Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: YPU on November 26, 2017, 02:17:36 PM
-
Well, I decided to take the plunge and get the 2 players heavy gear starter set, plus a couple of extras. One of my old wargaming buddies is moving closer to me and coming over a lot more, and we concluded that despite my shelve full of miniatures there actually weren't really any full-on wargames we were interested in playing we had on hand, most of the stuff (15mm gruntz for example) had grown stale, and the rest was more roleplay light skirmish such as pulp alley, which we love, but we wanted something a bit more combined arms confrontation, ideally without having to build and paint an entire battalion. ;D So heavy gear it was.
I've also been working on a collection of scale neutral dessert and jungle terrain, so expect my pictures for HG to show that of as well.
I actually already owned a northern Mammoth, so while I was waiting for the starter set to arrive I painted that! Its ready to be magnetized, but I'm waiting on the magnets from aliexpres to arrive, so I bluetacked the normal loadout on it for now.
(https://i.imgur.com/f28W9fi.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/HheZcCd.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/rTxx9LN.jpg)
1/144 crew model from wave for scale. He's waving, ain't that nice. :D
(https://i.imgur.com/b7kpxbC.jpg)
I like my big heavy robots in dark colours, the regular gears will probably be a bit lighter (maybe like the turret on this one)
-
That's sweet! It should fit in well with your dessert terrain!
-
Thanks, Donald! Hopefully pictures of my colour tests for the North and South armies on some terrain as well.
-
Got this one too at home...unassembled of course ::)
a really big baby indeed :D
-
Got this one too at home...unassembled of course ::)
a really big baby indeed :D
Took me a good 5 years or round to it. ::)
It's all relative size wise, at 1/144 they are the same scale as gundam model kits, but they are absolutely dwarfed by them! Funny thing is the gundams are cheaper and better kits overal. Still can't say no to a cool mech, tough.
-
Funny enough if i didn't already know or you mentioned it., would be hard to tell if this was current line or previous line.
Still need a Naga for my 1/87 and i actually have a 1/144 scale Naga. Irony eh?
But this is an excellent paint job. Very well done.
Grimm
-
Heavy Gear will probably appear on my 'to-do' list again next year... I've been a fan since the days of the original RPG and the RAFM 1/87 scale minis, mis-packed arms and all... :D
Although I have to say I'm not in love with the HG Blitz rules... very disappointing to see that the artwork hasn't changed one jot from the old RPG and sourcebooks from the 90's, and the rules are awfully clunky.
A real pity, because HG was very innovative when it first appeared on the scene, and the production and artwork was inspirational and quite immersive.
Might look seriously at a variation of Mobile Suit Skirmish for HG.... that could prove good fun to do. (Says he, currently up to his armpits in editing for Version 2.0 of MSSk... o_o )
-
Funny enough if i didn't already know or you mentioned it., would be hard to tell if this was current line or previous line.
I will definitely take that as a compliment, anytime I can make 1/144 look like 1/87 I'm happy. :D
I would have loved to get into the old line when it was around, but trying to collect it now seems like madness. heck I only went for the 2 player plastic starter because it was actually affordable, even if the minis aren't the best.
Heavy Gear will probably appear on my 'to-do' list again next year... I've been a fan since the days of the original RPG and the RAFM 1/87 scale minis, mis-packed arms and all... :D
Although I have to say I'm not in love with the HG Blitz rules... very disappointing to see that the artwork hasn't changed one jot from the old RPG and sourcebooks from the 90's, and the rules are awfully clunky.
HG was on my radar for a long long time before I took the plunge. I think having the living rulebook available for free helped me over the edge. I kinda like the rules, clunk and all. I would never say they are great, but there are a couple of elements in there that is really like, others are like you say midling at best. Part of the charm to me is probably its lack of popularity. When Warmachine started picking up steam (pun intended) people got so deep into the optimal army build that it lost most of its appeal for me.
And like you say, if the actual rules turn out to not be fun to play, making some myself won't be all that hard either. :P
-
Caught a ray of natural daylight, and tried to take some more pictures of my first try at the plastics. This is about as much time as I can put into a single model and still hope to actually finish both forces anytime soon to do some actual gameplay with painted miniatures.
The plan is to magnetize the weapon arms on the plastic models, since you get 2 right arms per model, but magnets still aren't in so right now the arm is attached by a tube the size of the magnets jammed in there. Works quite well.
(https://i.imgur.com/dt9pMH4.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Rhqx9Q6.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jnrIcNk.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/alvP37a.jpg)
More, mostly badly lit, images here: https://imgur.com/a/ctLXp (https://imgur.com/a/ctLXp)
-
nice stuff. I have a ton of these but have not really ever got into doing them.
Thanks mate! For me the incentive of actually playing a game for once is a good incentive.
-
Thanks mate! For me the incentive of actually playing a game for once is a good incentive.
It really is a good motivation!
Great models and pictures!
-
nice stuff. I have a ton of these but have not really ever got into doing them.
Really? Dare I ask if you're debating moving them on to a good home, where someone can love them, and pat them, and call them George? :D
-
Christ no. Selling stuff to gamers is like pulling teeth.
And see, this is why i love Scurv. Though he be there for advice in a jiffy when you ask for it. And now he would rather give away his things to fellow gamers instead of selling to them and taking their money.
Got to love him. :-)
Grimm
-
And here is a colour test for the north, all desert and dusty. I considered going for splinter camo to enhance their angular look but this more part bound colour scheme is a lot easier to do in a reasonable time.
Not convinced about the green camera, I think sticking with the same red as the Jager would probably look better.
I snipped off the peg on the torso connector and angled the whole torso down a bit since that is the way most HG art shows them, and I think it helps break the incredibly stiff poses of these plastics. Again, the right arms are prepped to be magnetized, but just pegged in there for now.
(https://i.imgur.com/zvPkiKc.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fQg7ykl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/n8wOYqh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fQuOeO1.jpg)
-
that is some delicate weathering considering the size of those.
The nice thing about weathering is that if it ends up like a random mess that's actually fine.
Also make-up sponge brushes are great, most of the fades etc you can see on the shoulders are with those.
-
Also works, but I find that the finer sponge on the make-up ones does do the job for smaller scale models. I was going to make a point about their shape as well, but you can just rip those blister pads into any shape you want or need so that doesn't apply at all. lol
-
Awesome; I love me some giant stompin' mechs. The paintjob and weathering are just great.
One minor quible though; lose the grass, as it makes the mech look like a man sized robot. Perhaps either use some small foam flock on the base as foliage, or alternatively, use some reindeer moss (strengthened with superglue) as a tree or large bush?
-
Awesome; I love me some giant stompin' mechs. The paintjob and weathering are just great.
One minor quible though; lose the grass, as it makes the mech look like a man sized robot. Perhaps either use some small foam flock on the base as foliage, or alternatively, use some reindeer moss (strengthened with superglue) as a tree or large bush?
Thanks!
I'ma going to defend my choice though, here. The Heavy gear suits are pretty small in-universe, The torso is barely large enough for a pilot to fit, the pilots head actually sticks into the robot head on some suits. (I shall take a picture with a pilot/infantry next) I deliberately chose to use some static grass to tie them to their scale a bit better. Now if these had been battletech scale I would have agreed.
-
Ah, fair enough. I'm not too familiar with Heavy gear and assumed they're a Battletech equivalent... :)
-
I will say, I just received an order of 4mm and 6mm grass tufts, and they are shorter than the ones I used here, so that will also help a bit. I plan to do some mixing though. Especially with the grey South gears they are from a jungle region, so they can have some decent growth on their bases I think.
-
Very cool. I always had a soft spot for the Hunter ever since I tried the old Heavy Gear card game that came in a VHS tape case :)
I also have the older bigger model.
-
(https://i.imgur.com/L9ki35J.jpg)
Size reference shot for the lot,
in order, left to right: HG south infantry on their base, Northern plastic Hunter, 1/144 pilot figure from Wave, Southern Jager, Southern Caiman IFV, Northern Mammoth.
Very cool. I always had a soft spot for the Hunter ever since I tried the old Heavy Gear card game that came in a VHS tape case :)
I also have the older bigger model.
For me its the VOTOMS like vibe, there are some amazing scenes in that series that you can well recreate with heavy gear. IIRC that card game was the very first thing they made for Heavy Gear, very cool!
-
Painted the first infantry team, since I wanted some painted to have around for reference. I figure most people on here don't know much about heavy gear, so I'm going to try and include some background info with the pictures.
(https://i.imgur.com/q7z74Tb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/p4vufHm.jpg)
As always more pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/ctLXp
(https://imgur.com/a/ctLXp)
These are a southern observation team. dirt cheap and pretty much only good for spotting for indirect fire resolutions. The big advantage of infantry in heavy gear is that most normal weapons can only inflict one point of damage, no matter how good you roll. Of course, there are plenty of anti-infantry weapons out there. The southern Jager on the right (and its northern hunter counterpart) both have integrated anti-infantry grenade launchers that turn the area around them into a death zone for the footsloggers.
The Hunter was the first real Heavy Gear developed in the setting, and very quickly stolen and reverse engineered by the south, both are quite venerable designs but have been kept updated to stay relevant continually and together are the most common combat gears on terra nova.
-
Great pictures, and lovely "fluff" additions too!
-
Another model done during a break, and I mentioned modularity before, so let's get started with that!
(https://i.imgur.com/oc5EVgQ.jpg)
On the left we have the same hunter from before, now kitted out as the destroyer hunter. It loses its light autocannon and panzerfausts but gains a medium bazooka. Good for hunting tanks and particularly tough gears!
On the right is the Jaguar, a strike gear and one of the most advanced models in general use by the North. It an improvement over the hunter on pretty much all aspects, faster and more accurate, as well as significantly more agile. In addition, it is airdrop capable, something the venerable hunter requires a significant overhaul to achieve. (a mech wearing a parachute pack is awesome though!) While equally armoured as the Hunter it's marginally less robust and damage will begin to show quicker. Here it is armed with a medium autocannon, a upgrade over the hunter's light and the same light rocket pod.
Now this Jaguar has its arms glued on unlike the hunter since you are likely to always have a couple of jaguars armed with MAC's. Instead, I have magnetized its head and added long pins to the shoulder weapons for modularity.
(https://i.imgur.com/ea9hl9H.jpg)
Here we have the Arrow Jaguar, while its launcher looks a lot less impressive than the default rocket pod, this is, in fact, a anti-tank missile, a guided weapon which when provided with target designator info can provide superior anti-armour firepower. It does lose its area of effect compared to the rocket pod, and missile weapons are at a significant disadvantage when fired without guiding info.
(https://i.imgur.com/4bZGySA.jpg)
Now if that last bit makes you go "bring back the rocket pod!" I have just the thing for you. This is the Fire Jaguar, equipped with twin medium rocket pods, it's quite adept at splashing unguided rockets over an area.
(https://i.imgur.com/XMFY4YS.jpg)
All of these variants can be upgraded to a Thunder Jaguar, a command version of the gear which comes with improved communication systems and a satellite uplink. All models with a satup link count as being information with each other, allowing commanders to distribute target designator info from far away recon gears or more effectively command their unit when its spread out over the field. (heavy gear allows your units to split up all over the place) Finally, in rare cases, it can also be used to acquire target designation on off table elements, such as far from artillery positions. All for the price of having an ugly white knob on its back!
-
Well the forum is up again and I did some more painting, not nearly enough to play a game but some.
First of we have maybe my favourite gear, the ferret!
(https://i.imgur.com/x501FBU.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/EnmGmco.jpg)
The ferret is one of the norths oldest recon gears, it's so small its driver has to lay back inside the torso instead of the regular sitting position. The Ferret as a unique secondary movement system, in its "but wheel" unlike the wheels on the heels of most gears the ferret needs to sit down to use its SMS but does have excellent speed when doing so. Armed with a very light rocket pod and a pack gun the ferret mostly makes use of its ageing but effective sensor and target designation systems to fulfil its role.
Variant wise we first have the sniper ferret, which replaces the pack gun with a light rifle, allowing for engagement at greater range, though with a much-reduced rate of fire.
(https://i.imgur.com/UlLr3yU.jpg)
Lastly, we have the wild ferret, an attempt to update the ageing weasel with a top-notch electronic warfare suite though at the cost of its rocket pod and target designator, this variant is wholly focused upon scrambling enemy systems and targeting equipment. It does also come with a satellite uplink, which the regular ferret lacks allowing for great battlefield communications.
(https://i.imgur.com/HoIoMeo.jpg)
The ferret is my favourite design, and one of the better plastic models from dp9 imho a few of the details are a bit washed out but in general, the shape is well defined and it comes with both a standing/walking set of legs and a folded down motorcycle mode pair.
-
So if the ferret is old, what is replacing it? The Cheetah did! Just as fast but with superior fire-control systems, the cheetah is popular among pilots. It carries the same category of target designator as the ferret but comes with ECM standard, making it a pain to the enemy. Armament wise the cheetah also packs the universal pack gun, but carries a slightly heavier light rocket pod, combined with the superior fire-controls this makes it a slightly stronger combatant than the ferret but still one best kept out of the line of fire.
(https://i.imgur.com/gVrvIGD.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/5kv8dIz.jpg)
If that isn't enough for you, the white cat cheetah replaces its shoulders with even more advanced electronics suites, providing unprecedented sensor range, counter ECM capabilities and a satellite uplink. The pack gun is also replaced by a light autocannon, allowing for increased range.
(https://i.imgur.com/fPJhGIJ.jpg)
Fully magnetized model of course
(https://i.imgur.com/bNmq9OA.jpg)
There is also another variant, the strike cheetah which replaces its target designator with a light bazooka, I have the arm for it but dropped it during priming managing to lose the light bazooka it came with, still beating myself up over that. I'll replace it with a southern LBZ since I don't have any northern ones left. :-[
-
How about something a bit heavier next?
This is the Grizzly, the Norths dedicated fire support and strike gear. Worthy of its name the Grizzly is heavily armoured and its second movement system is track based since regular wheels won't bear its weight. Its default loadout consists of a Heavy autocannon for direct fire, a medium guided mortar to make use of the target designators mentioned on the recon gears, a twin pair of medium rocket pods for armor piercing area saturation fire, a heavy machinegun build into the torso for anti-infantry fire and a trusty pack gun for close defence. Tough and rugged, the grizzly also has an autopilot system allowing it to utilise multiple weapons with responsive fire. (basically, the grizzly gets an extra action when going on overwatch)
(https://i.imgur.com/V4etiiT.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/TPHzz2q.jpg)
One of the more common variants is the destroyer grizzly, which replaces the heavy autocannon with a heavy bazooka, granting it a devastating direct fire opion.
(https://i.imgur.com/G4SE4Dx.jpg)
During earth's invasion of terra nova even the destroyer grizzly didn't provide adequate firepower to counter the CEF's hovertanks heavy armour, so a common field mod was to replace its rocket pods and mortar with medium anti-tank missiles taken from the clem tank. This variant is commonly known as the crossbow grizzly.
(https://i.imgur.com/AvGd6Ds.jpg)
Any of these variants can be upgraded to a thunder grizzly, a dedicated command option which adds a satellite uplink and improved com equipment allowing for more effective communication of targeting data.
(https://i.imgur.com/502fb9j.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZY1fACV.jpg)
The grizzly model comes with posable elbows in the arm. I added a magnet to the underside of its main weapon hand, allowing metal pins to slide in from the top and making the main weapons modular, quite happy with how it turned out.
-
As mentioned the Grizzly, while a big bad machine still had trouble dealing with the CEF's hovertanks, and that is where the Kodiak came in. Think of the Kodiak as a double grizzly. Its bigger, it's even better armoured, it systems are all round superior and it comes with cutting-edge weaponry, powered by one of the most powerfull powerplant V-engines ever build.
By default the Kodiak caries a medium particle accelerator, which can melt trough most armor and scramble the systems of any target. Building on the crossbow grizzly field mod, the Kodiak comes with a light anti tank missile launcher on its back, and shoulder-mounted medium rocket pod. It doubles up on the heavy machine gun found in the grizzlies torso and also caries anti-personal charges for extreme close defence against the CEF's genetically engineers soldiers, the GRELS. The Kodiak is new and expansive, so its only piloted by veteran and ace pilots, many regimental dualists of the north pilot a Kodiak.
(https://i.imgur.com/wirb20c.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/x38wxZL.jpg)
The particle accelerator is a very new weapon for terra nova, reverse engineered from CEF weaponry during the first invasion. Because it is not always available it's not uncommon to see Kodiak's equipped with a Heavy bazooka to provide cheaper but still highly effective firepower as the destroyer Kodiak.
(https://i.imgur.com/W6jKnyM.jpg)
Alternatively, they may be equipped with a heavy rotary cannon, becoming pretty much terra nova's equivalent of the a-10 warthog, known as the chaingun Kodiak.
(https://i.imgur.com/32BgRbe.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yFLWys2.jpg)
Another cool model from DP9, this is the only one chat really captures the chunkiness that the metal models all have. The larger hands allowed me to double up on magnets in there, making for a very sturdy connection with the swappable weapons.
-
I hope somebody is enjoying all this heavy gear nerdiness as much as I am, to close off this page full spam of posts, here is a group picture to show the relative sizes of the gears (which does really play into the game) as well as an objective piece I hope to replicate another 5 times.
(https://i.imgur.com/iJf9KB1.jpg)
Terra Nova is mostly a desert planet with subterrane rivers so water tanks and pumps like this make sense as objectives on their own, or good hiding spots for secret cash of info or materials.
(https://i.imgur.com/J1FgixW.jpg)
-
optional weapons are always adorable! Great work Tim! :)
-
Adorable? 8) ::) ;D
If only my pictures were actually in focus. >:(
-
But wait, there is more of this malarky! I got a terrific hand painted photo backdrop from a friend, these are the first pictures I tried to use it with. My lighting wasn't great due to a busted bulb or 2, but I still love it!
A spitting cobra fire support gear, and a black mamba special ops gear!
The spitting cobra here is a double variant, the large rotary cannon indicates it as the "junglemower" loadout, and the light field gun on its back marks it a support variant.
(https://i.imgur.com/zoQVzcK.jpg)
So what does the Spitting cobra usually carry you may ask? Why a heavy autocannon, a light guided mortar on the shoulder and medium artillery rockets on the back! (not seen here) The black mamba here meanwhile is a command variant known as a razorfang black mamba, the light bazooka here making it a strike version.
(https://i.imgur.com/RXCe1ES.jpg)
now if you want to get really nasty, there is the flamm cobra! Switching its mortar and rocket payload for incendiary and an arm mounted flamer! The mamba meanwhile here shows its back-mounted light anti-personal rockets, which should be accompanied by a medium grenade launcher to make this a brawler mamba, but I havn't build that part yet. ;D
(https://i.imgur.com/t8LOjhz.jpg)
And as always, my favourite loadout shot.
(https://i.imgur.com/CwDcIZ8.jpg)
Notice that there are 2 medium rocket pods for the mamba, which would make it a long fang variant.
-
Cool 8)
-
Excellent models. And the loadout options show just the right amount of OCD that a modeller should have!
Jack
-
They look great.
-
Great job, IMO your best HG paint jobs.
(But I am biased, for me the Southern Gears are simply the most beautiful)
-
Great job, IMO your best HG paint jobs.
(But I am biased, for me the Southern Gears are simply the most beautiful)
Thanks! I like then definitely, I'm trying to emulate the paint scheme I did on one of my gundam kits, but haven't really captured it yet.
(https://i.imgur.com/OOwdb1T.jpg)
-
Whoahh! The Gundam is incredible!!!
-
Whoahh! The Gundam is incredible!!!
Thanks! It's a lot easier doing weathering at a larger scale I find, also took me 3 months total I think which is a lot more than I spend on most miniatures.