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If you sucker... I mean recruit! a third person to check it out you could recoup some of your money back by selling off the third faction (north, south, cef). The last price of the plastic starter is a good value for the number of models you get (even accounting for some shallower detail and on or two less gears than initially promised). If you try it out later this year, don't forgot to post your thoughts here in thread or (better yet) as a full battle report thread.

edit: that is assuming you're talking about the upcoming plastic one as John pointed out below

sqir666 wrote:
I've been eyeing Heavy Gear Blitz for a few years and thanks to a friend, I got talked into getting the 2 player set.

Sadly, though it seems that mecha games in my area don't seem to have a large following so people to play against are gonna be few and far between.

Which "2-player set" did you get? The current Blitz North v South set of metal models? Or the Kickstarter preorder of plastic stuff to be delivered at some future date? Really, you can get some killer deals with a couple of starters if you are patient on eBay.

Mecha games are definitely down, but it's not like you and your friend won't have fun with what you've got. I prefer to look at these small skirmish games as akin to a board game, where you buy a little stuff and just play with it.

I assumed the plastic one but, now that you mention it, I might have jumped the gun.

It was the metal North vs. South set, as I lacked the funds when the KS was live.

Sadly the friend that talked me into it HGB is a state away, but I'm currently trying to recruit a local friend into playing.

I personally love most skirmish games as I play them almost exclusively these days, as I found that I just don't have time to play a game that lasts for 4 hours and devolves into kill 'em all missions.

sqir666 wrote:
It was the metal North vs. South set, as I lacked the funds when the KS was live.

Sadly the friend that talked me into it HGB is a state away, but I'm currently trying to recruit a local friend into playing.

I personally love most skirmish games as I play them almost exclusively these days, as I found that I just don't have time to play a game that lasts for 4 hours and devolves into kill 'em all missions.

Ironically, the mission variety is one thing HG has traditionally been quite good at with good possibilites of games being won by maneuver and electronic warfare instead of just killing. As for the metal minis, you can at least take solace in that you've probably got the better quality minis (albeit at a higher price) compared with the plastics. Hopefully someone locally will pick up the starter at retail and you'll have someone to try out the rules with. I think most of us (I know I am) are in that same boat. For nostalgia, I decided to pick up some original larger scale RAFM minis and I'm working on another set of small armies in a different scale for a game I can't get anyone to play using the normal scale. YMMV.

I sincerely hope that this was your eBay buy, because that would be an awesome start. Both North & South Starter sets giving 20-ish gears for only $60 total.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
I sincerely hope that this was your eBay buy, because that would be an awesome start. Both North & South Starter sets giving 20-ish gears for only $60 total.

Man, I didn't even see that at all.

Instead I found this and ended up getting it.http://www.ebay.com/itm/162086789778 But I am a sucker for metal models.


If there is a ton of mission variety that will make me very happy, as I need mission variety to keep me interested in a game.

You did just fine. That Southern force is a great start, with a full range of General, Recon, Strike & double Support. And you've got the rules in the big box. Sure, it's slightly more, but it's also more models.

Did you get a Northern Starter force as well? Or you're going to split that big pile roughly in half to count as Northern?

Naw, I didn't get anything Northern except what came in the 2 player set as my local friend I'm trying to recruit into this game said he wanted to get Black Talons.

OK, that works.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
OK, that works.

Yeah, it hope it does work as I'm pretty excited to play this game as it looks like it will be a neat distraction from Infinity. That and I miss mecha games as Battletech and another kickstarter which shall not named have died off in my area.

If it's Robotech, it's ok. Most of us are Palladium victims and refugees as well.

 warboss wrote:
If it's Robotech, it's ok. Most of us are Palladium victims and refugees as well.

Now this makes me giggle a little that people are fleeing to HGB from that fiasco.

Yeah. Go see my gallery, and see if you can find pics of that unnamed KS. That I actually built. Never to be played.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Yeah. Go see my gallery, and see if you can find pics of that unnamed KS. That I actually built. Never to be played.

Man, that is a sad thing.

Well at least we all have Heavy Gear Blitz to discuss and play.

Indeed. Speaking of HG, and talking about "future-proofing" and such, I could use advice on how to configure my CEF Frames. The Southern stuff appears to be largely mono-build, based on iconic standard weapon loadouts. But the CEF stuff has a lot more options, such as whether to equip with Jump Jets and so forth.

I currently own:
2x 6-16 basic frame
2x 2-21 basic frame
2x 2-25 recon frame
3x 2-19 heavy frame

Any recommendations how I ought to fit them?

That I can't help you with. I've never even faced the CEF in any game ever let alone tried to build a force of them.

On a similar note, if anyone knows the purpose of infantry in the new rules (whether normal human or GREL), feel free to share some ideas as I'm not sure. In previous editions, they were cheap and easy spotters/FO'ers which helped you cinch some mission objectives for cheap points. I'm not sure they can do that now with the new rules and 12" spotting distance standard and such but admittedly I just quickly skimmed the rules for the first time in over a year.

Honestly, I would assemble most of those frames as Recon Frames as they are the only spotters that CEF seems to get in it's force list. But take my advice with a huge grain of salt.


Warboss, I've been wondering the exact same thing from the LRB. They don't seem able to really do much at all, at least on paper, except for the fact that they're super cheap compared to everything else.

I'll have to take a look on the official forums to see if that was brought up as well as take a bit closer look at the rules to see what they can do. I've got infantry both in my RAFM scale stuff as well as in Blitz scale that I'm curious if are worth using anymore.

It seems to me that the official forums are pretty dead most of the time.

sqir666 wrote:
It seems to me that the official forums are pretty dead most of the time.

They basically have assured of it over the years, yes.

Regarding infantry, it's like Epic Armageddon where unless you're shooting them with dedicated Anti-Infantry weapons you're not going to do much damage. Likewise their ability to enter buildings, fit through small gaps in terrain, and always take shots to their front arc means they're going to do what Infantry do, which is hold ground.

Nomeny wrote:
Regarding infantry, it's like Epic Armageddon where unless you're shooting them with dedicated Anti-Infantry weapons you're not going to do much damage. Likewise their ability to enter buildings, fit through small gaps in terrain, and always take shots to their front arc means they're going to do what Infantry do, which is hold ground.

They're a bit tougher than I first imagined due to the 1 damage max per shot rule if the weapon doesn't have AI. I did reread the spotting rules and it doesn't look as bad as I initially thought either. From my reading, even simple low tech infantry can spot and FO targets across the map as the 12" default sensor lock rule only applies to targets behind cover. So even if something is all the way across the table partially behind some cover, they can get spotted and FO'ed on the cheap by infantry. I'm trying to figure out if adding a small recon gear support option is better for a FS squad or if adding some much cheaper (but admittedly more limited) recon infantry support is.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On a side note, folks (notably Albertorius whose anime and manga shelves I'm now familiar with!) have helped me in the past with scale comparison pics so I figured I'd post this size comparison between similar Rafm and current metal Blitz scale models here. From L to R: cheetah scout, jager/hunter trooper, jaguar elite, and grizzly fire support gears. I don't own any gearstriders though nor any normal striders unfortunately.

The CEF Frames and Hover-tanks are painted, and up on Kickstarter. I'm really digging that NMM paintjob.

Also, the molds arrived in Los Angeles! I'm pretty excited.

That makes two of us!

I'll be picking those up once they hit retail.

It turns out my initial opinion on infantry being relatively useless for FO's was correct. I latter read the "lock" rules that said you didn't have to be within sensor range to have a lock and extended that to FO's mistakenly like in previous blitz. Unfortunately:

14.3 FORWARD OBSERVATION (ACTION):
To Forward Observe, the model must be either Braced or at Combat speed. The target of the Forward Observation action must be
within the Sensor Range of the Observer.

That pretty much kills the usefulness of recon infantry that isn't parachuting in for FO'ing since they have to be within 12" optimal everything that kills infantry weapon range to FO. I suppose you parachute them in on a suicide mission but that seems a waste of 5pts per base. I suppose you can use active sensors to boost that to a more reasonable 24" (but I'll have to double check that since it seems odd... "boosting sensors" for a bunch of eyes... I suppose that means they took out binoculars?) and have them lit up for shooting from most of the enemy army. I suppose a 4pt "bait" unit that keeps flipping on giant "shoot me!" signs might be an alternate use as well to suck up enemy actions.

See, this is why I simply have FO provide LOS to anything in their LOS. Easier.

In your homebrew rules?

Yeah, my homebrew rules. If someone wants to adopt them for HG play, no problem. But then, my concept for FO is just 2 guys with binoculars & radio.

And hopefully a map.