Heavy Gear Blitz good or bad

[timyeh]

I am drooling over the awesome minis from DP9. This the next best thing to an actual Japanese anime robot figures. Battletech could take a few pointers, actually a lot of pointers on mech design  from this company.

However the rules leave much to desire. I've read through it but find it not too interesting and difficult to read. Although people complain a lot, Warhammer 40k actually has a decent set of rules. Ambush Alley FoF is another example of  of an elegant and simple rule. I have not play HGB nor have I study it very carefully (that's because I fell asleep a few time trying to read more than a few paragraphs) .  I would like to know what members who have played HGB think of this game.
What are the good as well as the bad points. I would like to know before i go and invest in a new army.

Thanks

Tim

[Agis]

Well you already summed up HGB pretty good.  

Great MINIS and difficult to get in rules. The core rule is good (roll 2D pick the highest add mods and compare with the result of the opponents roll). You have most of the time opposed rolls and alternate unit activation. So both players are involved constantly.

IMO the problems are the difficult army lists and huge load of special rules and modifiers.
That was one of the reasons to write my WaW Gear Krieg version. I am very confident that you will be able play HG with my upcoming Generic SF rules.  
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=38951.0

[mpennock]

I've got to agree with Agis. The basic rules are good and pretty straightforward, but things tend to bog down when you start adding stuff on.

I am drooling over the awesome minis from DP9. This the next best thing to an actual Japanese anime robot figures. Battletech could take a few pointers, actually a lot of pointers on mech design  from this company.

I love DP9's mecha designs, and have since the first version of the game was released, but the geek in me feels that I should point out that the Heavy Gear world (and especially its mecha) was heavily inlfuenced by an early '80s anime series called Votoms.

[TheCapn]

I love the game! Get the 2 player starter set and have a go with that. I try and keep my games small as It really does play better with a few handfuls of minis.

[timyeh]

I love the game! Get the 2 player starter set and have a go with that. I try and keep my games small as It really does play better with a few handfuls of minis.

So A 40kish style with 30-40 minis is too much to handle for HGB?

[Agis]

So A 40kish style with 30-40 minis is too much to handle for HGB?

As well as a 40K game with 30-40 Sentinel walkers per side...
The Gears are not infantry, they are big, bad combat machines that are piloted!
HG has infantry rules integrated. Squads play more like FoW squads then.

[Isamu]

I like the rules and they get further streamlined. So I must agree the rules lake, 100% workable faction lists, but they work on it and optimize it at the moment. I wait to see the new lists soon. (And by the way, the best-selling European sifi-tabletop still has no working lists!  ) The vast options represents the interchangeable of modern army and the the jack-for-all-trades nature of Gears. It's the opposite of Battletech with it's over 3000* Mechtyps (variants not included).  The problem is, that you may buy your troops in 4-5 Gears per unit, but they don’t need to stay together, but in modern warfare tanks and troops may stay in contact with their radio. The hardest thing to learn is the Concealment and Detection rules, which are a bit abstract. They represent a modern-styled advanced electronic devices many sifi-tabletop lack, and it’s a lot of fun to rain death on your opponent behind a wood with your indirect firing missiles or use your scouts to guide your anti-tank or anti-gear missiles against the enemy commander.
 I like the fact, that you have use turns to move your minis. So movement becomes a tactic aspect and is more “authentic”. Your tank may not stand in any direction at the end of the turn. (A hard tactic in tournament play of 40k at the moment!  I play hovertanks as CEF-player, so I know what I’m talking of. The opposing roles and alternate unit moving is also quite nice, since your always playing and not waiting for your opponent. You’re part of your troops all the time.
All in all the rules represent a nice anime styled combat system, which feels like a fast and furious Mecha battle.  And the rules are quite short and span only ca. 30 pages, while Future Wars need over 150 pages and Battletech for the basic rules about 300. No other game give you the opportunity to play Mechas like this, since Future Wars focus on asynchron urban infantry battle, 40k on comic uber heroes style and Battletech is even much complicated with lesser tactical options.



*origin: Randall's Battletech Blog

[YPU]

Personally I like Mekton zeta for my mech battles, its heavily anime inspired. It is a RPG however rather then a tabletop, with later expansions for tabletop combat rules. This of course does complicate things as your working from more then one book and replacing half the rules in one with those in the other but I think that if your looking for a anime style game you should really take a loot at it.

the normal rules are RPG focused so they have a lot of damage detail/bookeeping per unit but the mass battle rules tone this down of you want to use more models.

The point where mekton shines is its extremely detailed construction system which I really like. It can be fast if needed but taking some time before a game to stat the mechs in detail really makes it shine.

the books have been out of print for ages but PDF's are available from drive-trough rpg and rpg now.

[Isamu]

Yeah, Heavy Gear is actually a RPG, too... And I don't know, if I understand it correctly, but I think it's the same team, which made Mekton? See the copied reference to check. 

http://www.dp9.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=65

[YPU]

Yeah, Heavy Gear is actually a RPG, too... And I don't know, if I understand it correctly, but I think it's the same team, which made Mekton? See the copied reference to check. 

http://www.dp9.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=65

Almost, they made a few books for the older edition, campaign settings if you will. The older versions of mekton however are vastly different from the latest.

[TheCapn]

30-40 minis a side is doable, I have seen it done! It just takes a long time to play through. I enjoy playing with 2 or 3 squads. That's around 10-15 minis a side. The field manual rulebook has made the game easier to understand and get into. I was up and playing within a day of having the starter set assembled.

[Crudeboy]

I just recently received my Northern starter box and am getting into Blitz. The RPG (and setting in general) has been one of my all-time favorites for over a decade, and I have played with some of the older, clunkier, tabletop rules. Blitz plays a great deal smoother than the old Tac rules.

I've seen a lot of folks complain about how often Dream Pod 9 updates the rules, and there's confusion over which books to buy, and how many you have to buy, and so on. The Field Manual clears things up quite a bit even more, as was mentioned, and I get the feeling that this and the new army guides DP9 will be releasing over this and next year will stick around for a while. They're supposedly going to the format first used in the NuCoal book, and I think that will help out quite a bit with army list creation and so forth.

DriveThruRPG offers a free download of the Field Manual with the purchase of pretty much any of the current Blitz books, by the way.

As a new Blitz player myself I'd suggest starting small, using only the basics (movement, basic ranged/close combat) until you're comfortable with those, and then start adding a few of the other rules (Command Points, Electronic Warfare, Indirect Fire, etc.) a couple games at a time.

My problem now is just getting other folks in my area to play.  

[Wolfslord]

Hi,

I think Heavy Gear has one of the best Mecha designs on the market, but I find the larger HGB miniatures to be very pricy. These are 12mm miniatures and you pay around $ 20 for a medium to heavy mech. So I look at some of the 15mm Scifi manufacturers and get two great mechs or vehicles for the same price.

It gets worse, when you know that the first Heavy Gear miniatures were cheaper and scale 1/72 or around 18-20mm.

If you like the Ambush Alley rules, why don't you use them? Tomorrow's War has a great set of vehicle rules (including mechs and grav vehicles), that can be used for 15 or just 3 mechs per side.