Heavy Gear Starter Sets – HD Pics
September 8, 2011 by lloyd
Following on from popping up the Heavy Gear Starter Kits, we have gone off a sourced some nice HD pics of the sets that show off the minis more clearly.
Utopian Army Starter Kit
P.R.D.F Army Starter Kit
P.A.K. Army Starter Kit
Northern Army Starter Kit
C.E.F. Army Starter Kit
Black Talon Army Starter Kit
Southern Army Starter Kit
So there you go nice big images for you guys to check out. Have a look over them and let us know what you think of the sets.
Those are really nice. I think they all look great.
Checking if the starter sets are still $120??
Yep they are. Nevermind then.
That’s about £70. Quite dear. But you do get rulebook and dice and bits and pieces. I don’t know if these models are resin / special resin, or metal, or plastic or whatever though?
Most models are metal, only the tanks and the Black Talon strider are resin/metal hybrids 🙂
The Naga/Dark Naga kit for Black Talon or Southern forces is a full metal kit. The other striders are resin models with smaller metal parts, I believe.
Actually I believe they retooled the Naga and it is now a full resin kit
Got my two player starter set two days ago, have to say the models are really nice once you’ve got them cleaned up and primed 🙂 Will do a little write-up for the set later on
Although these images are well done, I feel that making mini’s look all computer game, with lasers and glowing bits, kinda missing the point of wargaming. Comp gaming is all shiny and flashy, mini gaming is about building/painting/touching real models and moving them in a true 3d world.
My imagination does the rest…
Oh my god, I want this game. But there is just no way I can justify that price to myself right now. Not even close.
What scale are these minis?
They’re 1/144th scale, or around 12mm… The medium sized gears themselves are around 28mm in size in this scale though, so nothing too tiny (unless you’re going to paint a lot of infantry…)
I have yet to receive my HG 2 Player box.
I love the look of it but it’s kind of overpriced
oh
it’s just me or i suspect a HG Week?
I hope so. DP9 created a great setting and the art style (IMHO) really helps sell it.. it’s “sensible Anime Mecha” if there is such a thing. Besides, Gears are waaaay more interesting than Battlemechs 😉
They found quite a believable way to represent them on the battlefield. Meaning that gears have a role which they’re best suited for in the Terra Nova landscape.
As for the “sensible anime mecha” art style (which is really nice), I never really gave that much though. To me the biggest appeal of the setting was always the immense detail the world of Terra Nova was given. And it still is 🙂
the utopian starter really appeals to me, too bad its way too expensive for me to even consider.
Try the field Manual for $15can to get to know the rules. Use Gear Garage (free army planner program) to make a Black Talon army list and spend $80 Can on a 1000 point Black Talon list. It’s like playing a 40K dark Angel Deathwing army except without the plodding slow mo movement. Almost any army will give you an option of using special forces as the basis for your force where a squad of 4 miniatures can run you 400-600 points and $50. That’s pretty reasonable for any miniature game.
-Critical
Are these the same scale as the older models?
I have one southern, and one northern gear, in a box on my desk.
I think these might be slightly smaller…
These are the ones I have, the square in the background is 3″x3″ (75mm)
They’re quite old though so I wouldn’t be suprised if they were a different scale..
I went mad for the PC version of this game, learnt how to play it with a joystick as the main input. Just like a real Gear pilot! 😀
Those are the tactical scale miniatures. They work with the current line of miniatures and are the same scale (1/144th). The RAFM stuff made in the mid-90’s is HO scale and dwarfs the tactical and blitz 1/144th stuff. A lot of guys I know take the spare guns from their blitz models and slap them onto the tactical stuff, and it works out pretty well.
Thanks Jddwolf 🙂 *thumbs up*
The one on the left is a North Hunter with a LAC (light Auto-Cannon), Vibro-knife, hand grenades and Anti-personel grenade launchers (APGL, we use a lot of acronyms…). You seem to be missing the LRP (light rocket pod). The one on the right is a Black Mamba with a MAC (Medium AC), and a MRP (Medium rocket pod). These are some nice old figures but not as dynamic as the current line. If you pick up any box sets like a General Purpose squad or a Heavy Support squad then you will get enough spare weapons to upgrade these guys to the current ‘look/size’ of the weapons.
One of the cool things about the game is that Paxton Arms (biggest weapons manufacturer on Terra Nova) supplies all sides with weapons so you can generally identify what your opponent’s Gears are armed with at a glance. Or you can just go look at the updated data cards for free on the DP9 web site. (Awesome!)
Much better.
People seemed to be shocked by the price, but lets put it in perspective: for that price you get ALL the rules you need, and effectively two squads of Gears to start a good force. If you add in another Squad Box for the Polar factions, that gives you a tournament-level army for around 150 CDN. Not bad when you compare it to what you would need to field a GW tournament-level army.
Comparison is out of place; compare price of a tourney legal HG force with one for Infinity, where you use roughly the same amount of minis.
This is argument usually used in PP vs GW discussions and is realy kind of lame.
The fact that one game is on tournament level played with 70 28mm scale models and the other is played with 15 10mm scaled models which you get for same price does not make them equally priced. The second one is still overpriced it is just played with less models.
If I create a game that is played with two models on each side, Put those 4 models into a box with rules, call it a starter set and charge 100 GBP for that, it wont make the game equally priced as GW products, it would be still ridiculous no matter the fact that you can play the game without the need to buy any other models
They are 1/144th scale you can use N-scale Terrain. Yeah they are not that expensive when compared to other games and you do not need tons of minis to play. Its a good price for the starter especially for all you get.
If my internet alias haven’t already clued you in on my robot addiction, let me put it in clear view for everyone; I love big robots! As such I truly like the style of Heavy Gear’s models, however the rules doesn’t appeal to me at all.
I wonder though, how big (in mm, not scale) are these models? Are they comparable to say a space marine? If so I could think of some good alternative uses for these nice little robots.
It depends, some are about the same size, some are smaller, some are bigger… I will take some comparison pics with a Hunter gear later on
The regular Gear trooper models are Space Marine sized approximately. The larger models are terminator sized and the really big stuff can be as big as a falcon grav tank (though if it was in scale the Earth Heavy Hover Tank -90 or HHT-90 would be Baneblade sized). A good rule of thumb is that the Aller heavy tank for the North is the same length and height as an American M1 Abrams tank.
I like these models, must resist not to make a Tau army.
They are all in 1/144th scale from gears to tanks to APC’s only the troops are a little out of scale so you can paint them. So like a Hunter is your basic trooper gear your kodiak is a support gear and is bigger than the hunter but both are still in 1/144th scale. its a great game I have PRDF, South, and North and whats great depending on what city state/faction you play you can use gears from some of the other factions.
A couple of important things about the price of Heavy Gear that should be mentioned. First all models, rules etc… are produced in North American (USA, Canada). Not that this matters to everyone but for me I like to see a company keeping the business local and not going to China for mass production. This does add cost, but not that much.
Second point is you get a LOT of lead in a box. You get enough extra weapons to kit out your Mecha in most of the configurations your gonna want. Add magnets to add value, all my tanks and striders get magnets. Even so you will have a lot of weapon options left over.
Lastly for $120 you get two rule books and a really nice start to any army. Add a tank or Strider maybe some infantry and you’ll be at a level where 90% of us play Heavy Gear. Plus I can’t say it enough the models look SO much better in person. I was on the fence about this game until I actually got to see the minis. They are fantastic. Plus…well big stompy robot goodness.
Game play is another selling point. Its a very simple mechanic that is very deep. It rewards combined arms and real world strategies. Cover, concealment, movement, aiming, Electronic Warefare is all there. Mostly though it’s important to note that Heavy Gear is goal oriented. I’ve won games with no models left on the table. Completing your goals is more important than just killing off the enemy, unless that’s the mission of course.
Is is pricey. Well we all define value differently. Check it out a bit more before writting it off. You might be surprised.
Details on the gears are extremely sharp. They do look a lot better in real life than in the photos.
Nice to see that new Heavy Gear starter box will defently satisfy my giant robot addiction besides of Battletech starter box that I already have. Needless to say (but I say it anyway) this is one of those must buys for me.
I now believe in “love at first sight” …
Only thing that needs to be removed from the box are is “STARTER” I believe they should be considered Army Boxes not starter boxes. The new boxes are really what any real player needs to play the game for a long time before they decide what they want to add to change the flavor of their army. It is truly a fine product that this company puts out. Also the best customer service ever! If ever the off chance you get a product miscast or missing a bit one e-mail and bang you got new bits off of the spin cycle in your mail box! Greatest company ever. Bet we all wish we could say that about Infinity, GW and other companies alike.
The “starter” label is on the box because it includes the rules and army lists. If it was just an army box then we’d just put “Army Box.”
Maybe “Deluxe Army Box” would have been better. 🙁
Sadly the pics of the south starter army is a bit wrong. The Heavy Support squad comes with the three Spitting Cobras (Big ones), one Jager (Little one with command head and light mortar) and the two demolition drones. The Strike Squad comes with three Black Mambas and two Jagers. One of the excellent things about the army selection is that you have so many options about how to kit out the squad. The Strike squad (for example) comes with two Jagers and two Black Mambas for 240 points. You can then choose to add an additional Jager and then you can upgrade any Jager in the squad for a Black Mamba if you like. This means you can have 0/1/2/3 Jagers and 2+0/1/2/3 Black Mambas up to a total of five models total. You can also upgrade 0-2 Jagers to Sidewinders (+speed, senors, armor, and weapons, loses hand grenades) AND 0-2 Jagers may be upgraded to Black Adders (slow but ++armor and Grenade launcher!) or Desert Vipers (BFG). If they are a Vet squad you have access to a King Cobra which has to have a whole large base size (40mm) and is loaded with guns.
Really it’s a crazy mix of choices. The real thing to remember is that you can make the army you want to make. Almost every option is out there for most of the factions. You can’t, for example, make a tank army with Utopia or Caprice since they don’t have tanks but you can with North, South, NuCoal (I think), and CEF (earth)/PAK (Port Arthur Korps, renegade earth).
I like to think of my Gears as walking arsenals. Each is one man APC loaded to bear on any target, both specialized and general purpose. My tanks are the hammer, the gears and infantry the anvil and when all else fails I call in my support to artillery, air support, or air drop more forces into the fight. I’d recommend playing with 3-5 models a side for the first bit. If you just want to check it out the two player starter is a great deal and gives you everything. All core army selection in one book, background for every force, storyline, characters, painting. The field manual is the go to guide for rules and up to date data cards (also on web site for free full color download). There is also Gear Garage which is a free army selection program that will let you play around a bit with composition though it does not include army/force specific rules for composition (like special regiment bonuses etc).
I’ve been playing for about a year and see no difference in cost to any other game, except that in this game I find I always have a use for everything I own. My biggest army has 12 infantry, 25 Gears, and three Striders and clocks in at about 2K points. A typical tournament is 1000-1200 points. Black Talon special forces armies are famous for having 5-8 models for that amount. But they are the super bad ass special forces.
Sorry to run on but there is so much going on to think about for this great game.
-Critical