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| I wander what this mysterious box contains? |
So what the hell is this box that's just arrived at my front door? Obviously I know what it is, but I'm going to string it out for a while...
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| Stupid bloody packaging, it's stupid. Get out of the way!!! |
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| OMG it's Heavy Gear Blitz starter sets!!! |
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| Northern Army and Southern Army starter sets. For the bipolar wargamer! |
Yep so there you have it. Two Starter Sets / Army deal boxes for Heavy Gear Blitz all the way from the land of Maple Syrup, Mounties and Celine Dion... yes... well we'll skip the last one shall we? Before I go any further I have to get something off of my chest. Sometimes Royal Mail / Parcel Force really know how to screw things up big time. It appears recently a number of parcels and things sent to me have gone 'missing'. I had to phone them up and complain at them before I got any joy. Turns out this particular package had been sitting in the South Birmingham Depot for nearly two weeks before some dimwit realised they really ought to try and deliver the thing! Seriously? I'm still missing one parcel and I get the feeling that one has probably gone for good to be honest with you. Honestly sometime I wish I actually owned a big massive feck off mecha suit so I could go on a rampage and stomp on people. It's probably a good thing for Royal Mail employees I don't have one...
I do however now have in my possession two rather swanky looking boxes. Second thing I need to get off of my chest is this... I have these boxes thanks in no small part to John Nguyen of Dream Pod 9, who kindly has sent me two starter set to review. Love you John! Any way tomorrow I'll be doing the unboxing's (yeah I know I'm a shameless tease) so you'll have to wait until then to see what in them. Then I'll be doing the reviews over the coming weeks along with some other articles I've been planning around Heavy Gear Blitz. For now though I'm just really happy they've turned up and that I can now give all of you guys who have expressed an interest in the game a sneak peak at the stuff and give you some more in-depth information on the game. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for the articles and I'll be working my backside off to get them to you ASAP. Peace out!
Heavy Gear Blitz! Can't wait to read the review. Will you be doing unboxing video or just the pictures?
ReplyDeleteJust pictures I'm afraid for now. I don't have the correct equipment or set up to do decent video's so I don't want to put something up that looks half arsed!!! lol. Which it would if I tried doing a video now. Nope I'll stick to doing picture unboxings for now... although from feedback video's are something many readers want to see from me. So maybe in the not to distant future.
DeleteAfter seeing some of your other articles I started looking into Heavy Gear and the Southern Army starter deal was something I was looking at.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand I'm looking forward to you unboxing and reviewing these but on the other hand I think now there's a very good chance I'll end up ordering one of these in the not too distant future... Curse you Frontline Gamer!!1!
Do you know what the worst thing is? I don't care!!! Mwahahahaha!!! Yeah that is my evil laugh, not to preempt anything, but it feels really good to have mini toy mecha back in my hands again. Might be a different company to what I'm used to, but the nostalgia hit was damn strong.
DeleteCool stuff. Our posty never leaves packages he just stuffs a bit of paper through the letter box saying ‘sorry we missed you please pick up your package from the post office‘ bit annoying when you open the door on him to see there was no package in the first place!
ReplyDeleteTo be fair our local postie is really good actually. No this was the depot. I'm just annoyed that it took me complaining to make them hurry up and do their job.
DeleteGreat i picked up an old North starter from ebay new for £49.00 i say old starter because i got a GP squad and fire support squad plus rule book. In the new starter i think its a fire squad not GP Squad. And you get rule book plus field manual. Cant wait to see what you think, so far i'm very happy. Some nice game mechanics in this game. Cheers pancake.
ReplyDeleteYeah I saw on your Blog mate. Bit of a Bargain if you ask me. I have to be honest weeks ago I got my NuCoal stuff and I'd be fibbing if I said I hadn't already had a fiddle about with it. I like what I've seen of the mini's and I've been reading the rules and stuff for weeks. I like what I see on in the main. Really looking forward to getting stuck into this with my friends.
DeleteI guessed it [DP9 product] on the first picture, although I can not explain why.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a prize to give away for guessing, I'd give it too you. But I don't! :P
DeleteDo you play HGB Spifferson?
Oooh... there's one very jelous Swede in Stockholm right now! Granted I don't have anyone to play with (yet) but I do love to build and paint the models. And dream about stompy mecha death! My ingenious plan has always been to get a smallish Southern force as well so I can start demoing the game at my local watering holes.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I've made you jealous. If it's any consolation these two starter sets are going to be given to two of my friends. I'm not keeping them for myself. The aim is to try and get a group of HGB gamers here in the West Midlands.
DeleteThat's even worse! That means you'll get to play it soon. Haha! :D
DeleteHate to rub further salt into the wounds... I kinda already have played it... a few times.
DeleteDamnit... maybe my next country of living should be the UK. Seems to be more wargaming action over where you are.
DeleteYeah the UK is pretty well stocked for wargamers as it happens. But the West Midlands like the East Midlands is a bit of a hotbed for wargaming even by UK standards. Just seems to be more of us in these parts. You're always welcome to pop over and visit my good man!
DeleteThe Heavy Gear setting has always been one that I loved since it was first released. I really enjoy how DP9 took the lore and ran with it after the HGII game released (This was the point I stopped really following DP9 heavily until recently). The world feels a lot more fleshed out and not so black and white with spots of grey that it once felt way back in the day.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I just got the PRDF and Black Talon starters a few weeks ago and have been playing a good number of games over the weekends. She's my only real opponent I have at the moment, but interest is starting to build in the local shop, so might have one or two more at some point (I can only hope).
Keep plugging away buddy, they'll come round! All gamers deep down want to buy new shiny toys, and HGB has some of the shiniest. Glad to have you onboard by the way. If you do check back through the back catalogue of articles and feel the need to comment please do, even if it's months old. I like going back to articles and looking at topics afresh! I'll always aim to answer any questions too.
DeleteI loaned the store owner my copy of the HGB Field Manual, so this week might have a throw down between me and him. No doubt, if the store's owner starts backing the game, others will start becoming more interested as well.
DeleteI was rather sad to hear DP9 dropped support for Jovian Chronicles which I used to play as well, but thus far it seems like they've really refocused well. For a small company DP9 does a good job at shifting and keeping focus as needed. Can't complain about that. Heavy gear is still around after many years while other systems like AT-43 sputtered and died relatively soon after inception.
Ooh! Another Jovian Chronicle enthusiast! That is the game that originally introduced me to DP9 and their worlds. I'm still hoping for that elusive Jovian Chronicles Blitz... some day... :)
Delete@Sunfyre, that's an awesome ploy I use all the time "here borrow my rulebook and let me know what you think..." works on the sucke... erm... I mean my friends all the time! :P
DeleteOnce we've grabbed a book and poured over it's contents we tend to start building armies in our mind. And once we do that we want to put them on the board. It's why free rules PDF's are so damn effective.
As I said in my very first article about HGB the fact DP9 have existed for as long as they have tells me they're doing something right. So that give's me confidence in them and the product they choose to push. Because a lot of people got 'burned' by Rackham not just AT-43 players!!! lol... But I guess it did release a lot of talent onto the market for other companies to exploit.
@Martin, I keep hearing about this 'Jovian Chronicles' malarky and I might even have a friend with some stuff... can someone give me the lowdown on it and what happened? Cheers.
Well, Jovian Chronicles (RPG) and Lightning Strike (mini game in the same setting) is DP9's other sci-fi setting. While Heavy Gear is VOTOMS Jovian Chronicles is Gundam.
DeleteApart from the EXO armours (mecha) it's very hard sci-fi with no FTL or antigrav technology. It's all taking place in our solar system where the two major powers are the Jovian Confederation and the Central Earth Government and Administration. All in all it's a really cool setting with lots of detail and neat hooks for adventure.
Gaming wise the the line has been put on ice in favour of Heavy Gear Blitz. The books and models are still produced, but there's nothing new released. There was some concept models shown for fleetscale fighters but that was six or seven years ago. I'm a great fan of the setting and I quite like the rules as well. It's mean for task-force sized battles with a couple of ships and a selection of EXO armours and fighters.
We know that DP9 want to do "Jovian Chronicles/Lightning Strike Blitz" some time in the future but there's no timeframe. However, I totally understand that they put their very limited resources where the money is at the moment, which is HGB. From what I've heard there is some small work on it in the background here and there, but don't hold your breath.
What has been stated is that in a future edition they want the mecha to be the stars with ships taking a background or support role. We might not even see ships on the tabletop but more as off-board support. Personally I like spaceships and I hope they're included in some way at least.
Hmm... yes, long comment.
Long but terribly informative my good man as always. Thanks. That's interesting and I think it's kind of to be expected. DP9 like many other smaller firms really have to put their efforts and cash where the interest is. Even companies the size of GW have to kill off games like Gothic, Necromunda, Mordheim etc. sad but true.
DeleteYes after reading your posts I have been looking forward to learning more about this game.
ReplyDeleteWell hopefully I can fill you in with my thoughts shortly. All I will say is... I'm excited by the game! Like the rules, like the mini's for the most part and I like the fluff, even if I am getting a bit lost in it.
DeleteSweet! I just received earlier today almost all of the PAK minis that I ordered a little while ago, along with the first of the Northern boxes and blisters that are on their way to my hobby desk. Hooray!! Oh yeah, it's also my birthday today. Whoopee!!! :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome stuff Papa JJ. Look forward to seeing some WIP shots on your Blog (hint hint). :P
DeleteSo you really have taken the plunge then? Good stuff! Hope you enjoy it all as much as I am right now... Oh yeah...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Thank you, Frontline, I appreciate it! As for Heavy Gear I have indeed taken the plunge and place almost all of blame... um, I mean, I give you almost all of the credit for it. I have a bunch of the background books from a really long time ago that I simply enjoyed as reading material. Last year I became interested in the current game system after relocating those old books, but then got caught up in other things and kinda forgot my Heavy Gear infatuation. It was only seeing your recent reviews that reminded about how tempted I was back then to fully jump into the game. Thank you very much for that as I think it will be something I really enjoy once I'm comfortable with the rules. In the meantime I hope to have some WIP shots posted soon... I'll be working on the PAK first. And of course I look forward to hearing more of your impressions about the game and all the cool things you discover about it. Best wishes to you, sir!
DeleteWhoops, sorry. So that's somebody else who blames me for their recent conversion to HGB. At my last count that makes 36 people I think who have brought stuff after reading my HGB articles. I don't know whether to be proud or worried I'm going to have spouses and bank managers wanting to knew cap me!!! o_0
DeleteI have know idea what *knew capping* is but it almost sounds as terrifying as knee capping... crumbs! ^o^
DeleteI blame the cat for headbutting me as I was typing... ahem... yeah I think they all brought that excuse. What do you mean I'm still typing out load!!! Well stop it you idiot. Now they know your stupid. Oh God I'm still typing, what's wrong with me?!?!
37. Swine! ;-)
DeleteHey perhaps I should ask John Nguyen at DP9 if I can get commission on all these sales!!! :P
DeleteWell I was looking for mecha to use for 15mm Gruntz with Pancake. Figured that 12mm or 1/144 was close enough for them to look good with 15mm infantry (which they do), and then you posted up your "games that intrigue me" and NuCoal articles.
DeleteI was going to just stop at buying a PRDF Strike Cadre from Wayland to use for Gruntz and see what the models are like but a couple of eBay deals went past, I spotted the "Mason's Minis" thread in the modelling & painting section of the DP9 forum, I got sucked into ordering a few bits from retailers to fill out, and next thing I know I'm knee deep in shiny metal mecha and I've got a bunch of eBooks from RPG Drive Thru... Well and truly pwned! X-D
I would say it's all your fault but I know you wouldn't care, and besides... My mecha obsession goes back a lot further than that ;-)
I'm now the slightly bewildered possessor of Strike, GP and Fire Support squads for PRDF and the South so I'll be running a bunch of demos up at our club in Hucknall once Pancake and myself have run stuff out to figure out how it all works :-D Hopefully we can start to build up a bit of a Nottingham/East Midlands Heavy Gear community.
Well good luck with trying to get a Nottingham / East Midlands HGB community going, I'm in the middle of trying to get a Birmingham / West Midlands community on the go!!! Perhaps they'll both get so big they'll merge somewhere around Nuneaton... on second thoughts that sounds like a bad idea (sorry Sam couldn't resist) :P
DeleteLol! Nuneaton exists? I thought it was just a signpost on the A42! ;-)
DeleteWhere are you based in Birmingham? I come from there originally & used to work in Brum & Merry Hell GWs many, many moons ago. Back in the day before I moved up the A42 I played at clubs in Northfield and over in Sutton at North Birmingham Troll Slayers
I currently live on the Acocks Green / Solihull border... just on the wrong side, so I'm not posh!!! :P
DeleteI used to remeber the Troll Slayers, they used to meet on that Church Community center on the Chester road didn't they?
That's the one, I think they moved to a local school and then faded away a little when the WFB scene shifted. As far as I know they're still knocking about in some form or another though.
DeleteI'm originally from Bournville/Kings Heath though my family stretch all the way over South Birmingham to (also not posh) Solihull and Shirley :-D
Thought so I probably attended it a fair few times with my Wood Elves about a decade ago now. Just after the time I stopped working at the B'ham GW on Corporation Street.
DeleteMy family are originally from Moseley area / South Brum Worcs in general. I moved out to south staffs when quite young... but the Balti Belt called me back ;) mmmmmm Balti.... drooool.
Not MOAR BOXES!!!!
ReplyDeleteNoooooooooooooo!
*covers eyes with hands, peeks out through fingers*
I'm not looking! I don't wanna know!
Don't lie to me SinSynn, I know you xenos types love your big robots!!! And Hover tanks... and giant armadillos... and... well you get the point. Buy a shotgun and go properly take back Wall Street I say!!!
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