Chronicles of Terra Nova: Southern Republic 45th Gear Regiment "Swamp Vipers"

Regimental Motto:                                                      quodcumque est necessarium.                                       "Whatever is necessary."                                                                    The 45th Gear Regiment is not a regiment with a rich and long history, in fact this unit was only formed during the Interpolar War. And although their ranks contain Jagers most of the vehicles are very modern machines. The unit gained its nickname in 1913 when the unit fought in the Mekong against the CEF. Their commander was able to attack several times from a direction no one anticipated, earning the unit the nickname the Swamp Vipers. After heavy fighting in the jungles, the Vipers traded the swamps for the arid desert of the badlands. Their mission was to put down a local rebellion led by the priest Kashyk Tores. Operation Collateral lasted several months, but eventually the uprising was crushed in blood.

Two years later, the unit found itself in a battlegroup that had the goal of recapturing the city of Baja. During these battles though the unit is able to accomplish the objectives they are given by the command but at the cost of heavy casualties. Among the dead is the commander, Major Morgan Reyna.

The fallen commander is replaced by a new commander - Captain Alba Floro. This young woman embodies the values of the Southern Republic, She is ruthless, cruel and convinced of her superiority. She was decorated for her actions during the battle for the Mekong Gate and later in the jungles of the Mekong itself where she allegedly overpowered a CEF battle group consisting of several tanks and a frames

Under her command, this unit was deployed primarily in battles against the northern WFP. In these campaigns, the Floro gained a reputation as savages who disregarded the unwritten laws of the Terra Nova battlefields.

Floro's representative is Lieutenant Everard Noyer. A veteran of many campaigns, unlike Floro Noyer is able to accept that the North can win and save the unit from destruction on several occasions, forcing Floro to retreat from a stalemate. Noyer is a very experienced pilot who was prepeared from a young age to one day drive the Gear. 

In the past few months, the unit has been operating in the badlands between AST and WFP territory, frequently crossing the border and conducting raids. Here they have created their nemesis in the form of the Northern 63rd Gear Regiment (Airmobile) with whom they have battled time and time again on the battlefield.

The 45th is now engaged in Operation Raven's Claw with the objective of invading and occupying Bako Basin. Unfortunately the first wave of the attack was repulsed but Floro still has a few aces up her sleeve....

Outside the lore

I actually found out about Heavy Gear in the last century through the counter games Heavy Gear and Heavy Gear 2, but at that time there was no way to get miniatures in our country, nor did I know there was such a game. At that time the most you could get in our country was Battletech, Warhammer Fantasy Battles or Warhammer 40K. Years went by and a couple of 10 years ago I came across Heavy Gear again, this time miniatures were available but the show had to be ordered through Atlantic which was not an ideal situation. After a couple of years there was a kickstarter thanks to which I ended up with a box of Battle for Terranova I glued and painted a few gears but that's where it ended. 

I wrote a few articles in my native language , to give potential players and awareness of the Heavy Gear world but that's where it seemed to end. During Covid's Lockdowns I started playing various simpler games with my kids, especially Battlech Alphastrike. The kids love mechs that's a given but my oldest daughter who had already been putting together some models for Age of Sigmar wanted some mechs that she could put together from multiple parts . At that point I remembered the sprue I got from the kickstarter and figured why not give it a try. I ordered another two playerset from Scifi-trader and started putting together my first task force for Heavy Gear Blitz! Before that I tried brown and green scheme but eventually I started painting the models in sand scheme with green camouflage which suits the AST models

And even though AST is my favourite Heavy Gear faction, I had to play as my Northern Army in all the games. But there will come a time when I will deploy Flora and her units against Peace River which my usual opponent has ordered (he normally uses my AST).

So far my AST army only contains plastic models, but that will change in a few days as I have some older metal models on the way.