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Heavy Gear got me started in this whole hobby (specifically, HG2 on the PC.) I still have a small pile of minis (and a not-so-small pile of books!) that I absolutely refuse to let go of, no matter how many times I purge.

I suppose they're my version of a Hope Chest...

Same here (although in my case it was the art in the ads for the upcoming premiere of HG RPG at Gencon 1994 or 1995). After they discontinued/replaced both all my rulebooks and my minis in around two years, I found a way to let it go. Of course, I was sucked back around a decade later with the premiere of Blitz; that edition was also invalidated by L&L two years later but at least the minis were still good so that's improvement, right?!?! While I joke about it (and admittedly bring it up every chance I get), I paradoxically don't hold any grudge towards DP9 at all. I'm ambivalent towards the current rules largely because I've been unable to find anyone to try them out against in a regular fashion despite offering to use all of my own armies and accessories requiring no barrier of entry for potential opponents; I'm not a fan of the plastics myself (except for Caprice) but the fact that they didn't invalidate my metal minis means that I don't really mind their introduction either as I can just ignore them. I occasionally slip up and buy HG stuff (like my large haul two years ago of nostalgic RAFM minis and just a few months ago of a few more) but I've pretty much resigned myself to be that guy... the old grognard who talks about gaming/editions/IPs in years gone by.

GW and 40k, despite the improvements in 8th edition, has pretty much left me in the rear view mirror as I'm not a fan of that "combined arm$" style of game with superheavies fighting in every skirmish. Other financial choices I've made (Robotech Tactics and Halo Fleet Battles, I'm looking at you!) have ended badly as well. No one seems interested in the RPGs I'd like to play/run locally either (Shadowrun, Star Trek, 40k). It's a bit sad but dakka and my increasingly infrequent blog entries are my only forays into gaming as of late.

BTW, is your gamer pic from the Shadowrun pc/mobile games from a few years back like Returns and Hong Kong? I enjoyed that trio of games as well if that's the case.

I find myself in agreement with Sitzkrieg, though I came much later to the HG verse than him.

However, I live in hope because the alternative is despair, and given my current medication that is not a route I wish to explore in any great depth.

To hope for anything from DP9 is setting yourself up for a letdown.
I went and checked their boards, the last post about HG Blitz version whatever is dated from july. The last one on the "beta rules" section is from one month ago.

I've moved to X-Wing and FoW a few years ago, and I've been a happy puppy since.

You're forgetting the mini of the year (as in the only new miniature produced in 2018 and not say a contest for best of)... the 2018 chibi. Take that, you yellow vested pessimist!

 HudsonD wrote:
I've moved to X-Wing and FoW a few years ago, and I've been a happy puppy since.

Unfortunately, neither really scratch that heavy battle armor/mecha itch. I have a bigger Battletech presence in my local market than Heavy Gear. Otherwise, the only other options are Space Marines, Tau, or Khador. I am bored of Space Marines, I can't stand Khador., and I don't have the money to get in to a 40K army right now.

 Charistoph wrote:
I have a bigger Battletech presence in my local market than Heavy Gear.

I don't know if that's depressing or not.

 Firebreak wrote:

 Charistoph wrote:
I have a bigger Battletech presence in my local market than Heavy Gear.

I don't know if that's depressing or not.

The answer is, yes. There are actually quite a few people who still have their old Battletech stuff, and a couple that have gotten the newer stuff. But I've only seen one or two with Heavy Gear, and the only place that sold Heavy Gear was a card shop at the edge of the metropolis.

That sounds about right. I have never seen HG played in the wild, nor carried in volume at any shop.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
That sounds about right. I have never seen HG played in the wild, nor carried in volume at any shop.

It's a bit more common in Canada, especially as you get closer to Montreal, where DP9 is located. Still not common, however.

 John Prins wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
That sounds about right. I have never seen HG played in the wild, nor carried in volume at any shop.

It's a bit more common in Canada, especially as you get closer to Montreal, where DP9 is located. Still not common, however.

Hum, not really, no. It's dead in Montréal. I think there was a group in Ottawa, but that's about it, as far as I know.

 John Prins wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
That sounds about right. I have never seen HG played in the wild, nor carried in volume at any shop.

It's a bit more common in Canada, especially as you get closer to Montreal, where DP9 is located. Still not common, however.

I can't tell if you're talking about Heavy Gear or poutine... or both! Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate! And just in time for the holidays, some corporate skulduggery courtesy of Stompy Bot/whatever they're calling themselves now.

https://webfiles.thecse.com/sedar_filings/00036950/1812211436581520.pdf

Apparently the HG Assault game that has been inaccessible on steam for half this year was put on sort of sketchy platform for sale though dubious means according to the update. Lawsuits, like snowflakes, are flying every which way this holiday season! In the meantime, no one can access what they bought.

We should make some Heavy Gear Unseens for Battletech. Just to spread the word.

I once saw a game of HG played in my flgs. The store doesn’t carry any of it and the players were hoping to generate interest.

There’s a guy that plays BT locally. It’s pretty much the only game he’s played since the 80’s and he is the least friendly person around, so it is rare to see it actually getting played. When it is, nobody at that table is having any fun.

 n815e wrote:
I once saw a game of HG played in my flgs. The store doesn’t carry any of it and the players were hoping to generate interest.

There’s a guy that plays BT locally. It’s pretty much the only game he’s played since the 80’s and he is the least friendly person around, so it is rare to see it actually getting played. When it is, nobody at that table is having any fun.

You know, it wouldn't take much to fluff a crossover game. Nobody understands Battletech's hyperspace, not really. A mis-jump creates a gate connected to the Caprician network, and poof! Robotech vs VOTOMS. Er, I mean...

Gears are more the scale of Protomechs, though. One-on-one a mech's gonna win, but then gears are meant for actual warfare, not semi-ritualized, semi-knightly, semi-combat. So, do we have the Black Talons pop out in 3025 and fight some mercs? Or pop out in the Clan homeworlds, and have a hilarious misunderstanding, thinking it's a lost colony? Could be a fun game, one day.

I feel like the Wobbies would be BIG fans of FLAILs.

The Inner Sphere would probably LOVE Gears, as they provide some of the advantages of Protomechs, but without the issues of the psychotic breakdowns or being forever a quadriplegic. The AI would also be superior, which leads to other interesting implications for all of humanity.

Terra Nova could probably learn a lot of battlemech engineering which would vastly increase the potency of Gear Striders, to say nothing of what Aerospace Fighters could do to change that landscape.

When did the game become big in Japan?

https://twitter.com/Uncle_Heavy_Gea

 Firebreak wrote:
When did the game become big in Japan?

https://twitter.com/Uncle_Heavy_Gea

Last couple of years. Isn't it great to see. I mean it's like importing coal to Newcastle, but wow, just wow!

Does <300 followers count as big though in the land that birthed the robot combat genre and more specifically VOTOMS? Don't get me wrong... I'm glad that folks are having fun with it regardless of where they are but I don't see that count as much more significant than facebook likes on a page personally. I'll admit though that I'm not particularly social media savvy so maybe I'm wrong.

I'm a bit surprised that no one seems to comment on the internet that lawsuits are flying back and forth between the new stompy bot and the old names associated with stompy bot with regards to the HGA pc game.

Dakka has 120,000+ users, so <300 is pretty small.

I think if you were to go to a PC game forum, you'd find the HGA commentary. Not here or other TTWG forums.

 warboss wrote:
Does <300 followers count as big though in the land that birthed the robot combat genre and more specifically VOTOMS? Don't get me wrong... I'm glad that folks are having fun with it regardless of where they are but I don't see that count as much more significant than facebook likes on a page personally. I'll admit though that I'm not particularly social media savvy so maybe I'm wrong.

I'm a bit surprised that no one seems to comment on the internet that lawsuits are flying back and forth between the new stompy bot and the old names associated with stompy bot with regards to the HGA pc game.

What's left to say about Stompy Bot?

Remember the time they called us all jerks for their kickstarter failing? Good times, good times.

 Firebreak wrote:

What's left to say about Stompy Bot?

Remember the time they called us all jerks for their kickstarter failing? Good times, good times.

Yup, but that was the old Stompy Bot... the guys who, according to the new Blocplay, signed away the rights to publish HGA on an alternate platform that they just created for that purpose when they supposedly had no authorization to do so. The new Blocplay is totally different in that they want nothing to do with HGA or the people who paid money for it.

So MekTek made a great reputation for themselves in the modding community, became StompyBot and destroyed their reputation with HGA. Now a whole other company has bought the StompyBot name? Is the MekTek group still doing anything related to HG, and is the new StompyBot/Blocplay doing anything?

 Firebreak wrote:
So MekTek made a great reputation for themselves in the modding community, became StompyBot and destroyed their reputation with HGA. Now a whole other company has bought the StompyBot name? Is the MekTek group still doing anything related to HG, and is the new StompyBot/Blocplay doing anything?

Not so much. MekTek was always seen as a stubborn group of modders, forcing people to use there awful MekTek Launcher. They've always had an air of "We know best, you don't" Even when they clearly didn't know what the heck they were doing.

ferrous wrote:
Not so much. MekTek was always seen as a stubborn group of modders, forcing people to use there awful MekTek Launcher. They've always had an air of "We know best, you don't" Even when they clearly didn't know what the heck they were doing.

Did not know that! I thought they were very well-liked, and that was what got them the job, so to speak.

Is Blocplay actually different people, or just a name change?

According to the Canadian stock exchange site I linked, they seemed to have been trying to raise capital and kept selling off shares. Eventually they joined up with another company that specialized in that blocplay cryptomining distribution system combo (or whatever it is) and a bunch of people were forced out including John Nguyen who used to work at DP9 and the guy who came here years ago to school us on how great HGA was actually doing according to him without telling us that he worked for the company initially (as the chief technical officer?). After they were out, the name change to blocplay happened and apparently the developers were all let go (according to the comments on Steam for the game from someone who has defended the game for years despite the lack of progress). Somehow access to steam was lost on the developer side and 6 months of silence followed until the surprise announcement on facebook of this new company/platform hosting HGA. When I saw that, I went to the stock website and saw the post about lawsuits going back and forth. Take the above with a grain of salt though as it's just off the top of my head gathered from skimming the posts at the stock website every month or so.

From my outsider's perspective looking in, it seems like it's a choice between the people that took all the money and have strung everyone along for years without making a fully functioning product as promised versus new guys who want nothing to do with the old project and promises. I'm not sure if I have a preference between keeping the project shambling along like a Walking Dead zombie or just putting a bullet in HGA's head and burying it. I didn't back the crowdfunding though so I have the luxury of no money on the line regardless.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Dakka has 120,000+ users, so <300 is pretty small.

I think if you were to go to a PC game forum, you'd find the HGA commentary. Not here or other TTWG forums.

Doesn't cover all of Japan, but a store "near" me apparently makes a large (his words) yearly order. It seems he mostly sells to painters, though GW would be in the same boat if it wasn't for the US military and expats.

 Mmmpi wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Dakka has 120,000+ users, so <300 is pretty small.

Doesn't cover all of Japan, but a store "near" me apparently makes a large (his words) yearly order. It seems he mostly sells to painters, though GW would be in the same boat if it wasn't for the US military and expats.

Sure, but then Dakka isn't comprehensive, either. I just think that 300 is a tiny number in the grand scheme of things, although it could be a good-sized number for something as niche as HG.

The HG minis *are* nice, that's for sure. Or rather, were. I wonder what his customers think of the new plastics.

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.

OTOH, that 300 is roughly 2x as many as he 170 on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HeavyGear/

For how big and global reddit is, you'd think it'd have more followers. I guess it shows how niche HG is.