"Heavy Gear Blitz - War for Terra Nova (Kickstarter)" Topic

Heavy Gear Blitz – War for Terra Nova – Starter Set

Status: Funded
Backers: 727
Funding: $102,200 USD
Link: link
8 days to go

Material: hard plastic (the plan is 'polysterene', the stuff GW uses for it's sprues)
Scale: 1/144 => 12mm (FLAIL 23mm, Cheetha/Iguana 31mm, Hunter/Jager is 32mm, F2-21/F6-16 36mm, Jaguar/Black Mamba 38mm, Spitting Cobra/F2-19 45mm, Grizzly 47mm, Mounts 26mm-45mm)

Reason for the KS: Current metal/resin minis expensive, going plastic has a huge upfront cost, money dp9 doesn't have because it's a tiny company. With this KS a big starter set is being financed that will allow new players to play this game at a reasonable cost (think GW starter sets).

What is it: A miniature battle/skirmish game using Heavy Gears (walking armored vehicles), different forms of infantry, and (hover) tanks/vehicles. The art/design is a bit anime/manga like, in the style of Votoms, 'realistic'hard sci-fi action (no Gundam like heroics).

What do you get: At $115.00 CAD => ~€82 you get (at the moment):

42 miniatures
Hunter (4) € 1,35/mini
Jager (4) € 1,35/mini
Jaguar (4) € 1,62/mini
Black Mamba (4) € 1,62/mini
Grizzly (2) € 2,43/mini
Spitting Cobra (2) € 2,43/mini
Cheetah (2) € 1,35/mini
Iguana (2) € 1,35/mini
MHT-95 (2) € 3,51/mini
FLAIL Squad (2) € 1,35/mini
F6-16 Frame (2) € 2,16/mini
BF2-21 Frame (2) € 2,16/mini
Bashan Mount (2) € 3,51/mini
Acco Mount (2) € 1,35/mini
BF2-19 Frame (2) € 2,43/mini

You can download the new beta rules for free here:
link

The older rulebook can be download here for free for backgroud and artwork/photographs:
link

Gear Up issues 1-6 free to download:
link
link
link
link
link
link

They also have cool patches:
Unit patches ($5CAD => €355.00 EUR/patch):

It's doing considerably better than I thought it would, glad I backed it.

Yes, I'm in for two of the core sets, even if they don't break another stretch goal at this point I think the value is pretty good for the money.

-Will

The coolest thing about these minis is that they can be incorporated into your 15 mm force as lanmates or any other type of small to medium sized animesque mecha.

It's definitely a good deal, but from my experience with the metal range from dp9, only the larger gears look like they could fit a human pilot…but I do plan on using the smaller ones as drones.

Are there any mass battle rules mods for dozens of gears a side?

It's pretty much the same cockpit setup as Votoms:

Cockpit is in the upper torso and the head.

The minis are made for 1/144, 15mm is 1/100, so if you want humans in it, you'll need larger gears. The larger Cobra's, Grizzlies, F2-19, and Bashan Mounts could house a human, the rest could be drones/robots controlled by the larger human piloted Mecha.

The reason I posted it in 15mm and 6mm is because there's no 12mm gaming subforum. I would think that both parties would either see they game as interesting by itself or might be useful for minis in their scale…

No mass battle rules yet, they have their beta rules out. But I'm going to request it, pledged 15 Core sets…

I believe their design blog stated a goal of 4-20 minis a side:
dp9.com/content/design-manifesto

Not sledging your post! Far from it, I've put a buck in because I can't go higher until January, and I doubt the backerkit will be available before then. Mulling dropping 500 on this because I'm desperate to find a 10/12mm game to use on all the urban 10mm urban boards in getting via the Games&Gears Kickstarter.

I will say that the new rules are considerably cleaner than the older Blitz rules. Much faster play, and the build rules are more flexible.

I haven't gotten a game with the new rules in yet, but from a read through they do look very promising.

-Will

Take note of indirect fire rules, even when you miss there can still be damage

I'm in for this as well looks great I'm in with a mate we are swapping out the north for south so we will both have either a large northern or southern force each not decided how to split the other two forces up yet.

Found some pictures of someone using the 1/144 Gears with 15mm forces:
link

On the fence still. This is a great value, the game has always been interesting, and I like the models… but a full year to deliver?

That's Zrunelord' Pax Brittanica project. Great use of the gears with 15 mm figures.

Very tempting indeed,especially since they're in hard polystyrene, best material for minis in my opinion as its easy to convert & glue.

Thanks for posting the link Cergorach.Glad you like them Tk421, they are indeed excellent for using in 15mm.

Z

I'd rather them say a year and deliver in a year then say 6 months and still deliver in a year. ;)

-Will

The time frame given the project gives it more credibility from my perspective. They're being honest, and it's a big project.

Zrunelord, that looks so animesque you could write a show about it. McWong73, you are correct. First is getting the funds and then doing the engineering, which these days is not as time consuming as in the old days and then comes the injection mold cutting. Provided that is, you have found who will be making these for you.

On the fence still. This is a great value, the game has always been interesting, and I like the models… but a full year to deliver?

A full year to turn out an extensive set of plastic minis isn't all that long. Reaper just finished a plastic mini KS that is projected for 9-12 months and Palladium took over 18 months to deliver the first half of their KS, with the remainder not due until 2015, by which time is will probably be at least two years.

Yeah, it takes a long time to cut that many sprues, nevermind make all the stuff and getting it into distribution.

And after building a bunch of my Robotech stuff, I'm a bit afeared of the Gears. I forsee lots of itty-bitty pieces.

Are there any mass battle rules mods for dozens of gears a side?

That's HGBlitz. Rules are written to have ~4 units of 4-6 gears per player.

I have all the Southern stuff I want, so I think I'm going to hold off and get my CEF stuff in plastic. It's the only affordable way to get hovertanks.

And after building a bunch of my Robotech stuff, I'm a bit afeared of the Gears. I forsee lots of itty-bitty pieces.

Honestly, Palladium didn't know what they were doing with those miniature designs, or else Harmony Gold didn't understand and forced them to create those tiny scale models rather than proper gaming miniatures. I'm hoping, that since DP9 is a gaming and miniature company already, they will do a better job of designing the sprues.

I have all the Southern stuff I want, so I think I'm going to hold off and get my CEF stuff in plastic. It's the only affordable way to get hovertanks.

I actually have a fair collection of both Northern and Southern gears in pewter, so all I wanted was the CEF and Caprise stuff. The thing is, buying *just* the CEF and Caprice packages, ends up costing more than the whole core pledge with Northern, Southern, CEF and Caprice. I figure I can either sell my old metal gears, or the new plastic ones, depending on how they compare.

I gave in. It might be a while before I see them, but it's too big a pile of toys at too good a price to pass up.

The problem isn't that cutting the molds in steel takes so long, sure it takes longer then a rubber mold, it doesn't take a year or even a month or a week. A lot of companies even have more then one machine to do the cutting. The problem is all the work around it.

#1 Finish 3D designs
#2 Make 3D signs fit the mold and layout sprue, this is usually the biggy with these gaming companies, as their 3D designers don't have extensive knowledge and experience with making 3D molds in steel (if they did, chances are that they would be working at a better paying job). It often requires a lot of working hours from the 3D technicians at the moldcutting company.
#3 Cut mold, it's a computer that's doing the work, so can be run continuously as long as the machines are monitored.
#4 Do test sprue and analyze issues, resolve issues
#5 Adjust mold
#6 Do another test sprue, send to client for approval
#7 Adjust mold to clients wishes (if possible)
#8 repeat procedure until molds are ready for production.

The above needs to be done at the same time as the work for other clients and internal projects.

Even the guy behind Dreamforge needed a lot of additional work done on his sprue layouts and he already was a pretty good designer.

Honestly, Palladium didn't know what they were doing with those miniature designs, or else Harmony Gold didn't understand and forced them to create those tiny scale models rather than proper gaming miniatures. I'm hoping, that since DP9 is a gaming and miniature company already, they will do a better job of designing the sprues.

I think it was mostly a matter of the limits of a 2-piece steel 'tool' (proper name for the injection mold). Steel tools do NOT do undercuts, full stop.

The split legs on the Destroids were required because of the raised details on the 'shins'. Doing it any other way would have required expensive slide molds that the company doing the plastics may not have been able to handle.

To be honest, I want a bunch of the older CEF hovertanks, the HT68 series. I don't like the lines of the HT72 or HT95. And I want to build at least one HRT68, the shoot-on-the-fly light artillery version of the HT68.

Hmm… You know about the whole "dp9 doesn't keep their word" story folks kept telling and I've been saying "They've changed with this KS!"…

Well, they haven't, it appears… :-(

Here we've Robert Dubois telling us they want to make a 46 mini starter core set (5 weeks ago):
link

Here we've Robert Dubois telling us that plan is very likely to change (72 hours before the end of the KS):
link

They give a nice explanation on why they want to change this, but in the end it's a broken promise on the primary goal of a big (46 model) starter core set for Heavy Gear. That pretty much shakes most confidence out of this KS. What's next? They couldn't do hard Polystyrene gears, so they went with PVC? The 'Living' rulebook hurts their rulebook sales to much, so they aren't doing it? Making another new edition a year and a half down the road because "the fans where asking for it"?

I've pulled my $2,081.00 CAD pledge entirely, imho everyone should reconsider this KS. Because if this is how dp9 operates this early in the KS, what's going to happen in the next 12 months?

I do not agree with your reasoning; if DP9 has been running the numbers over the course of the KS and realize they can't come in at 100$ (the current industry sweet spot) with a new starter set then yes, they SHOULD look at revising the contents of the starter set in the post-KS time period. Also, to be honest, I don't see anything on the forum or KS page that says 'everything that gets unlocked will definitely go into the commercial starter set, no question'.

-Will

NO MORE STOMPY ROBOTS!

I really like the current Heavy Gear mechs with 15mm. The pilot space looks a little cramped on the smaller jaeger and hunter size mechs, but I'm ok with that. Close enough is close enough.

I really feel the pull of this kickstarter, but I'm not a big fan of plastic mini's, and I'm about maxed out with mechs right now.