My thoughts so far on Beyond the Gates of Antares;
So, having played a couple of games of Beyond the Gates of Antares, I thought it may be time to give my thoughts on this rather new game by Warlord Games, which was only officially released a couple of months ago. It's a Sci-Fi game set in the distant future and has been written by Rick Priestley, the creator of Warhammer 40K if i'm not mistaken. What's in the box?
In the starter set you receive the 2 factions, Concord and Ghar. The Ghar I had lots of fun assembling and painting, and these models prompted me to learn new painting techniques to get the most out of them. These models were a great change, they were neither your standard humanoid infantry or typical tank and they had lots of character to them. They are also really fun to play also, especially given that they risk exploding when shot at.
I cannot say the same for the Concord Troops, of which there are alot more of. These guys are humanoid infantry with guns, there wasn't much choice in customisation (though it is still early days) and they didn't have half as much character as the Ghar. However, you get alot more Concord both model wise and points wise, and with the options you are presented with you may have a decent starter force. I must admit, unlike the Ghar though I struggle just bringing the brush to the models. If you want simple models to paint and get into the game quickly, these guys fit the bill. The red pin markers did need a little treatment to make the numbers more visible.
The Quick start guide provided runs you through the basic rules with a small scenario. Once you have a grasp of these you can move onto the rulebook for the rest. Unlike games like 40K, there really isn't that many rules in the rulebook. The book may look really intimidating, but alot of it is fluff, pictures and run through examples of the rules. The core rules that you require to play probably fit into 20 pages. Furthermore, the rulebook contains all of the army lists and special rules, so there's no need to go out and buy codexes, once you have the rules you only need to focus on buying the models.
The Rules are evolved from Bolt Action, I say evolved because they have lost some of Bolt Actions simplicity. You still have the Order dice bag and pinning, but you get statlines for your units and weapons, more special rules and ways to manipulate the dice bag. Furthermore, you get this D10 roll under system which may seem quite alien to you at first, but it is very easy to get the hang of. Infact, the D10 system allows for so much more to happen in the game and it removes the complications that the 2D6 would bring to the table (e.g. 7 being the most common result).
Overall I am enjoying the game so far, the Ghar models are amazing and I can say i'll be buying more in the future when I have caught up on my painting. When i've played some more games i'll be talking more about how the game flows, tactics, tips etc.
With regards to the fluff, due to the amount of painting I have been doing recently, I admit that only this very weekend have I actually sat down and read more than a page of the fluff. From what i've read so far, my favourite faction to build and paint in the starter set seems the most appealing fluff wise also. The Ghar were bred for the purpose of creating war thousands of years ago, starting out with the human genetic code and modifying it to create soldiers. These soldiers were left to devolve/mutate for thousands of years to turn into unrecognisable gremlins that wear mechanical battlesuits powered by unstable reactors and only care for making war. My summary of the Ghar probably doesn't do them much justice.
So that's enough Antares for now, over the next week i'll start filling up this blog with content, after that i'll try to post on a weekly basis about my latest adventures, findings, thoughts, tutorials, paint jobs etc. Until next time,
Regards,
Peak Wargamer Aaron.
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