Bad Convention Games

Giant Robot Goodness

Ok, I don’t want to slam anyone and while I may pretend that I’m being discreet most people could figure out who I’m talking about by looking at my blog. I almost don’t want to talk about this because I was happy just to see the game represented. Ah, dash it all. It was the Heavy Gear game at Game Summit. Gambit, you’re well within your right to punch me the next time you see me, but, to quote Arthur, “not in the face!”

I’m one of those horrible fans of Heavy Gear that hasn’t purchased anything for it in a long time. I love it, but I haven’t enjoyed painting or playing. On one hand, DP9′s caster is letting it down. I’ve mentioned that I’m not impressed with the quality of casting coming out of the company. To be fair I haven’t seen any of their new models and I wouldn’t be surprised if these issues are somewhat resolved. Seems like it is still happening though. Sigh.

On the other hand I don’t think I’ve played on the best tables for the game. The rules suggest a 3′x3′ table with 1-2 pieces of terrain for every square foot and no long sightlines. I came close to this at Cangames 2007, but even then the tables left something to be desired. There was a lot of solid buildings and hills to skirt, but not much else. For one thing I’ve rarely seen any terrain that comes to a Gear’s waist, allowing it to shoot while still receiving cover. Also, large areas of difficult terrain so that there’s a reason to use different movement modes.

The game run at Game Summit suffered from a similar lack of terrain, though the density was higher. There was even an interesting table which was essentially a King-of-the-Hill scenario with a tiered mountain in the middle for the Gears to climb. Unfortunately a lot of the terrain was unpainted chunks of styrofoam and concrete. Again, large solid pieces you could move around but not enter. The worst was that it was unpainted or roughly painted. The tiered mountain was flocked on the top then had speckles of brown on a white foam edge. I want this game to succeed but it needs a better presentation to sell.

The upside is that I overheard some people who did want to try their hand at presenting the game at the next Game Summit. The events that can be organized are organized. However the community needs to come out and offer to run the games they want to see. To that end I’ve put my money where my mouth is and have offered my Northern Guard force for use as a demo army. The last Game Summit just ended and in the heat of the moment promises are made. However, if Heavy Gear is being run my army will try to be there. If you attend and get to play with it, please be gentle.

All this talk of Heavy Gear has put a hankering in me to play. My army is painted and ready to go, maybe I should find a game. Meanwhile, I want to keep my nose down on my WWII project. I’m ordering the figures today and can’t wait until they arrive.

Tyler