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Gear Krieg is Dream Pod 9’s newest stab at the ‘giant robot war’ genre. However, unlike their previous attempts, Space Opera/SF games Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles, Gear Krieg is an alternate history game, setting out to create a World War II that we never experienced. In this plane of reality, a man named J. Walter Christie developed a ‘mechanical walking suspension,’ known to you and me as a walker, that can transform from mini-tank to two-legged war machine, a-la transformers. This new apparatus was developed and used by the German forces, and other nations soon followed suit, giving us a World War II complimented (improved?) by giant robots.

However, Gear Krieg is not all about these robots. As it is billed as ‘Two-Fisted Pulp Superscience in a World at War,” there are many superscience inventions that fight alongside ‘gears.’ Within the setting, not the game, mind you, you will find Tesla Death Rays, rocket planes, and huge supertanks. While this is certainly a SF setting, it is not entirely unbelievable, as the war goes relatively the same course that it did in real life, and the gears themselves seemed reasonable enough to me to think that they could be built during that time period if they had been thought up. The setting is an utter delight to read, and I would recommend it even if you plan not to play it.

The rulebook, a small, 127-paged hardcover, contains a wealth of information. The first section covers history, both real and Gear Krieg, and details how the gears ‘actually’ work. The second section contains game rules. In my opinion, the rules are a bit thick for a game that is billed as ‘two-fisted.’ I found them quite confusing at times, requiring way too many tables, and I had to re-read some sections many, many times to get the gist of it. And that’s coming from a RPGer-turned-wargamer. The rules seem like they would fit perfectly inside a WWII realistic wargame, but the rules for a robot game, where action should be fast-and-furious, should not be so. Luckily, the game contains rules for both tabletop and hex-map games, which incites a great cry of joy in me, and I’m sure others.

Chapter Three covers the armies of Gear Krieg, Germany, Britain, Japan, Russia, and the USA. Each side has clear advantages, and the army lists are accompanied by tips for play and painting. Also included are scenarios. These are very neat; included in each is a mission briefing, (although it sounds ordinary, I found these to be well-written and helped me get into the mood to play) and armies for the competing nations.

Last but not least, two appendixes are included. One contains weapons, and the other gears and vehicles. One of the thinks that really turned me off to Gear Krieg was the imbalance of forces. Germany alone enjoys 13 tanks and 5 gear variations, while Imperial Japan is left with a mere 2 tanks, 2 gears, and an anti-tank gun. When I got the game, I was set to play the army of the Rising Sun, but was quickly turned off at the shear lack of armor. In the back of the book, you will find cutouts of some of the more famous gears, plus game counters. Like I said before, the mix of forces is terrible, seeming to favor Britain, the US and Germany.

Do I like Gear Krieg? Hard to say. I really enjoy the setting, I think that DP9 put a lot of effort into making it both interesting and believable. However, the rules and the composition of the armies needs a little work. Plus, at 25 bucks for a really slim hardback with not nearly enough cardboard counters, and 12 bucks for individual gears, the game is really steep, even for a wargame. People who are WWII wargaming veterans will have a much easier time finding forces to play with, they already have a good portion of the armor. If you like alternate history games, than Gear Krieg is worth the money, even if just to read. If you are looking for a good wargame based in a WWII-like setting, however, look elsewhere.