Southern Army Starter

Hello Gearheads. It’s time for a quick look at the Heavy Gear Blitz Southern Army Starter kit. It includes small black and white printings of both the Heavy Gear Blitz: Locked and Loaded rulebook and the Field Manual. This starter offers fantastic options, but like most of the other starters is unplayable at Priority Level (PL) 2 without additional purchase. It does include small, black

I have played around a bit with options, of which there are many, and come up with the following:

 

At PL 1

Veteran General Purpose Cadre:

Black Mamba (army commander)

Upgrade att and def to 3
Remove weak facing
Leadership 2
Field armor
Army commander skill upgrade

Black Mamba (political officer)

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Light bazooka

Jager
Jager
Jager

Veteran Fire Support Cadre

Black Mamba

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Remove weak facing
Leadership 2
Medium Rifle (sniper)

Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor

Support Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Very Light Field Gun

Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Very heavy autocannon

At PL 3

Veteran Paratrooper Cadre

Black Mamba (army commander)

Upgrade att and def to 3
Remove weak facing
Leadership 2
Field armor
Army commander skill upgrade

Black Mamba (political officer)

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Light bazooka

Jager
Jager
Jager

Veteran Fire Support Cadre

Command Jager

Upgrade att and def to 3
Leadership 3
Medium Rifle (sniper)
Demolition Drone

Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor

Support Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Very Light Field Gun

Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Very heavy autocannon

At PL 4

Fire Support Cadre

Black Mamba

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Remove weak facing
Leadership 2
Medium Rifle (sniper)
Demolition drone

Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor

Support Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Field armor
Very light field gun

Cobra

Upgrade att and def to 3
Very heavy autocannon

Veteran Strike Cadre

Black Mamba (army commander)

Upgrade att and def to 3
Remove weak facing
Leadership 3
Field armor
Army commander skill upgrade

Black Mamba

Upgrade att and def to 3
Light bazooka

Jager
Jager
Jager

All three builds use the models with the same weapons configurations in order to negate the need for magnets. (I prefer to permanently attach all weapons) There are obviously other ways you could arrange the models for the given priority levels. The box includes a lot of different weapons. This just seemed like a decently potent layout for all three PLs.

In particular, I wanted to use 3 different weapons load-outs for the Cobra, which is unnecessary but makes the army more diverse. I generally make a conscious effort to leave most of my general purpose gears with their basic equipment. I imagine that logistically most commanders would prefer the standard load-out for resupply reasons.

Tactically, this starter allows for several approaches. Weapons choices for the Cobras will determine much. The Fire Support Cadre offers substantial punch in the form of both excellent direct fire weapons and unrivaled indirect fire potential. The Strike Cadre gives a strong mix of gears that can also be used to represent an upgraded General Purpose Cadre or a Paratrooper Cadre.

To wrap up, I’d like to write briefly about options for expanding beyond the starter. The obvious choices to allow you the ability to play PL 2 would be either a Southern General Purpose Cadre or one of the two Southern Infantry Platoons. The GP Cadre is tougher, but makes playing 750 points tight. The infantry is cheaper in both points and dollars and gives your force the combined arms feel that the writers of the game seem to intend. Secondary choices in my opinion come down to personal wants. A Naga or two strengthens your force with heavy armor and firepower, again making the points a bit high. Tanks add to the combined arms feel. A recon cadre gives you units with increased movement and the opportunity to expand your “electronic warfare” ability.

Please enjoy this starter as much as I have. Mash some metal!

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