Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

DP9's newest release for Heavy Gear Blitz is now in print. Forged in Fire Southern Field Guide is the new army list book for the southern factions (MILICIA, Southern Republic Army, Eastern Sun Emirates forces, Humanist Alliance Protection Force, Mekong Dominion Peacekeepers) with expanded background, new rules, and more.


Available for $59.95 from the Dream Pod 9 Online Store, $69.95 with included PDF, or from local game stores or PDFs from Drive Thru RPG.

This is a 176 page full-color book. I think a Dakka poster contributed to the cover art...

I didn't know a dakkite contributed to the cover. Which one? I'm guessing he gets a credit so I don't think he/she is trying to keep it a secret (hopefully).

Look here.

Yay! Cover is fantastic. Any word on a fancy Peace River book?

While I can't link a specific url, one of the devs mentioned that they're the next army in line for a revamp. I'd expect it sometime around winter judging from the frequency of the previous two books (1/year) but that is just an educated guess on my part.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Balance wrote:
Look here.

Cool, thanks. You know... I never actually noticed there was a Fer de Lance hidden in there behind the flamesthrower gout of fire till I say the naked model version of the pic!

Sweet, I picked up the PDF a little while ago, great book, I'll need to get the print one here soon

 warboss wrote:
While I can't link a specific url, one of the devs mentioned that they're the next army in line for a revamp. I'd expect it sometime around winter judging from the frequency of the previous two books (1/year) but that is just an educated guess on my part.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Balance wrote:
Look here.

Cool, thanks. You know... I never actually noticed there was a Fer de Lance hidden in there behind the flamesthrower gout of fire till I say the naked model version of the pic!

I certainly hope you're right. I've been waiting on a new PR book to get into the game, I simply love the ruleset.

maceria wrote:

I certainly hope you're right. I've been waiting on a new PR book to get into the game, I simply love the ruleset.

I remembered where I heard it... I'd probably add a few months to the publication estimate as the southern book was delayed in the meantime.

As a general guideline. If given a date from anyone working with DP9 (myself inclduded), it's best to pad that by a bit.

(Really. In my case, the new website at www.dp9.com started in 2010, though I got sidetracked into a couple other projects along the way...)

 Balance wrote:
As a general guideline. If given a date from anyone working with DP9 (myself inclduded), it's best to pad that by a bit.

This couldn't possibly be any more true. Like when they say they're working on a new Jovian Chronicles Blitz game just as soon as they get Heavy Gear nailed down. They padded that one for what, 6 years before they finally just officially said "screw the JC fans"?

They had an open call for playtesters last year on their forums. I'm guessing they either got a lackluster response for that and/or the sales of the line (like with the RPG for Heavy Gear) didn't justify the time/expense of redoing the books. I'm sure a chicken or egg argument can be made for the lackluster sales but I doubt they'd give it up if they thought they could drum up as much interest with it as with HG.

For Jovian Chronicles? I remember a DP9 playtester call out about this time last year but all the questions were asking about how much Heavy Gear you play and what your favorite HG army was etc. I understand it's their most popular system and their cash cow, but I have to wonder how well JC and Gear Krieg could have done if they'd received even a fraction of the support that DP9 has given to HG over the last 10+ years.

IIRC the message was for playtesting possible Lightning Strike stuff about a year or so ago. Not technically JC but the minis version of it. Like I said, it's a chicken and egg situation. Both JC and GK got alot of support when they came out but neither really hit it big despite that support for whatever reasons. I picked up the LS book and minis and only played once a year at gencon as I never found anyone else willing to play. The forum has largely been dead as well over the past two years with a thread last updated in 2011 still on the front page.

I think with a company this size that they need to prioritze what they work on and the interest (and therefore profit) in JC/LS just isn't enough when compared to Blitz. They're only averaging a little over a book a year over the past few years as is. That said, maybe in another year or two the line will be ripe for a Kickstarter.

Anything dealing with Jovian Chronicles would require some work if they wanted to upgrade it to Blitz! status. The guys re-worked and re-tuned Heavy Gear from its Tactical origins to try and make it simpler, and they also wanted to make certain that other players didn't lose entire armies to the fallout. This led to a lot of twists, turns, and bumps in the road. The Pod runs with minimal staff, and largely volunteers for playtesters.

The company didn't say 'screw the JC fans', it's just a fact that you can't spread all your dividends across everything and expect it to pan out when you already have enough work on your hands re-tooling your favored universe so that interest is maintained and more people join in.

God bless, all.

-Brandon F.

I tend to assume that a theoretical JC Blitz would be applying the Blitz philosophy not just porting units over to a patched ruleset. I.E. moving to a fast-play engine that keeps the essentials of the setting while losing the excess bookkeeping. I would not want to tie down the designer of such a game to enforce any unneeded compatibility with Heavy Gear Blitz since they're very different settings.

But that's just my opinion.

I finally sat down with my copy of FiF last night. As a note, the layout works well in print, as the different page borders make identifying sections much easier. I'mw aiting for some more funds as my ESE force is getting rebuilt to have a nice Leagueless attachment with 2 Badlands Pythons and 2 Peacemaker Razorbacks as a nice 'Heavy Weapons' squad.