Heavy Gear - CanGames Battle 1

For the CanGames tournament, all players were required to play two 2-hour games against opponents assinged by the organizers. Each side was given two objectives to complete, which were worth 2 VP each if they were held uncontested.

For my first battle, I was paired up with DP9 forumite Riker2800. Riker2800 fielded his finely painted CEF force, which consisted of 2 LHT-71s, 2 HC-3s, and an Interdiction Frame Squad (which included his army commander). In the following picture you can see how we had initially set up our forces.

I've made a few observations in bullet points below, as oppsed to a turn-by-turn battle report, since there was little time to take photos, let alone write it all down. I think they'll highlight what went on during the battle, and help potential commanders chose their forces in the future.

1. Grizzlies Die Quickly: Before I had even had a chance to take my turn, one of my Grizzlies was overkilled by Riker2800’s army commander using an SLC. This occurred even while my Grizzly was at secondary movement combat speed to keep the negative defence modifiers down. I would learn quickly throughout the day that these Gears should be kept out of the thickest fighting with plenty of cover between them and the enemy.

2. Field Guns Rule: For a mere 35 points, this artillery piece, in conjunction with my infantry squads FO, managed to take out two Frames (including his army commander) by the end of turn 1, and the rest of the Interdiction Squad and an additional HC-3 before the battle was through. A perfect example of why victory in this game is not all about the mecha, but through the use of combined arms.

Below is a picture of such combined arms in action. The Infantry squad to the far left had FO for the Field Gun, which had spent it's action on "Stand-by for Coordinates." A successful roll of the dice and half of Riker2800's Frame squad is no more!

3. Demo Drones are Deadly: Riker2800 had advanced his LHT-71s up his right flank. Only a single squad of infantry stood between him breaking through my lines and advancing on my rear flank. However, for a +5 TV upgrade, my infantry managed to get themselves in position to take out his two LHT-71s with their demo drone. Big things come in small packages indeed, and combined with the LHT-71’s Weak Facing (underside) flaw, proved to surprisingly deadly to his assault.

Here's a picture I took of the roll I got for attacking the LHT-71 with my demo drone...a natural six, nice!

My Field Gun readies to rain down another round on the CEF Frames after my Hunter on the left flank FOs for it.

And finally, we have a picture after all the dust had settled. I had completely destroyed his forces and won full VPs in the process.

My force can no go back to the hanger and readly themselves for it's second challenge...

Heavy Gear - DP9 at CanGames 2010

I'm going to break out my coverage of what went down at CanGames into a variety of posts, because, one: I can't figure out if it's me or the blog software that won't allow me to post more than a couple of picture's per entry, and; two, it makes the whole event easier to read.

For those that don't know, CanGames is one of Canada's oldest gaming convention, which has been occurring in Ottawa for thirty-odd years, bringing together all manner of dice roller, be it board games, role-playing games, or tabletop wargames. DP9 is a regular at the convention, and hosts it's Canadian National Championship tournament at the event.

While I've lived in Ottawa in the past, this was my first time at the convention itself, and a first time for gaming conventions in general. It was a great, relaxed atmosphere, and I've a few thoughts on it below:

1. DP9 Community: The DP9 community has got to be one of the friendliest in gaming. Players in the tournament came from near and far, with the local Ottawa Pod Squad in attendance, while other players came from Trois-Rivieres, Toronto, Rhode Island and Long Island. The DP9 crew, John and Robert, are what every gaming company should strive to be like when it comes to servicing their customers. A specific example came up when I was playing, and realized my movement dice had the secondary movement top speed printed on them twice. John replaced them for me free of charge (I can't say I'd expect similar customer service from GW).
2. Variety of Armies: All sorts of armies were seen, which is great compared to other games that succumb to "codex creep" and is a great indicator of balance in HGB. From what I observed, there were all sorts of factions played, including tank-exclusive Northern armies, Humanist strider-exclusive armies, Black Talons with Edenite allies, and all-Caprician Combat Mount armies. Plenty of players brought the new Naga strider model in all of it's configurations (the command Naga variant I saw is my personal favourite) and DP9 forumite Izzy's Hetairoi-heavy force looked good.
3. Lucky Omens: I'll get into how I did in the tournament in my next few posts, but I think part of my success came down to some lucky omens. First, I had to get back to my car to get some change for parking, to find a bird had shit on my driver's door handle, which is lucky omen one. Second, I got the last two Rickard's Red from the bar, which I stated to the bartender "these better be lucky." I think they turned out to be lucky indeed!

Here's a few general pictures I took of the DP9 area of CanGames:

The playing area set-up before the tournament has started.

DP9 forumites Ghostrider (on the left) battles Attila of Terra for tournament glory!

A Humanist strider-heavy army fights for Badland supremacy versus a Northern tank-exclusive force.


DP9's John Nguyen looks on as the Humanst forces emerge victorius!


Next, I'll go into how I fared in my individual battles.

Heavy Gear - My CanGames Army

Here's the force composition I took to the Heavy Gear Blitz Canadian National Championship tournament that occurred at CanGames over the weekend. For those that don't know what was allowed, it was a PL3 800 TV army with Support Points (SP) being converted into Command Points (CP). Here's a picture of the total package:

And here's what it looks like by the numbers (note that I've used to the post-1940 upgrades available to the North and my GP Squad has taken UMFA upgrades as per the multi-state build rules):

Northern Guard roster, 800 TV, PL 3, SPs 0, CPs 4

Veteran Fire Support Squad (Auxiliary) [Army Command Group] 350 TV

• Headhunter (CGL)
• Jaguar upgrade +15 TV
• Boost DEF and LD by 1 +20 TV
• Boost ATK and DEF to 3 + 10 TV
• Hunter
• Swap LAC to MAC +5 TV
• Hunter
• Swap LAC to MAC +5 TV
• Grizzly
• Grizzly

Veteran General Purpose Squad (Core) 315 TV

• Headhunter (CGL)
• Sabretooth upgrade + 20 TV
• Boost ATK and DEF to 3 + 10 TV
• Hunter
• Tiger upgrade + 20 TV
• Swap LAC to MBZK +10 TV
• Boost ATK and DEF to 3 +10 TV
• Hunter
• Swap LAC to MBZK + 10 TV
• Boost ATK and DEF to 3 +10 TV
• Hunter
• Swap LAC and LRP to SC +5 TV
• Add HPZF +5 TV
• “Tank Hunter” Upgrade +10 TV
• Boost ATK and DEF to 3 +10 TV
• Hunter
• SD Hunter downgrade -15 TV
• Swap LAC to MAC +5 TV
• Boost ATK and DEF to 3 +10 TV

Infantry Platoon (Core)

• Infantry Squad (CGL)
• Add demo drone +5 TV
• Infantry Squad
• Add TD + 10 TV
• Infantry Squad
• Add AGR + 5 TV
• Infantry Squad
• Add AGR + 5 TV

Veteran Field Gun Section (Specialist)

• Field Gun (CGL)
• Boost ATK to 3 + 5 TV

Heavy Gear - Tigers, Sabretooths, Oh My!

I've been working like crazy to finish off my force for the upcoming Heavy Gear tournament at CanGames and finalizling my force compositon. Both of these Gears will be in my GP Squad, where I will make use of both the Northern Guard multi-force army build rules and the Post-1940 upgrades. WIth these, I hope to give my GP Squad a bit more punch, and to make it feel like aStrike Squad lite. May I present to you:

So why have I decided to take these old workhorses in my army? Here's a couple of points I have in favour of them (thanks to DP9 forumite IceRaptor for his previous research and being a UMFA fan):

1. Tiger: The Tiger adds some much needed swagger to a GP Squad. For +20 TV upgrade on a Hunter, you get a Gear with 2 points of armour, 1 point of detect 1 point of Auto Comm, and a +1 ATK modfier at the cost of a Sturdy Box. Though it has the same DEF mod as a Hunter, the Tiger should not be used to sit back. It's MRP, in addtion to the MBZK I've added to it, screams "assault," and the Gear should be used accordingly, softening up enemies and taking objectives while being supported by friendly fire
2. Sabretooth: I've added a Sabretooth to my army for a number of reasons. For a +20 TV upgrade to a Headhunter, I've got a much more group leader-friendly machine. It has the same stats as the Tiger above, but retains the Study Box and adds +1 Comm and ECCM:2. The ECCM is key to it usefulness both generally and specifically in my force. My force in particular is light on EW specific Gears (IMO a Gear can jam my actions when it's been destroyed by heavy weaponry) and this adds the ability for my army commander to throw a wrench in my openents plan when they try and EW action against me.

Well, I'm off to CanGames for the weekend, and I hopefully will have some pictures for you from it along with a write up or two of how my force fared.

Heavy Gear - Bombs over Bagh..er, Barrington (Basin)!

In a past post I had compared the cost of taking two Field Guns (FG) versus a Long Fang Naga, and how the difference in 10 TV was not a justification to cheap out on the strider. This is all well and good if you are a Southern player. However, this train of thought does not apply to us Northern players though. Here I've painted up two FG for my force:

Not the most exciting elements I've added to the battlefield, but they do have their uses. Here are a couple of reasons I think they should be included in a Northern Force:

1. Cheap: For a mere 35 TV, you're getting a weapon ( x22 damage) that can take out larger Gears, Striders and Light Tanks with ease! Not to mention it has an AE perk so that even if you don't damage them, you still have the ability to Stun them.
2. Spam Attacks: One of the most simple combined actions in Heavy Gear is the Standy-by for Coordinates (SBC) and Forward Observation (FO). By having your FG activate first and spend it's action of SBC, you know have the ability to attack any enemy unit FOed with impunity. Combine this with an Infantry Platoon using it's actions to play spotter, and you will force your opponent to spend actions on ECM to either block the FO, or risk suffering significant damage.

Dungeons and Dragons - Eat Sunlight, Vile Undead!

After a long hiatus, my gaming buddies and I are getting back into a D&D campaign. The difference this time being that I'm moving from behind the DM's screen into the players seat. And what better way to make this transfer than painting up my own individual mini for my PC!

My character is a paladin (side note: I started playing D&D back in the days of 2E, when such classes as the paladin and bard were virtually unatainable due to random attribute generation, so I'm taking this opportunity to play one) and I've chosen Reaper's Dark Haven miniature 03010 Silas, Male Cleric to represent him. Here he is painted up:

I like this figure a lot, because while he may seem static, I feel there is a lot of character sculpted into him: the many pouches would indicate he's well-versed in adventuring, and his hands on his hips ooze self-confidence. I'll probably give him a much more paladin-sounding throwback name, such as "Thaco the Thoughtful" and have him shout such prose as mentioned in the title of this entry, since D&D is after all heroic fantasy and paladins would be expected to shout such before charging head-first into his enemies!

Heavy Gear - Sleeping with the Enemy

After the long winter months, spring is in the air here in Ontario, and with it come a renewed vigor for painting miniatures! I've gotten through another project, and here are the pictures of my results:

So, after all these posts about building my Northern Army, why have I decided to paint a Long Fang Naga of all things? Two reasons, actually: first, I got bored of painting layer after layer of brown, and; second, I think the Naga is one of the most iconic machines in Heavy Gear, and I'm a bit jealous that the South have a strider that has some survivability!

Now, I don't play South at all, but I do have a couple of things to say about the Long Fang Naga. I find that most Southern forces, if they field a Naga, will field the vanilla variety, with their anti-gear and anti-tank missiles. The Long Fang Naga is 80 TV, but you could also get 2 field guns for 70 TV. Southern players may also be apt to save the 10 TV, but here are some points why it is better to take the Naga over the field guns:

1. Mobile Weapon Platform: Field guns have a speed of 0/1 whereas Nagas have a speed of W 4/7 or G 6/12. The efficiency of your field guns will be won and lost where they are placed before the battle even starts, whereas the Naga can react to keep its guns throughout the game.
2. Armoured: Anything stronger than a brisk breeze will destroy a field gun (it has an armour value of 8), while the Naga has an armour value of 23. Both units will be stationary when they fire, but there is a difference of on 1 between the movement modifiers for Defence. This comes much more in handy when dealing with Air Strikes or sniper units with rifles.

And now I'm off to paint my PC for my upcoming D&D campaign. More on that soon!