Heavy Gear Blitz! is a fast-paced squad-level tabletop miniatures game of armoured battle-suit combat. Strike forces from Terra Nova and other colony worlds battle the invading Colonial Expeditionary Forces of Earth. The main weapon in their defence is the Heavy Gear, an armoured battle-suit standing three times a person’s height. They fight for freedom and control of their destiny, with their Gears supported by tanks, infantry, and other armoured vehicles.
Heavy Gear Blitz – Evolved Gameplay
The Heavy Gear game has been refined over 25 years to be easy to learn and play. At it’s heart is an intuitive system that allows Gears to fight out dynamic clashes on the tabletop. Experienced players who seek more depth will discover an array of units to master; from fire support and recon to electronic warfare specialists; from tanks and infantry to aircraft and VTOLs.
The 3rd Edition of Heavy Gear Blitz has just arrived in 2021, with improved clarity and ease-of-learning the game compared to previous editions. The rulebook is available on DriveThruRPG as a free PDF, so players can check out the game before investing.
Heavy Gear Blitz – Plastic Miniatures
Since 2016, Heavy Gear models from the main factions have been produced in plastic for the first time. As a result of this, the main 7 factions currently each have an Army Box of plastic miniatures to form the basis of a Heavy Gear Blitz army.
You can also read the Wargames Illustrated review of these plastic miniatures.
Factions
The most important factions in the War for Terra Nova are:
The North – Confederated Northern City States (CNCS)
Terra Nova’s northern hemisphere is home to three leagues; each of these is also a coalition of city-states united for protection. Each fields a separate peacekeeping force and contributes to the Northern Guard, the overall military of the alliance. Collectively, they are known as the Confederated Northern City States; they act as one of Terra Nova’s true super powers. Other inhabitants of Terra Nova see the CNCS as prudish and overly concerned with matters of faith, but the three Northern leagues form a highly diverse and complex society.
The South – Allied Southern Territories (AST)
The Southern polar regions of Terra Nova are a warm mix of biomes including jungles, swamps, and plains. The region was highly desirable to the early colonists of Terra Nova, despite being home to poisonous indigenous creatures. Because of this, they founded many city-states there. Initially, the unified earth government controlled settlement expansion. Financial issues eventually forced Earth to withdraw and Terra Nova was left to fend for itself. The South was home to the formation of several Leagues that were eventually unified into the Allied Southern Territories using a combination of diplomacy and military strength. It’s goal was to provide safety and economic advantages to the member Leagues. However, the dominant League of the Allied Southern Territories has always been the Southern Republic.
Peace River
Peace River is a city state in the Terranovan badlands owned and operated by the massive Paxton Arms Company. The city-state of Peace River claims exclusive control over a protection zone in the equatorial badlands. This zone is forbidden to foreign military units, and the Peace River Defence Force is more than willing to meet intruders with force. Equipped directly from the Peace River factories, the defence force is similar to a well-funded private army.
NuCoal – the New Coalition
The youngest of Terra Nova’s major powers, the New Coalition (NuCoal) was founded in the cycles leading up to the Interpolar War as an economic and military alliance between different badland powers to stave off polar aggression. A significant player behind the alliance is Port Arthur, a city-state founded by ex-CEF personnel stranded on Terra Nova for decades after a previous failed invasion. It is home to a large population of former CEF soldiers and GRELs. More recently, a massive influx of refugees from the embattled Humanist Alliance (HA) arrived seeking to escape the subjugation of the Southern Republic. With them came the elite scientists and engineers who have proven instrumental in developing NuCoal’s unique hybrid of CEF and Terranovan technology.
The CEF – Colonial Expeditionary Force
Many Terra Novans still carry bitter reminders of the CEF’s last attempt to invade Terra Nova a generation before. The CEF returned as a conquering army, accepting nothing less than total submission.
The CEF is the military force of the New Earth Commonwealth, a government from the remains of civilisation on an Earth damaged by centuries of warfare and misuse. The average NEC citizen lives an unpleasant life in a domed city or, even worse, foraging in harsh wastelands. To these people, the government and the CEF are reaching out to take new worlds to settle and develop. The colony worlds are the best choice, as they are already prepared for human residents. The CEF has an ancient claim on all the colonies Earth helped develop centuries before, and the CEF is coming to collect.
Caprice
Caprice has an important place as a critical junction in the web-like network of Tannhauser Gates that makes interstellar travel possible. The planet was quickly conquered when the CEF reached out to the stars, but many factions are plotting to remove the CEF from power when an opportunity arises. Caprice fields insect-like walkers that were adapted from industrial equipment used to mine the planet’s harsh highlands. While not as flexible or as advanced as Terra Nova’s Heavy Gears, the Caprician Mounts are capable of scaling sheer cliffs to move into firing positions or ambush targets.
The Corporate and Liberati factions split the forces on Caprice. The Corporate factions are working for the CEF rulers, at least publicly. Some are working to undermine the CEF by delaying strategic orders and passing information to freedom fighters; others are truly backing the CEF. As a result, some corporations have sent highly-trained units with the CEF to Terra Nova to aid the war effort. Some therefore straddle the line between compliance and resistance, waiting to see who will be the ultimate victor. The Liberati are the freedom fighters of Caprice. They are descended from freedom-seeking migrant workers and disaffected corporate wage slaves. Equipped with captured and converted Mounts, they are fighting the CEF directly with aid from the Black Talons.
Utopia
Utopia was once a verdant colony world worthy of its name. After the withdrawal of Earth several centuries ago, Utopia fractured and eventually fought “The Great War”, an apocalyptic conflict that left much of Utopia’s surface uninhabitable due to nuclear fallout. Forced underground and with a limited remaining population, the remaining powers were forced to shift to other forms of warfare.
Research into artificial intelligence resulted in the Near Artificial Intelligence (NAI) which, while not truly independent, could operate as the central control units of combat machines. These robots, dubbed “autos” quickly became the main combat elements of Utopia. Human support and control were still needed which resulted in the creation of Armiger command walkers.