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So i recently discovered the existence of the Mecha combat game Heavy Gear. Some of the Mechs are very cool and the newly released vehicles are totally awesome.
Ive been saving up to buy into dropzone commander(love UCM air units) but now i am torn. DZC looks simpler and cheaper. Having a hard time shaking off Heavy Gear though.

Anyone recommend HG? Are these games the same scale even?

While I haven't played DZC, I own a few models and their terrain set. I do play HG though and I can recommend it although I personally feel it needs a few tweaks (see the link in my sig). They're approximately but not exactly the same scale. HG is roughly 12mm and DZC is 10mm. The terrain for DZC looks great with HG and I use the DZC jets for my airstrike counters.

I went for dzc and i love it the rule set is clean and fun. Havnt played hg but have heard good things so i wouldnt rule it out but my vote is dzc.

Played Both. Both are good games, but with flaws.

Of them, I think Heavy Gear is more interesting. It's got a greater variety in tactics and diversity in player choices. DZC is however, more beer and pretzelsy. It's mechanics are quick and fairly straightforward.

Depends how you like your games, but I personally prefer Heavy Gear.

The Heavy Gear universe is, bar none, my favourite setting in existence (I started sometime during the transition to 2nd Edition and was heavily in to the RPG and wargame at the time).

Heavy Gear Blitz is a neat little re-formulation of the original (somewhat complex) wargame in to something a bit more streamlined. It has its flaws and foibles that carried over from when it was a hex'n'chit wargame (wonkiness in the point system, the way cover is handled versus concealment, etc.) but for the most part it is solid. And of course, I think their more recent updates to the game have had a great effect on the overall game (though the recent release of the Southern army book displeased a lot of current players since it reverted a ton of the design mistakes that had stayed in since the original version of Blitz) but it has been slow going getting to everything and still likely wont be all finished up for a while.

For the most part any faction with a new army book (currently NuCoal and the South) are solid, as are the other major forces of Terra Nova (Peace River and the North, both in the original core book). But a lot of the other forces (CEF, Black Talon, the other colonies) need a lot of work done to catch up (though they are perfectly playable, to be sure).

Beyond that the only real difficulty is making sense of what books do what. The "core" book (Heavy Gear Blitz Locked & Loaded 1.1) is basically just for background material and a couple of army lists at this point. The Field Manual is basically the new core rulebook. It contains all of the addenda, errata and updates but it has no army lists in it. So at the very least you need to grab both books (the PDFs are free right now I believe).

If you are going in for the South or NuCoal/PAK forces, then you will need to grab their army books since the ones found in core are out of date. If you are looking to play CEF, Caprice (though they are pricey since the whole faction is resin quad-legged walkers) or Black Talon, then you need to grab Return to Cat's Eye, which is a book mostly containing updated background and army lists.

Sadly, the game is not very newbie friendly in terms of books right now, and likely wont be until the various field manuals are printed and the old core (which is only handy for army lists) can be replaced with a one stop shop.

But if you jump through all the hoops, there is definitely an awesome game in there. But for the next few years it is kind of doing a slow transition in to a new edition which makes picking it up a little tough without prompting from players who have been around for a bit. Luckily, Dream Pod 9 made the most complicated bit (core books) free PDFs so that you need only worry about picking up army books right now.

As for Drop Zone Commander, I haven't tried it yet. It looks a whole lot easier to pick up (especially with the starter box) but as for the gameplay, I have not one clue.

Yeah, Im thinking Heavy Gear is more for me. Im really digging the quick start rules on the website. Lock ons and coordinated attacks and crossfires, just reeks of coolness

Seriosly looking at Nucoal for a couple reasons. Hussar walker is my favorite model i think, plus they have a new book. Chasseur MK 2 is cool looking too with those jump jets. Probly gotta get a Voltiguer too cause its beastly and i like tanks just as much as mecha. Hovertanks rule also, Nucoal faction has all the coolest stuff it seems

If I get the Nucoal starter how do i fit Mk 2's in? I know you cant just add them to a squad but can you sub out a cuirassier for a Mk2?

Anybody know what the cool stuff is for Nucoal, playwise?

The hovertanks are quite versatile as well. The only way to get Chass Mk2's is via veteran general purpose squads (an upgrade) or via strike squads (a downgrade). I've got a budding nucoal army that I bought (haven't built yet) to give me a different playstyle from the north/south. I wanted the speed of the earth forces but still wanted to play heavy *GEAR* so nucoal fit the bill for that.

Def use the gear garage for building lists. It help organizes things in a way to help make all of that make sense

I'd recommend running proxy games with some space marines or something first if you're going HGB, the prices on it makes GW seem reasonable, and even on their own forum the members encourage it before you go buying a bunch of models that end up not working for you playstyle wise.