Joust You Say
I’m writing this in May 2023 and this game was played in January 2023, so it’s been awhile. I’m honestly a bit burned out writing all the battle reports for Infinity, and Heavy Gear has become very much a secondary game for me now with my work on Jovian Wars (which is also been sitting on the back burner for me, thanks to… well, life). I still very much enjoy Heavy Gear, and I want to at least produce a somewhat useful artifact for the development team to look at and get some data from, so here’s that.
Here’s the table we played on:
I played BTIT, as Black Talons are the only bit of Terra Novan forces I still own, having traded, gifted, or sold the rest of my models. I love the Mamba and MLCs, so it showed up backed up by some Acco to be annoying. I think I should take more of the Pyro Accos, they seem to be more my speed these days, but Sniper for now.
We’re playing Encirclement from the HGBTS Advanced Ops missions:
I’ve got GP and Adam’s got SK, so I decide to take some infantry. I decided to airdrop a bunch of Theta Team guys in Mastiffs to take and hold ground, and then I just round the second CG out with a bunch of Ignus golems with lances.
| Name | TV | A | Weapons | Traits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CG1 GP |
Dark Mamba Omicron | 15 | 2 | »MLC, »LCW(Brawl:1,Reach:1), MRP, LAPGL | Hands, Agile, Airdrop, Vet, Stealth ((Aux)), FL, CGL |
| Sniper Acco | 7 | 1 | »LRF, »LRP, »MMG, LSG | Agile, Climber, Stable | |
| Sniper Acco | 7 | 1 | »LRF, »LRP, »MMG, LSG | Agile, Climber, Stable | |
| CG2 SK |
Dark Mastiff Psi | 7 | 1 | »LRF(T), LAPGL | Comms, SatUp, Transport:1 (Squad), Airdrop, Vet, Stealth ((Aux)), CGL |
| Dark Mastiff Xi | 8 | 1 | LFM(T) | Transport:1 (Squad), Airdrop, Vet, Stealth ((Aux)), 2iC | |
| Theta Team Squad | 6 | 1 | »LIW(Silent), »LICW, MAVM | Agile, Airdrop, Jetpack:4, Stealth, Vet | |
| Theta Team Squad | 6 | 1 | »LIW(Silent), »LICW, MAVM | Agile, Airdrop, Jetpack:4, Stealth, Vet | |
| Ignus Constable Special Operations | 9 | 1 | »MFL, »LRP, LHG, »MSG(Reach:2) | Hands, Jetpack:8 ((Aux)), Airdrop, Stealth ((Aux)), Brawl:2 | |
| Ignus Constable Special Operations | 9 | 1 | »MFL, »LRP, LHG, »MSG(Reach:2) | Hands, Jetpack:8 ((Aux)), Airdrop, Stealth ((Aux)), Brawl:2 | |
| Ignus Constable Special Operations | 9 | 1 | »MFL, »LRP, LHG, »MSG(Reach:2) | Hands, Jetpack:8 ((Aux)), Airdrop, Stealth ((Aux)), Brawl:2 | |
| CG3 FS |
Omega Vulture Theta | 22 | 2 | »LRG, »MVB(Reach:1), MRP, MFC, MAPGL, MATM | Hands, Airdrop, Vet, Stealth, Jetpack:4, CGL |
| MAR-DK Barrage | 20 | 2 | MPA(T), MATM(T,Link), LAPGL, LCW | Stable | |
| Total | 125 | 15 |
The last CG is the big guns, with a Omega Vulure and a MAR-DK with MATMs.
Adam’s playing South with stupid HFL Hittites… god those things are annoying. He’s packed the Hittites full of infantry, and then taken a pair of Water Vipers and a pair of Diamondbacks to just… be awful.
| Name | TV | A | Weapons | Traits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CG1 GP |
Asp | 4 | 1 | »LSMG(AI), »LVB, LHG, LAPGL | Hands, Conscript |
| Asp | 4 | 1 | »LSMG(AI), »LVB, LHG, LAPGL | Hands, Conscript | |
| Hittite | 8 | 1 | »HMG(L,Link,Auto), »HMG(R,Link,Auto), HFL(T,Apex) | Amphib, Offroad, Smoke, Transport:2 (Squad), Conscript | |
| Hittite | 8 | 1 | »HMG(L,Link,Auto), »HMG(R,Link,Auto), HFL(T,Apex) | Amphib, Offroad, Smoke, Transport:2 (Squad), Conscript | |
| Sniper Team Squad | 3 | 1 | »LIW, »LICW, MIR(Silent) | Conscript | |
| Sniper Team Squad | 3 | 1 | »LIW, »LICW, MIR(Silent) | Conscript | |
| Command Team Squad | 4 | 1 | »LIW, »LICW | Comms, CGL | |
| Command Team Squad | 5 | 1 | »LIW, »LICW | Comms, 2iC | |
| CG2 RC |
Water Viper | 8 | 1 | »MFC, »LSMG, »LVB, LRP(Link), LAPGL | Hands, Sub |
| Water Viper | 8 | 1 | »MFC, »LSMG, »LVB, LRP(Link), LAPGL | Hands, Sub | |
| Chameleon | 12 | 1 | »LSMG(Silent), »LAC, »LVB, LRP | Hands, Agile, Airdrop, Comms, ECM+, ECCM ((Aux)), TD, Vet, Sensors:24 ((Aux)), Stealth ((Aux)), CGL | |
| Jackrabbit Recon | 3 | 1 | »LIW, »LICW | Agile, TD, Comms, Conscript | |
| CG3 SK |
Diamondback Gunner | 12 | 1 | »HAC, »LVB, MAPR, LAPGL | Hands, Agile, Airdrop, FieldArmor |
| Diamondback Gunner | 12 | 1 | »HAC, »LVB, MAPR, LAPGL | Hands, Agile, Airdrop, FieldArmor | |
| Gold Mamba Force Razorfang | 17 | 2 | »LPL (Precise), »LSG, LFM, LATM(LA:2), LAPGL, MPZ | Hands, Agile, Airdrop, Vet, Climber, Stealth, Duelist, Comms, Satup, CGL | |
| Chameleon | 14 | 1 | »LSMG(Silent), »LAC, »LVB, LRP | Hands, Agile, Airdrop, Comms, ECM+, ECCM ((Aux)), TD, Vet, Sensors:24 ((Aux)), Stealth ((Aux)), PO | |
| Total | 125 | 16 |
Deployment is opposite corners, so that’s fun:
What’s real dangerous is that a bunch of Adam’s stuff starts real close to my Ignus Golems…
I just can’t dedicate the same amount of time to these battle reports, and I’m honestly considering pulling back on some of the Infinity ones too to give myself some breathing space. Still, I feel motivated to capture some key points of playtest feedback. Rather than write up a full blow-by-blow, I’ll just sort of sketch the game and mention the salient points for feedback. Here’s a photo dump if you’d rather just look through that:
Adam’s deployment of the stuff close to my Eden Golems proved to be a BIG problem for him. I one-shot his Chameleon and crippled a Diamondback on my first activation, and then enough of the Golems stuck around to let me kill some more stuff on the following turn.
He was able to just bring the hammer down on my Vulture, because I YOLO-deployed it on top of a big rock for the lulz. It was NOT a good idea, and it just straight up got wrecked. I could easily have been more careful and played smarter with the Vulture, but I was simultaneously playing a game of Infinity, so I was just having some fun with Adam and playtesting the mission:
The MAR-DK underperformed this game–I took a lot of direct shots with the MPA and the MATM and just didn’t roll all that well. That said, it helped me finish off a few damaged gears. It does have the power to one-shot stuff though, and I wish I had seen more of that from it this game.
What did do a LOT of damage though, was the Mamba. That MLC cored both Water Vipers this game, just blasting them into scrap. Really impressive performance. I ended up just focusing the MLC to get some insane margins of success, and I was really happy with the results. Adam’s Gold Mamba was a real thorn in my side and just refused to die most of the game, and the Hitties just roasted my infantry.
Adam ended up winning this one, because I was just being way too silly with my Vulture’s deployment and I pushed too hard with the Golems. What I should have done was let Adam have the first activation and moved his stuff closer, then done the jetpack in, stab, and jetpack out trick. That keeps the Golems much safer and lets me use terrain to my advantage. As it stood, I just overextended them and threw them away. I said as much as I was doing it, but it was just too fun to not do.
Honestly, taking away the requirement to write detailed reports for me in Heavy Gear has returned the fun of the game to me–I was getting a little too tryhard for my own liking. All in all, a really fun game. I wish I had been more careful, but our play did expose some issues with the mission which we’ve since corrected.
Not the most detailed report, but that’s sort of the point! Thanks for reading!