III record sheet; Dragons have identical stats. Normally, cybertanks ignore all D results rolled against their components. Containing a human crew, Dragons do not, but their size and thick armor limits their effects.

If a D result is rolled against a Dragon' s main or secondary batteries, or against an unfired missile, the weapon is not destroyed. Instead, place a Disabled marker on the Dragon' s record sheet. Until the end of the Dragon' s next turn, it suffers the following penalties:

• The Dragon may move a maximum of one hex. It may use this movement to conduct a ram attack, reduce infantry if it has AP batteries remaining, or initiate an Overrun.

• The Dragon may only make one ranged attack with its heavy (non-AP) weapons. It may combine any number of main and secondary batteries and missiles into the single attack. AP battery attacks against infantry and D0 units do not count; the Dragon can continue to make any number of such attacks as normal.

In an overrun, the Dragon may conduct its "free" ram in its first fire phase. It may only make one attack (total) per phase with its heavy weapons, but may make any number of attacks with its AP guns against eligible targets.

Additional D results have no effect and are ignored until the current Disabled marker is removed. At the end of the Dragon' s next turn, remove the Disabled marker. It may move and fire normally at this point and may be subject to another Disabling.

Except as noted above, standard Ogre rules apply. Dragons are worth 14 AU.

End Game

Victory Conditions. Use those of the standard Attack the CP scenario.

Variants

Dragon Attacking. A Dragon can also be used in the basic Mk. III Attack scenario. If available, the defender may use the Nihon Empire: North American Divisions counters. The defender gets 18 squads of infantry and 10 AU. This makes a good "challenge" scenario for an expert player (using the Dragon) against a less-experienced defender. A veteran defender will likely find the Dragon to be an easy target!

Oni Defending. Nihon also produced a variant of the Ogre Mk. III-B, the Oni or "Steel Demon," (see the record sheet). In this scenario, replace the defending Dragon cybertank with a rogue Oni! Reduce the number of conventional defenders to 15 INF and 10 AU. The Samurai is going to have a much tougher time of things. (Historical note: According to the Nihon Empire, none of their cybertanks ever went rogue, so this is a non-canon scenario . . . at least, that' s what the official records say.)

Variant Pseudo-Cybertanks. The Dragon' s special rules can be used with any other Ogre or cybertank record sheet, representing other types of ultra-heavy tank. Missile racks count as heavy weapons. Players are encouraged to experiment!

Use the record sheet found at http://daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/p/ogre-6e-nihon.html.

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The Ogrezine II PDF, combining all of these articles with additional new material, will be available on Warehouse 23.