Wednesday 14 November 2012

World Exclusive Heavy Gear Blitz Reveal: Salamander

  
   

Well Agent 009 lives has managed to do it again. He's penetrated the deepest, darkest and most dangers depths of Dream Pod 9's secret base. Although apparently he didn't need to, as he found this concept art just sitting on John Nguyen's desk top! He just wanted to make the mission harder for himself because he's an adrenalin junky... although I have my suspicions that he actually wanted to be captured and tortured. I have some very grave misgivings about giving that cat '00' status. He's clearly not right in the head. Any way, he's managed to grab some more images of a new Gear for the Southern faction for you, the Salamander:


Sadly Agent 009 Lives didn't extract any images of the miniature, although I have assurances they'll be sent shortly... we'll see. OK, so I know last time I did a reveal some people were not so sold on the Diamondback. Apparently it needed a head! Now, question for you. Why exactly should a giant robot actually need a head? In fact why should a giant robot have to take on the physical shape and form of a human body? From an engineering and design point of view we should think it odd such mecha have heads at all... but, clearly I've got side-tracked. What I mean to say is, whereas the Diamondback has left some people somewhat cold, I think the Salamander will get the pulses racing of even some of the most staunch anti-mecha critics. I mean look at the damn thing! It's just sodding cool. Go on tell me you don't like the look of that robot, I dare you. Sure the 'roller-blade' feet might not be everyone's cup of tea at first, but I guarantee you that when read it's development history it'll all make perfect sense, I promise you!

Sadly I only have a few tidbits of information as my feckless agent spent most of his time in Canada trying out maple syrup apparently. What I can tell you is that Mandeers originally developed a whole host of Gears for civilians, predominantly racers. These lighter models actually proved rather popular, and apparently the rozzers, the bill, the Babylon, the bacon... or the Police as they are more commonly known, also took a shine to them. Probably because they were quick and cheap. Obviously not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, Mandeers capitalized on this popularity and developed the Salamander. The Salamander is designed for the Urban Jungle, a bit like how SUV manufacturers try telling us there over-sized gas guzzling ugly hunks of metal are nowadays, except last time I checked our urban environments shared little in common with actual jungles. Except in the Salamanders case it might be true. It was designed with extra wide wheels and rubberized pads under its feet to aid with grip and mobility. Rumours it also comes with flared wheel arches, spoilers, tinted windows and UV down-lights under its feet are nothing but wishful thinking from Chavs. However, it does usually come equipped with  Waltech Propellant Cannon, which is designed to take water for crowd control (and wet T-shirt competitions), chemical foam for fire fighting, and of course my personal favourite flammable liquid for helping with starting BBQ's... and toasting enemies.

The Salamader does come with shoulder hard points for missile pods, as I know some of you crazy cats out there like to know these things. However, not many of them come equipped with missile pods, because, well why would you? The gear is mainly favoured by duelists because of how quick and nippy the bloody thing is, so why weigh it down with missiles I say? The Salamander has also proved popular among underground racing circuits, mainly because it cheap and quick I guess, but also because it's supposedly highly customizable... and it looks good. You know boy racers, they've always got to go around in the best pimped out Gears! After the TN1932 refit, the Salamander was considered a viable military Gear, and Mekong Peacekeeper and MILICIA regiments brought a fair few of them. However, it is post the Inter-Polar war where Mandeers have seen a spike in sales to city-states across the South, primarily due to offering good deals on buying in bulk and decent loans... hmm... it's starting to sound like the build up to the credit crunch. There will also be a really nice humourous skit within the Forged in Fire rulebook about how the Salamander is used in a popular TV show... but I don't want to spoil that for you all. Any way, that's it for now. Peace out!

EDIT: My agent finally managed to get me these pictures of the Salamander miniature. Enjoy!

10 comments:

  1. I like this Salamander.
    I always like the Pitbull´s rollers.
    Hope there is a MP Salamander. :)

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    1. Yep, it's probably my favourite of the stuff for the South I've seen so far... just so peeps know there's one more reveal still to be shown.

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  2. Oooh, I like! I can't really put my finger on it, but it has the right 'warfare on a budget' that I imagine with a MILICIA force. It wouldn't look too much out of place in a Leagueless force as well I think.

    On a sidenote, the diamondback isn't archetypical example of a mech, true. But I like the blend of Tachikoma and harcore mech.

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    1. I really liked the look of the Diamondback too. Thought it looked different to what was out there... but was a nice 'evolution' of what was out there, so it looked like a gradual development evolution. There's no question though I genuinely think more people will instantly fall for the Salamander.

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  3. The feet are pretty interesting, but I'm not sure I like the head. The last gear looked a lot cooler. :)

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    1. As heads on Mecha go I have to say that I'm actually quite fond of this head. However, I can understand why you'd prefer the other Gear, the Diamondback... now I personally thought it looked really, really cool.

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  4. That picture just screams speed. Very cool concept, I can't wait to see the model.
    Very awesome!

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    1. Yeah I really, really like the concept. The blurb that will be in the Forged in Fire book also gets my thumbs up. I love that sort of development history and stuff. I'm not a fluff bunny... honest! :P

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  5. I kinda think the headless concept works better if it had harder edges. That said, I also think if you made the 'head' on the diamond back a bit stubbier instead of being like the nose of a passenger jet, it might sell the idea a bit better too. Then again, some of my favorite mechs are the chunkier, uber "production" looking units that lack any sort of bells and whistles(straight up business like things)...

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    1. Hiya Maqma, I too like mechs with there nuts and bolts on show the most. But I guess for me I just kinda liked the Diamondback because although it sat within the Heavy Gear universe clearly it felt like one of the companies within its back story had made a design leap. Always good to hear what other people think though. :)

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