My Recent Thoughts on Heavy Gear
September 21, 2011 by beerogre
So I've been dutifully reading up on Heavy Gear, to try to get my head around the concepts and ideas behind the game.
There's quite a bit going on and the interplay between infantry, tanks and Gears is gradually sinking in, with the aid of the helpful flow charts in the rulebook.
The game contains a lot of tactical depth, with electronic warfare, communications, off-table support and straight-up combat all playing a role in the overall strategy.
I've already tried to build myself a little 500 PL | TV1 force, so that I can plan what miniatures to buy. However, I've also been looking at the free Gear Up magazine to get some ideas about colour schemes and fluff.
Why not check it out yourself... just click the cover image below.
There's an article in there, describing the Golden Gear painting competition, so I'm getting prepared for a deluge of inspiration in the upcoming issues.
In fact, I think I'll get Sam to add Gear Up to the list of magazines to review in his show.
Tell me what you think of Heavy Gear and why not upload some of your painted Heavy Gear models to Minirama to give us all a bit of inspiration.
If you're interested in getting a conversation started about Heavy Gear. Then why not join our new Heavy Gear: Blitz Discussion Group here on the Beasts of War website.
I like many of the models and have some. It’s just I don’t have anyone to play with. 🙁
same here allthough i recently found an interested player… just need to buy some miniatures and a recent rulebook, mines two editions back ^^
I will write a bit on the starter set and stuff soon… just haven’t gotten around to it yet, damn uni work!
I’ve been playing since the old days. Love the fluff and story (one of my favorite RPGs). The miniature game is fast (once you get the rules down) and very different than most other games.
Glad to see some HG love on BoW!
I love the game. Since the game is quite different in mechanics than some more popular miniature games, it takes some time to know how to best apply the various units and resources in the field and to know they strengths and weaknesses. I’ve been putting together a Northern Western Frontier Protectorate army. I haven’t assembled everything yet (those gears take surpricingly a lot of time to assemble), but once done it’ll be around 1300 TV on PL of either 2 or 3. I could easily go to around 1500 TV if I started throwing out upgrades for the units.… Read more »
Good game that deserves more players.
Definately thinking about it.
Heavy Gear is my go to Sci-Fi game these days. It plays fast. Is very very tactical and totally different from what else is out there. Plus you know mecha! That said here are some warning you need to heed if you want to love the game: There is a LOT going on in a game of Heavy Gear. I suggest you play a game or two without using Indirect Fire or Electronic Warfare. Then gradually add in the more complicated elements. Also don’t jump into a game at higher than 500 TV! Big games make everything much harder at… Read more »
Very true. A good way to get started is to get one of those starter army boxes. You’ll get something around a threat value of 500 in each of them. Only Port Arthur Korps (of the Terra Novan armies) being notably higher in TV becauce of the hover tanks.
I got the Northern starter army box and a Razorback gear two pack as a foundation for my army. Played with them a few games to get the rules down and expanded from there.
Correction to the PAK starter army box. It’s also around TV 500 as the hovertanks are of lighter variant 🙂
still waiting on the two player starter i won on turn8 weeks ago! keen to getting it though, i like the idea of some reto ‘transformerish’ paint jobs! the fluff also seems to be mentioned as a plus point by people talking about the game, so looking forward to getting amongst that too!
I tried it a while back, loved the models but didn’t get on with it rules wise…
I’ve posted up some old school pictures for you in the minirama bit though
Glad you like the game and especially the colour schemes in the GearUp Andy. It’s my army that’s profiled in that particular issue.
Looks like a great game but it costs a lot to get on board 🙁
its a great game i have two armys and some heavy gear arena gears. I am also looking at starting a north one as well. It is not that expensive to get into the game actually. expecially if you play black tallons. If you want expensive to get into then play a GW game. Heavy gears rules are very good and the flow charts make it easy to understand how it flows together lol
I love that you can use Arena Gears in your army too. In fact I was thinking about running a league army where each squad was sponsored by a different “Weird but Tasty” flavour…
i dunno boss, every starter army is around 70-100+ dollars. Now mind you, i think the minis are great, but that’s a lot of scratch for not a lot of product.. Now the two player box is a good deal. Go half in with a bro and its like 25 bones! Too bad i don’t have any bros who like mecha like me…
Sure it’s 100 or so for a starter but that’s just it it’s enough to get you playing for a couple months. If you double that, your set. I bought in with 300 bucks and haven’t needed to expand since. I’ll pick up a model here or there because I want to try something different but my core force is still that starter box. Compare that with a GW game. Most people I’ve talked to agree that to really play 40k you’ll spend at least 500 to 600 bucks. I can’t speak for the truth of this as I haven’t… Read more »
Welcome to Heavy Gear! PL1 500TV is a great start! Dream Pod 9 does it well keeping their fans filled with tons of free magazines with the updated new test rules and contest and such! I started out with $200 investment. Now I’m a player that likes a ton of flavor and different styles I never play the same list twice. So I have purchased a few more models but in my opinion its a lot cheaper and you get a far more superior product than in some other games. I love this game more than any other. I play… Read more »