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 Mmmpi wrote:
I guess he's sold most of his last order of starters, and is looking forward to the new ones.

I don't disagree with the low numbers though. 300 isn't much.

Also, the guy I spoke with is making consistent sales of HG stuff, not brisk sales.

But he is willing to put in special orders, and doesn't charge shipping, so I may have found a local source.

At least the owner is supporting the game and the interested customers which is a plus for both. Over the years, I've seen plenty of complaints on the internet about no one stocking the game outside of North America once Wayland cleared out their EU distributor stockpile. Heck, most of us in the home region of North America don't have local stores that stock it by default and at best have to special order. It's been years since I looked at internet retailers so I don't even know if they started stocking the plastic kits since the release; years ago, most of them cleared out their metal/resin stock and I took advantage of some of those deals.

The funny thing is, my FLGS back home actually would be stocking it, if one of the owners didn't have a personal problem with Rob.

Just curious: has anyone actually ever *played* a game of Heavy Gear Arena?

I wanted to try running a campaign, but the rules are kinda incomprehensible. So I looked up to see if anyone had made a video or an easy tutorial to explain the basic flow of the game, and 100% of the content I've found are either reviews of the starter set (that only address the quality of the minis) and unboxing videos of the starter set. I'm starting to think that Robert DuBois and I are the only two people who have ever tried to play a game (and lord knows, he doesn't respond to email...).

I really like the idea of super tight-quarters Gear skirmishes, and a WWE-style campaign, but it feels like I'm going to be the only person on Earth playing this game, and it'd be nice to have an "expert" to bounce ideas/questions off of.

I tried playing both versions of Blitz before giving up and writing KOG light; I never attempted Arena, even though I own the Arena Spitting Cobra. I am curious as well.

 semifraki wrote:
Just curious: has anyone actually ever *played* a game of Heavy Gear Arena?

I wanted to try running a campaign, but the rules are kinda incomprehensible. So I looked up to see if anyone had made a video or an easy tutorial to explain the basic flow of the game, and 100% of the content I've found are either reviews of the starter set (that only address the quality of the minis) and unboxing videos of the starter set. I'm starting to think that Robert DuBois and I are the only two people who have ever tried to play a game (and lord knows, he doesn't respond to email...).

I really like the idea of super tight-quarters Gear skirmishes, and a WWE-style campaign, but it feels like I'm going to be the only person on Earth playing this game, and it'd be nice to have an "expert" to bounce ideas/questions off of.

Fairly certain no one ever played a game of Arena, especially Robert.

Never had the models to even try.

 semifraki wrote:
Just curious: has anyone actually ever *played* a game of Heavy Gear Arena?

I wanted to try running a campaign, but the rules are kinda incomprehensible. So I looked up to see if anyone had made a video or an easy tutorial to explain the basic flow of the game, and 100% of the content I've found are either reviews of the starter set (that only address the quality of the minis) and unboxing videos of the starter set. I'm starting to think that Robert DuBois and I are the only two people who have ever tried to play a game (and lord knows, he doesn't respond to email...).

I really like the idea of super tight-quarters Gear skirmishes, and a WWE-style campaign, but it feels like I'm going to be the only person on Earth playing this game, and it'd be nice to have an "expert" to bounce ideas/questions off of.

Not me. I was active on the DP9 forums when it was announced (and for years afterwards) and the few conversations I saw about it typically made it sound like a fan written mess of a ruleset that was both unbalanced and contradictory/incomplete on top of the poor editing you normally found in DP9 products of that era. You'd probably have more luck combing through that subforum there if it still exists.

It still exists and it hasn't been posted in since...April 2017. And that's the only post for that year.

I was about to post that it's understandable given that it's a discontinued game but it is still available apparently on DP9's store! At $40 for a 112pg color rulebook....

https://store.dp9.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=528&search=arena

Also, I'm getting that sketchy auto redirect to some scam website when I try going to dp9.com again.

Yea, DP9's website is... ... ... suspect at best.
Man, it's so frustrating seeing such a cool brand like Heavy Gear languish like this. You just want to shake them and say "DO THE BARE MINIMUM YOU NEED TO DO TO SUCCEED!" Hire a competent web designer. Get a copywriter to look over the books. Play test...like...at all. If this were any other industry, a competitor would have staged a hostile takeover by now.

In theory, moving from metal to plastic, and streamlining the rules with community review *was* the bare minimum required to succeed, and yet, here we are.

 semifraki wrote:
Yea, DP9's website is... ... ... suspect at best.
Man, it's so frustrating seeing such a cool brand like Heavy Gear languish like this. You just want to shake them and say "DO THE BARE MINIMUM YOU NEED TO DO TO SUCCEED!" Hire a competent web designer. Get a copywriter to look over the books. Play test...like...at all. If this were any other industry, a competitor would have staged a hostile takeover by now.

They do have a competent web designer and he actually posts here on occasion. The bigger question would be how many hours they're paying him for on an ongoing basis to maintain, secure, and update the website. It's an ongoing process and therefore expense.

So, a while back I posted a pair of lists. I finally got around to getting a start, and will be working on Lt. Reha's Souped up Hunter (Hunter XMG).

So I'm trying to write this campaign, and it revolves around a CEF capital ship crash landing in the Cajun Plains near Baton Rouge.

Do any of the sourcebooks cover large CEF ships and/or the Northern Acadians?

semifraki wrote:So I'm trying to write this campaign, and it revolves around a CEF capital ship crash landing in the Cajun Plains near Baton Rouge.

Do any of the sourcebooks cover large CEF ships and/or the Northern Acadians?

Not sure. I know some of the Blitz era books had landships on the cover like this so I'd guess your best bet would be to look in the War for Terra Nova series for big stuff like that. Being Blitz era books, though, they're not likely to have much backstory since they're campaign focused.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/79822/Heavy-Gear-Blitz-Terra-Nova-Gambit--The-War-for-Terra-Nova-Book-2?manufacturers_id=19

Maybe some of the older 1st/2nd edition RPG books have some info but I don't have any definitive knowledge on that personally.

Mmmpi wrote:So, a while back I posted a pair of lists. I finally got around to getting a start, and will be working on Lt. Reha's Souped up Hunter (Hunter XMG).

Sounds cool. I always wanted to use the HGA hunter as an XMG as it was the only 3D model that I liked in that game (at least from the ones revealed that I saw). Got pics of your model?

I'll post it after I have it assembled and painted.

 semifraki wrote:
So I'm trying to write this campaign, and it revolves around a CEF capital ship crash landing in the Cajun Plains near Baton Rouge.

Do any of the sourcebooks cover large CEF ships and/or the Northern Acadians?

Black Talon - Return to Cats Eye has plans of a CEF drop-pod carrier and individual drop pods. It's a big space ship but mainly cockpit, engines and a million hardpoints for drop pods. Two pages of schematics, nothing else.
Shattered Peace - The war for Terra Nova book #1 has an Assault Lander which is a dropship that can fit nine hovertanks, twelve Frames and a platoon or two of GRELs. Two pages of schematics with a paragraph of fluff.

Not exactly Capital ships, but it's something I guess? Shattered peace also has one of the Blitz missions take place on top of a CEF space ship, in space, but we only see a piece of terrain and no further info about the ship itself.

Terra Nova Gambit - The war for Terra Nova book #2 has one page of schematics and one paragraph of text for an Utopia capital ship.

I don't know if any pre-blitz books have the info you need.

SamuliA wrote:

 semifraki wrote:
So I'm trying to write this campaign, and it revolves around a CEF capital ship crash landing in the Cajun Plains near Baton Rouge.

Do any of the sourcebooks cover large CEF ships and/or the Northern Acadians?

Black Talon - Return to Cats Eye has plans of a CEF drop-pod carrier and individual drop pods. It's a big space ship but mainly cockpit, engines and a million hardpoints for drop pods. Two pages of schematics, nothing else.
Shattered Peace - The war for Terra Nova book #1 has an Assault Lander which is a dropship that can fit nine hovertanks, twelve Frames and a platoon or two of GRELs. Two pages of schematics with a paragraph of fluff.

Not exactly Capital ships, but it's something I guess? Shattered peace also has one of the Blitz missions take place on top of a CEF space ship, in space, but we only see a piece of terrain and no further info about the ship itself.

Terra Nova Gambit - The war for Terra Nova book #2 has one page of schematics and one paragraph of text for an Utopia capital ship.

I don't know if any pre-blitz books have the info you need.

Awesome! I think I'll check out Terra Nova Gambit and see what I find - I'm basically trying to write this campaign as a dungeon crawl, which is why I was so interested in Arena rules (I figured it would have better options for close quarters). I figure a capital ship wreckage would make for a cool setting - I just need to work the fluff out.

 semifraki wrote:
Just curious: has anyone actually ever *played* a game of Heavy Gear Arena?

I wanted to try running a campaign, but the rules are kinda incomprehensible. So I looked up to see if anyone had made a video or an easy tutorial to explain the basic flow of the game, and 100% of the content I've found are either reviews of the starter set (that only address the quality of the minis) and unboxing videos of the starter set. I'm starting to think that Robert DuBois and I are the only two people who have ever tried to play a game (and lord knows, he doesn't respond to email...).

I really like the idea of super tight-quarters Gear skirmishes, and a WWE-style campaign, but it feels like I'm going to be the only person on Earth playing this game, and it'd be nice to have an "expert" to bounce ideas/questions off of.

Friendly tip: Any non-sycophant I've ever talked to with direct knowledge have all said Robert has never been able to play any of the DP9 games they tried with him according to the rules.
But if he's already taking a while to respond to you, something you did or said somehow insulted him and you're probably never going to be able to get on his good side.

It seems like a few owners on BGG did manage to somewhat play Arena, and supposedly it was playtested, but well; also note that Arena was given a 4/5 complexity rating by users!

 semifraki wrote:
Yea, DP9's website is... ... ... suspect at best.
Man, it's so frustrating seeing such a cool brand like Heavy Gear languish like this.

You just want to shake them and say "DO THE BARE MINIMUM YOU NEED TO DO TO SUCCEED!"

Get a copywriter to look over the books. Play test...like...at all. If this were any other industry, a competitor would have staged a hostile takeover by now.

Having participated in three (or so?) DP9 "play tests processes", which apparently aren't designed to uncover flaws, as others here can relate;

Telling most of the folks "running" those playtests that you found a way to break something, how maybe the rules for [X] were unclear/faulty, or why a poorly thought-out pet idea/easter egg inclusion didn't work, was akin to prejudged heretics & apostates telling a holy inquisition about why they felt there is no God as the wood is being piled.
... then things got really nasty.

 semifraki wrote:
I'm basically trying to write this campaign as a dungeon crawl, which is why I was so interested in Arena rules (I figured it would have better options for close quarters).

Just how much rules complexity do you think that you need for your game? The DP9 rules are exceedingly complex, and not at all player-friendly. If you don't need high complexity rules, you can go with the current Blitz rules. Or, you can use my KOG light rules.

Arena was a very good idea very poorly executed, to the point of it being basically unplayable RAW. Kinda like the computer game, only you can try to play without their servers.

In hindsight, one takes a look at things like Aristeia and sees what HGA could have been. It is a damn shame.

As to Robert not answering your mails... well, it could be worse

Fun fact! When Rob was pushing the Rumbl app, I challenged him to a game. At the time I was in Western MA, and was willing to come to him.

Got turned down.

Worse still, he could have accepted!

 semifraki wrote:
Just curious: has anyone actually ever *played* a game of Heavy Gear Arena?

I wanted to try running a campaign, but the rules are kinda incomprehensible. So I looked up to see if anyone had made a video or an easy tutorial to explain the basic flow of the game, and 100% of the content I've found are either reviews of the starter set (that only address the quality of the minis) and unboxing videos of the starter set. I'm starting to think that Robert DuBois and I are the only two people who have ever tried to play a game (and lord knows, he doesn't respond to email...).

I really like the idea of super tight-quarters Gear skirmishes, and a WWE-style campaign, but it feels like I'm going to be the only person on Earth playing this game, and it'd be nice to have an "expert" to bounce ideas/questions off of.

I played it a couple of times.

Back when it first came out, I loved the idea behind it. I got the deluxe edition of the game (or whatever it was called) with the four minis, painted them up, started work on some scenery (DP9 wrote up a good article on putting together arena terrain), and went down to my local FLGS to try it out.

My vague recollection is that the combat rules are decent and mostly okay. There's an oddity or two in there. For instance, iirc if your gear pilot wants to try and perform a jump off of a ramp but fails his skill check, then he doesn't screw up the jump. Instead, he just stops short of the jump. This had us scratching our heads.

But aside from the odd moment like that, the combat rules worked. And that shouldn't be all that big of a surprise, since they were based off of the regular HG rules.

The big problems were in the campaign system. In particular, the salary cap stuff was just flat out not functional. I decided to put together a test team, so the first thing that I did was pick the type of team. No problem here. Then I checked the salary cap, and went to go purchase some gears. Basically, even using nothing but modified construction gears (i.e. the cheapest things available), it was impossible to put together a team that was under the salary cap. I noted this on the official forums. We didn't get any input from DP9. But the concensus from other players at the time was that the cap rules were essentially a confusing mess, the way that the cap rules seemed designed to work essentially didn't work, and some suggested "rules interpretations" were made which more or less worked, though they seemed to defeat the implied purpose of even having the caps.

 Albertorius wrote:
Worse still, he could have accepted!

True. The main goal was to have a game with the designers right there to answer rules questions as they came up. And Rob wasn't that person.

Plus he might have spent the whole time trying to sell me a game I was already playing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Finished up my first fully painted models.

WFPA AWAY!

Rules update for Blitz Beta

https://dp9forum.com/index.php?/topic/18426-2019-feedback-friday-rules-revision-discussion/


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry, discussion about proposed rules changes? I'm honestly not sure which.

If this new rules writer, the Rooster, is a long time fan, was he/she just not active on the forums? It the most likely answers and it looks like it's a completely new account with the first post in the thread. I suppose it could be a more well known account from back in the day but, in that case, why not use the original account? Regardless, I wish Rooster luck in trying to right the ship.

I honestly just assumed that Rooser was a new name for an already active member.

It's amazing that they're doing a synthetic points value calculator!

Could you explain what that means?