Heavy Gear - First Fight in a While!

So it's been a while but I finally managed to get a game of Heavy Gear Blitz in! Against gaming buddy and new opponent Jay, we battled it out in a North versus North slugfest to see who would be more devoted to the Prophet!

At our FLGS (X Planet in Mississauga, ON. One of the best shops around and the owner, Lionel, is a real stand-up guy!) we squared off with our opposing 700 TV forces. My force was a PL 3 UMFA group consisting of a GP squad with plenty of upgrades (skills upped, dedicated tankhunter snub cannons and Tiger/Sabretooth Gear upgrades), a Recon squad with 2 Bobcats and 2 Weasels, and a Field Gun Section with 2 Field guns and maxed attack skills. I hadn't used this combination of units before, and my thoughts before the game were it would definitely play to a "search and destroy" angle, my scout gears using their superior Sensor ratings to Detect enemies for the Field Guns to lay into. Jay had a generic North PL2 army with 2 GP squads (both with vanilla snubcannons), an infantry platoon and a Strider attachment consisting of a Mammoth that housed his army commander.

Here's a picture of how things were initially set up. Jay attacked from left to right and I right to left. With 700 TV forces we just had 2 OP to select missions from. We both chose Hold, Jay holding the large two-building complex and myself holding the small building my Gears are clustered around on the far edge of the table.

Here we have my Gears holding my objective. My Hunters trade shots with Jay's while the Bobcat FO's for the Field Guns.

Jay advances his Mammoth to take on my Sabretooth in a duel of Army Commanders. My AC must've been personally blessed by the Prophet himself before the battle, as he manged to to dodge 3 ATMs without taking any damage!

Jay referred to this duel as the "Mexican Standoff." While his SC-toting Hunter managed to take mine out, I didn't go without a fight, spending a CP to a parting shot and take him with me to my grave!

The beginning of the end for Jay's night. His AC killed, and his "hold" objective firmly in my control now thanks to some APGL shots from my Jaguar into his infantry that had gone Hull Down in his building, I begin to tighten my stranglehold on his remaining forces.

In the end I had managed to take 2 VP to his 0 VP. We both had a great time and vowed for another rematch. Jay has just begun to play HGB with some regularity, and has new units in the mail, so I'm looking foward to it! Some initial thoughts on the battle:

1. Two Field Guns are Better than One: In the past I've played with just one, but having two seems much better, especially at the beginning of the game. On my right flank Jay had set up both his GP squads, and I had two Hunters and Bobcat (which I didn't plan to us to) defend my objective. These really "thinned the rank" so that he was only able to bring 3 Hunters at me in the end!
2. Scout Gears can Skate: The Bobcat on my right flank can really dodge the heat, and was able to stick around long enough to FO many well placed shots from the Field Guns. The +2 DEF modifier at secondary combat speed really helped! I don't think I'll leave home without taking these little guys in the future.

Until the next battle...or whatever I finish painting!

Terrain - Follow the Miniature Road (A Tutorial)

Well, in the midst of finishing up my Pink Horrors, I've been sidetracked by the purchase of a PS3 and a terrain building project, a set of 12-15mm road pieces. Most 15mm scale terrain is dominated by World War II-era pieces due to the popularity of Flames of War. While those companies that cater to that market do an excellent job of building terrain, being a Heavy Gear Blitz player means my 15-ft tall war machines look a tiny bit out of place marching up and down dirt roads past European cottages.

So here is my attempt at building a credible set of 15mm modern and paved road pieces. Here's the materials are started off with:

• Polystyrene Lighting Panel (similar to what you'd find in your office space as a cover for florescent lighting);
• Tube of "No More Nails" (found in the adhesive section of Home Depot);
• Bag of Sand (found really cheap at Michaels)
• Can of Spray Stone Finish (Alabaster for a really fine finish
• Can of Primer
• Masking Tape
• Variety of Black, Grey, Brown and Yellow Paints (I use the cheap craft paint available at Wal-Mart for $2.00 a jar)
• Mixed Green Flock
• Static Grass

So, with the above grocery list of simply hobby materials, here's how I put my roads together.

1. Using a pair of shears, cut very slowly (the slower the better, I learned the hard way that if you cut fast you split and chip the panel) a 4" by 12" rectangle out of the polystyrene.
2. Using your masking tape, block off the inner 2" of the length of the rectangle (at the 15mm scale, 1" is roughly 1 lane on a road).
3. Using the tube of No More Nails, lay down a layer of the adhesive on the outer two bands not covered and heavily cover with sand, pressing down tightly on it make sure it has a strong bond.
4. About 10 minutes after putting the sand down, quickly rip up the masking tape, leaving a bare strip of panelling and leave to dry
5. Once dry, spray with primer, and leave to dry.
6. After the primer is dry, lay down a fine spray of spray stone finish along the inner band and prime again.
7. Paint the whole piece black, and layer the sandy outer bands with brown, and the inner band with dark grey, and finish with a single line of yellow down the middle of the band to determine the two lanes on the road.
8. Coat the brown sandy edges with flock, leaving a little bit of a shoulder, and put some static grass down on the very outer edges.

And here's a couple pictures of the finished product:

Warhammer 40,000 - It Was Nothing of This Earth, But a Peice of the Great Outside

For those that don't know, the title of this post is a quote taken from H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space. To give you a little history lesson on the background on the lore of Warhammer, it takes many pieces from Lovecraft's Cthulhu-mythos: the Great Old Ones in 40K are the same as Lovecraft's, but simply shoehorned into Games Workshop's intellectual property. But what does this all have to do with my painting blog? Well, look at the creatures I've painted below if you dare tempt the cosmic horror that awaits....

Yes, the first 5 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch out of the old 10-piece box. I've had these guys sitting around for a few years now in my treasure-box of yet-to-be-started projects. I felt I need to take a break from painting Terra Novan war machines, and these have hit the spot. What led me back to them was the release of the new plastic Horrors GW produces; while nicely sculpted models, I don't think they have the Cthulhu-like randomness to them that they've always been linked to in the fluff. Nor are the new ones pink, but flesh-coloured. So I thought, "hey, lets paint some models GW no longer produces (metal Horrors) with a paint GW no longer produces (Citadel Tentacle Pink)." Talk about your throwback mini!

So, while I don't play Chaos Daemons, I do play Chaos Space Marines, and daemons do have a role to play in their armies. So what do I think about them game-wise? Well, looking at their stats, they're marines in most respects, but with an invulnerable 5+ save, no guns, and quicker initiative. I think they're best used to bolster the troops in this objective-holding edition of 40K. Drop them where you're fighting a contested objective to help clear out your enemies with increased numbers, or have them hold ground(they are a troops choice and thus a game-winning unit) while your more elite units head to their next fight.

Thanks for reading, and now I'm off to enjoy the last week of summer vacationing at the cottage! Stay tuned to see how the next 5 Horrors turn out!

Heavy Gear - Free Loot Painted Up Pt. 2

It's felt like forever since I've posted on my blog (and I think it has with so much vacation time being taken this summer. I was in Boston for a week!). So here's the second bunch of Gears I won back at CanGames all painted up, the Weasel 2-Pack:

Despite is goofy look, this is one Gear you need if you play a Northern force. Hell, if you play a Leagueless force, you need it too! As I've mentioned in the past, the North is an army of specialists, and the Weasel specializes in EW capabilities. As a "downgrade" to the Cheetah via the Ferret in a Recon Squad, their greater Detect ability means you can Active Lock any target without really requiring a roll-off, and their great ECM 4 and ECCM 4 perks mean you will not find a Gear more useful in denying an enemies actions or protecting your own. Put them out of the way and they can keep your CP pool in working order as well with their Sat Uplink perk as well. Until next time, where I return to my roots in tabletop wargaming to paint something I've had stowed away in my hobby chest for years!

Heavy Gear - Free Loot Painted Up Pt. 1

With summer in full swing here in Ontario I've a variety of distractions to keep me away from painting. Whether it be soccer (the World Cup over the past month, the trials and tribulations of my beloved Reds Toronto FC, or actually playing in my work league) to getting out of the city and to the cottage every weekend, paiting minis has taken a bit of a back seat. However, I've managed to paint the first pack of mini winnings from the recent CanGames tournement. I present to you the results of painting up the Bobcat 2-Pack:

In-game, the Bobcat are found in UMFA and WFPA armies and are considered a downgrade of the Cheetah; I don't really see it that way. What I do see is a Gear that meets in the middle between the Hunter and the Cheetah, sacrificing some of it's Def and Detect and ECM features for increased armour. It still keeps the TD, which makes it a good mid-range spotter to paint targets in a combined-arms role for those friendly units with Guided weapons. Bobcats can also zip around in Ground Movement with good Def modifiers, keeping it alive to both claim objectives and tag find those targets your enemy has cleverly kept out of the line of fire.

Heavy Gear - Anti-Air Assets

The great monkeywrench to throw into your meticulously planned actions in HGB has to be an Airstrike. Airstrikes, for those that don't know, are a Support Point (SP) option that can be purchased to help the ground-based forces of the game. Airstrikes are deadly because when they attack, they only count terrain within 4" of their target and are armed with such things as AGMs. Chances are their target will be some sort of stationary unit you have that has a large gun which has been firing with impunity from beyond a piece of terrain blocking enemy line of sight. In other words, your BFG has suddenly been taken out by something that costs no TV and you have to change plans in a hurry. In a game as quick as HGB, that deciion can win or lose the game for you!

To counter Airstrikes you have the option of purchasing Anti-Air Assets. I found this turret from the old range of packaging when they had one to a blister down at The Hobby Kingdom in Burlington. Here's the results of me licking some paint on it:

For a single SP, I get to shoot back at those pesky Airstrikes. Airstrikes, I should also mention, can only be fired upon by those weapons with the AA trait. Most forces in the game really only have 1 or two units that have a dedicated AA weapon. For the South, the Hun and Visigoth have AA weapons, while the North has the Aller. If you don't want to sink a huge amount of TV into an MBT, this is a viable option. The one fault of an Airstrike is their fragile nature: they only have two damage boxes and the armour rating of a mainline Gear such as a Hunter or Jager, so getting a bead on them will definitely help counter your oppenent's monkeywreches with one of your own!

Heavy Gear - CanGames Battle 2

For my second battle, I was paired up against DP9 forumite TekRat04. TekRat04, for those that don't know, is the individual reponsible for developing the PDF movment and status counters that are available for download at http://www.dp9.com/. Tekrat04 fielded a Northern tank-exclusive army, which consisted of an Aller, Hardy Aller, and Jaxon Support Tank.

Battle 2 was fought over an urban board that was intersected by a large river that was considered Impassible Terrain. A single bridge allowed passage to and from either side. My objectives were to HOLD the monument on my side of the board while at the same time SEIZE TekRat04's monument on his side of the board.

Here are a few bullets on observations made during this battle:

1. Top Speed Is Your Friend: This battle was more a case of losing VPs instead of gaining them; I had already gained 2 VP for placing my units within distance of my monument, my next goal was to seize TekRat04's. I needed my GP Squad to assault his monument. THis could only be achieved by literally staring down the guns of two Allers, quite possible the strongest unit of armour in the game. So I sent my units Top Speed over the bridge to do so, knowing they could certainly be cut to pieces, and that this move would possibly win or lose the game for me. Thanks to the favourable modifiers of Top Speed, after both Allers had fired all of their weapons at me, two Hunters had taken a Sturdy and Light level worth of damage respectively. The risk had certainly paid off! Here's a pic below of my GP Squad assaulting TekRat04's side of the river:

My beachhead is established on TekRat04's side of the river. I had taken out his Hardy Aller with a Parting Shot from my SC-carrying Hunter, while two Hunters made for his monument while dodging fire from his Aller. On the other side of the major road, my Sabretooth stalks his Jaxon Support Tank:

2. Smoke: TekRat04 used his Allers' Smoke Launchers to great effect. Due to the Concealment they created, I was unable to FO his tanks with my Infantry or Hunters, due to their low Detect ratings.

3. Tanks are Best Used Aggresively!: I had never encountered or used tanks before, but had been under the impression that in an 800 TV force they were almost too many points sunk into one unit. That impression is wrong, as TekRat04 sped forward to counter-assault my side of the river with is Aller. It soon become one shot, one kill as his superior weapons at Point Blank range put large railgun-shaped holes in many of my Gears. Below TekRat04's Aller attacks my MBZK-carrying Hunter and Stripped Down Hunter before assaulting my side of the river:

In the end, TekRat04's Jaxon was taken out by a barrage of MRPs from my Sabretooth, and his Aller was finally whittled down by a well-placed MBZK shot. I had emerged again with full VPs! Here's how my force looked after destroying all of his units:

In the end, my taking of full VPs in battles 1 and 2 lead me to tying with DP9 forumite Izzy as winner of the tournament. I got to go home with the title of "Canadian National Champion" and $50 dollars worth of free product from DP9. I picked up a Bobcat and Weasel 2-pack and so more dice counters.

I'd to thank everyone that participated in this tournament and the DP9 staff of doing an excellent job of hosting. I came away with a great experience, and am looking forward to defending my title next year. Until then, it's back to the hobby desk for me!