Second Heavy Gear Blitz KickStarter

After a month's delay to fulfill their Jovian Wars KickStarter, Dream Pod 9 have announced a launch date for their Heavy Gear Blitz expansion. I understand it will be in the next couple of days.  If you've not been following their FaceBook page I recommend looking at some of the renders they've been posting, and the tease for the Gilgamesh tank looks really interesting.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely I can pledge due to my other financial commitment, namely publishing Bad Dog.  But if I could I would, so check it out.
  

Walker, Humanoid, Integrated Suit/Pilot, Engagement/Reconnaissance

  

My friend Brandon Keith Fero has launched a Kickstarter for some awesome mecha called Whispers.

You can pledge here.

At five Whispers for $50.00 these are a steal.  I'm going to pledge when I'm paid because this it too good a deal to miss out on.
  

Jovian Wars KickStarter

I told myself I wasn't going to get into another project and resisted making a pledge with the new Dream Pod 9 Jovian Wars.  I really can't afford it: time more than money, but also money: it's a thing, right?

Anyway, I failed my resist new shiny roll.

So now I have a pledge in for the basic four capital ships and a pack of exo-armors and fighters.  Given the KS ends in the middle of next month I may be able to add a couple more ships to my pledge.  We shall see, but how could I resist Gundam!  Sorry, I mean Jovian Wars cough Gundam really cough.

The latest blog on how to make a fleet for a basic skirmish game.

Jovian Wars is about building a strategy when selecting your fleet and then using that fleet to achieve your objectives in a game, usually by out maneuvering your opponent and defeating in combat.

 

The Jovian Wars Kickstarter has new ship designs available so let’s look at how you might go about building a fleet.

And here's the link to the full text.  And the KS is already fully funded with extras unlocked, so it looks like a good deal is there to be had, and those spaceships are gorgeous.

NB: Edit, to add link to the Jovian fleet link.  And, a picture of all the lovely little Exo-armors.

  

Plastic Ogre Miniatures Success

  

As the KickStarter page says, "1,529 backers pledged $124,628 to help bring this project to life."

 

Well done.

 

As you can see from the picture you get a shed ton of miniatures, and can also buy them with the colours reversed: blue Ogres and red vehicles or green Ogres and vehicles.  I imagine for the majority of players they will be happy to use them as is and won't end up painting them.

 

Now the question is when will Steve Jackson Games bring out an edition of Ogre with miniatures inside the box?

 

You may not agree with me when I say that the future of the game lies in broadening its appeal with plastic miniatures, but my guess is that the cardboard version appeals to old grognards for nostalgia reasons: it's like the original game, but larger so that I can read the writing on the counters now that I'm old and can't read the original chits even with my glasses on.

 

As marketing strategies go that one is time limited.  The future lies in attracting new players to the game, but I could be wrong.  Only time will tell.

 

Still, very excited to see the return of Ogre miniatures.

  

Steve Jackson Plastic Ogre Miniatures

I'm not in the position to run with this, but I'm sure some of you who read my blog might be interested in these.  KickStarter link.

  

Catching Up

This last week has been very busy with work and having to deal with changing my internet service provider.  The one bright light amid all the stress this caused was my Heavy Gear KickStarter pledge arriving from Dream Pod 9.

I took some pictures of everything unpacked, kept the rule-book out to read and had a hell of job getting everything back inside the box.  Whoever packed this did an excellent job.  I ordered the Caprice army in addition to the four army starter pack, added a couple of extra Accos, and took advantage of the option to buy some Terra Nova terrain: Badlands Outpost and four stone heads.

As you can see in the above picture I also took up the offer to add a couple of standard models to my order: the new Hoplite and a couple of metal Gears – Hunter and Jaguar for a special conversion.  So Christmas has arrived early at the Paint-it-Pink household.
   

Jovian Chronicles

  

Over on Fire Broadside! there's an interview with Robert Dubois from Dream Pod 9 about new their exo armor miniatures for the Jovian Chronicles game.  Colour me excited because Gundam space battle games are few and far between and Jovian Chronicles is meant to be rather good.  So I'm keeping an eye on the new releases and given that I now have a part time job I may be int he position to buy some in the future.
  

Heavy Gear Caprice

I admit it I gave in and made a pledge for the Heavy Gear Kickstarter, initially only for a dollar, but then came to my senses and upped my pledge to $65.00 for the Caprice starter army.  I like the look of the four legged walkers, and at the price listed it's win-win, plus the add-ons and postage and packing deal for this was too tempting.

I have to admit that while I love the Heavy Gear universe, I have no one to play with, and largely I'm buying these for games in my own universe, which I still have no-one to play with, but it keeps me busy and off the streets.  So my plan is that these Caprice walkers will form the core of my Russian Federation special forces unit, and will face off against my VOTOMS who will be used as my Confederated States Marines.