# Melee, Wizards, and Ogre **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909 "2005-08-06T19:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/1 "2005-08-06T19:47:43Z")
[This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329000) reminded me of playing games when I was young. I didn’t have time for D&D in high school, only getting into it at the very end. Instead I played Melee and Wizards, which were fantasy sword & sorcery games, and Ogre, which was a wargame. Anyone else play those? For years I had my Ogre pieces in an 11x8 ‘bubble tray’ and I’d come across them all the time. Finally in a fit of nostalgia I bought Ogre/GEV in a VHS-sized box. Haven’t played it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/2 "2005-08-06T20:43:00Z")
I loved all of them. There was an RPG for _Wizards/Melee_. And a computer game for _OGRE_. And expansion sets for _OGRE_ that included new units & a bigger board. And the Stone Age warfare game from the same folks, _Sticks & Stones_. And _Rivits_, the robot warfare game. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/3 "2005-08-06T23:54:03Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > [This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329000) reminded me of playing games when I was young. I didn’t have time for D&D in high school, only getting into it at the very end. Instead I played Melee and Wizards, which were fantasy sword & sorcery games, and Ogre, which was a wargame. Done both. Also, these games still exist, although the first in a greatly mutated incarnation. The designer, Steve Jackson, founded his own gaming company ([Steve Jackson Games](http://www.sjgames.com/) ) after leaving Metagaming (the company that published M&W), and put a lot of the ideas from M&W into his GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System) RPG. SJG also published Ogre, Car Wars, and a number of other great wargames, and is still going strong! If you have some good friends you’re not worried about losing over petty fights about in-game betrayals, I highly recommend the Illuminati! card game … ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/4 "2005-08-07T01:49:58Z")
This is very strange. I just thinking about these games an hour ago after not having thught about them for years. I think it’s a sign I’m spending too much time on this board if it’s starting to leak into my brain even when I’m not online. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/5 "2005-08-07T21:10:49Z")
I didn’t play the OPs games, except OGRE, once. I remember Car Wars fondly. We ere hard core , had the expansion packs for the Town, then the 18 Wheelers, Had all the AutoDuel Quarterlies, even played the Tank rules that were published in the Dragon. Dixie Null was the first gal who gave me a stiffie, just thinking about her. We also played one called ‘Snapshot’ which was a close quarters combat module for the Traveller SF RPG Mostly repelling boarding space pirates, supressing mutiny, etc. Those Traveller ships are tough, we never once had to worry about punturing the hull, no matter how much we shot each other up. I remember Sticks and Stones came free with the copy of Temple of Apshai (SP?) we bought for our TRS-80. The graphics were so crude, your adventurer looked like a little tank, and you read room descriptions out of a book, the screen just told you which room number you were in. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, **Johnny**. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/6 "2005-08-08T00:21:04Z")
As long as we’re on the subject of Fantasy-themes board games, does anyone remember Divine Right? It was a strategic-level wargame in a fantasy/medieval setting. ---
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/7 "2005-08-08T11:34:58Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > For years I had my Ogre pieces in an 11x8 ‘bubble tray’ and I’d come across them all the time. Finally in a fit of nostalgia I bought Ogre/GEV in a VHS-sized box. Haven’t played it. You used to do WHAT to them? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/8 "2005-08-08T12:06:35Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > There was an RPG for _Wizards/Melee_. Talk about a trip in the wayback machine. We played [The Fantasy Trip](http://www.thefantasytrip.com/) for days at a time. I also had almost all of the micro games. Those were a blast! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/9 "2005-08-08T16:35:32Z")
What was the name of the game where you had armies of giant bug warriors fighting each other? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/10 "2005-08-08T22:04:16Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > What was the name of the game where you had armies of giant bug warriors fighting each other? Chitin. (SP?) ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/11 "2005-08-09T01:36:20Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Chitin. (SP?) Yeah, I think you [spelled it right](http://maverick.brainiac.com/cmm/mic.html) . ---
**Author:** ![EarthStone777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@EarthStone777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarthStone777)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melee-wizards-and-ogre/315909/12 "2005-08-09T02:05:01Z")
Wow, I haven’t thought about Chitin in 25 years. Loved that game. Of course the kid I played with always hated that’d I’d win according to the rules of the game. I’d expend almost all of my forces while he’d have most of his still intact, but I’d get more of the food and that was the winning condition… heh, heh… We combined Wizards and Melee into one game and I’d run D&D type scenarios with portals linking the various cave maps in an ongoing campaign. (hey, it gave us something to do when my dad took my D&D books away to punish me, usually because I was spending too much time playing it. So we’d stuff Wizards and Melee into our bags and go off and play them for a couple days till I got my books back. [Ogre is indeed available](http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/) and going strong and available in miniature as well as cardboard chit versions. [Car Wars is also still available in a new format.](http://www.sjgames.com/car-wars/) They’re still working on the vehicle design rules, but you can buy ready to play sets that set up two players evenly matched. Or add more sets for more players. **SCSimmons** mentioning [Illuminati](http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/) is a good game. But my money is on [Frag](http://www.sjgames.com/frag/) or [Munchkin](http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/game/) for best game at the moment. YMMV Fnord