Heavy Gear Proxies For Battletech

I have to admit, the biggest thing that kept me from getting into Heavy Gear Blitz was the lack of pictures of painted minis out there. Sure, there are a few, but not enough. 

There are some decent armies with good paintjobs (official photos from Dreampod 9, mostly) that you can see here and there, but what I really wanted was variation and comparison. CAV Strike Operations was the same way. As a collector, I want to see all the big stompy robots side-by-side. I want to proxy relentlessly, and in order to do that, I have to see pictures comparing individual miniatures. I understand that probably only fans can do that, so here I am, a fan, doing it.

Because, well, if being artistically-inclined has taught me anything, it's that if you want something and you can't find it, you gotta make it yourself. Other people will ultimately benefit from your creative drive.

My first Heavy Gear Blitz purchase was a Caprice army box set that I got because, after seeing (and handling) the minatures in person, I knew that the Bashan and Acco mounts could make decent proxies for quad mechs, and maybe even for drones for use with Word of Blake.

It's important for me to say at this point that when I was originally checking out Heavy Gear Blitz, it was for the same reason that I started checking out CAV Strike Operations: I wanted more proxies for Battletech. Unlike with CAV Strike Operations, though, investigating Heavy Gear Blitz led me to realize that it's a very well built game. It's a different kind of mecha game from Battletech, and certainly far more modern and streamlined than CBT. In the process of learning it, I was impressed enough that I knew I had to collect a couple of armies to paint and play at my FLGS. Sure, there are things that are integral to HGB that I don't care for (WYSIWYG, for example) but I still love the basic mechanics. The models are pretty cool and fun to assemble too.

Below you will find a series of lineups featuring different miniatures from different manufacturers placed next to a ruler so you can get an idea of their height and size. Note that base sizes for Battletech and CAV Strike Operations are generally similar, but that Heavy Gear bases come in several forms, none of which match those of CAV or Battletech. Caprice mounts don't even have bases at all. They'd all be fine as proxies for Alpha Strike though, I'm sure.

As an additional note: old plastic Battletech sculpts that are listed as "CGL" (Catalyst Game Labs) are so listed because these are plastic casts of IWM (Iron Wind Metals) miniatures that were sold as part of early CGL starter sets and Alpha Strike lances. The original designs of these old sculpts are IWM, but the plastics (and the kits they came in) were CGL.

In each lineup, identifying information is presented from left to right:

1. Heavy Gear Northern Grizzly, 2. Heavy Gear Northern Jaguar, 3. CGL Atlas, 4. FASA plastic Thunderbolt, 5. CAV Razor, 6. CGL plastic Raven (old sculpt)

1. CGL plastic Atlas (old sculpt), 2. Heavy Gear Southern Spitting Cobra, 3. CAV Starhawk VI , 4. Robotech RPG Tactics Excalibur, 5. Iron Wind Metals Primitive Shadowhawk, 6. Rebased MW Dark Age Power Armor.

1. FASA plastic Citytech Uller, 2. Robotech RPG Tactics Raidar X, 3. Heavy Gear Northern Grizzly, 4. CGL Jumping Thunderbolt, 5. Heavy Gear Caprice Megiddo, 6. CGL Awesome (old sculpt)

1. CGL Atlas, 2. CGL Atlas (old sculpt), 3. 3D printed Thunderhead Studios Thunderbolt, 4. CGL Vindicator (old sculpt), 5. CGL Warhawk, 6. FASA Plastic Marauder (3rd Ed.) (In Front: Heavy Gear Caprice Acco Mounts)

1. Heavy Gear Caprice Bashan, 2. Ral Partha Marauder II (with replacement cannon from Robotech Tactics), 3. CGL Timberwolf, 4. Reaper Succubus kitbash (28mm), 4. GW Sister of Battle (metal), 5. GW Sister of Battle (plastic), 6. Cav Strike Tiamat.

1. CGL Urbanmech, 2. CGL Baboon, 3. Heavy Gear Northern Jaguar, 4. Heavy Gear Northern Jaguar (Command Upgrade), 5. CAV strike Kestrel, 6. FASA Citytech Victor

1. HG Caprice Ammon, 2. CGL Flea (old sculpt), 3. CGL Mackie, (Middle: Heavy Gear Caprice Acco Mount), 4. 1980's Plastic Gumball Machine Mecha, 5. CGL Centurion (old sculpt), 6. Heavy Gear Caprice Support Meggido.

1. Heavy Gear Northern Jaguar, 2. GW Metal Space Marine (28mm), 3. CGL Charger (old sculpt), 4. CGL Vindicator, 5. FASA plastic Citytech Timberwolf, 6. Heavy Gear Northern Grizzly.

1. Iron Wind Metals Black Hawk KU, 2. CGL Awesome, 3. CAV Strike Cheetah, 4. Heavy Gear Southern Spitting Cobra, 5. CGL Warhawk, 6. CAV Strike Imperator.

1. Robotech RPG Tactics Gladiator, 2. 3d Printed Akuma, 3. CGL Raven (old sculpt), 4. Ral Partha Marauder II (with replacement cannon), 5. CGL Kingfisher, 6. CGL Panther, 7. Heavy Gear Northern Jaguar, 8. Robotech RPG Tactics: Raidar X. Front: Acco Mounts.

1. CAV Strike Kestrel, 2. Heavy Gear Northern Hunter, 3. CGL Urbanmech, 4. CGL Vindicator (old sculpt), 5. CGL Vindicator, 6. Heavy Gear Northern Grizzly.

Here's a shot I took while some of the above units were sitting on my painting table.

Also, the Heavy Gear Blitz parts make good kitbash conversion materials as well! Check out the classic sculpt Atlas from the 25th Anniversary Starter Set that I turned into an Atlas II using Caprice bits!