Heavy Gear Fighter is a standalone

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

for two players which is set in the universe of ''

Heavy Gear ''Heavy Gear'' is a mecha science fiction game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a Tabletop game, tabletop tactical Wargaming, wargame, a role-playing game, and a combat card game (''Heavy Gear Fighter' ...

''. It was published by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

game publisher

Dream Pod 9 Dream Pod 9 (DP9), formerly Ianus Games, is a Montreal-based Canadian game publisher. Its most notable products are ''Heavy Gear'', ''Jovian Chronicles'', ''Tribe 8 (role-playing game), Tribe 8'', and ''Gear Krieg'', as well as the Silhouette role ...

in 1995. The game is currently not in print.

Game description

''Heavy Gear Fighter'' is a dueling card game where two Heavy Gears fight it out in the area called

Badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...

. Everything required to play comes with the box, which contained 116 cards. Each playing card has a full color illustration of a

Gear A gear or gearwheel is a rotating machine part typically used to transmit rotational motion and/or torque by means of a series of teeth that engage with compatible teeth of another gear or other part. The teeth can be integral saliences or ...

. The cards are divided as Attacks of different strengths, as Defenses, and Special Effects. Both of the players draw cards from the same draw pile. ''Heavy Gear Fighter'' does not use any dice or paper. There is a full color record/action sheet for each playable Gear which is used to track actions and damage using small counters. Players deal cards from their hand to inflict damage, defend against attacks from the enemy, and cause various special effects.

Expansion sets

An expansion set for ''Heavy Gear Fighter'', a 72-card set named ''Equipment & Weapons'', was published in 1995. This set added new ''Equipment'' and ''Weapon'' cards which could be played to enhance the Gears. Three "mini-sets" of 12 cards (''Mishaps'', ''Fortune'' and ''Booster Set 1'') were included in various magazines as promotional material, such as Mecha Press and

White Wolf Magazine ''White Wolf'' was a game magazine, published by White Wolf Publishing from 1986 to 1995. History While still in high school, Stewart Wieck and Steve Wieck decided to self-publish their own magazine, and Steve chose the name "White Wolf" after ...

. These inserted cards were listed as optional and allowed the players to create special conditions for combat and execute different maneuvers. Another set was designed with new vehicles (such as tanks and Striders), but this set was never published.

Reception

Robert DeVoe reviewed ''Heavy Gear Fighter: Showdown in the Badlands'' in ''

White Wolf Inphobia ''White Wolf'' was a game magazine, published by White Wolf Publishing from 1986 to 1995. History While still in high school, Stewart Wieck and Steve Wieck decided to self-publish their own magazine, and Steve chose the name "White Wolf" after ...

'' #52 (Feb., 1995), rating it a 5 out of 5 and stated that "A very enjoyable game. Also provided are rules to apply the card game to the ''Heavy Gear'' RPG."

Scott Haring Scott D. Haring is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Scott Haring began working in the adventure gaming industry in 1982. Haring had a long career with Steve Jackson Games, having worked at the compa ...

reviewed ''Heavy Gear Fighter'' in ''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

'' #14 (August, 1995), and stated that "''Heavy Gear Fighter: Showdown in the Badlands'' is a quick, colorful, tactical card game of mecha combat. The mecha in ''Heavy Gear'' aren't the titanic walking beasts of ''BattleTech'' or other games; they're a little smaller (a mere 15 feet or so tall), and have a terrific, lithe athletic look that the larger walking gun emplacements don't have."

References

{{reflist

External links

Dream Pod 9's Website
Card games introduced in 1995 Discontinued expandable card games Dream Pod 9 games Heavy Gear