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Armor Pack: Tanks & Striders is a tactical game supplement for Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear game and requires a copy of the tactical rules found in either the main Rulebook or Tactical Box Set. The Armor Pack consists of two sets of 50 full-colour counters (100 in all) for most of the northern and southern AFV's and Striders and one 16 page booklet of scenarios and record sheets. This tactical pack does not "introduce" tanks and striders to Heavy Gear though, as anyone with the Northern and Southern vehicle compendiums can tell, and so is not necessarily a "must have".

The Counters

These are beautiful renditions of the armoured vehicles of the Heavy Gear world, fully up to DP9's usual graphic standards, they clearly show what vehicle they represent, as well as an I.D. letter and the basic speed and armour stats. Since there are few miniatures of Heavy Gear tanks or striders from DP9 or RAFM, these are quite useful. Except for the counters for the Mammoth strider and its variants, all the counters are the same size as, and obviously a different scale from, the various Gear counters released in the Tactical Boxed Set and previous tactical packs, so they do not take up to much space on the map. My only complaint is that the two sets of counters are exactly alike, down to the I.D. letters, add to this the fact that two of the scenarios call for two Hun light tanks, of which there is only one per counter set, and you have a minor problem.

The Record Sheets

The record sheets in the Armor Pack are in the same format as those in the previous tactical packs, small enough to fit five on one 8 1/2" by 11" sheet, but not lacking any information. These are a great boon when playing large games with over a dozen units on each side, and now players don't have too fill them out by hand! Having filled out up to six of these sheets in one sitting in preparation for a game, this was a major selling point to this reviewer.

The Scenarios

Four scenarios are included in the booklet, all are short with a minimum of forces including AFV's, striders and infantry but no Gears, the battlefields all consist of two maps which can be found in the Tactical Boxed Set and all present varying levels of challenge to at least one side. A few friends and I tried all of them and found them to be fairly interesting, some having a "chess problem" feel, and a good introduction to the use of large combat vehicles in Heavy Gear.

"Scenario 1: The Stray" is an attempt by three Southern Naga striders to kill a Northern Aller MBT in fairly dense terrain. This scenario is a real challenge to the southern player, the Aller's armour is so thick and HEAT resistant that the Naga's anti-tank missiles will have a hard time breaching it, while the Aller's main gun is so powerful it will likely destroy a Naga with one hit. To win the Southern player will have to make maximum use of speed, terrain and timing, or the Northern player will have to make a mistake.

In "Scenario 2: Turncoat" three Southern AFV's are trying to defect and are pursued by a pair of Southern Republic Hun light tanks. The defectors are a dog's breakfast of special purpose vehicles who would seem to be in for a rough time, especially since simply running off the map, while possible, would hand the Republicans a free victory for capturing a village situated on one of the maps. The defectors are not without hope though, one of their vehicles is a self-propelled artillery piece and like all artillery can be very powerful.

"Scenario 3: Rush the Mammoth" once again a Northerner is caught alone (almost) and must hang on until help arrives. The Northern player gets a Mammoth strider, two infantry squads and one APC; the Southern player gets two Huns, two infantry squads and two APC's. Though powerful, the Mammoth is virtually alone, (the APC is too thin skinned and the infantry mustsurvive) un-manoeuvrable and is facing multiple incoming threats. The victory conditions for the North say half the infantry must survive until turn twelve, this is very unlikely unless the Southern units are wiped out first, which is not impossible but the Northern player will have to keep his wits about him.

"Scenario 4: A Matter of Honor" is a straightforward looking scenario featuring a heavy tank and two light tanks on each side, on paper it may look like the Northern forces will overpower the Southerners, but the Southern player can give an overconfident opponent a nasty surprise.

Conclusion

This is a solid if slim addition to Heavy Gear's tactical pack series of supplement. While it is not necessary to purchase this product to make use of tanks and striders in Heavy Gear, I personally found it worth the money for the record sheets alone for reasons mentioned above, and I also found the counters very useful in the absence of miniatures. Besides the lack of a full-colour cover, which seems of little importance considering the slimness of this volume, my only complaint is the aforementioned repetition of I.D. letters on duplicate counters.

All in all, this is a good but not vital addition to any tactical players Heavy Gear library, fans and tankers (that's me!) will buy it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Armor Pack: Tanks & Striders
Author: Marc-Alexandre Vezina Category: Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Line: Heavy Gear Cost: $14.95US, $16.45CAN Page count: 16 100 counters ISBN: 1-896776-51-5 SKU: DP9-057 Capsule Review by Bryan Rombough on 07/13/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Far_Future Anime	Armor Pack: Tanks & Striders is a tactical game supplement for Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear game and requires a copy of the tactical rules found in either the main Rulebook or Tactical Box Set. The Armor Pack consists of two sets of 50 full-colour counters (100 in all) for most of the northern and southern AFV's and Striders and one 16 page booklet of scenarios and record sheets. This tactical pack does not "introduce" tanks and striders to Heavy Gear though, as anyone with the Northern and Southern vehicle compendiums can tell, and so is not necessarily a "must have". The Counters These are beautiful renditions of the armoured vehicles of the Heavy Gear world, fully up to DP9's usual graphic standards, they clearly show what vehicle they represent, as well as an I.D. letter and the basic speed and armour stats. Since there are few miniatures of Heavy Gear tanks or striders from DP9 or RAFM, these are quite useful. Except for the counters for the Mammoth strider and its variants, all the counters are the same size as, and obviously a different scale from, the various Gear counters released in the Tactical Boxed Set and previous tactical packs, so they do not take up to much space on the map. My only complaint is that the two sets of counters are exactly alike, down to the I.D. letters, add to this the fact that two of the scenarios call for two Hun light tanks, of which there is only one per counter set, and you have a minor problem. The Record Sheets The record sheets in the Armor Pack are in the same format as those in the previous tactical packs, small enough to fit five on one 8 1/2" by 11" sheet, but not lacking any information. These are a great boon when playing large games with over a dozen units on each side, and now players don't have too fill them out by hand! Having filled out up to six of these sheets in one sitting in preparation for a game, this was a major selling point to this reviewer. The Scenarios Four scenarios are included in the booklet, all are short with a minimum of forces including AFV's, striders and infantry but no Gears, the battlefields all consist of two maps which can be found in the Tactical Boxed Set and all present varying levels of challenge to at least one side. A few friends and I tried all of them and found them to be fairly interesting, some having a "chess problem" feel, and a good introduction to the use of large combat vehicles in Heavy Gear. "Scenario 1: The Stray" is an attempt by three Southern Naga striders to kill a Northern Aller MBT in fairly dense terrain. This scenario is a real challenge to the southern player, the Aller's armour is so thick and HEAT resistant that the Naga's anti-tank missiles will have a hard time breaching it, while the Aller's main gun is so powerful it will likely destroy a Naga with one hit. To win the Southern player will have to make maximum use of speed, terrain and timing, or the Northern player will have to make a mistake. In "Scenario 2: Turncoat" three Southern AFV's are trying to defect and are pursued by a pair of Southern Republic Hun light tanks. The defectors are a dog's breakfast of special purpose vehicles who would seem to be in for a rough time, especially since simply running off the map, while possible, would hand the Republicans a free victory for capturing a village situated on one of the maps. The defectors are not without hope though, one of their vehicles is a self-propelled artillery piece and like all artillery can be very powerful. "Scenario 3: Rush the Mammoth" once again a Northerner is caught alone (almost) and must hang on until help arrives. The Northern player gets a Mammoth strider, two infantry squads and one APC; the Southern player gets two Huns, two infantry squads and two APC's. Though powerful, the Mammoth is virtually alone, (the APC is too thin skinned and the infantry mustsurvive) un-manoeuvrable and is facing multiple incoming threats. The victory conditions for the North say half the infantry must survive until turn twelve, this is very unlikely unless the Southern units are wiped out first, which is not impossible but the Northern player will have to keep his wits about him. "Scenario 4: A Matter of Honor" is a straightforward looking scenario featuring a heavy tank and two light tanks on each side, on paper it may look like the Northern forces will overpower the Southerners, but the Southern player can give an overconfident opponent a nasty surprise. Conclusion This is a solid if slim addition to Heavy Gear's tactical pack series of supplement. While it is not necessary to purchase this product to make use of tanks and striders in Heavy Gear, I personally found it worth the money for the record sheets alone for reasons mentioned above, and I also found the counters very useful in the absence of miniatures. Besides the lack of a full-colour cover, which seems of little importance considering the slimness of this volume, my only complaint is the aforementioned repetition of I.D. letters on duplicate counters. All in all, this is a good but not vital addition to any tactical players Heavy Gear library, fans and tankers (that's me!) will buy it. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)