Heavy Gear (Virtual) Story Game Setup Instructions - Reunion Regulars (30 Spring TN1918)

 

30 Spring TN 1918

Welcome to the Reunion Regulars!  A small band of misfit ex-military mercenaries. You will serve as gear pilots to the best caravan escort unit money can buy.  No job too big, no pay too big! 

Moved to Slack:  https://join.slack.com/t/heavygearcamp-esl4812/shared_invite/zt-gmyspvj8-6akvaMmC7FLsJtyHWELztg

Heavy Gear and Airbrushes...

 So, on a whim.. I bought an airbrush.  It was kind of on sale and I knew it was faster to paint with according to a lot of painters on the net.  I had a lot of bare metal and very limited time to paint, so I figured I should give it a shot.  WOW!

I was actually surprised how easy it is especially after watching so many painters on line talk about using the airbrush.  Its easy.  Even easier if you just get airbrush ready paints.  Base camo patterns go on super fast.

Here is a good portion of my Northern Army with British Army Green on.  Took about 20 min. to put on two coats.

Here are some of the vehicles from my NuCoal Army with two coats of tan and then some brown for cam and black for exhaust.  Total time for this model with letting it dry, and switch paint along with the rest of the army, 1.5 hours.

Here are a bunch of my Southern troops with green and grey

Im Back...! And its Heavy Gear again

So,  due to a bunch of real world requirements, I have barely even touched a mini or book in months.  I then moved to the other side of the world and back again  in six months.  Crazy right?

So, when my household goods arrive soon, I will be working on getting some Heavy Gear going.  I just got my PRDF Army back from the painter.  They look great in a modified OCP pattern.  I have a bunch of Black Talons getting done next.  I am waiting on a huge NuCoal Army as well to get sent out after almost a year away from me.  Once assembled I will have three HG armies to play with. Too bad I just don't have any one to play with here.  My family will be a way for a month so I might get in some great games time permitting.  We'll see.  Next time some pictures...

800 TV PRDF vs PAK

800 TV game of Heavy Gear Blitz

In preparation for the upcoming PRDF Army book release, I decided to pull out my PRDF and start playing them some.  I drew a defensive mission and so was quite happy with the army I brought to the fight.

1 x GP squad w/ Warriors Vets 3/3
1 x Section of Anti-Gear Infantry
1 x FS squad w/ Warrior IV and one Crusader upgraded to a Juggernaut Cataphract
1 x Coyote
Objectives - Protect (Cataphract)
                    Survive (Infantry)
The PAK player fielded:

1 x Lt Hover tank squad (1xLHT-71 and 2xLHT-67s)
1 x Lt Hover tank squad (xLHT-71 and xLHT-67)
1 x GP squad of Jaegers
Objectives - Escape (1x Hovertank squad)
                    Scout (Cataphract)  later revised because it wasn't a static target to the cataphract's starting location.

In an awesome display of massed indirect fires, the PRDF splashes a LHT-68 in the first turn as it races south to escape off the southern end of the board.

The other tanks race south along the eastern side of the board.

The PAK forces in the west are initially much more cautious.

PAK forces try to envelop from the west, hoping to successfully scout the Cataphracts position.  This does not work out very well for the PAK as they loose two more tanks to deadly rail gun and mortar fire from the Catphract and the Coyote at close range while being supported by the warriors.  ** Using the Juggernaut upgrade is fantastic with the Cataphract.  The models size kind of misrepresents its actual size.  According to the stats it is a size 8 and so smaller than the LHTs which are size 10.  This being said playing chicken with tanks is a bad idea.**

All in all the game was close.  Unfortunately, we had to call it because of the time, but it was a very interesting duel between the PRDF and PAK.  Looking forward to the next one.

Heavy Gear Online You Tube Tutorial

These guys did a great tutorial Video on the basics of Heavy Gear with miniatures and a good camera. I highly recommend this as something to watch as a beginner or advanced player to refresh the basics.

Here is another one which is pretty good, if you can understand..hahaha.

HG Blitz Game: SRA vs WFP Drop Bears

   A buddy came over and played a little game today.  He decided to play with a 550TV SRA force with a GP squad, a FS squad and a section of Elans with AT.  I used a Drop Bear GP squad and a Dragoon squad with some improved 3ATK/3DEF.  That made a huge difference and saved the game for me.  The SRA drew offense and chose to assassinate my Army CDR, Seize an OBJ (Bottle top on hill) and Destroy my Dragoon squad.

The SRA came across the board pretty fast utilizing ground movement and cover as best they could.  The Bears got off a few shots, most notably a couple LGL rounds flattened several bases of Elans before they brought their AGMs and rockets to bear.

The Dragoon squad held the OBJ, while I tried to flank my GP squad to the right and then bring them around to destroy threats to the OBJ.

I finally was able to stack the modifiers coordinated fire and crossfire on a SRA Cobra and brought down the beast in a volley of fire from the GP squad.  It is so entirely clear that maneuvering to maximize your modifiers is the key to success in this game.  SRA attempted to kill my Cheetah failed and instead decided to close and melee to slow down the GP squads flanking maneuver.  It worked pretty well and slowed down the Bears for two turns, but cost them several gears.

   The Dragoon squad fought tenaciously to hold the OBJ but SRA gears stormed the hill. In desperation, a Dingo charged the Cobra supporting the units on the hill.  His assault caused 3 boxes of damage with his Spike gun.  This ended up being the turning point.  The Dragoon squad regrouped and with fire from the GP squad started to eliminate SRA gears near the OBJ.  At this point it was clear that the SRA no longer had the ability to accomplish any of its OBJs any time soon and so we called the game.    A great game.  We continued to learn tactics and how to best utilize the army lists, modifiers and rules to increase lethality.  Hopefully, we continue playing every week.

Heavy Gear Painting Update

So I took some time to start organizing and prepping my last remaining gears for painting.  I have had them sitting around for a long time (some for years....)

A Southern Strike Cadre with extra gears.  Allows me to change around the configuration of the cadre by just switching out gear combinations.  With these eight I can make Line, Brawler or Rapid Support Strike Cadres.  Gives me a lot of flexibility, but at the same time I can only field one cadre from them. Oh well.

My last two huns and my only Thunderhammer (a little present for my clearly under appreciated Northern forces)

Drakes....hhmmm not sure what to do with these.  One Command and one FS Variant

And my massive Northern point sink...three Mammoths.  I will play a game with all three one day

Heavy Gear Campaign: Operation Sudden Fire Scenario 7 (Mission 2): In and Out (Solo)

After the random choosing of this scenario, I opened up the book and read through the scenario.  I thought that a win for the South would bring about a probable Southern offensive operation to capitalize on the new intel gained from the last scenario.  I was pleasantly surprised that the writers really thought this storyline through very well.  I really applaud DP9 for such a well through out product.  They need to restart making these scenario books in this manner and not the random and non-interconnected scenarios they now have.  The only issue besides the army building I have had in conversions comes in the way of the terrain. The two hex maps that come with the Tac Pack are used in every scenario, however they adapted the maps drastically it seems.  So sometimes woods are boulder fields and imaginary lines create plateau effects, as in this scenario.  This was a bit challenging converting to a viable replicated miniature table.  But I did my best.

Used a bunch of foam sheets and books, covered by my trusty old army blanket

View from on top of the ridge (Northern Deployment Area) towards the Southern deployment zone

Looking up the hill from the Southern position

    The background of this scenario is that the Northern Commander, after receiving the report of the failed intercept of the escaping Southern recon unit, decided to preemptively attack the Southern forces before they took advantage of the intel.  A wise move and uses a feint to draw off the faster and more dangerous gear squads from the South's main force, which (if you read the other posts, you will remember) is the remnants of a regiment.  Well , their heavy support (2 x Nagas) are left with a couple gears and some infantry in the rear as the rest of the unit rushes off to attack the Northern feint attack.  The North on the other hand has assembled an interesting strike force to attack and destroy the Nagas.  They have one Strike Squad of 1x Razorback, 2x Jags and 2x Strike Cheetahs, along with Recon infnatry, Heavy Weapons Infantry (Rockets) and a cool unit called the Armor Killers armed with AGRs and Rockets and JUMP packs!  I was having pictures of Heinlein's original Starship Troopers from the book "jump" through my head.  Anyways, here is where I made my mistake in translating data from TAC to Blitz or just conversion...  IN the Scenario book these infantry units are all just squads of 10 men each.  Well, I just decided for ease of conversion I would make every squad a platoon....oopps.  That would mean 5 x platoons of infantry in this game.  Well, if I don't know infantry rules by the end of this game, I never will!

Starting positions

As the Southern commander starting first I assessed the Northern infantry as my greatest threat, not the gears.  If I could keep them at distance and prevent close range attacks and crossfire it would give my Nagas a better chance.  However, my mission goals were only to survive for 6 turns, not save the Nagas.  However, as damage is cumulative saving the Nagas for later would be important.  So my strategy was to use the infantry to move foraward and bog down the Southern avalanche down the hill and use them to spot, along with my two Iggys targets for my Long-fang and Nash Nagas.  Gears would sweep up anything that got through the infantry.

View from Southern Deployment Zone

 Switching caps to the North, I found that my units although well equipt, needed to close the distance to be effective and that would be an issue if I didn't find a way to punch through the Southern infantry.  As soon as the Southern infantry advanced I knew I had to keep the "lines"  somewhat in the middle of the battlefield.  If not I would not have room maneuver or range the enemy Nagas.  So, goal one stop the Southern infantry, goal two bypass with gears and Armor killers to get to the prize.  

View from Northern Deployment Zone

 After Turn 1, I found that the Southern troops were not as defenseless and easy as I forecasted.  Coordinated fire and IF pulverized the Northern Razorback as it moved forward to get a shot.  Also, as a large amount of the infantry are armed with just assault rifles or MGs they can't really effect the gears, and the gears are loaded out to kill heavies so like wise they can't kill infantry effectively.  I can see that the middle plateau of this battle field is going to be strewn with dead infantry and broken gears very quickly.  I think though the strategy for both sides would change dramatically if they did have only one squad of each type of infnatry.  This would allow for some much more dramatic moves.  The BNorth does have one badger to ferry the Heavy Infantry, but since I upgraded them to a platoon, I would have to ferry four squads now back and forth....I still could I guess, but the AGRs are in a good position shooting down from 2 elevation levels above aining that +1 already to cancel out range degradation....hmm  We'll see in Turn 2.

End of Turn 1

Too be continued.......

Heavy Gear Campaign: Operation Sudden Fire Scenario 1 (Mission 1): Block and Run (Solo)

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the comparable army lists for this scenario pack, but in the end I gave up.  Using cards from different lists and I just gave each side 2 CPs for the scenario.  I started this scenario on the last entry, but the wife interrupted and I was unable to finish this really fun scenario until today.  First off, playing solo was much more rewarding this time than any time in the past.  I fought each side really aggressively....as casualties will show.  I didn't keep the mission objectives in mind though and this cost both sides gears which will be missed later.  This highlights the importance and types of tactics used in a single game versus a campaign.  I did use a dedicated die roller which ensured I was not cheating.  She rolled the dice constantly for over 45 minutes on and off....

So we left off on turn 2.  Turn three was a good indication of the bloodbath that was beginning.
North won initiative and opted to let the South move first.  The Iggy and Dart in the west decided to try and run to rejoin the rest of the cadre in the east after successfully drawing three of the Northern gears to the west.   The Iggy was gunned down in the open as it about to reach cover by a Jaguar.  Luckily the pilot rolled a 6 and ejected safely.  The pilot scampered tot eh woods and was last seen riding off the field to  the north on a stolen tractor.  The Dart seeing its faster comrade in front erupt into flames, abruptly  returned to the hill for cover.

In the east the Southern gears enacted a pincer move which had mixed results.  The Iggy moved around the eastern side of the hill catching the Jag in crossfire.  The Mamba stormed over the hil and through the slot to pound the Jaguar to smithereens.  However, the Dart which went around the western side got a RFB shot in the face from the Strike Cheetah.

One of the Northern Hunters cut through the woods and finished off the Dart with crossfire.  

Turn 4 started with North winning initiative again...(I wasn't rolling)...  They opted to go first with some juicy targets available.  The Hunter in the woods blew a big hole in the back of the Mamba (no didn't have the upgraded back...oopps)  The Mamba attempted to flank the wary Cheetah,but was caught and blown to pieces by the Cheetahs RFB.  The Iggy in the east tried to chase down the Cheetah, but fumbled its perfect LRP shot into the Cheetah's back.  A this point the North could have possibly sealed the fate of the South by killing the Iggy, but instead focused on the Dart stuck to the southwest. 

   The Jag and the Hunter in the west had been working to get crossfire and eliminate the cover the lone Dart was effectively using on the hill to the south.  The Dart let fly with a lucky shot salvo of LRPs and decimated the Hunter as it moved through the open to the north of the hill.  Then the next turn it stunned the Jag with a HG and continued to hold off the 2nd Hunter as it approached from the NE.  In a last desperate attempt to rejoin the Iggy to the NE it sprinted to its death NE of the hill.

The Iggy in the east still persisted in catching the Cheetah and blew away the little nuisance once and for all with its LRPs just SW of the hill.

At this point the distance between the remaining Southern Iggy and the two Northern gears was so great that the North would never be able to catch the Iggy as it escaped North.  So the Southern intel analysts will be extremely happy with today's outcome.  Unfortunately it cost the South 4 gears and 3 pilots.  The Northern squad lost sight of its objectives and in an attempt to destroy gears rather than wear them down and prevent there escape failed to keep the South from winning the engagement.  The North lost three gears and pilots.

So South +2 VP for escape,  North 0 VP  On a random roll the South chooses scenario 7...In and Out

Heavy Gear Campaign: Operation Sudden Fire (Solo)

After a long hiatus, I have been able to touch and even play with some of my miniatures.  I have three things on my plate Heavy Gear wise.
   1) I am playing a campaign (Op Sudden Fire), on e of the old HG Tactical Scenario Books.  The campaign covers the survival of a Southern MILICIA company size element which had its regiment destroyed in poorly planned attacks on Northern outposts in the northern Badlands.  I am in the middle of the first scenario, where a Southern long range reconnaissance unit is trying to escape back to base with vital information.  They have been jammed by Northern elements and have no choice but to barrel through a Northern counter reconnaissance force.  I also decided to try using cards this time instead of the printed out army lists.

2)  I am working on Fleet scale task forces to use on the WH40K planet scape tiles.  The goal is to use the fleet scale as pieces on a campaign map to maneuver and accomplish objectives.  Of course each piece will relate to a unit and have a corresponding army list.  This will be another future goal.

3)  I am working on converting another HG Tac scenario book (The Two Towers) to Blitz for use in a campaign with a friend.  In order to dispense with the TV counts and very detailed balancing to have a total force pool of 8 combat groups.  No more than 50% can be veteran.  Damage and losses will felt as the campaign progresses as there will not be replacements, and only limited repair possibilities. 

Terraform Farm Raid on Mars (Jovian Chronicles Mars Campaign One)

2214.1
  Mars, Xanthe Terra, vic Hell Station
Mission 1 (used HGB rules, charters tracked on Silhouette)
The Republic 4thSquad, Martin's Martian Raiders was tasked with disrupting Federation Terraforming operations in the region in an effort to draw forces away from the Seigpunkt section of the boarder region.  This feint would allow Rep forces time to preposition and recover from the continuous stagnated trench warfare of the Eastern Front.
The squad led by the quick and skilled gear pilot Jason W. led a surprise raid after and airborne infiltration to the east of the objective, named Haleiwa Staion 6.  Attacking in the early morning hours, the squad overran the station and its reinforced infantry platoon, incurring massive casualties and damage to key installations.  Their withdraw route after the raid took them to the south as they planned to exfil via the Valles Marineris region and to the south of Pavonis Mons.  The highly rocky terrain and wreckage from the collapse of the orbital elevator in the region coupled with the low population density would allow them a better chance of escape to the exfil point where other company elements would link up with them and cover their recovery by VTOL

Haleiwa 6 Station (Red blips from latest Intelsat flyby)

Fire support section  annihilates enemy infantry in the open (View from the SBF to the SE of OBJ)

Assault section flanks to the north of the OBJ as the SBF suppresses the Federation infantry.

Assault section clears the OBJ from North to South

The end for the beleaguered Federation militia

Now all he have to do is make it to the Exfil point...easier said than done.  Next time mission 2...

Planetary Assault Campaign Tiles

I have just arranged and spray painted my collection of GW Campaign Tiles ( https://www.google.com/search?q=Warhammer+campaign+tiles&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ZSR&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yIYNUfLyD8G1iwLW6oG4Bw&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1516&bih=893 )
I have a combination of the 40K and the Fantasy tiles and they are fantastic for building custom campaign maps.  They are large enough to move minis on for Army counters!  I plan on using these in a Heavy Gear Campaign someday so I can replicate more of the Inter polar wars or Earth Invasions.  In the distant future, I want to play out a Renegade Legion planetary assault.  Fantastic dreams, but maybe ...someday...  They are also double sided allowing you plenty of flexibility and break down and can be stored in a small box.  Im not sure why these are not as popular as they could be.  Pictures soon.

Finally the follow up of the battle report for a game played on 6JAN2013

Our Army Commander fought hard to take down as many of the SRA gears protecting the entrance into their deployment zone.  Unfortunately, he was overwhelmed with fire, but took quite a few gears with him.  Quickly, the HHT-90 tried to close with the Army Commander's HT-72 and support him, but arrived two late after demolishing a small village in his haste..."oohh well...its just a bunch of Terra Novans...nobody important!" 

 

 The Flails moved into the small forested area in support of the HHT-90.  Grel Airborne Platoon made an assault of the clump of woods on the south of the hill.  Smoke markers were become scare at this time, as there were a mass of burning tank and gears littering the field.


  The Legion Noire Commander decided it was time to bring in his last reinforcements.  He jumped in his Airborne Gear Cadre and Army Commander right behind the fragile gap being held onto by a couple infantry, one damaged Visigoth and some gears and a strider as they faced the onrushing giant in the distance.

 The HHT-90 came in guns blazing and amazingly did zero damage.  The Grel Platoon it carried and joined the airborne Grels and Flails already fighting in the area.  The Legion Noire Commander was on the verge of screaming a long, diverse and imaginative string of curses, when fire from his tank and striders punched into the HHT-90s turrets and blew it sky high.

 

 The Grels, furious that they would have to walk the rest of the way into the objective because the SRA had blown up their ride retaliated and destroyed a strider. The Grels surged forward in a wave of purple heads.  The SRA Airborne Cadre, sprayed fire into the Grels hoping to slow the down.

 With little hope of destroying the SRA in the deployment Zone.  The CEF settled for darting one of the LHT-71s into the deployment zone in a sneak play tot he north of the hill while successfully accomplishing its assassinate mission of the GP cadre Leader.  The SRA had prevented the CEF from penetrating into the deployment zone in mass, but by VP, the CEF won.  However, when counting up the TV lost and accounting for damage as well, the SRA was a clear victor, exacting massive damage on the CEF.

   

After thoughts - (these are mine only, my opponent my add some later if he wants)
1) Great scenario, but should have reduced the amount of terrain some. Given the size of the HHT-90, urban fighting and restrictive terrain were extremely difficult to negotiate. 
2) Still had a combat groups in reserve waiting to jump in (Frames) which would have really come in handy in the restrictive terrain to the north.  Maybe keep more units one the boad in the beginning.
3) Att/Def values are more important than numbers...except for Grels and Flails.  Got to get them into the fight faster to tie up enemy.
4) Speed kills without support.  HHT-72s outpaced their support and ...died.
5) Failure to use indirect systems effectively.

Next game is going to be smaller.  Wife not so happy about us ending at almost 11PM...oh well she will get over it!  Thats it.

And so finally after a long week, I have time to finish up this battle report...hopefully.

Stating Positions

CEF Forces encountered lead elements of the Legion Noire on the outskirts of Villenueve.  The CEF after moving a great distance had most of its assets mounted with the exception of the Flails and several combat groups in reserve status waiting to be dropped in to support any extended firefights.  The HT-72s and the HHT-90 initially planned to use the large hills and buildings to mask their approach.  This became problematic when the HHT-90s commander figured out that big tanks could not move through tight spaces, requiring a shift in the tactics.  The Flails hoped to move forward using cover and concealment afforded by the smaller buildings to the south so that they could pour harassing rocket fire into the enemy Striders and Armor in order to fix them while the tanks enveloped from the north.  This plan succeeded and failed in the end.

End of Turn 1

So the CEF decided to continue with the HT-72 attack on the northern side of the field tying up several Southern gear cadres Meanwhile the HHT-90 shifted its position to the south looking for better maneuverability and fields of fire.  The FLAILs were spotted by Southern Recon units and pummeled in an Artillery strike which decimated the platoon.  Mindless brains in armor as they are continued to trudge and hover forward.

Tanks attack on the northern flank

HT-72s Drive By

In what initially was a very successful maneuver, the HT-72s, instead of entering the Southern Deployment Zone, turned and headed south shooting as they went.  A couple very lucky shots knocked out a couple of Southern Cobras and smaller gears.  Ultimately, terrain and lack of space on the board forced them to slow and stop and were almost immediately destroyed.  A GREL platoon was able to drop in and threaten the Legion's southern flank, although speed prevented them from doing anything, but clog up the open areas.  Meanwhile, Southern Striders were having a great day as they started to do serious damage to oncoming CEF forces.
Well....looks I ran out of time.  The little one is up....more to follow later...