Getting Started in Heavy Gear
Maybe you saw the game at a convention, maybe you saw some miniatures painted on social media, maybe you wondered about that old video game you used to play when you were a kid, maybe you never left. However you got here, it’s never too late to discover this hidden gem and to start playing heavy gear! This article is aimed at people who are interested in starting this fascinating game but are unsure of where to begin.
Life on Tera Nova: Mecha combat in the 62nd century, Understanding the Setting of Heavy Gear
· Heavy Gear is set in the 62nd century and imagines a world where humanity has colonized a handful of planets to ease population and resource concerns. However, this period of expansion has not gone without conflict. The focus of our story is Terra Nova, an arid world rich in resources whose control is contested by its inhabitants as well as external forces. It is the year TN1954, the planet is currently ablaze. It has now been 4 cycles since the start of the 2nd invasion of Terra Nova by the Colonial Expeditionary Forces of Earth, aiming to reclaim their wayward colony. The forces of Tera Nova were able to put aside their differences to fend off the first invasion, but will they be able to do so again before all is lost? Or is it better to sell out, watch the world burn, and to be king of the cinders?
· The setting of Heavy Gear is often described as a Tom Clancy novel with Mecha. The background and stories cover the political machinations of the major players as they weave their way through a complex and interwoven tapestry of deception and mecha combat action. The setting while being science fiction, aims to be grounded in a more gritty reality than most other mecha settings firmly planting it in the “Real Robot” genre. The characters are not super human, wars are fought using combined arms tactics and attrition, supply chains are critical, cat and mouse games of electronic warfare playout across the battlefield, casualties just a misstep away.
What is a Heavy Gear?:
· The titular vehicle of the setting, a Heavy Gear is a humanoid robot coming in at roughly 4-7 meters tall and 5-15 metric tonnes (that’s 13-22 ft tall and 11,000 to 33,000 lbs for you Imperial System folks out there). They use an advanced Optical Neural Net (ONNet) to help stabilize and facilitate their motion. They evolved from early walking construction robots known as Gears, the up-armored and up-gunned versions becoming known as Heavy Gears. Despite the setting being named after them, Heavy Gears are not the be-all and end-all of the battlefield, they are not Gundams nor Battlemechs.
· Piloted by a single person, the Heavy Gear takes the role of an Infantry Fighting Vehicle of the present-day battlefield. Heavy Gears do not pack the heaviest armor, nor do they pack the heaviest weapons, what they bring is flexibility, mobility and speed. Heavy Gears aim to use their maneuverability to their advantage as they fight across the rough terrain of the broken battlefields of Terra Nova. They excel at urban combat and fighting in the dense and difficult terrain of the badlands, but if they get caught out in the open, they’re sitting ducks for conventional vehicles which trade speed and maneuverability for extra armor and firepower.
· Most heavy gears come equipped with a secondary movement system (SMS) in the form of wheels on their feet which they can use to rapidly move across the battlefield, switching to walking or running as required as they bob and weave from cover to cover, vaulting over obstacles. Powered by their rugged signature diesel powered V-Engine on their backs, Heavy Gears use a hybrid electric-hydraulic actuator system to achieve a human range of motion.
· Taking advantage of their hands to quickly change their weapons to suit the mission requirements they can rapidly switch from their standard issue autocannon to a bazooka for taking out hardened targets or more exotic weapons like Laser Cannons and Particle Accelerators. With human-like agility, gears can quickly navigate broken ground and even climb, allowing them to take positions unreachable by conventional vehicles. Those same hands allow them to reload in the field, and with enough supplies can continue to hold a position long after conventional vehicles would have to fall back for resupply.
· Taking advantage of their mobility, Heavy Gears are often equipped with targeting and electronic warfare equipment to confound their opponents and call in heavy support from artillery or airstrikes to defeat enemies they can’t engage head-on.
The History of Heavy Gear:
· Heavy Gear is developed by a small independent studio named Dream Pod 9 (AKA DP9), based out of Montreal, Canada. They have been producing RPGs and miniatures for close to 30 years. The first version of the Heavy Gear universe was a battle card game published in 1995 known as: Heavy Gear Fighter starring the eponymous mechs known as “Heavy Gears”. The first edition of the roleplaying game was published later that same year and went on to launch several dozen more publications over the years. The Heavy Gear universe also went on to inspire 2 video games: Heavy Gear and Heavy Gear 2 published by Activision in 1997 and 1999 respectively. It also even had a cartoon published shortly after that in 2001.
· Heavy Gear has a rich history of being both a wargame and a roleplaying game which has evolved over the 29 years of its existence. Heavy gear started out as a kind of hybrid RPG / wargame simulation similar in approach to Classic Battletech. Over time additional layers of rules, expansions and increasing number of options kept being added in providing for a deep and rich tactical game with a rich setting that could be played either as a pure wargame or leaning on the roleplaying aspects of the system. Sometime in the 2000s when RPGs were in decline and miniature wargames were on the ascent Dream Pod 9 pivoted Heavy Gear to be mainly a wargaming experience focusing on streamlining the game with the creation of Heavy Gear Blitz ruleset, now on its 3rd edition. In early 2024, the roleplaying game got a reboot after 20 years of dormancy with the release of the new Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game 4th Edition. 2024 also saw the addition of a dozens of new models as DP9 has adopted 3D Printing to quickly develop and produce new models. There has never been a better time to get into heavy gear than now!
· With that context out of the way that leaves the main branches of the game that are available today, roughly laid out as:
· Heavy Gear Classic / Tactical (1e and 2e) AKA “Pre-Blitz”: This is the classic Heavy Gear Tactical experience, similar in complexity and play time to Classic Battletech this system has dozens of books between the 1st and 2nd edition of the game (we don’t talk about 3rd edition). Several of the books from 1st edition were updated and reprinted for the 2nd edition so you’re good aiming for those versions, the core rules change very little between the two versions and can be seen as a refinement rather than a step change. The Classic Heavy Gear system supports a more grounded and tactical approach to war based on this fictional setting and can support either wargame or roleplaying campaigns. The core silhouette dice system and vehicle construction rules provide a unique take on combat mechanics that makes it stand-out. It supports both hex based gameplay or “Hex-less” open boards, it has more detailed rules for strategic level operations but focuses mainly at the tactical level. With dozens of support books providing additional weapons, scenarios, and hundreds of vehicles and variants to choose from. The majority of Heavy Gear setting sourcebooks were published during this period and provide additional mechanics or vehicle variants for this edition. These books have been recently remastered and re-published on Drive-Thru RPG as part of the Heavy Gear Classic Revitalized Project, shout-out to Sagely Shocktrooper for leading the efforts. This being said, the last 2nd edition book was published in 2004 and none of the more modern miniatures (of which there are over a hundred) are supported in these older systems, you can however use the vehicle construction rules to make them fit in the system. Despite being out of print for 20 years, Heavy Gear Tactical continues to be a fan favorite for the more detail oriented and tactical veterans out there, and while the numbers of players still active is small there are still some dedicated players out there.
· Heavy Gear Blitz 3.1: This is the current edition of the miniatures wargame. With 8 major factions and hundreds of different models from Dream Pod 9 produced in plastic, pewter and resin, it is a fully fleshed out WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) miniature wargame. It is a fast-paced tactical wargame featuring skirmish battles between 8-20 miniatures a side in fast paced, high maneuver combat.
· While a direct descendant of Heavy Gear Tactical, blitz focuses on reducing the complexity and detail of the classic editions to provide for quicker games while retaining the aspects that made heavy gear stand out, mainly the gears, the combined arms combat and electronic warfare aspects.
· This streamlined version of the game sees play time of between 1.5-2.5 hours for standard sized games and supports the entire range of DP9 miniatures ever produced. I put the complexity at less complex than Infinity or Classic Battletech but with enough crunch for fun tactical combat. The combined arms approach to warfare sees your models protecting each other with electronic warfare defenses, with quicker and more agile gears flanking on the side, heavy vehicles and striders lumbering about unleashing their mighty firepower with infantry digging in and securing objectives. The game takes an alternating activation approach to player turns with the ability to take your action (and allowing the opponent to react) at any point during your move allowing for flexible and dynamic battles. Each player builds a force using specific combat roles such as Recon, Fire Support or Strike groups; with each role unlocking specific objectives they are trying to achieve allowing for asymmetric games where both players have similar but distinct missions they are trying to complete.
· Heavy Gear 4th Edition RPG: Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game 4e, the newly released 4th edition of the venerable Heavy Gear Roleplaying game, back after close to 20 years of laying dormant, biding it’s time. The 4th edition of the rules updates the silhouette dice system to be in line with the 3.1 blitz version, people familiar with playing blitz will feel very at home with HG 4e’s combat. In terms of differences from the classic heavy gear of 1st and 2nd edition, it removes the “Stat Number” approach to attributes of the Classic Heavy Gear system, replacing it with a more narrative description-based take on player characteristics. It still retains the crunchy mecha combat of the classic but with a more streamlined approach more in line with modern RPGs. It is an interesting combination of descriptive narrative roleplay with detailed tactical combat rules. Characters have a series of Aptitudes, Quirks and Adversities such as “Hot-headed”, “Paranoid”, “Cynical” and it’s up to the players to determine when these will give their characters an edge or a penalty. This type of narrative roleplay can be quite different than some of the more prescriptive systems out there, and works best when players flesh out well-rounded characters. This narrative approach to roleplay carries over to the more narrative approach to skills which can be very precise and narrow to more broad and generalized, this allows you to tailor your characters to your specific setting which doesn’t have to be combat focused. 4th edition uses a unique combat damage system which can cause physical as well as mental/emotional damage as your characters strain under the stress of combat.
· 4th edition also has a Roll20 character sheet made by Arcadienbel, set up with integrated rolling that will help you to quickly jump into the game and make sure you’re rolling the right way.
· The 4e rulebook is a tome of a book, coming in at just under 500 pages, it contains nearly every profile ever made (the remaining few are provided in a separate google document) for a truly one book approach to start playing. All of the profiles being present helps for vehicle variety and is good for veterans of the setting who are able to jump in and start playing. For people less familiar with the setting, the book is fairly light on providing the rich details that have been fleshed out over the dozens of previous book releases but fortunately all those older source books are still available and while the stats and rules may not be directly useable in 4th edition the story, characters and background of the setting very much still is.
So which is the right way for me to play?
· That’s a good question and the answer is, well it depends on you and what you’re looking to get out of your game.
· If you are interested in a WYSIWYG miniature wargaming experience, Heavy Gear Blitz is the current flagship of the setting. The game offers a unique mix of depth and tactics without getting bogged down in tons of rules and standard sized games can be completed in a 1.5-2.5 hour time window that seems popular these days. The game has a small but growing community and a supported Table Top Simulator module and enough players that you can get a TTS game in most weeks. The community is experiencing a lot of growth both in person and online with a couple of “Growth Leagues” being set-up and a discord community with over a thousand players.
· If you’re looking for a more modern take on an RPG which combines an interesting setting, innovative narrative focused roleplaying but still having crunchy intricate tactical combat that won’t eat up your whole weekend then the 4th edition RPG may be what you’re looking for. With rules for almost every possible vehicle in the setting’s existence and a flexible plug and play equipment system you’ll be able to combine traits to make unique versions of the dozens of weapons and gadgets listed in the book. While it doesn’t have the depth and nuance of the previous editions of the game, it is still early in the development process and it’s hard to compare a single book to well over 40. It is still in active development and following up from the January release in 2024, there are 2 adventure modules published with yet more to come. 4th edition continues to advance the rich narrative story of heavy gear as the world of Terra Nova hangs in the balance.
· If interested in a more in depth tactical experience in a rich setting with dozens of books detailing scenarios, adventures and the gritty technical details like the fact that your Paxton Arms Gladiator has a poorly placed cockpit air intake resulting in V-engine exhaust smell that constantly nauseates the pilot, then the classic Heavy Gear Tactical 2nd edition may be for you. It has miniature (or paper token) support, and if you’re the kind of player that thinks wargames should be played on hexes the way your Granpappy used to and you’re not afraid of multiplicative damage calculations then Classic Heavy Gear could be right up your alley. Keep in mind that you can play the 1st and 2nd editions of the game as either a wargame or an RPG. Also remember that this branch of the game has been out of development for over 20 years and as a consequence finding players to play with may be a struggle, but the best things in life demand sacrifice right?
Alright sales guy, you’ve convinced me, where do I start?
Getting Started playing Heavy Gear Blitz 3.1: The rules for Heavy Gear Blitz 3.1 are freely available from Drivethru RPG. Make sure to grab the yellow cover 3.1 version of the rules:
· Also grab the 3.1 Companion book too, it’s listed as a separate file under the 3.1 main rulebook, it contains the additional unit profiles published after the release of the 3.1 rulebook along with some additional optional rules.
· You can buy Heavy Gear miniatures directly from Dream Pod 9 from their webstore at:
· Dream Pod 9 has free shipping in Canada and the US for orders over $120 USD and fixed rate shipping across most of the world for $42.70 USD. The plastic starter sets are a good and cheap way to start. A more detailed getting started in Heavy Gear Blitz will be published in a future article.
· List Building: So you’re neck deep in Heavy Gear Blitz and need to build your army list, there are 2 great free community tools you can use:
o Gear Grinder: Developed by Samuli Aura
§ http://hgbtools.infohell.net/#
o Gear Force: Developed by Ariemeth
§ https://gearforce.metadiversions.com/
· If you have questions about the setting or getting started come and join the Heavy Gear Blitz Discord Community:
o https://discord.gg/EXA5HC4fex
· If interested in playing on Table Top Simulator the Heavy Gear Hangout Discord Community is a good place to get games:
Getting Started playing Heavy Gear RPG 4th Edition:
· If you are looking to get started with 4th edition, the first and only book really needed is the core rulebook available on Drivethru RPG in PDF and print on demand:
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457450/heavy-gear-rpg-fourth-edition-rulebook
· While the core rulebook has everything you need to play, you’ll probably also be interested in getting the 2nd edition revitalized Life on Terra Nova to get a solid understanding of the setting, locations maps, explanations of the factions and the key movers and shakers of the setting etc. (be sure to get the revitalized version):
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/430871/heavy-gear-revitalized-life-on-terra-nova-2nd-edition
· If you’re interested in seeing the system in action, there was an introductory live-play session of an abridged and updated version of the Operation Jungle Drums adventure that was run on Table Top Simulator which you can watch here: (Warning 4 hours long):
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohfo0myLE1g
· There are also 2 adventure modules that have been published: Tempest Winds and One Minute to Midnight. The former is an introduction to the setting and mechanics as you compete to join a ragtag mercenary outfit and the latter is an end game scenario putting you as either the invaders or defenders of Terra Nova in a very challenging scenario.
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/487879/heavy-gear-rpg-fourth-edition-adventure-tempest-winds
· If you’re looking for advice, looking for players or games, or want help on rules clarifications then come and join the DP9 Force 10 RPG discord at:
Getting Started in Classic Heavy Gear Tactical 2nd edition:
· To get started in Heavy Gear 2nd Edition you really only need the Heavy Gear 2nd edition core rulebook. This book has all the main rules and 16 vehicle profiles to get you started, be sure to get the “Revitalized” version of the book, which was remastered from the original digital files:
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/430870/heavy-gear-revitalized-rulebook-2nd-edition
· This period of the setting is mainly focused on the conflict between the North and the South whose forces are detailed in the North and South Vehicle Compendiums which detail out dozens and dozens of additional gears, vehicles and their variants for use in Classic Heavy Gear
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/429198/heavy-gear-revitalized-southern-vehicle-compendium
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/430861/heavy-gear-revitalized-southern-vehicle-compendium-2
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/429197/heavy-gear-revitalized-northern-vehicle-compendium
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/430860/heavy-gear-revitalized-northern-vehicle-compendium-2
· A note for completionists: you can pick up the Heavy Gear Revitalized Bundles on Drivethru RPG if you’re looking for a discount.
On Background: Getting to grips with the Heavy Gear catalog.
· Heavy Gear has a rich and varied back catalog of dozens of books published across it’s 29 year career. If I was to recommend a single background book to get you started, there is no better book than the 2nd edition of Life on Terra Nova Source Book, it is simply an amazing book that covers all aspects of Terra Nova and gives a solid basis for explaining the setting in all its intricate loving detail. I cannot recommend it more.
o https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/430871/heavy-gear-revitalized-life-on-terra-nova-2nd-edition
· The other books that make up the setting are divided across 5 broad categories: Storyline Books, Sourcebooks, Adventure Modules and Scenario Packs, Technical Manuals and Vehicle Compendiums, and Art Books. Each covering different aspects of the heavy gear universe with many containing a spattering of equipment, NPCs and vehicle profiles to be used in the various systems.
· Storyline Books: Heavy Gear was one of the first RPGs to have an advancing “Metaplot” and the 5 main storyline books are a mixed medium experience recounting the overall advance of the setting’s overarching story. They’re mainly a narrative affair that provide context of the over-arching story and are full of charming art that helps explain the various major turning points of the setting. They do not contain any rules or vehicle profiles to play with. Depending on your love of free-form non-linear narrative you’ll either love these books are find them hard to follow along with.
· Sourcebooks: These take a specific planet, an area of a planet, or a specific faction (most often a league) and go into the details about the political, civil, ecological, and military aspects of that area. They go over rich details of the setting and provide good background info for setting up games in the specific area covered by the book. Each sourcebook is a snapshot in time of the heavy gear setting, each being set at a specific point on the timeline and provide more details of the overarching story being provided within along with additional rules, NPCs, equipment and vehicle profiles to play with. While they do provide excellent and interesting information you can generally get away with only picking up the books that interest you. Do note, there is a marked shift in tone and detail from the “Pre-Blitz” books of 1st and 2nd edition and the “Blitz-era” of books that came after which deal exclusively with the wargame aspect of the setting and omitting a lot of the more character driven story telling of the earlier books.
· Adventure Modules and Scenario Packs: The adventure modules are books specifically set up to help director’s run through a predetermined campaign. They provide the background story, combat maps, NPCs and overall story-arc for you to play through the module as it’s laid out for you. There are 2 adventure modules for 4th edition RPG currently published: Tempest Winds and One Minute to Midnight but there are also older adventure modules published for 1st and 2nd edition which can be used for those systems and with a little work can be converted into 4th edition (Operation Jungle Drums and The Paxton Gambit for example). The scenario packs are wargame scenarios for use in 1st and 2nd edition and whose printed versions (also included in PDF formats) had battle maps and play tokens to be used to play out the various scenarios as listed in the pack.
· Technical Manuals and Vehicle Compendiums: These books detail the various inner workings of the various gears and vehicles of the Heavy Gear setting. While the HG 4e RPG book contains ~95% of all the vehicle and gear variants published, converted ready to use, these books detail out full page illustrations of the various machines, with detailed explanations of their design origins, background and detailed statistics.
· Art Books: The 4 art books feature full color artwork (remember the earlier books were published in black and white grey scale) picked from the various editions of the game and highlighting the hybrid anime characters with hard line mechs the setting has become known for.
· Arcadienbel has made an exhaustive spreadsheet of every Heavy Gear book for those who want to find more detail on specfic subjects.
o https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bfwvVTaXm3OIF722rFbECp5lYh8NR5UYkTJa12W8mic/edit?usp=sharing
In Conclusion:
· Heavy Gear is a rich and detailed setting still going strong after 30 years. Depending on what you’re interested in there is a version of heavy gear for you, be that the Miniatures wargame or the Classic or 4th edition RPGs. I hope this guide has helped you get a better understanding of what is heavy gear and how you can begin your new journey on Terra Nova. Please feel free to reach out to me on discord where I can be reached at: Jaeton#9661or on the various Heavy Gear servers.
