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Not a big update but I had to rearrange my carrying case for HG to accommodate the new models and that, of course, necessitated an updated group shot! As always, click on the pic to get to Dakka's zoomable gallery.

Forged in Flames.. a partial review of the new Southern army book.

It's been a while since my last update (and unfortunately still no one to play against locally) but I haven't given up hope yet. The new Southern army book (Forged in Fire.. referred to as FiF below) was just released in PDF form and I recieved a copy of the pdf and the delayed hard copy as a Christmas present. At first I wasn't planning on getting the hard copy myself and was going to wait a bit on the pdf but I have to say I got a bit excited when I recieved the gift. I'll comment a bit on the overall style of the book first (working off of the PDF as the hardcopy is delayed till sometime in January) and then go through some of the army mechanic changes as they pertain to the squads that I've built over the course of this blog.

The overall style is quite nice and harkens to in parts to an earlier 1st edition style of artwork while still retaining the newer artist's style as well in others. In the old days of the RPG, the technical entries for the gears that contained the game stats had a very anime inspired black and white line art style with additional white text on black background. The 2nd edition of the RPG switched over to more of a realistic technical look to the gear pictures but maintained the line art style. The technical parts of the new book harken partly to that style with red text and anime line art on a black background along with variants shown on the next page in the more static frontal 2nd edition RPG look. The picture below (spliced via web pics and cell phone images) shows the old styles on the top with the new ones shown in technical/crunch areas of the book below.



Character art has also changed significantly from the previous Locked and Loaded entries. The older book primarily used the Barbe style art taken from the RPG whereas the new book eschews it largely in favor of the talents of newer artists. While I do like the new more realistic character styles, the old fogey purist in me would be lying if I said I didn't miss the older exaggerated anime art at least somewhat. Luckily, the return of the line drawings largely satiates that appetite. I'm very behind on my HG timeline so I actually haven't read much of the fluff regarding the world setting in the PDF yet. Unlike 40k, the timeline in HG advances roughly parallel to ours in years so I'm missing much of the recent going ons that occured in the War of the Alliance books as well as NuCoal.

While I don't have the physical book in my hands to judge the actual print quality, I do have some comments about the released info about it. Normally, DP9 has come out with over the years two versions of each book, a full color deluxe (but still softcover) version for a premium price and a black and white entry level version at a discount. Unfortunately, they've decided to stop this practice apparently with the last book (NuCoal) and the FiF book is only available in the full priced and full color $60 version. In addition, the new starter packs for the south and NuCoal don't include the "mini" version of the book but instead contain a coupon for the pdf. While only a fool wouldn't admit that digital is the wave of the future for RPG products, I don't think we're there just yet. As mentioned in the first paragraph, I actually decided *NOT* to buy myself the dead-tree version of the book and was instead frankly waiting for the pdf to go on sale before buying it. I don't have any opponents to play against currently so there is no rush for me to get a copy of the rules. The full color book isn't a good value IMO (this is not limited to DP9's product offering but my general view on gaming books including the switch to a more expensive and full color 40k series of codices as well) and I'm still not confident that it will fit in my foam carrying case (GW standard case) without crushing my models. A perfect hardcopy fit for me would have been a minibook version and I would have bought a starter set if it had come with that without any qualms; I'd sell or trade the minis and keep the mini-books for my gaming copies. DP9 is rightfully criticized as pricier than most of the competition when you compare apples to apples (which fanboys generally don't when they cherry pick Inifinity models/books to compare them to) and I think that increasing the entry point into the game for players (which the hardcover book does) is a bad move for a game which doesn't have a large following to begin with. I haven't been able to convince anyone in my large metro area to play the game beyond a single demo and a more expensive army book (which 9 out of 10 gamers use in my area instead of digitial ones) that eschews the previous tradition of multiple quality and price SKUs certainly won't help in that regard.

On a technical note, the PDF is nice but also suffers from the lack of a "light" version. The file comes in at over 100mb for the army book and frequently chugs on my new Kindle Fire HD. While I like the detailed artwork that you can zoom in 400% and still be impressed by the clarity of, a significantly compressed portable version that doesn't overwork portable devices would be much appreciated. On the forums, this issue has been partly address in that DP9 staff has said part of the digital bloat is due to the pdf being compatibly all the way back to Adobe 4.0 and that they'll be releasing a version that is compatible only with more modern reader programs (lowering the size to around 80mb). I'd say that going even further for a portable version would probably be best if they're going through the trouble already to change it. Also, I'm not the most perceptive person when it comes to finding typos in books but I've found around a half dozen mistakes with another couple dozen found by others and collated into a thread on the DP9 forums. Luckily for fans, the hard copy was delayed so that there is a good chance that these typos and issues may be resolved prior to the first printing of the hardcopy book.

Review Part 2: General Army building changes

Where as the majority of figures and options individually have made it into the new version, the overall army building mechanic has changed significantly. Apparently this new style was evident in the NuCoal book but I didn't pick up a copy of it so I was unaware of the scope of the changes. In general, you chose an army faction (SRA in my case) that modified general rules and then chose a regiment type (Gear Regiment in my case as well) that gave you the basic rules for what goes where in your army. In addition, you could choose from a half dozen or so "special character" type regiments of note that modified your army even further. Regiments of note are simply gone now along with any army builds that they specifically made legal (like all veteran squad armies). While some versions of my army list could use RoN builds, I constructed (both on paper and physically with the weapons options) my force to be completely legal with just the standard SRA faction rules so the loss of RoN didn't affect me much personally except for limiting potential options for the force. You still choose from amongst the same factions as before as well as from around half the same regiment types (paratrooper and special forces generic regiment types are new and likely partly take the place of the RoN types that allowed similar builds previously). What goes where however has changed significantly though in each faction and regiment type. Since my focus has largely been on an SRA gear regiment, I'll be focusing on those changes most due to familiarity.

General veteran bonuses have been smartly moved from being listed individually in each squad (or cadre as they're called) to a general list at the start of the army section. Almost every squad had veteran options for increasing stats and/or adding sturdy boxes so it makes more sense to list those just once and leave the squad sections for squad specific changes. The squads themselves have largely stayed in the same classification (core, aux, spec, elite) with a few exceptions (like my paratrooper squad pictured earlier in this thread that is now simply illegal in ANY gear regiment) but squad pages have changed significantly in both style and content. Faction and regiment type rules have majorly changed what models are available for each player. The SRA has always been limited in models available being the rich boys of the south so are affected a bit less. My sidewinder trooper upgrade gears (one in each of my Fire Support cadres) that could largely populate any squad except for paratrooper and stealth cadres are now only available to two faction specific upgrade squads. Desert Vipers went from being a strike squad upgrade option to simply disappearing completely from every faction but one. Some new options are added in the form of new model releases (Diamondbacks and Fer de Lance for instance) as well as a limited (for the SRA at least) selection of "downgrades" that were previously unavailable. This change is a bit of a negative for me personally (lol.. my luck that two of the three uncommon models I chose to use were the only ones that got LESS available) but overall is probably a net positive for the SRA playerbase in general as the sheer number of models you can choose from has increased. Other factions may not have fared so well as Mekong and HAPF players are currently lamenting the loss of existing models from some squads and the wholesale mandatory replacement of certain squads with NuCoal equivalents. I'm not well versed enough in those particular details so won't comment about it beyond a simple mention.

Individual upgrades have largely stayed intact with a few convoluted options going the way of the dodo. Basically, if you built a model with upgrades that matched on of the earlier published RPG variants, you're likely to be ok. If you just chose from multiple somewhat unrelated upgrades that fit your playstyle together, there is a good chance that they're gone. My razorfang brawler command mambas now require conversion to just simple brawler mambas as the razorfang variant was cut back significantly. My razorfang brahmin cobra (which did actually match an RPG variant both in rules and model conversion) is now illegal as well. For my now illegal paratrooper cadre, my jaegers upgraded halfway up the longbow variant tree and will now either have to lose the mortar or change the gun to a rifle. Most of the rest of the individual models in the army stayed legal. Kudos to DP9 for keeping in general the wheat and getting rid of some of the overcomplicated chaff (except for my cobra commander!).

The pages are dominated by art (in the 2nd edition "frontal" line style shown above) showing the models in each variant of the squad. Previously you bought a one size fits all stock version of the squad and then picked individually from a buffet of choices to upgrade models/weapons individually and independantly from each other. Now, you choose from amongst three general builds (displayed in 3 lines of squad pictures that take up 2/3 of the page roughly) and then choose from a more limited set of options listed below that may apply to all or just one of the general builds shown above. For instance, previously when you bought a general purpose (GP) squad, you got 5 stock Jaeger models with the exact same basic loadout that you could (if you wanted) upgrade 2 models to carry special upgraded weapons in any combination listed below. Now you have to choose between three predetermined builds that contain 2 of the same upgrade weapon in each with some limited options to upgrade the squad further. Some people might suffer under this particular change if they went for variety in their squad weapons loadout but I largely repeated weapons within a squad so came out with legal combos (at least with regards to THIS change). Overall, I think the change is a net positive for the game as squad building was considered by many to be unnecessarily complex. This doesn't make it much less complex but any change in that direction overall is probably a good one.

And now I come to my single biggest complaint with the new book and it's mechanics. Previously, the south was unique in that you started with 4 gears in a squad and had the OPTION of upgrading to a 5th; this was the case since the original blitz version of the game. Some squad boxes (like the Fire Support cadre) came with ONLY four models and plenty of players built their armies using blisters of 2 figures (which came with more upgrade bits) to get to the minimum squad size of 4. With the new book, every cadre has now been moved both in the fluff and in the rules to an effectively mandatory five models. There is technically an "option" to keep 4 gears for sufficiently stubborn commanders but the requirements and costs are so severe that you'd be a complete fool to use the option. You can ONLY use it with PL3 or PL4 armies (negating technically half the PL options available to a player)... I'm fine with that... You can ONLY use it with veteran squads... I'm fine with that as well even with the more limited number of vets slots effectively available to players with the Legion Noire and SIU RoN gone... You can ONLY remove a stock jaeger from the squad so the option isn't available to a third of gear squads right there... not happy with it but I don't see that restriction as unreasonable (just too strict IMO).

Despite all of the serious restrictions listed above, they decided that you also have to WASTE an additional veteran upgrade to remove the model as well with no other benefit. That last part is frankly BS as it is unnecessarily punitive to players that did nothing more "wrong" than building legal squads with blisters. In effect, you can only do this with maximumn two squads in your army (with the most elite ones excluded since they don't have Jaegers like Op Sec squads) and you end up wasting a minimum of half your veteran choices to no effect other than to make your existing squads legal. As I said before, I'm a fan of simplifying the army construction rules but not at the expense of existing players who used an almost decade long army wide standard mechanic. It's been said that this was done supposedly for game balance but frankly the other restrictions are already balancing enough without the additional veteran slot cost. The tin-foil hat cynic in me sees this change along with the presented obvious solution of "BUY MORE MODELS!!!" as more of a money grab than a rebalancing of a mechanic, especially coming from a company that would change game rules with a new edition every 2 1/2 years for "balance" reasons requiring players to spend money to largely buy the same tweaked rules at twice the rate of any other game company. See my original post in the thread for more thoughts on that. Either way, the fix for this is a simple change in one sentance on one page to get rid of the extra veteran cost that absolutely cripples players who did nothing wrong/cheesy/overpowered/etc. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this change might occur but I'm definitely not holding my breath as being fair to existing players comes at a cost of potential sales. Imagine the uproar if 40k marine squads suddenly went from 10/5 in a full squad and combat squad to 12/6 requiring every marine player to buy more models to make his existing long legal army legal yet again. Very poor move on DP9's part as you'll see the effect it has on my army in particular below when I got through it squad by squad.

FRP Games has some heavy gear stuff on UBER SALE. Use the code "END2012" to knock another 50% off of the CLEARANCE prices.

Here's a heavy gear link for you, that just lists clearance:

http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=overstock&div=0&level=0&mfg=DP9

Dunno if this will help you.

Thanks for the info! I actually already ordered from there and zeroed out their stock of King Cobras in anticipation of a new unit to add to the army (spoiler! coming in a later chapter of the review) but I appreciate the heads up as I didn't mention their sale here myself. For anyone willing to brave my walls of text, sorry about any typos as I'm focusing on writing the whole thing before proofreading for typos.


Part 3: Review of Individual Cadre Changes

In this section, I'll try going through each of my cadres in order to list the changes necessary to field my existing army in the new rules. I'll list whether or not the squad's general structure is legal with my current build and then specify which individual models are illegal and need to be converted. Skip to the bottom of this post for the much abbreviated TLR version and pic.

2x General Purpose Squads: Squads legal, 1x model in each ILLEGAL

These two squads largely came out ok as I stuck with well know variants of Jaegers overall and luckily added a 5th model for weapon upgrade variety. With the new 5 gears/squad rule almost without recourse, that 5th model that I made for variety out of leftover Jaegers saved the squads (even if the model variant itself is illegal). I upgraded the 5th gear with a paratrooper rifle that is no longer a weapons option but can relatively easily change the weapon to a LAC for another standard Jaeger or convert him to another third upgrade weapon usable with the now less "well-funded" rule without costing a valuable and much rarer veteran slot. As I stated earlier, the standardization of weapon upgrades within a squad also saved my bacon as I opted for 2x Lbzk upgrades instead of going for more variety with one of each. Overall, the changes necessary to this squad are what I'd expect in an army book change over and have no complaints.

Recon Squad: Squad ILLEGAL, all individual models legal

The curse of 5-gear squads strikes! My recon squad composed of legimately purchased two-packs of iguanas (to acquire the necessary but rare electronic warfare upgrade bits for variants) is now completely illegal. The squad can never gain a standard Jaeger in order to utilize the ridiculous rule for 4-gear squads so I'm now forced to buy another blister pack (leaving me with one unnecessary gear) or to break up the squad to fill spots left open in the myriad of other squads that get screwed over by this rule. I'm leaning to breaking up the squad as I frankly don't want another iguana and might not even have the empty slot to store him in my carrying case... This change is completely unfair and unnecessary in my book.



2x Strike Squads: One Squad ILLEGAL after combining parts of the two, one model in each ILLEGAL

The 5-gear squad rule strikes again! This time it strikes down two of my squads with one fell stroke. A quick solution to this fabricated issue is to take the black adder in one squad and add it to the other as the 5th gear. I actually considered several times using my desert viper blister to add to these cadres as a 5th gear but I frankly didn't need another desert viper but instead wanted a pit viper in the squad. I had hoped that the viper series would become more prolific and give me access to a pit viper somewhere but the exact opposite happened and the existing legal desert viper instead got cut out of the SRA list. Since I actually have two of these squads, buying an extra blister and trying to match it to the existing army's paint scheme (as well as buying another expensive set of decals since I'm almost out of my eagle emblems) is only moderately annoying as it doesn't end up leaving me with a useless gear like with the recon squad above. This squad also becomes mandatory veteran due to the watering-down of the well-funded rule that previously allowed me 2 blazing and 1 brawler mamba without a vet slot (as well as att/def3). The illegal models in each are the razorfang brawler mambas. The fix for this is relatively easy and I frankly expected this variant to go away. If it weren't for that 5 gear rule, these two squads would have turned out fairly well despite the changes.

2x Fire Support Squads: Both Squads ILLEGAL, one model in each ILLEGAL

5 gear squad rule combined with a entire gear model that just up and left the standard southern list completely. Sidewinders are now only available in the double veteran costing SRA specific swap squads so their removal leaves me with only 3 models in each FS cadre. I can't combine the models from both because of the new rules are choosing predetermined loadouts (2-3 support cobras OR 2-3 striking but not a mix of both). Except for breaking up my also illegal recon squad, I simply don't have any existing gears that can be put into this squad without making the few legal squads I have illegal. Luckily for me, you can swap the two Jaegers that are now a part of the revised FS cadres for 2 iguanas including a black box upgrade for veteran CGLs in gear regiments. Unfortuantely, I'll have to switch the hunting weapons back to the stock LAC to make the black box iggies legal. Two models (the sidewinders) and an entire cadre (the recon) are sacrificed to appease the 5-gear rule god. :(



Paratrooper Cadre: Squad ILLEGAL, 2 models ILLEGAL

Paratroopers are now simply not availabe in gear regiments at all so the squad is illegal despite it ironically being the ONLY squad that I had that was meant to be fielded at 5 gears. (The GP squads had the option but I never actually chose to do so). My two jaeger variants are halfway down the longbow upgrade tree and I always considered them to be fodder for simplification. Luckily removing the mortar isn't too much effort to do and paint but none of that matters if I can't take the squad in the first place.

Black Ops Cadre: Squad ILLEGAL, models legal

Formerly known as the Op Sec squad. Much like the recon squad, this squad was built using blisters of 2 models and is now illegal due to the size and has NO options for model transfers from other cadres. Yet again, I'd have to buy another blister and have a wasted miniature that I'd be unable to use. Ugghh... On the bright side, all the models currently there are legal due to my general adherence to RPG upgrades/downgrades. The loss of this squad's legally also precludes me from EVER fielding a PL4 army as I currently have no other options for the mandatory elite choice needed for PL4 armies. Major inconvience because of (surprise) the same stupid rule as almost every entry above.



Army Commander Model Choices: 1 of 2 ILLEGAL

Not that big of a deal here as I hoped that the brahmin EW striking cobra would stay legal as it matched an RPG variant but knew there was a good chance it would go away due to the complexity of the options needed to get there. I haven't decided what I'll do with that model yet but I'm not too worried. The king cobra actually became more available in the army bucking the "you're illegal now!!" trend noted above. I've always liked the model but it was frankly not worth fielding previously; the only reason I had one was that I like the design and I felt that I needed one for my cobra themed force. With FiF, it actually became more survivable with the changeover at no additional cost and gained an extra squad to join (more on that later) as well as increased numbers in strike squads. It's a bit overshadowed (both literally and figurately) by the Drake that is almost always available as a swap but it fits in with my army theme as well as plays on my nostalgia from 1st edition. Bravo, DP9! That's how you convince me to buy more... not with a crappy army breaking rule like mandatory 5 gear cadres but rather by making cool looking units actually worth using (but not overpowered). I order 3 cobras and a black adder blister at the FRP sale to boost my forces as I like those models and always wanted more. Carrot!! Not the stick!!



So to recap:

TL : DR....

This is what is left of my previously entirely legal army that could be fielded all together at the same time... Out of 9 squads, I'll be left with only 5 legal squads after switching models around as much as possible and doing a bunch of weapon and upgrade swaps. Almost half my army is now defunct thanks largely to a single rule.. the effectively mandatory 5 gear squad size.






That'll be it for tonight as I doubt even the most dedicated reader has gone through all this without falling asleep. Tomorrow I'll go over the mostly positive changes to what is left of my force as well as some possible new additions and ways to salvage stuff from the dreaded 5 gear cadre rule.

Alright... time for a bit of change of pace compared to the last couple of posts to focus mostly on the positive. The 5-gear rule and it's restrictions seem to be a bit controversial due to it's effects on army collections so DP9 staff mentioned that they will take a look at it (as well as some other changes that negatively affect model collections). There are no guarantees but any change would be appreciated so I won't beat that drum again until I see what changes, if any, occur. In addition, without the Gear Garage files for the new units, I can't easily compare TV costs between old and new. I did compare a few units and it seems like almost all went down in cost (usually 20-30TV) compared with L&L with the only cadre that went up that I checked being the previously undercosted support cobra FS cadre. I didn't ever use the GU5 values so I won't hazard a guess about that comparison.

So.. what has changed for the better?

1) Gear Regiments actually have a specific unique bonus as do the other regiments. Previously, having a gear regiment just meant that certain cadres and combat groups switched around the slot that they occupy. In this case, gear regiments can upgrade most gear cadre CGL's EW without a veteran slot and veteran Iguanas can upgrade to Black Box iggies as well. Previously, equivalent black box iggies were limited to only to recon cadres. Considering that my recon cadre isn't fieldable as is currently, the ability to swap them out (along with the other 2 standard iggies) to other under-strength squads is nice. I'll have to take off the light rifles (hunter upgrades are recon only) but I'll be able to add nice FO models to my fire support squads as well as give the army (and most importantly it's commander!) some ECCM without a recon cadre. Previously my striking brahmin commander filled that roll but that exotic set of swaps is gone and my AC was looking for a new home. A maneuverable ECCM iggy would definitely fit the bill.

2) Non-cadre specific upgrades are listed on one page instead of repeated on each squad's page cluttering it up. The added possibly unintended side effect is that some squads that didn't previously get access to certain upgrades (like armor jackets or att3) now do since it's a one size fits all listing.

3) Best of the Best now doesn't require an att3 veteran cadre to use so it acts effectively like a "free" veteran upgrade (as long as you just want attribute increases) in a PL3 or 4 army. With well funded being on a bit smaller budget than previously and non-vet att/def3 upgrades disappearing from most individual unit descriptions, any freebie like this helps.

4) GP Cadre: For my particular build, no problems here as the only thing that changed was the upgrade/swap lists got even bigger. Gunner upgrades (MACs) strangely aren't a standard loadout (not that anyone took them in the past except for brand new players) but the brand new flamm (flamethrower) Jaeger is. In addition, blitz Jaegers are now a possibility even for non-veteran cadres via the well funded rule. I actually don't need to change a thing with my two GP squads in order to field them. I had previously toyed around with upgrading a model in this to a sidewinder but that option (as well as the sidewinder in almost all the squads) is now gone.

5) Recon Cadre: Increased availability of the EW models in the squad compared with before. Black box iggies can now occupy 4 spots in the cadre (previously max 2) including the gear regiment bonus and the new to blitz variant Loudmouth is an available upgrade for two. I can't think of a single thing that got worse with this squad as long as you own 5 models. This is a big boost to the EW power of the south which before was frankly very lacking. There is some talk about the massive ELINT detect rating but that model isn't likely to ever make an appearance in my army and am not too familiar with it. It seems that it would be a must buy for non-SRA armies who face stealth armies like Black Talons on a regular basis.

6) Strike Squads: Overall, I'd say this one (at least for me) took a hit compared with before. The previous strike squad was so chocked full of options when you factored in well-funded. I previously got the exact cadre I wanted for both my strike squads without spending a veteran choice. Unfortunately, with the not-as-well funded rule being more limited and the first blazing mamba upgrade and att/def 3 gone from the non-vet list, there is no choice for me but to use the now more valuable and limited vet slots on my strike squads. A second problem for me is that the previously available desert viper option is now gone and that model was ironically the only unbuilt blister that I had left. For those building one of these from scratch, the positives compared with before is that the King Cobra is no longer a vet only upgrade and you can now get multiples of. In addition, flammcobras are now a new upgrade option as well. While I don't think I'll take advantage of the flammcobra uprages as I've hit my likely limit of 7 cobras, I did just order 3 more King Cobras specifically for the new SRA only heavy strike cadre and I could instead just add them here instead. The Drake, the newest gearstrider in the army, makes his appearance as a swap for two Cobras in the squad. He's got better armor, stats, and weapons than a King Cobra and the same upgraded 0 maneuverability for only a limited price increase. I'm not a fan of the model's look and I am a big fan of the Cobra's so I don't plan on picking up any but the relative power/cost of this model compared with similar gearstriders is causing a stir over on the DP9 forums... which means it must be a good choice for power builds!


7) Fire Support: With my cobra themed army, these squads hold a particular interest for me. Right off the bat, the first thing I noticed was that the style of double/triple of the same upgrade continues here as it did throughout the book. For me, this actually fits my previous designs for the fire support cadres as I always did triples of the same loadout. For others that had a single FS squad in their army with a mixed loadout for variety, it's not a good thing. The basic loadout options are regular cobras, striking cobras, and support cobras (with the first two throwing in a replaceable Black Adder in for a cobra). I do have a pair of adders (with another pack on the way) but they're earmarked to fill holes in my strike squads. Besides, in my case, I'd need to replace those adders anyways to get my 3 cobras in each squad. King Cobras are still two per squad but the first one has moved out of the regular upgrades into the vet only category. You can use the only well funding upgrade to take it without the vet slot though it's not too big of a change. The big changest to the FS cadre is instead a change to cobras overall in that they've gotten the previous brahmin upgrade to 0 maneuver as part of the standard chassis. Previously, this was an SRA vet (or SRA ties armies) only upgrade so the biggest beneficiaries of this change are non-SRA players but even SRA players benefit in that they can take a single one without a vet slot via well funded. The authentic support cobra with the junglemower gun has strangely moved to vet only but the practical effect of that ingame is nil for me personally since I previously *always* used vet FS squads for the Brahmin upgrades. Finally, the new big boy of the southern force, the gearstrider Drake, makes his 2nd appearance in the FS squad with a vet option to upgrade two models. Slashing cobras upgrades got a large boost in cost but this is partly mitigated by the overall decrease in cost of the basic cobra; I've never personally used one of these variants so I'm not sure if the general statline has a significant change that resulted in the increased cost. Finally, the artillery cobra makes its first appearance in blitz as well. If anything, I may turn my illegal AC brahmin cobra model into an artillery variant as I like the look.

8) Paratrooper Cadre: This unit took a big hit in availability in that is isn't available to gear regiments at all. You can still take one in a Special Forces regiment (which requires that you have an OpSec/Black Ops team handy) or a Paratrooper Regiment (which means your whole army has to be capable of being airdropped). The squad itself stayed largely the same except for the addition of a few more Mamba variants as well as the removal of the Mamba CGL requirement. This last part makes me happy because I never really liked the look of a single mamba sitting amongst the airbrake and roll bar equipped paratrooper gears so this is definitely a plus visually.

9) Black Ops: Formerly know as the OpSec cadre. The squad officially lost it's veteran requirement and the standard version of the squad includes att/def3 upgrades available without a vet slot. If you like Snake Eye mambas and have the models (and don't like Green Mambas due to their inferior stealth ratings), you'll likely end up spending vet slots anyways to get the right mix of full stealth gears. For new players, this unit is a worthwhile investment as its one of the few units you can take in a gear regiment that are elite which opens up the PL4 army option and opens up the full stealth army as the mandatory prerequisite for Spec Ops Regiments.

So, not much to visually post today as I've been occupied hobbywise recently with two Heavy Gear related projects. The first is collecting the models and bits necessary to make my army legal again. I'm almost done with the collection of these items and will soon be able to post pics of any changes as well as the trio of new Gears that I plan to add (namely 3x King Cobras!).

The second thing I've been working on is a set of simplified house rules for playing faster and simpler games of Blitz based on my own observations as well as those of people that I tried (unsuccessfully) to get into Blitz. I figured a formal blog was a better format for that project instead of my more visual modelling blog here. If anyone is interested in learning how to possibly play quicker games of Heavy Gear that still feel like Heavy Gear and use the same core rules and mechanics, feel free to check out the blog below.

http://scifisitzkrieg.blogspot.com/



More updates to this particular blog will likely start over the upcoming weekend when I get the chance to start breaking some arms/legs/weapon mounts on my gears!

Just noticed your sig in the X-Wing thread and as I started playing HGB myself this month I thought I'd give this a bump to see what you were doing in that vein at the moment.
So there.

Most of my Heavy Gear related hobby effort over the past two months has been focused on the blog. I've started playing on Vassal since I still have no opponents in my metro area unfortunately which has taken the little wind I had in my sails for converting my army with the newest field guide. I do hope sometime in the next month to actually finish the guys needing conversion only and then start work on the three King Cobras I have waiting in the blister.

Even though the required conversions are less than what I needed to do in the first place to get the models finished, I consider it poor game design when my 35 model HG force needs more work to stay legal with one book change than the 300+ models combined I have for Blood Angels, IG, Dark Angel, and Tau forces I own.

I can definitely see that blunting your enthusiasm, which is a shame.
From everything I've read it seems like DP9 were doing it with the intent of creating a more coherent game in the long run rather than to profit in the short term. Doesn't change your situation right now of course.

I'm about to start putting my NuCoal gears together and hope to get my second game in this weekend.

Well, it's been a while since I did a substantial update but I finally got around to updating my army back to 100% WYSIWIG legal after the Forged in Fire field guide changes. As previously stated, my standard build under Locked and Loaded only had 20 of the 36 figures come through unscathed and playable as is. Some whole units are unusable (usually due to the switch to 5 gear squads) like my Op Sec/Black Ops Cadre whereas I'm able to salvage others by folding them into other squads that need a fifth (like my recon squad that *poof* just became CGLs for other 4 gear cadres). In a nutshell, I've got 10 models that I needed to convert (see spoiler below) and another two squads that I can't use until I get an extra Snakeye mamba blister (on the way).



As for new figs/units, I picked up the some extra King Cobras (since I'm going with a heavy Cobra theme for the army) and got an xmas iggy that I'll be turning into my new Chatterbox AC as well. Also, I built two free turrets for support options as well using dried out GW paint pots and left over bits both from 40k as well as HG (including the HRPs/HACs from my cobras that no longer have access to them. I didn't take pictures of the just converted/patched figures but rather only of the completely new additions. Here we have the built and base coated Heavy Strike Squad King and Hooded Cobras as well as my AC Chatterbox Iguana and a spare Jaeger that I need to make a squad legal at 5 models. I tried adding a bit more dynamic poses to the King Cobras as I'm not a fan of the "come at me, bro!" standard gorilla pose. One model is done up in a simple firing position (like my original King Cobra model) whereas another is running and the third is in a resting Captain Morgan pose. The Iggy is the kneeling xmas Iguana that I converted to a chatterbox. I kept body and shield but replaced the baton with a vibrorapier and added the Chatterbox head and sensor equipment.



I've gotten as far as doing the main colors on the models as well as the primary wash. GW changed their washes and I had to mix a bit of the Reikland Fleshwash into my remaining supply of Ogryn Flesh in order to try and match the army colors a bit more closely. The models below still need multiple details like sensors eyes, rocket tips, and power cords done but they're at least half way done! One of the two turrets with both its weapon options also is shown below. It's nothing spectacular but it was also pretty much free except for the minimal cost of the glue and paint to put it together.



I've still got to finish the models above (some painting, decals, basing, and then overcoating) as well as start work on my Green Mamba for my Black Ops squad (which when finished will also allow me to field my paratrooper squad as well). After that, the only forseeable work for the army that I'm considering at the moment working on terrain and possibly buying a model to use as my airstrike counter. I'm not a fan of the super tiny official airstrike counter and am considering something a bit larger to use for airstrikes. The top contender at the moment is the Seraphim Dropzone Commander model as it slightly reminds me of the Azrael HG Southern Bomber from the RPG. I think I'd have to round out some of the corners to make the model look a bit more southern but otherwise I think it'll make a good model. I'm still not set though on the idea as it sort of feels like a bit of a waste of time and money to use on something that only appears for a single turn (assuming you even take the option with your support points!).




The terrain I mentioned above consists of a few roadblock highway dividers made from old Forgeworld sprues as well as putting together the Dropzone Commander Cityscape cardstock set that I just got. When the army is finished and the buildings constructed, I'll take a group shot in the southern metropolis!

Do it. Fact: Having a painted, extra cool counter for your one-turn effects, like air support or orbital bombardments, means a higher chance of success!

It's a FACT.

I hope that's true. The only web theory that I've encountered myself is the new painted model curse where they do nothing their first time out on the tabletop. I think though that I'll likely do the Archangel fighters instead. I've got exactly two slots left in my GW foam and the Seraphim sticks out a bit too much. I found the pics on the Hawk Games website showing the scale of the fighters and the pair of Archangels would fit in the slots whereas the Seraphim tail would be an issue.

Briancj, I hope you're right about the painted model airstrikes working better than just empty bases or tokens because I bought some!

Finished my triple King Cobras (one regular, two hooded variants) along with the airstrike markers and some additional stragglers (Jaeger Gunner and Chatterbox Iguana). I broke down and finally bought the snakeyes blister I need to make my Black Ops squad legal (which will allow me to use my paratrooper cadre as well) but the ebay seller is taking his/her sweet time shipping them despite marking them shipped with tracking a week ago (with no actual info on the tracking)... grumble... grumble... I've also got some Visigoths that I got a great deal on supposedly on the way as well so hopefully both will arrive next week. As always, the pics below are hosted on dakka so you can click on them to be taken to their gallery page for all your zooming in needs.



I've also been assembling the Dropzone Commander Cityscape set I picked up a few weeks ago and am very happy with my purchase. It's solid cardstock that is preglued and somewhat scored so it's very easy to put together. You just bend into the rectangular shape and then glue down the roof ledges and roof floor into their proper positions. Technically, you don't have to glue either as the tight roof fit is good enough to keep the building in the correct shape via friction and not gluing would allow you to disassemble the building for easy storage/transport as well. The only thing is that I would *NOT* put any models on the rooftop if you don't glue it except maybe 6mm-12mm plastic or light resin infantry as a metal model can cause the roof to fold back down. With superglue, the roof is strong enough to even support a relatively heavy metal model like the King Cobras above (I tried!). A surprising tidbit is that putting the buildings together used up ALOT of superglue; I had 5 of the smaller 0.7oz tubes and still needed to make a run for more to finish the last couple.



The set retails at $45 USD and includes 20 buildings (4 of each of 5 sizes) as well as 24 double sided 1'x1' tiles (enough to make a 4x6' game table). I tend to use 3x4' tables for my Heavy Gear Flash games (see my blog link in my sig) and that is how I built the city above. I took one of each building and made it into two separate "damaged" and rubble states which is why the buildings on the right are so dark compared to the others. As you can see, the 20 buildings populate a 3x4' table quite nicely without any other terrain. If you've got additional terrain, it's probably a good idea to use it on a 4x6' space using all the tiles as the building density you see above would be exactly half. That's not, btw, a complaint as I think the value you get for your $45 purchase is incredible with this set but rather an opinion that a 4x6' table made up to be a true city needs about 1 1/2 sets of buildings and some additional terrain (cars, roadblocks, forests, statues, etc) to feel full.



Here's a close up of the second largest building along with some common and not so common minis for scale. The DZC scale is technically 10mm and I think the building work well for both Heavy Gear (12mm) and Robotech (6mm), the two main games I intend to use this with. The HG Sidewinder is the official version (albeit converted a bit in pose) but the Robotech minis are plastic and metal kits from long ago which are a bit bigger than the ones coming out soon (fingers crossed!) from the Palladium Robotech Tactics kickstarter. I've included a tape measure taped to the building as well to give you a measurement of the scale (metric just like the ones shown in the robotech kickstarter pics). Also pictured above is a papercraft building created on my upper end of medium grade printer on the best settings using the heaviest cardstock I can with my printer. While I'm admittedly comparing apples to oranges (the DP9 colors are more pastel than the darker DZC pdf files), the quality of what I built doesn't compare to that of the Cityscape buildings.

I definitely recommend the set for anyone looking for a high quality yet cheap and easy to assemble urban terrain set. If the set were a movie, I'd give it 3 1/2 stars out of 4 with points taken off only for a slightly low building density (25 buildings for $50 would have been better IMO) and the strange lack of simple road curves on the tiles (only straight pieces and intersections... no turns). All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase.

I started work on two unexpected bundles today. My initial idea with my SRA army was a strict gear regiment with one cadre of each type minimum of every cadre availabe to the SRA. With the new cadre options available to the SRA in FIF, I'd have to add another 50% more models to my collection (3 republican squads, city gear squad, MP, etc). When I saw a good deal on some Visigoths, I decided to just get them instead. They allow me to field a PL4 gear regiment and (with the Black Ops cadre when its back to full strength) that means that I'll be able to field my full collection with two army lists (PL4 Gear Regiment and PL3 Spec Ops Regiment).

The Khan variant seemed like a no brainer so I wanted to model both the visigoths as such even if the variant model doesn't currently exist. The tech diagrams in FIF seem to show some electronics behind the cupola on the turret plus front/rear bumpers that aren't on the normal model. I decided to use the Khan turret bit from my unsold old upgrade pack plus the armored skirts from the same to convert the standard new style Visigoth to a Khan.





It's not shown in the picture but the turret is also magnetized as well just in case I want to use my other upgrade bits to make another variant (unlikely frankly as the Khan is hands down my favorite).

I really appreciate the DZC review!

 warboss wrote:

Wow, I've always been fond of the DP9 models, but with your painting on them, they're awesome !!

The buildings look great for playing too... Nice review !

Thanks! I'm glad the review was a help. It really is a good terrain set for the price and I'm looking forward to using it for the first time.

Well, I've gone and done it.. I've finally finished my southern army yet again. I finished up the tanks this weekend and taken a few glamour shots (hey, might as well call it like it is!) of the whole force. I ran out of my Ogryn Flesh Wash on my gears just before I decided to buy the Visigoths and had to get a pot of the new replacement, Reikland Fleshshade. I've used GW's new washes over the past year while finishing my Space Marine army and I can say without a doubt that I don't like the new formulations. They don't "flow" properly (or at least how I am used to washes doing) and dry on flat surfaces as splotchy messes. I've tried three colors over the past year and had the same issue, including with the Visigoth tanks. I had to do light but heavy dry brushing to cover up some of the splotches (very little paint but with alot of brush pressure) and I'm okay overall with the results.



With these two tanks, I've officially run out of space in my Heavy Gear carrying case. Barring some drastic change in the future like another army book coming out for the South, my army is pretty much done. I've still got an allied NuCoal force still NIB that I'll start if I ever find a local opponent to play against. In the meantime, here is the re-finished army on a part of the city scape terrain. It's just shy of 4000TV that can be fielded as a PL3 Spec Ops Regiment and a PL4 Gear Regiment.



Paratrooper Cadre, General Purpose Cadre, and Fire Support Cadre along with one of the Visigoths and an HRP Support Option Turret



Two Strike Squads, Airstrike markers, and a Fire Support Cadre



Second General Purpose and Fire Support Cadres, Visigoth and HRP Turret along with a Black Ops Cadre

Now you need some games!

Impressive army !!!

[Also agree with your point on the new washes ]

Not really a southern update specifically but I did finish my Northern OpFor force that I plan to have face my primary southern army in any demos.  The exact make up of the squads as well as the squads themselves is still in flux but pictured here is the initial loadout I worked on.  Veteran GP, Strike, and FS squads with an infantry platoon for variety.  I got the army mostly painted except for a few figs that I had to match to the existing scheme (as well as fix dozens of paint chips, breaks, and simply missing parts that the guy didn't include).  Thanks to Azure Devil on the dp9 forums for helping me out with some AGMs bits!



Picture below is part of my cityscape cardboard terrain set dressed up with a few extras like trees and roadblocks. I recently commented on HG terrain density so figured I'd post here and see what people thought about this. The set below is a 3'x4' table using 4/5 of the buildings included in one cityscape set (and 1/2 the floor tiles as it comes with 4'x6'). I like the density below except for right in the front of the pic (and it's mirror spot on the other side) but feel it would be a bit too sparse on a full 4x6 table (basically double the space below). I do plan on adding a few n-scale plastic cars as well to liven up the city additionally.



As usual with my pics, you can click on them to go to the dakkadakka.com gallery for all your zooming needs in case you need a closer look.

It's been a while but I've been working on some minis over the past 6 months in the meantime. I've had Nucoal minis for a while and needed a kick in the pants to finally work on them and the holidays gave me the free time to finish most of them off. Here are two Nucoal hovertank squads as well as two sections of GREL hoverbike infantry to back them up. Also, I took advantage of the incredible savings during the Battle Foam Black Friday sale and picked up a custom foam bag to carry my minis around in. It took some time but I finally got my battlefoam order.  The bag and foam are quite nice but the wait is definitely something to consider if you're ordering during the supposedly Christmas season sale.  I'll probably take a bit of a break from painting till I the North pdf comes out as I'm not sure which army I'll want to work on finishing next.  Pictured below is most of my completely painted/based/finished collection for the South, North, and now Nucoal.  Like most gamers, I still have alot of figures in the blister as well as needing anything from TLC or a complete stripping/repaint.  With almost 3 dozen gears if you combine the north and nucoal still needing work, I should have enough models to fill up most of those empty slots by the time the beta rules come out.

Well, it's taken quite a while but the Northern Field Guide PDF has finally come out after an almost 6 month delay. I spent the past week working through the various builds (including some extra time this weekend after the revised version came out) and my army is ready for Lion's Wrath. I added one completely new fig (the Cheetah SECCOM) and converted three others (two Flash Jaguars and a Rabid Jaguar) from existing painted models to give me a legal force. My original strike squad build was affected by the changes as you couldn't use a pair of Mbzks and AGMs in the same build so I had to find them a new home. I converted two other Jaguars into Flash variants to fill up the empty spots and converted a regular Grizzly into a Feral Rabid variant to lead my new dragoon squad made up of remnants from my now illegal GP squad (no Mbzks at all in GPs anymore).





I painted up the Cheetah SECCOM to match the army's painting scheme (see earlier in this thread for some issues with that purchase or at the blog link in my sig) which is clean and simple and matches my paint style. I don't really use any advanced techniques but rather just use 5-6 base colors (not including the primer) and 2-3 washes while trying to stay within the lines. My Cheetah SECCOM is upgraded with an extra sturdy box (the shield) from an Arena blister I had (as is the base Strike Cheetah that I used to create the model). My strike squad is the "elite" squad (although technically a Spec choice on the force org) with high tech and high accuracy weapons via the lasers and guided missiles. My dragoon and fire support squad provide the OOMF! with more traditional high damage direct and indirect fire weaponry like rockets, mortars, bazookas, and snub cannons. The airborne squad is there to provide some variety in playstyle as well as deployment. The infantry I plan on using will be from the support guide free pdf that DP9 released a few months back. Normally gear regiments have no access to regular foot infantry but I didn't see any disclaimers about that in the support guide so I'll be using my infantry as Pioneer variants instead. I have a single badger that I picked up second hand but it doesn't have the bits to use it as a mechanized infantry platoon nor do I have the necessary second badger to go along with it.

PL4 Northern NLC Gear Regiment

Veteran Fire Support: Cheetah CGL, 2x Strike Jags, 2x Grizzlies
Veteran Strike: Cheetah CGL, 2x Flash Jags, 2x Arrow Jags
Veteran Airborne: Cheetah SECCOM CGL, 4x Hunter Paratroopers
Veteran Dragoon: Feral Rabid Grizzly CGL, 2x Assault Hunters, 2x Strike Hunters
Pioneer Infantry Platoon (2x Sections)

My initial army was Northern Guard and I do plan on playing them as NG most of the time when I don't use all the various combat groups but in order to use the whole force at once I need the NLC special swaps to get my Cheetah SECCOM in. For smaller games around 1000TV, I plan on using the infantry, strike, and fire support squads as NG instead in line with my original army intent.

I've still got another dozen or so gears to paint up for my Northern collection (some weasels, white cats, kodiaks, ferrets, and more jaguars) but I think I'll hold off for now. I've got enough to play twice the average sized game with the above force. My Nucoal force (pictured above earlier in the thread) still has a GP squad of Chasseur Mk2 gears that needs to be assembled and painted and I'll likely switch gears (get it!?!) to them instead over the next few weeks.

Just a quick update this time.... Next up on my collection "to do" list will be the final entry (for now) and my last unpainted models in my Nucoal collection, my veteran Chasseur MkII GP squad. I *really* like the look of these models and think they capture both the classic HG look as well as add a bit more modern flair to the polar styles for extra variety. I had a couple of miscasts (two LRPs that I just replaced from my bits box) and a fractured knee miscast but luckily it was on the odd man out 6th gear out of 3 blisters when I only need 5 for the squad. The LRPs aren't fixable but the fracture through the knee could be eventually converted to a bent knee position with a bit of greenstuff and some pinning so no big problem there either. The first primer coat is on the models and I do intend to cover some of the deep recess bare metal spots but I figured I'd post a pic in the meantime.




I'm still figuring out how to work out my Nucoal paint scheme (see my hovertanks and infantry earlier in the thread) for the gears but I'm hoping to get them done before a possible game this weekend. *fingers crossed*

Nice models... And with the infantry close by, it gives the army a whole new sense of scale !

Well done

Cool stuff warboss!

I'll have to post up shots of what I'm working on soon. I've just been a slacker and haven't been taking pictures of things as I go.

I did steal your idea about using the Dropzone Commander citystuff for Heavy Gear. I actually just dropped the order on the Warstore to get it coming, along with some more Gears!

So are the NUCOAL Gears getting the Black/Red/White scheme of the other stuff?

Yggdrasil wrote:Nice models... And with the infantry close by, it gives the army a whole new sense of scale !

Well done

Thanks. I made a concerted hobby push to showcase a larger variety of models since I started this thread about my southern army. During a demo a few years back, one friend thought that Heavy Gear *only* had gear models and nothing else because of the name and a quick look at my gear regiment southern army that I made purposely pre-FIF to be only gears. Since then, I've added tanks, hover vehicles, and infantry in parts but no striders yet. I had planned on adding some northern striders but the model in playtesting for the Northern PDF that I liked and planned to buy got shunted just yesterday over ot Paxton... grumble... The bright side is that it saves me about $80 I guess.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Cool stuff warboss!

I'll have to post up shots of what I'm working on soon. I've just been a slacker and haven't been taking pictures of things as I go.

I did steal your idea about using the Dropzone Commander citystuff for Heavy Gear. I actually just dropped the order on the Warstore to get it coming, along with some more Gears!

So are the NUCOAL Gears getting the Black/Red/White scheme of the other stuff?

Thanks and, yeah, they're getting the black/white/red scheme but I'm not sure just yet on the details. I'll be using the army painter guide I made up a few years back when Dakka introduced the feature (see link above and below). There is a reason I chose the chasseur MkII and fusiliers as the base models for it!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/painter.jsp?i=14

I definitely recommend the cityscape set as it is a great terrain purchase for the price. I assembled my buildings but I'd probably not recommend doing that for most folks if storage is an issue (and I do regret it a bit) or if you don't plan on putting infantr on the roof. You can just unfold them if you leave them as is and they occupy a hell of alot less space in that case. I actually did a comic book style battle report a while back showcasing the cityscape set so feel free to check it out.

http://scifisitzkrieg.blogspot.com/2013/10/tales-from-terra-nova-battle-report.html

Well... I'm not entirely happy with the scheme I chose for the hovertanks as I was going for bright contrasting colors to the base coat of black but it came out a bit too contrasting and that follows on to the gears likely as well. This is what I've been working with so far and I hope ti doesn't look too much like someone in a tuxedo with white gloves!

I think it looks fine. The White, as White usually is, is going to be rather glaring, but that isn't a bad thing really. I see what you're saying about the 'gloves' though.

The color-scheme creator doesn't account for things like painting the lens on the helmet, and other little doodads and details that you would paint on to break up color patches.

I should add, great use of the plethora of skull decals on the other NuCoal guys. I didn't even catch that the first time I looked at them! I think all of us gamers have 300 stacks of those bloody things that we never use. I might go fishing through them for cool stuff to put on my MP Gear Shields...