Home Forums Sci Fi General Sci-Fi Heavy Gear Dreadnoughts Kickstarter Coming Soon

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  • #52407
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    From Fusion Core Studios, I wanted to share this with everyone.

    Heavy Gear Dreadnoughts Kickstarter Banner

     

    “Heavy Gear: Dreadnoughts Kickstarter Launching Soon!

    After announcing Heavy Gear: Dreadnoughts at Gen Con 2016, Fusion Core Studios is now preparing the next stage of this exciting new project. A Kickstarter for the fleet-scale tabletop miniatures game is set to launch in mid-November, running through the holiday gift-buying season and wrapping up before Christmas. The goal is to fund the production of four multi-part plastic landship miniatures for the North and South factions of the Heavy Gear universe. Stretch goals include four additional landship classes, multiple option parts for each ship, plastic miniatures for troop units, and upgrades to game components such as a color rulebook, high-quality cardstock game tokens, and templates. Kickstarter backers will receive extra miniatures, early shipping for the game’s release, and bonus backer rewards.
    For more information, follow us on Facebook, or visit our website (www.fusioncorestudios.com)!”

     

    I’m looking forward to this immensely.

    #52409
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    It’s good to see the Heavy Gear brand get more recognition in the hobby scene as it has been doing lately. Maybe now the miniatures will finally become readily available outside of North America.

    That said I can’t help but feel that these redesigned landships have lost some of the retro VOTOMS-esque charm that the old designs had. Landships were always one of the most ridiculous aspects of the Heavy Gear universe, especially given that there’s basically no other anti-grav technology in the setting. But it helped to think of them as an injection of intentionally naive retro sci-fi inspired by VOTOMS and other ’80s anime. IIRC there were no actual landships in VOTOMS, but it was such a setting that there easily could have been, and for all the unrealistic aspects of that setting there’s an undeniable coolness about it (which has become kind of “quasi-retro” by this point, 33 years after the original anime) which makes it fun to imitate in gaming.

    These new designs look like they’re trying to make landships more realistic and “ultra-modern”, which feels to me like a fool’s errand. IMO they should have doubled down on the 1980s Japanese retro aesthetic instead.

    #52420
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    I totally agree. These new designs are too nondescript for my tastes. I’m not feeling it.

    #52425
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    On different note, they seem to have followed the example set by Spartan Games: bigger scales and bigger ships. The old Heavy Gear Fleet Scale landships were 1/4000, these new ones are 1/2400 and consequently much bigger, not unlike how the highly popular Spartan Games spaceships and steampunk airships dwarf most other ship ranges (although this may ultimately trace farther back to Battlefleet Gothic).

    This seems to be a growing trend in sci-fi “ship gaming” overall. I’m largely neutral to it; it has its pros and its cons. Big ship models can be cool, but it does also feel like a way to get us to spend ever more money on ever bigger products.

    #52427
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Which is why I buy my starships from Ground Zero Games. 😉

    #52432
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    Fair observations. If I may address them.

    Dream Pod 9 licensed the work to Fusion Core Studios, so this is the first endeavor by Fusion Core into the gaming scene.

    I’ve heard some folks state that they would like to stick to the ‘retro’ feel of VOTOMS, not only in the board game, but also in the RPG scene. The older ships are still planned to be included, but they won’t be a part of the Kickstarter so far as I know, at least not yet.

    Personally, I’m not enthused with the idea of maintaining the status quo of ‘retro’ to sell the game. It might work for many older fans, but there’s also been a lot of older fans who summarily remember the Dream Pod 9 scale change of ’97, and drop their interest altogether. That might be a great selling point in video games and even movies, but then I’ve seen how hard Warhammer 40K has been hit of late with continuous yearly book releases and rule changes. The nostalgia wears off eventually.

    As for the Heavy Gear brand getting more recognition outside of the U.S. and Canada, when I created the Terra Nova DMZ on Facebook group, we were at around 90 members. We’ve risen steadily to almost 370 now, and about 15 are in the United Kingdom, and they created a separate Facebook group for themselves.

    There’s also at least a dozen players I know of who are in Australia. So, depending on where you live, you can always try checking out the group and seeing who might be in your area, if you want to have some throwback games. But, I should also mention that the newest edition of the Heavy Gear rules is already out on DriveThruRPG for free, and it will remain free indefinitely. They’ve followed the initial ideas set by Infinity, offering the rules to the fans for download and focusing more on selling miniatures.

    #52435
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    That’s all fine, and don’t construe my personal tastes as saying that they ought to do or not do anything. I just prefer the look of hovering battleships like the Typhoon and the Vortex as a matter of my own style preferences. I hope they do well with this, and who knows but that I may change my mind.

    Incidentally, while we’re nitpicking, isn’t it the “Allied Southern Territories” and the “Confederated Northern City-States?” 😉

    #52436
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    As a writer and fan… yes. Yes it is. CNCS and AST.

    Then again, he was sick and in the middle of moving family, so I forgive him the slip.

    And Fusion Core did say that, eventually, they’d like to go for 1/2400-scale versions of the older generation ships, if there’s a high enough demand. Which, from the sounds of it, there’s more than even I personally bargained for. 

    #52438
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Personally, I liked the older generation of ships, as they were well designed for the game and really well thought out.  As said above, these are sort of non-descript, but I’m guessing they represent the newer generation with newer technology.  I’ll have to see more before I can jump on.  Like, will the game include using gears and aircraft, even if they are just counters…?

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #52439
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    What’s funny is the AST ships always looked kind of like the USS Zumwalt. I gathered that the Northern ships were supposed to be slightly more, let’s say, “venerable,” dating from before the War of the Alliance, while the Southern ships took it on the nose when the Earth forces dropped kinetic weapons on them during the invasion, and got rebuilt after the war, out of the Southern Republic’s lavish military budget. Still, I liked the northern designs better for reasons previously stated. Not a matter of going forward or backward, just a preference for their aesthetics.

    #52440
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Like, will the game include using gears and aircraft, even if they are just counters…?

    I think so:

    We seem to be looking at a mix 3-4 different scales in the same game. Unavoidable, unless one wants to use counters.

    #52442
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    Or 3mm scale gears and tanks.

    Now, if they DID make 3mm scale gears and tanks… Well I’d just about lose my you know what.

    I don’t really MIND any of the designs. The one above is kind of Homeworld-esque, a Peter Elson aesthetic which isn’t bad. I just PREFER the older, Land-Dreadnoughty ones.

    #52444
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    Short answer, yes, at least I believe that is what the plan is. Gears, tanks and aircraft will be included in the game. Each ‘counter’ is planned to count as a force equivalent to what one might find in a Heavy Gear Blitz battle. So roughly 15-20 Gears, 4-8 tanks, and so on.

    As for the design concepts, the original idea from Dream Pod 9 in the book ‘The New Breed’ was for the South was to make them look like swords from above, while the North chose a more blocky version of WWII-era warships.

    #52447
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Or 3mm scale gears and tanks. Now, if they DID make 3mm scale gears and tanks… Well I’d just about lose my you know what.

    I’m not counting on it (I wouldn’t be sure they’ve even heard of the fairly recent advent of 3mm sci-fi gaming, let alone weighed 3mm as an option), but yeah, it would be ideal from my point of view as well.

    #52598
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    It’s live!

    #52624
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Wow, that’s an ambitious Kickstarter, but off to a good start!

    And as for the possibility of 3mm figures:

    Troop Miniatures

    We’re currently testing using Dream Pod 9’s old Heavy Gear Fleet miniatures. Depending on Kickstarter success levels, we’ll either switch to card counters for the troops, or make all-new plastic miniatures in a slightly smaller scale (around 1/500).

    3mm is 1/600, so if those 1/500 tanks and mechs become a reality, I’d be very happy. The Kickstarter would need to reach the far-off $84000-$93000 stretch goals, though. For my part I probably won’t pledge, but I wish them the best of luck.

    #52641
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Oooh, baby! Talk filthy to me, yeah….

    Let me add in my two cents in favor of 1/500 scale minis. Also, since you are going that way anyhow, instead of doin 1/500, why not do 1/600? You’d get crossover sales and instantly double the number of miniatures available for your game. Btw, there already is somethhing approximating gears in 1/600 scale…

     

    We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

    #52649
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Btw, there already is somethhing approximating gears in 1/600 scale…

    The problem I’m having with 3mm sci-fi at the moment is that the Oddzial Osmy range is not extensive enough and too eclectic for me to be able to build two opposing forces that have different military hardware yet match each other thematically and stylistically. Now that I’m looking closer at the Oddzial Osmy Badger mech and realising it does indeed resemble a Gear from the HG universe or an AT from the VOTOMS universe, I’m coming to think it’s the best item in the range, but I would need more mechs in the same general style (and preferably in multiple poses, too) to construct a workable sci-fi setting.

    #52702
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    Discussions are ongoing concerning the scale. Lots of folks have reiterated the desire to see something in the 6mm-8mm range. I wouldn’t presume to speak on behalf of Fusion Core Studios in that matter until the man behind the curtain gives his own official answer. However, if you know of the old Lightning Strike rules for Jovian Chronicles, that’s the man behind it. Wunji Lau.

    #52719
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Discussions are ongoing concerning the scale. Lots of folks have reiterated the desire to see something in the 6mm-8mm range. I wouldn’t presume to speak on behalf of Fusion Core Studios in that matter until the man behind the curtain gives his own official answer. However, if you know of the old Lightning Strike rules for Jovian Chronicles, that’s the man behind it. Wunji Lau.

    Ah, the classic problem of the Heavy Gear community: Everyone wants something different. It’s why I drifted away from the Dream Pod 9 forums after frequenting them for a while, too much head-butting. It seems Fusion Core is having to deal with the same difficulties by extension.

    This just makes me more certain that I’m not interested in pledging. I suppose I could use Gears and Striders in 6mm as well as 3mm, but I don’t want to invest money in an unknown, so I’ll just wait it out and see if the end result turns out to be something I’m interested in buying once it’s on the market.

    Besides, those stretch goals are set awfully high. I won’t be surprised if the pledged sum never gets up there in the first place.

    #52730
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    One never knows.  I wish them the best, and would like to see the game do well, so that they can perhaps be encouraged to make the “original” ships for it, which I would be into in a major way.  And 3mm scale counter units, as well, however much of a longshot that might be.  I think players would find 6-8mm “counters” too big when they finally got them, but that’s me and the vox emptori will always rule, I guess.

    #52742
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    Well, I personally appreciate the good wishes.

    The Backers asked a lot of questions, so Fusion Core offered some answers in their update, which I compiled into this article on my personal blog, rather than piece it all together into one convoluted wall ‘o text in forums:

    http://heavygearthunderrun.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-is-heavy-gear-dreadnoughts-about.html

    TLDR: Harpoon is a major influence over the game, the landship miniatures are there as a part of Rule of Cool feature, just like Battlefleet Gothic, but it does touch on strategy boardgame aspects, as well.

    #52863
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Hmm… the Kickstarter has slowed down a lot by now. Whatever else I’ve said, I really do hope this thing funds.

    The stretch goals for new microscale/”picoscale” Gears, Striders, tanks, aircraft and infantry seem to be a lost cause, though 

    #53020
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    On the average, Kickstarters that don’t surpass 33 percent in the first 3 days don’t typically succeed. Heavy Gear Dreadnoughts is sitting at 60 percent a week in, with many folks saying they’re in a ‘wait and see’ mode – obviously, not understanding that, when you pledge, your friends who are on Kickstarter see you pledge, investigate, and can also decide to pledge, thus raising the funds even faster in a snowball effect – and I’m guessing many more who aren’t even aware of its presence. There are also those who are questioning it, often with valid concerns and ideas concerning the counters.

    Even if it doesn’t succeed fully this time, a canceled KS would just mean that lessons were learned, and a new one could be launched in the future.

    However, don’t count it out just yet.

    #53030
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    Heavy Gear Dreadnoughts is sitting at 60 percent a week in, with many folks saying they’re in a ‘wait and see’ mode – obviously, not understanding that, when you pledge, your friends who are on Kickstarter see you pledge, investigate, and can also decide to pledge, thus raising the funds even faster in a snowball effect

    I’m not really in “wait and see” mode myself. I’ve already decided not to pledge, but only because the deal being presently offered doesn’t hit the sweet spot for me personally. I just hope there’s enough other people who do find the deal appealing enough. That said, a new, reconfigured Kickstarter might ultimately be for the better – I’m also inclined to question the current plan for the mech/vehicle/infantry counters. Card counters as standard (failing some sky-high stretch goals) just fall a bit short of adequacy for me.

    But I can’t promise that a reconfigured deal in a new Kickstarter will hit the sweet spot for me either – my tastes in regard to HG are quite particular, and unfortunately for me so are the tastes of many other HG fans, only in myriad different ways to mine. That’s what I find exhausting about the HG fan community; it’s like everyone is constantly lobbying the devs for something different, and unsurprisingly, no-one gets what they want in the end. It’s a mess. So I just do my own thing with the HGB figures nowadays (ignoring the new official ruleset, among other things), as I might do with any HG fleet scale / Dreadnoughts figures if I ever do buy into them as well (and even then I might just scratchbuild my own ships to get that 80s Japanese retro feel I like).

    #53052
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Well, the kickstarter hasn’t move a jittle or a twitch in about a week now. I would say it is dead.

    Frankly, I think they’d have been better off giving four dreadnoughts and a bunch of 1/500 or 1/600 minis. And I agree: if all I get is the dreadnoughts, I can easily kitbash those.

    We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

    #53054
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    Well, the kickstarter hasn’t move a jittle or a twitch in about a week now. I would say it is dead.

    We’ll see.

    I think sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets to interested parties and Groups would greatly increase exposure, and inspire folks to come over and have a look. At the very least, a $1 pledge would enable them to see the updates when they come out, and then increase their Pledge if they found it to their liking.

    Heavy Gear Dreadnoughts is sitting at 60 percent a week in, with many folks saying they’re in a ‘wait and see’ mode – obviously, not understanding that, when you pledge, your friends who are on Kickstarter see you pledge, investigate, and can also decide to pledge, thus raising the funds even faster in a snowball effect

    I’m not really in “wait and see” mode myself. I’ve already decided not to pledge, but only because the deal being presently offered doesn’t hit the sweet spot for me personally. I just hope there’s enough other people who do find the deal appealing enough. That said, a new, reconfigured Kickstarter might ultimately be for the better – I’m also inclined to question the current plan for the mech/vehicle/infantry counters. Card counters as standard (failing some sky-high stretch goals) just fall a bit short of adequacy for me. But I can’t promise that a reconfigured deal in a new Kickstarter will hit the sweet spot for me either – my tastes in regard to HG are quite particular, and unfortunately for me so are the tastes of many other HG fans, only in myriad different ways to mine. That’s what I find exhausting about the HG fan community; it’s like everyone is constantly lobbying the devs for something different, and unsurprisingly, no-one gets what they want in the end. It’s a mess. So I just do my own thing with the HGB figures nowadays (ignoring the new official ruleset, among other things), as I might do with any HG fleet scale / Dreadnoughts figures if I ever do buy into them as well (and even then I might just scratchbuild my own ships to get that 80s Japanese retro feel I like).

    I disagree with “sky high” stretch goals.

    The goals are reasonable for the scale and the material offered, the amount of ships (and counters) offered is a good breakpoint for most Pledges, and the stretch goals are reasonable for each individual counter’s mold.

    What you described about “particular” tastes is one thing I’d personally like to address, and clean up the mess. You can ignore the official ruleset as you wish, that’s your decision. Personally, I don’t mind the free ruleset offered for HGB.

    #53433
    Avatar photoRhoderic
    Member

    I see it’s been cancelled now, but they seem to be working on a reconfigured KS for later. I especially like the sound of this:

    One small surprise in this campaign was the amount of feedback concerning the troop minis. Those were originally the primary focus of our plastics efforts, but they got back-burnered in favor of the landships. Seems like our first instinct was our best one, so we’ll put the troops back on the drawing board. We’ll settle on a firm size; we’ve followed closely the discussions on the pros and cons of smaller figures, and while we probably won’t go way down to 1/1500 or smaller, we’ll go for the smallest size that still shows clearly recognizable design traits. We’ll get them modeled up at the new size, too, so that we’re not using placeholders. And we’ll probably move them up into an earlier stretch goal, if not into the main Kickstarter funding goal.

    That sounds heartening for those of us who are following this project partly or even mainly for the mechs and vehicles that maybe, just maybe, will be compatible with 3mm. I just hope that enough overall interest for a high-production-value game of landship fleet combat in the HG universe does exist, and the lackluster performance of this KS is more down to misgivings about the particulars.

    I’ve neglected to mention that I have a lot of respect for Wunji Lau, because Jovian Chronicles Lightning Strike is an excellent ruleset.

    #53440
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    I agree, I really like Lightening Strike, and wish the 2 people I played it with hadn’t moved off!  I even use it for other universes.

    I am in the camp with the “minis useful for using in other games, at a usable scale” people.  1/300 or 1/600 would be ideal for Gears and armor, and as they’re more “tokens” in the game it wouldn’t detract from the game itself.  More could be sold as people could use them all over the place.  1/1500 would be totally rediculous, you’d lose them every time you took a breath.  Imagine the brachiol discomfort that would cause!

     

    I do hope they get it going again.  Harpoon was a very slow game, but giving it a LS treatment would be great!

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #53444
    Avatar photoMr. Average
    Participant

    If it were just me they were trying to please and nobody else, I’d say go with traditional Heavy Gear styles instead of the nondescript Homeworld-on-the-Ground ships, play up the Combined Arms with 1/600 scale “counters” as a basic game element, and start off with fewer numbers of more different kinds of ships instead of a basic set with two kinds of ship per player, to encourage people to play out and press the limits of gameplay styles.

    But that’s just me, and I’m nobody special. As ever I’m interested to see the game succeed, whether it’s really a game that’s “for me” or not.

    #54243
    Avatar photoBrandon Fero
    Participant

    Just about finished on light rules and will be having reviews with Fusion Core. Keeping you folks in the loop.

    #54270
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    I agree with Mat: one big ship and one small ship per side, with a whole gaggle of 1:600 minis (a gear in this scale would be, roughly, the size of a 6mm infantryman). Keep the old animé feel and do more modern ships later.

    We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

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