Heavy Gear – Southern Spotlight

Brief Faction Overview: The South is the most populous region on Terra Nova and largely controlled by a single league: The Southern Republic. In the last two decades, the South has undergone some serious changes due to internal rebellion and the Inter-Polar War. While the Southern Republic still holds the most clout in the South, the Mekong Dominion vies for power through economic means. The feudal based Eastern Sun Emirates has won its independence from the dominance of the Southern Republic undergone a change in leadership after a bloody rebellion. The Humanist Alliance faces the problem of filling the vacuum created when its leadership perished from the Theban Blight, a manufactured bio-weapon deployed by the Southern Republic in order to annex the league. Now the league is torn into two, with one half under the total control of the Southern Republic while the other half strive to maintain its ideals under new leadership. Overseeing all of subordinate leagues is the Allied Southern Territories and its governing body, the Curia. This institution is merely a facade used by the Southern Republic to control its neighbors. Though the South outnumbers the North in population and resources, the belligerent qualities of the antarctic leagues and the constant infighting keep it from completely overrunning the rest of the planet.

 

Reasons to play the South:

• If round, curvaceous robots get you going this is the army for you! Mmm… curves.

• Feel like oppressing your neighbors? Or maybe you want to be the guy that fights off his oppressors, this might be the army for you.

• The Southern forces have significant access to mass barrage weapons such as the Heavy Rocket Pack. Indiscriminate bombardment to a large area means that you’re very likely to hit a cluster of opponents under the hail of fire.

• Heavy Grenade Launchers, Light Grenade Launchers, and Flamers…. Lots and lots of flamers. Grenade Launchers are excellent heavy weapons since they cover wide areas and dish out damage and stun counters left and right, reducing your opponent’s ability to defend. Anyways, who doesn’t like a good grenade launcher firing off keg sized explosives and randomly slaughtering your opponent? And if blowing up your enemies aren’t enough, Flame throwers might be your thing. Southern forces have wide access to incendiary weapons in their combat groups.

• Some of the Best Striders: Compared to the other factions in Heavy Gear Blitz, the South has access to the best striders in the game. The Naga with it’s secondary movement system and their twin Anti-Tank Missile Launchers can speed from cover to cover. Forward observe for themselves by using their sensor booms, and fire indirectly while being completely in cover. Dragon Striders bring to bear a wide array of firepower and mobility, and uses it effectively with its three actions. Sagittarius Striders in the hands of a Humanist Alliance Army can wreak havoc on the battlefield with its linked Light Pulse Laser Cannons.

 

Subfaction Information

• Southern Republic Army (SRA): The largest military on the planet and the best equipped of the Southern Leagues, the SRA fields top of the line equipment and prides itself on its honor.

  • Well Funded: SRA forces have a variety of excellent upgrades normally reserved for Veteran Options. The most common of these upgrades are for upgrading Jagers to Black Mambas, an elite machine. In a Strike Squad, the SRA gets access to two Heavy Gatling Laser Cannons (HGLC) for their Black Mambas as general options.

  • Designed to be Elite: The SRA is designed to be played at higher Priority Levels, which means that your objectives will be harder to achieve, but with easier access to high end models like the Black Mamba and its advanced weapons, it might not be so hard after all.

  • Send in the disposable troops: One unique feature in the SRA list is the ability to take a subservient Priority Level one MILICIA force. As the MILICIA has inexpensive units, including convicts, this option allows the SRA player some cheap options to ease the pain of so many nice expensive toys. And you really don’t want to get your uniform dirty when you have convicts to do your dirty work right?

  • Political Officer is watching you…: And no he isn’t going to shoot you if you screw up, but he can ruin your career by filing reports, a fate worse than death for the image conscious. SRA and MILICIA forces can upgrade a model in their force to a political officer which allows one reroll per turn to one model within 10” of the political officer.

• Military Intervention and Counter-Insurgency Army (MILICIA): Officially the MILCIA exists to protect the member leagues of the Allied Southern Territories, but in reality it’s a way for the SRA to have disposable troops and a means to tax its subordinate leagues for maintaining the MILICIA. Usually those funds go to buy the SRA the best equipment and the MILCIA are given the SRA’s hand me downs. Though faced with such an obstacle of inferior equipment, the MILICIA also attracts some excellent officers, who see the force as an excellent place to hone their skills without the rigidness of the Southern Republic.

  • Cheap Equipment: With the MILICIA’s Limited Resources rule, you can expect to get some steep discounts on your army’s models if you swap them out for older generation Gears. This essentially lets you create a swarm army capable of overwhelming your opponent.

  • Convicts: The South has very little qualms about sending criminal troops out into the warzone as they see it as a good way for the troops to redeem themselves. Granted you have to live to be redeemed, but as a player this gives a pool of even cheaper models making your swarm army swarmier.

  • Fresh Meat: No it’s not on the menu tonight, well maybe, but in the MILICIA it represents another option to make your already discounted models even cheaper. In the MILICIA training is sometimes just on the job. You either get it or well you die..

• Mekong Dominion Peace Keepers (MDKP): The honorable police/army of the Mekong Dominion stands in stark contrast to its league’s rather decadent and immoral practices. The highly professional army is renowned for its discipline, tenacity, and honor, but they aren’t always the best equipped due to budget cuts and the perception that most of the fighting should be handled by the Southern Republic or the MILICIA.

  • Armed to the Teeth Police: As a core choice for the MDPK force, the Military Police Cadre offers a highly effective and inexpensive unit. Black Mamba’s with Frag Cannons (i.e. Giant Gearsized Shotguns) can shred through most light and medium Gears. In cadres with all Black Mambas the MP Cadre suddenly becomes one of the cheapest airdroppable combat groups in the setting. Shotguns in the face from above for the win!

  • Limited Resources: Like their MILICIA counterparts, the MDPK have access to discounts from older model Gears. Which makes this force somewhat of a swarm army.

  • Samurai Gears??: Yep. One full combat group per 750TV can add Vibrokatana’s to their Gears for +5TV each. How cool is that? Considering that VK’s get the AP trait and Melee Range is a 3” radius around the miniature, Peacekeeper forces are just in your face and aggressive.

• Humanist Alliance Protectorate Force (HAPF): Building back their army from the disaster of the Theban Blight, HAPF has been fortunate to have allies in NuCoal, which means that in addition to having the best strider options, HAPF also has access to some excellent NuCoal Gears, hovertanks, GRELs, and other toys.

  • Strider Central: Or why HAPF is going to put the pain on you with big giant stompy robots…. with lasers. Humanist forces love their Striders and reserve their highest tech for them. The Sagittarius and Dragon Striders both get access to pulse laser technology and in the case of the Sagittarius the weapons are linked, meaning double the pain for your opponents.

  • Hetairoi: No that’s not a medical condition. The hetairoi is named after Alexander the Great’s companion cavalry, but enough of the history lesson. In a HAPF force the venerable Hun, a land based light tank, gets an upgrade to a fast moving hovertank raining death and destruction everywhere it goes. And as you are playing HAPF, there are options to swap out it’s very heavy autocannon with …. you guessed it lasers, or in this case a Heavy Pulse Laser Cannon (HPLC).

  • NuCoal Ties: If you have a copy of Perfect Storm you know that the Humanist Alliance co-developed many of the Gears, tanks, and other goodies that NuCoal uses. As part of that arrangement, HAPF get access to their toys. Since the Free Humanist Alliance is no longer part of the Allied Southern Territories, they are phasing out their southern equipment in favor of Gallic Series equipment. In game terms that means you get to add loads of cool NuCoal models to your HAPF army.

 

• The Eastern Sun Emirates (ESE): A collection of fifty emirs ruled by a supreme ruler called the Patriarch or Matriarch depending on the gender of the ruler, ESE forces are flavored by their emir’s associations. And emirs associate with everybody on the planet from the Northern Guard to Peace River Defense Force. These associations give the ESE a unique flavor and flexibility.

  • Emirate Ties: Or who your emir is friendly with will determine what particular benefit you’ll receive. By associating with one of the Southern subfactions, you generally gain access to many of the perks tied to the sponsor. External ties to Northern or PRDF gives you an opportunity to add one their combat groups into your ESE retinue.

  • Iguanas and Basilisks: One nice option is the ability to swap any Jager with an Iguana, or any Iguana with a Basilisk. Both make fairly decent troopers, but the Iguana adds the electronic warfare edge, though it does cost more to upgrade it from the stock Jager. The Basilisk offers an inexpensive alternative to the Iguana, but the real gem is the Silverscale upgrade for the Basilisk. The Silverscale’s sensor boom allows it to safetly peek around cover without exposing itself to fire, making it one of the most unique forward observation units in the game.

Getting Started with the Task Force:

• The General Purpose Squad (GP): The Southern GP Squad is designed for versatility. A good weapon option for the special weapons are the Light Bazooka (LBZK) and Paratrooper Rifle (Light Autocannon with Light Grenade Launcher). The Light Grenade Launcher can be used to to stun opponents in an area and has great indirect fire capability. The weapon can increase the area of effect by pumping rate of fire into AE. A pair of these weapons in a squad can ruin your opponents day as you stun and damage with the first shot, and then follow up with a second shot from your other heavy weapon trooper. Light Bazooka’s are a good option for hunting light and medium Gears, and it generally fits within an aggressive play style where you use your General Purpose Squad to hunt opponents on the board.

• Recon Squad: Unlike their Northern counterparts, the Southern Iguana has a profile that can meet the needs of a trooper or a recon unit. Depending on your play style or points limitations having weapons upgrades on Iguana models can make sense. As the South tends to use more barrage based weapons with very little use of guided weaponry, Target Designators are likely to see very little use. Even though the Iguana can be used as a light trooper, make sure you keep their role as recon in mind and use them to forward observe and block your opponent’s comm events. Part of the Iguana’s expense comes from its superior sensors and Electronic Warfare capabilities.

• Strike Squad: Black Mamba’s are just mean customers. With better armor than its Northern counterpart, the Jaguar, and more bells and whistles such as autopilot, the Black Mamba is almost the perfect model in the game, but it does have one deadly flaw: the infamous glass back (Weak Rear Facing). This problem can be removed for 5 TV, but with a model that’s already fairly expensive, the added TV can drain your ability purchase upgrades elsewhere. Even with the glass back problem, the Black Mamba is a superb model and in the Strike Squad it has plenty of deadly options including the Heavy Grenade Launcher and the Heavy Gatling Laser Cannon. Both weapons offer unique tactical opportunities. Heavy Grenade Launchers rain death with indirect fire, has the ability to stun, and hits an respectable area. On the Black Mamba which already has a superior fire control system, the next weapon has some truly fearsome capabilities. The Heavy Gatling Laser Cannon is designed for aggressive play style, which is perfect for a Strike Squad. The weapon’s accuracy bonus combined with the Black Mamba’s attack bonus means that this weapon is firing at a +2 at combat speed within 16 inches. Combined with crossfire and coordinated attacks against a target, the HGLC can chew through most Gears quickly.

• Fire Support: Spitting Cobras are a fantastic fire support platform, mainly because of their Heavy Rocket Packs. With their rocket barrages they can clear out large areas with rate of fire. Smart players will minimize their chance to go out of ammo by making these models veterans (Skill level 3). Rolling three dice statistically increases your odds of rolling high enough to avoid an out of ammo result, plus you have the added bonus of higher raw dice results for indirect fire. So you get to fire that barrage repeatedly and it’s more likely to hit all those models. Remember while you have loads of armor on the Spitting Cobra, it’s there to protect it while it moves from cover to cover. Don’t get it caught up in a direct fire shooting match. It’s just not going to win. Keep it in the back and away from your opponents as you rain barrage after barrage on their heads.

• Infantry: Like their Northern counterparts, infantry have great uses on the board. Taking and holding objectives, especially buildings, where infantry become nearly impossible to uproot unless you have the correct tools to do the job. Either way, infantry forces your opponents into committing valuable models to uproot relatively inexpensive forces.