Heavy Gear 3 Teaser YouTube video by Heavy Gear

Fingers crossed...
youtu.be/PXCx1IjM39A?...

A shot of the Heavy Gear Tactical box, together with the three Tactical supplements as well as Tanks & Striders.

Recently got my hands on a few items to fill a tactical hole on my Heavy Gear shelf.

A snap from page 5 of the Campaign Book of the original Heavy Gear Tactical box. It includes the Subplot Generator Table that has Cinematic, Military and Unforeseen Events to choose from. Cinematic results are: * COORDINATED: Choose two friendly units. When they attack the same target, they each get a +1 on their attack roll. * COWARD: A random enemy unit falls back as soon as it is damaged. If someone with the Leadership Skill is within Comm range, he may attempt to rally the fleeing unit: the result of the Leadership roll must be at least 4. * VENDETTA: A random enemy unit hates a random friendly unit. The enemy must match speeds (Combat or Top) and attack it continuously until one of the two is destroyed. * THE HERO: A random friendly unit is piloted by a young hero. He gets one reroll per round. The second roll stands. * LOVE SHALL PREVAIL: A random enemy unit is in love with a friendly unit. It will not fire on the object of its affections under any circumstances. * TRAITOR: One of the enemy works for your side. At any point during the game, the weakest unit (in TV modified by the pilot’s level) is transferred to your control and remains thus for the remainder of the game.

I'm currently focused on the tactical parts of classic Heavy Gear and enjoy it still has one foot in roleplaying, even if you play a straight up tactical campaign.

Take the subplot generator. Results vary in mechanical impact, but many work as roleplaying prompts or adventure seeds!

A scopedog figure. It's quite large and nicely pre-painted.

Came across a snap of my 1/20 scale Scopedog figure.

Should bring it out of storage.

A part from the Technical Manual about Ceramic Chips. Showing images of their different shapes. "Silicon chips are the oldest form of computer technology still in use. Actually, "silicon" is a misnomer: this material has not been used for centuries, having been replaced by more advanced ceramic compounds and superconductors that dissipate heat better. Less heat means that more circuits can be placed on a given surface, decreasing the overall size of the chip and improving speed and processing power. However, the old name remains common i n popular language; they are also often referred to as "cerachips." Externally, the computer chips still look like black or colored bits of plastic or ceramic with metal connector pins sticking out. Color coding is widely used in the military, although there is no set standard (which causes many, many problems for technicians working on unfamiliar circuitry). A rough set of universal standards did emerge during the War, though, and many of the newer vehicles carry such color-coded electronics. Shape is also a common indicator of the function of the chip, though not an absolute. The table below lists the most common colors and shapes as well as their associated functions. Although they are incrediblyslow when comparedt o modern optical NNet systems, silicon chips have the advantage of simplicity, extreme ruggedness and ease of manufacture. Automated micro-factories can turn them out by the handful if fed the correct raw material and given the time to lay out the precise circuitry within. Cerachips are chiefly used for low-power and low-speed applications such as door controller mechanisms, low-tech appliances and the like. The military uses them in simple but important circuitry such as pump relay controllers, sensor sub-interpreters and many types of system monitoring devices."

Take the section about chips. At face value it could seem like the most boring inlcusion - almost an entire page about chips and their shapes and colours?!

But it says so much about Terra Nova and the life there! Techs with bags full of cerachips, like Skittles, and no global standard. Love it!

Something I really enjoy about Heavy Gear is the attention to detail.

It might seem unecessary or even overwhelming, but the details are of a kind that enhances your understanding of the setting without getting in the way of play.

Helping you to convey a more verisimilar world at your table.

Heavy Gear 2e cover.

So... Silhouette / SilCore engine - what are your thoughts and experiences?

Old, but still ahead of its' time or overloaded machine porn?

What works and what doesn't?

Cutaway diagram showing the Northern Hunter. From the Heavy Gear rulebook.

The art from the first edition Heavy Gear rulebook, featuring a Hunter. Notice the old style round rocked launcher that fairly quickly was replaced by the now familiar square ones.

The Hunter was the first real military Gear produced on Terra Nova, so it feels appropriate to tie off this first thread with it.

However, the influence from VOTOMS (and probably Dougram as well) is obvious.

But what DP9 did was take this inspiration and turn it into the fantastic love letter that is Terra Nova and Heavy Gear! They created their own masterpiece of mecha world building, that I'm delving into here.

Now, I don't mean this as a "gotcha!" - considering the whole debacle with TLI/FASA and the Unseen mechs I can readily appreciate a small company like DP9 being extra careful, even when their Gear designs were completely original.

Text from page: "Heavy Gear is the result of nearly two years of collective development. The foundations for the world of Heavy Gear were laid down in September 1993,when we sat down over coffee to jot down some notes and scribble sketches about a world that was waiting to come out. In the months that followed, the game designers worked on the Silhouette game engine while the writers and various creators brainstormed to merge everyone's ideas into one harmonious whole. Not much later, inspired by various excellent British TV series (Dr. Who, Blake's 7, Red Dwarf) and Babylon 5, we came up with the concept of the over-arcing storyline and developed ways to adapt it to a game universe in a consistent, believable manner. The universe evolved rapidly. We knew we wanted "giant robots," but we wanted them to make sense. They had to be smaller than traditional Japanese mecha, more functional and built to last. We needed something closer to human proportions, something which would not dominate the battlefield but would turn an ordinary soldier into a sort of super-infantry. Something that would be closer to super-equipment, super-gear. From there, we were a step away from the name of those vehicles: Gears..."

In Heavy Gear Design Works - The Making of a Universe, DP9 wrote about the inspiration for Heavy Gear. TV shows like Blake's 7 and Babylon 5 are named, as well as how they wanted something "smaller than the traditional Japanese mecha".

But no mention of VOTOMS or Dougram.

A Scopedog model with the main hatch open to show the pilot sitting in the chest area, with their head sticking into the head of the Scopedog. They're quite small when it comes to mechs!

The mecha designs from Okawara took another step towards "realism" and became even smaller. The Scopedog is 3.8m and more of an enhanced infantry, than the mobile suits of Gundam or even combat armors of Dougram.

And here we dovetail into what this account is mainly about - the titular Heavy Gear.

Still from VOTOMS - three Scopedogs are firing at something off-screen. Scopedogs are about four meters tall.

Still from VOTOMS - Chirico inside his Scopedog, wearing the red pilot suit. It includes a helmet that covers his face.

A few years later Takahashi teamed up with Okawara again to create Armored Trooper VOTOMS. The setting is separate from Dougram, but you might say they're in the same ouvre.

The main character is Chirico Cuvie who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy in the aftermath of an interstellar war.

I'm currently re-watching Fang of the Sun - Dougram and it really holds up well! Highly recommended if you enjoy mecha and military SF.

The mechanical designs are superb and of course, anyone who've played Battletech will recognise most of them as FASA pretty much just stole them back in the 80s.

The show is in many ways a reflection of Gundam, but leans heavier into politics, colonialism, military tactics and logistics.

The mecha designs are more grounded and, while still huge, are more utalitarian, with focus on them being machines - that break down and requires maintenance.

Still from Dougram - Dougram and a couple of Ironfoot mechs in the backround, with some of the principal cast on hoverjeeps in the foreground.

Still from Dougram - a trio of Blockhead combat armors approaching a checkpoint. Infantry and fighting vehicles in the foreground.

Still from Dougram - a Soltic combat armor parked near some smoking ruins, where Federation Soldiers are beating up suspected guerilla members.

Still from Dougram - a trio of Soltig combat armors being airlited in by specially designed carrier helicopters.

Fang of the Sun - Dougram was created by Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise, 1981-83. It's about the struggle of the people on the planet Deloyer, fighting for independance from their colonial master - Earth.

Should ring a few bells for Heavy Gear fans...

Kunio Okawara, The Man Who Designed 'Gundam' And Created The Profession Of Mechanical Design When it comes to the profession of mechanical design, there really is only one person that comes to mind, mainly because he invented the role and has since gone onto influence anime, manga and games f...

Okawara really has done way too much cool stuff to dive into here, but I highly recommend just looking at his resume. And he's still working today!

Here's a neat Forbes article about him: www.forbes.com/sites/ollieb...

I'll zoom in on a couple of his creations - Dougram and VOTOMS.

Kunio Okawara - a Japanese man in his 70s - at the Gundam Factory in Yokohama (now closed). Up on the gantry, so you can see the head of the full sized Gundam RX-78F00 behind him.

Kunio Okawara, wearing a black suit, posing in front of a full size Scopedog.

Kunio Okawara is THE legendary mechanical designer who has given us mechas like the original Gundam (not to mention the Zaku!), the Dougram (and other combat armours and vehicles), and - most relevant to this account - the Scopedog from Armored Trooper VOTOMS.

Picture VOTOMS Art Works and Dougram & VOTOMS Design Works, by Kunio Okawara.

Interior page from Dougram & VOTOMS Design Works, by Kunio Okawara. This one showing design sketches fort the Scopedog. Text in Japanese.

Another page from Dougram & VOTOMS Design Works, by Kunio Okawara. This one showing sketches the Dougram in a state of disassembly as well as sketches of the four-legged "Tequila Gunner".

Spread from VOTOMS Art Works, by Kunio Okawara. Showing a colour painting of two Scopedogs on a fiery backdrop.

I've been fascinated by Heavy Gear since the 90s, and have over the years picked up most of the old books.

HG intersects perfectly with my love for the real robot genre of anime, so also expect stuff like this - two art/design books by the legendary Kunio Okawara I just got.

A Jager heavy gear looking at the viewer and doing the victory / peace sign. Art by Ghislain Barbe.

Hello there, and welcome to Terra Nova!

This account is a grab bag of things connected to the first two editions of Heavy Gear.

Expect an eclectic mix of lore delves, mecha design contemplations, rule examinatons, art appreciations and perhaps a mini or two as I read and think about Heavy Gear.