Author: Jean Carrieres, Marc-Alexandre Vezina, Philippe R Boulle
Category: miniature
Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9
Capsule Review by Robert E. Allen III on 07/26/98. Genre tags: none

Woo-hah.

With the release of this boxed set, the world of Heavy Gear, Terra Nova, takes a big step into the land that Heavy Gear players have been waiting a long time for.

No, I am not talking about miniatures that actually fit on the hex-maps, although that time is also arriving.

I am talking about the War between the North (Confederated Northern City-States, or CNCS) and the South (the Allied Southern Territories, or AST. These podsters love abbreviations.).

Woo-hah.

This boxed set includes: a ton of counters, for Gears, infantry, APCs, and more; four hex-maps; stand-up bases for the Gear counters; two briefing books/player's guides, one campaign book and one rulebook. And a preview DP9-created Heavy Gear miniature - a Northern Hunter Gear.

The rulebook is nothing special, actually. It is info taken directly from the 2nd Edition Heavy Gear Rulebook, sans most of the world info and the roleplaying rules. While a little revision on some of the more confusing rules would have been welcome (like command points), there is no change from the already-printed rules. Still, it is quite nice to have them without all of the RPG stuff mixed in.

The campaign book is a mixed bag. It includes the random scenario and subplot charts from the Heavy Gear rulebook, but it also has the Battle of Rahnguard details. 11 scenarios with serious opportunites for re-fights, a campaign chart and more make this book the most likely to be dog-earred very, very soon.

The two briefing books/players guides - one for Northern players, one for Southern - are more game fluff than anything else. They detail the missions for each side in the scenarios. They also discuss the various types of cadres used by the regiments involved - being the Southern Azure Devils and the Northern Desert Sharks.

Okay, enough about what's in it. What's good about it?

This boxed set is an excellent teaching tool to get new players interested in Heavy Gear. While the size of the normal rulebook may intimidate players, the slim 32-paged rulebook for this set is a breeze. (Not to mention that this rulebook is only actually 15 pages of rules)

Further, all tactical Gearheads will want this set, because it details the events that begin open combat between the North and South, starting the Interpolar War that will rock the world of Terra Nova to its foundations.

Everything in this box screams sleek. The full-color counters are great- not especially animated, but what did you want, miniatures? (Actually...it would have been nice....but I digress) The player's books are a great touch. They really add some nice information to the scenarios other than: "Enemy units in sight...engage and destroy!" The hex-maps are smaller than I am used, being weaned on Battletech, but they work well with the counters for the game. The desert motive that Heavy Gear uses is a bit unusual to a lot of gamers not acquited with Heavy Gear- but even the bright yellow dice point to the fact that desert is the major landtype of Terra Nova.

So, the war is on. I am rooting for the North. Better get your Gears ready - the storm is headed your way.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)