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[Heavy Gear] Robotic Minature Mayhem: Now in Gladiatorial Combat Form!
mightyspacepope
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Heavy Gear
So this is a bit of an odd OP, seeing as how I don't actually own this game. I've always been a big fan of mech combat, and Heavy Gear seems to be one of the more highly regarded mech games out there. It comes in two forms.
Heavy Gear Blitz
HGB is the standard miniature game provided for the Heavy Gear franchise. Your base unit is your gear, which seems to serve as your heavy infantry. You assemble them into different squads, which can have custom weapon loadouts. In addition, you can also field standard infantry and vehicles like hovertanks.
A neat aspect of the game is that you also have off-board assets that you can call in, like artillery strikes or air reinfocement drops.
Heavy Gear Arena
HGA is the newest Heavy Gear game. It's based around you assembling a team of gladiator mechs and pitting them against other teams in combat and objective games. Information is still relatively scarce, since it only started shipping a few days ago. You can make your own custom mechs and recruit different types of pilots to your team.
So if I don't have the game, why make the thread?
The HG line looks really neat. I've always dug mech games but couldn't find one that tickled my fancy. I'm hoping there's people out there who have played and can offer some opinions.
So this is a bit of an odd OP, seeing as how I don't actually own this game. I've always been a big fan of mech combat, and Heavy Gear seems to be one of the more highly regarded mech games out there. It comes in two forms.
Heavy Gear Blitz
HGB is the standard miniature game provided for the Heavy Gear franchise. Your base unit is your gear, which seems to serve as your heavy infantry. You assemble them into different squads, which can have custom weapon loadouts. In addition, you can also field standard infantry and vehicles like hovertanks.
A neat aspect of the game is that you also have off-board assets that you can call in, like artillery strikes or air reinfocement drops.
Heavy Gear Arena
HGA is the newest Heavy Gear game. It's based around you assembling a team of gladiator mechs and pitting them against other teams in combat and objective games. Information is still relatively scarce, since it only started shipping a few days ago. You can make your own custom mechs and recruit different types of pilots to your team.
So if I don't have the game, why make the thread?
The HG line looks really neat. I've always dug mech games but couldn't find one that tickled my fancy. I'm hoping there's people out there who have played and can offer some opinions.
mightyspacepope on
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-You play as the manager of a team, a bit like Blood Bowl. You can recruit pilots and buy gears. You can upgrade both your pilots and gears with money and/or XP.
-It seems like you can field up to 6 gears in a game, but you can have more pilots in your roster beside that.
-Seems to be a bunch of terrain options to spruce the board up a bit. Think more American Gladiators than hills and streams.
-Rules for sponsorship and in-between game stuff that can happen to your pilots/team (getting drunk, mouthing off a bit too much about the competition after a victory).
-Reputation is a big deal. You can gain/lose it based on how you perform.
-Objective-based game options like Capture the Flag.
You also have a lot of options to customize your gears.
eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOsMVQzRCON1UyApAmYbQZRYwaRBlOqZSYA7ZUOyQ==
I've always had a thing for small squad-based games (Necromunda and Bloodbowl being two of my favorites. BBowl totally counts), and I've also had a thing for giant robots with guns for some time to, though I only really played Battletech.
The arena-combat team manager aspect sounds pretty interesting, I might have to look into this.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
There are rules options for both, but the rules for campaign look really awesome.
eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOsMVQzRCON1UyApAmYbQZRYwaRBlOqZSYA7ZUOyQ==
Sure, you can take a PL4 force consisting entirely of upgraded veteran ranger squads, bit unless you complete every single one of your objectives, your PL1 opponent who's using basic GP squads and conscripts pretty much wins by virtue of surviving.
Can you offer any further opinions on Blitz? It's becoming more tempting to pick up one of the Blitz starters with the big sale dp9 is having for the holidays.
1. How many squads do you field in an average sized game?
2. How important is infantry? The gears look a lot more awesome to me. I'd much rather field an all-gear force if it's viable.
If I make the jump, I'm trying to decide between the North and Peace River.
I have two 750ish point armies for the north and south, both painted up, but I haven't been able to play it with anyone.
Anyway,
1) the game more or less suggests chunks of 750 points. This is about two squads or so, and is more or less what you can get from one of the faction starter sets. I'd wager most games would be 1500pt games.
2) Couldn't tell you. They look rather useful depending on what you equip them with, but they don't seem like an essential part of an army. Most armies, outside of Port Arthur and some subfaction lists, have Gears or gear-equivalents as core choices.
Hmmm... So each side would usually have about 4 squads in a typical-sized game?
About that, I think. Depends on the squad and what upgrades. Keep in mind that the contents of the starters consists of a GP and fire support squad.
Edit: Ah, right. I have two forces that equal about 1250pts. Both consist of a GP and Fire Support squad, plus a Strike squad for the north, and an Airborne squad for the south. And I'm pretty sure I splurged a bit on the upgrade options, so take that how you will.
I find myself waffling between the three, but don't especially want to buy the PDF before buying a starter to learn more about them.
You have, of course, the three base faction lists, which have their own special rules. And then each of the leagues' member states have their own faction lists, with their own special rules and restrictions. And then on top of that there's regiments of renown, which are based on one of the above lists but add even more special rules.
And then you have stuff like the south's Eastern Sun Emirates subfaction, which has this sort of civil war thing going on. So you choose which faction is backing your force, which gives you access to some of their special rules and units, on top of which you need to choose a squad to be your honor guard, which chances what units count as core for you.
Keep in mind, though, gear-wise all three factions are fairly similar, if only because all of their designs are based on or otherwise derived from the Hunter design. Its only when you start getting into stuff like elite strike cadres or veteran recon squads that you start seeing more divergent designs.
-Starting at 205pts. Northern Squads have 5 members, plus the option to add one more; 4 Hunters plus 1 Headhunter which is upgradable to a Jaguar, One more hunter can either be up(side?)graded to a Cheetah scout gear, or downgraded to a stripped-down hunter. Two members of the squad can exchange their light autocannons for 1) Fragmentation Cannon (gear shotgun) and upgrade their grenades, 2) a Medium Autocannon, or 3) A Snub Cannon which replaces their light rocketpack as well. In addition, any model that exchanged its weapons can also carry heavy panzerfausts.
-Starting at 160pts. Southern Squads are smaller, starting at 4 members plus the option to add one more; 4 Jaegers, of which the commander's can either be upgraded to a Command variant, a Black Mamba, or a Iguana scout gear. In addition, one other Jaeger can be switched to a Sidewinder (an older version of the Black Mamba). Two members can switch their autocannons for: 1) a Paratrooper Rifle (a LAC with a grenade launcher attachment), 2) a Light Bazooka, or 3) A MAC.
-Starting at 245pts. Peace River squads also have 5 members, no option to add more. 4 Warriors plus 1 Chieftain. The Chieftain can be upgraded to a IV model, or sidegraded to a Skirmisher scout, and two of the Warriors can be upgraded to the IV models. Any model can have its Electronic Warfare skill upgraded, have their LACs upgraded to MACs, upgrade their anti-infantry weapons, have Field Armor equipped, and/or get a HK drone. Two members can swap their autocannons for: 1) A Frag Cannon and grenade upgrade, or 2) a rapid fire bazooka.
Keep in mind, Hunters, Warriors, and Jagers are essentially the same thing (the latter are both based on the former). Jaguars, Black Mambas and Warrior IV's. are advanced gears. Skirmishers, Cheetahs and Iguanas are scout gears.
Also keep in mind league or state rules can change the hell out of any of the upgrades above.
TL;DR version
Northern squads tend to be bigger, but have less high-tech upgrades and their weapons are more suited for close-in fighting. However their special weapons gears can both carry AT weapons.
Southern Squads are smaller and potentially cheaper, have access to slightly better upgrades, and their weapons are more versatile, but not necessarily the best for any situation.
Peace River squads are expensive as fuck compared to the polar equivalents, but they also have access to high-tech upgrades, better weapons, and can potentially fuck with any enemy orders.
Ah, player order is more like battletech; initiative is rolled each turn, and then players alternate activating their units.
The activation phase covers most things. When its your turn to play, you choose a combat group (a squad/cadre, what have you) and have them move and fire.
What's interesting is that while it can be beneficial in some cases, your combat groups don't require any form of unit coherency, so you can have one combat group spread across the map.
During its activation, each individual unit in the combat group moves, and at any point during its movement it can perform actions, such as attacking or spotting. This means you can do things with gears like pop out of cover to take a shot before retreating back in.
LOS is done in a sort of interesting way in that to attack your gear requires a lock to the target. There's situations where you can get an automatic lock, basically, the target is in the open, unobstructed, the target is inside 6 or so inches from you, or your unit has a high enough sensor rating to burn through any concealment modifiers. If none of those criteria are met, your unit can still try for an active lock by rolling its sensors vs. the target's concealment modifier, after which you can fire any of your indirect weapons (IE: grenades, rocket packs) or spot for another units indirect fire.
Attack rolls are done in old Silhouette style, which is basically an opposed roll. The attacker rolls a number of dice equal to its attack skill, and the defender rolls a number of dice for its defense skill, the highest die roll, plus mods, for each side are then compared, with the higher, of course, winning. In the case of an attack, the damage of the weapon used is multiplied by the margin of success and compared to the armor of the target. Usually this'll do one "box" of damage, sometimes more if the damage exceeds twice or triple the armor value.
Outside of some particularly sturdy units, taking damage will incur penalties, which get worse with each box taken.
Edit: oh, hey, this seems pretty useful.
I'm really impressed by the Heavy Gear Arena rules. I'm hoping to walk through making a team in the next few days. I'll post here as I do so.
Also, the makers of Heavy Gear (DP9) are having a holiday sale through January. If you buy $50 worth of stuff from their online store, you can get an item of $10 or less for free. $100 gives you a free $20 item, and so on.
http://dp9.com/
At the moment, it looks like general talk. I don't think there's a VASSAL mod for Arena yet and it looks like only you and DWM have the rulebooks to Blitz.
I would be down for some vassal action once I get my stuff.
eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOsMVQzRCON1UyApAmYbQZRYwaRBlOqZSYA7ZUOyQ==
Either that or get a starter for one of the armies and hope there's someone else nearby looking for a game.
eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOsMVQzRCON1UyApAmYbQZRYwaRBlOqZSYA7ZUOyQ==
I'd be up for this once I get the rulebook.
/google
Not much on it but how to download it...
Here's a link to the HG module:
http://dp9forum.com/index.php?showtopic=8288
Generally, it's not quite as fun as playing in person and usually takes a bit more time, but is still decent. I haven't tried the Blitz on VASSAL, but I have used it to play Monsterpocalypse.
They also generally have very little rules information, since they don't want to get on the bad side of the game companies.