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Yeah, he's hilariously butthurt over the fact that someone else has released an actual game while his pet home-brew continues to be vapourware. Whatever else you can say about Beyond the Gates of Antares, you can't say that it's unavailable to play.

Nomeny wrote:
If you want to read something hilarious, you should read Sandwyrm's sour grapes review on the Back 40k blog.

http://theback40k.blogspot.com/2015/12/beyond-gates-of-antares.html

Just googled the link as I've never heard of the author or the blog previously. I only skimmed the beginning of the review/critique admittedly but I'm not so sure about dismissing it all as sour grapes. He does go on in detail at length about his problems with the system and does specifically mention his own ruleset in the beginning along with a possible bias. I'm not sure there is much more you can ask from someone who is specifically calling it a "critique" as opposed to the more neutral sounding term "review".

It is a rather scathing 'review' at that though.

And interesting in that it appears to be one of the few that finds the game such an awful experience, overall!

 Alpharius wrote:
It is a rather scathing 'review' at that though.

And interesting in that it appears to be one of the few that finds the game such an awful experience, overall!

It does indeed sound like that from a quick skim but I don't think it is fair to dismiss it off hand since the author at least goes through the time and effort to list and explain his grievances. I'd say a hilarious sour grapes "review" would be something you'd typically end up moderating here on dakka that just says "it sucks! they're dorks and my stuff is better!" without actually exploring the reasons. I don't disagree nor agree with his review as I've not read it fully nor own GOA and I've got no skin in either game (his house rules or GOA) currently. I'll at least read the critique tonight though.

Most importantly, though, I didn't realize 70's Pornstache, the only model shown during the KS, actually made it into the rules as the mascot for the game (like fusilier whoever for Infinity).

warboss wrote:Just googled the link as I've never heard of the author or the blog previously. I only skimmed the beginning of the review/critique admittedly but I'm not so sure about dismissing it all as sour grapes. He does go on in detail at length about his problems with the system and does specifically mention his own ruleset in the beginning along with a possible bias. I'm not sure there is much more you can ask from someone who is specifically calling it a "critique" as opposed to the more neutral sounding term "review".

It is very much a critique, yeah, and he says as much. And at the very least he makes the effort of stating the why's of his critique, so...

That said, and even agreeing about some of his points, some of the gripes seem as much a thing of "I don't like this stuff and instead like this other stuff" as objective critique.

But I do agree on some points (blasts tend to be too much work for the output, for example, and the book certainly needs another passing IMHO).



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 warboss wrote:
Most importantly, though, I didn't realize 70's Pornstache, the only model shown during the KS, actually made it into the rules as the mascot for the game (like fusilier whoever for Infinity).

It did, and the reviewer is completely right about that, too.

It is fething clippy xD

I guess it's amusing precisely because Sandwyrm has been working on his own thing for several years now, and is criticizing someone else for actually producing something that isn't what he would have made.

Just had our first game and enjoyed it immensely!

Also I actually won a game against my wife, which is rare!

Haven't seen her so excited about a game in a long time, especially as she lost. I think we found our new favorite sci-fi game

Nice to hear it went well

We'll be playing again next saturday, and it will be our biggest game so far, 1000 points. Gonna be using the following:



- Ghar Assault Squad w/ plasma amplifiers and plasma dumps
- Ghar Battle Squad w/ plasma amplifiers
- Ghar Battle Squad w/ plasma amplifiers
- Outcast Command Squad
- Outcast Squad w/ weapons team
- Outcast Squad w/ weapons team
- Ghar Bomber Squad w/ plasma amplifiers
- Flitters shard

Versus:


- C3 Drop Command Squad w/ additional trooper, plasma grenades, medi drone and spotter drone
- C3 Drop Squad w/ 2 plasma lances, plasma grenades and spotter drone
- C3 Strike Squad w/ plasma lance and spotter drone
- C3 Strike Squad w/ plasma lance and spotter drone
- C3 Interceptor Squad w/ 3 plasma lances and compactor drone
- 3 C3D1 Light Support Drones w/ batter drone

We'll see how it goes ^_^

Those Ghar outcasts are pretty cool looking models. I think I will pick some up.

I must admit I've really warmed up to them ^_^

Those Ghar suits look pretty cool Albertorius.

Make sure you show some close-ups!

I'll need to actually paint them first

Okay, question: In BtGoA, do you measure front-to-front like 40k, or front-to-back like X-Wing?

Nomeny wrote:
Okay, question: In BtGoA, do you measure front-to-front like 40k, or front-to-back like X-Wing?

You measure closest part to closest part (usually front to front) in X-wing.

 warboss wrote:

Nomeny wrote:
Okay, question: In BtGoA, do you measure front-to-front like 40k, or front-to-back like X-Wing?

You measure closest part to closest part (usually front to front) in X-wing.

I think he meant for movement, not unit to unit.

BtGoA is like 40k, front to front.

Nomeny wrote:
Okay, question: In BtGoA, do you measure front-to-front like 40k, or front-to-back like X-Wing?

As Nostromodamus says, if you're talking about movement, you measure the same way you do in 40k or Infinity, front to front.

Well, as I said, we played last saturday. I did the two armies, each to try to test some different things, and gave my opponent the chance of choosing which army to play with.

He chose the Ghar, and I got thoroughly creamed xD

We played a regular battle, on a 4x4 table (the one we use for Infinity), with an orbital transmat near the edge of a forested area. This was the initial deployment:





I decided to store the light combat drone unit with the Interceptor's compactor drone, so as to be able to deploy them later on.

The first turn's first couple of activations went for the Ghar commander, who used them to unleash hell on the centermost Strike unit. The unit went Down, which helped it to not suffer casualties, but it ended up getting a total of 3 Pins. After that the Drop troopers advanced and fired at the Assault Ghars, which god pinned. Unfortunately, the move put the drop troopers right in the sights of most of that flank, and the Battle suits and Outcasts fired at them, for a net result of 4 Pins.

After that, the Concord's left flank advanced, with the Interceptors running and deploying the combat drone unit in between the two boulder areas, and the Drop command squad and Strike squad taking cover behind the boulders. The Ghars mostly didn't move, and chose to wait for the puny humans to close in. First turn ended with the center Strike squad not managing to lose the Down order die (but shedding 1 Pin).

(The pics are after the first actions of turn 2. I forgot to take it before ^_^)


Second turn's first order die was a Concord one, so I decided to try and use the C3 Drop Leader to kill some stuff on the left flank. He managed to give an Advance order to the combat drones and interceptors, and the three units tried to kill stuff. The combat drones erased the Outcast command squad, and the interceptors and C3 Command managed to put two pins on the battle suits.

Problem is, of course, that after that all activations were Ghar. The interceptors disappeared in a hail of disruptor bomblets, the C3 Command got targeted by the outcasts and got 2 Pins, and the Drop Squad ate even more fire, more Pins, got a casualty and went Down. The Strike squad able to move advanced and shot at the battle suits, giving them a Pin. Things were not looking up, all in all.




The rest of the battle most of my units ended up getting Down (due to disrupt dice, Command rolls and everything else) and not getting back up, which freed the Ghar to pour more pins onto them.

We wrapped up at the end of turn 3 due because we got out of time:






Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK, lessons learned from this game:

- Adding buddy drones in a game against Disruptor munitions is not a very good idea. They die, fast, and those points go to waste.
- Ghar are seriously annoying. All those Disruptor weapons makes for a very tough battle, because they add pins really fast.
- a 4x4 table for 1000 points is seriously small. The amount of units, coupled with the weapons ranges makes it feel very cramped.
- Flitters (and by extension, probes) are great. For their cost, they act as quite effective force multipliers, and at the very least will divert fire.
- Order dice economy: We can see both extremes here. The Ghar had a lot of order dice thanks to the outcasts and flittters (cheap, but give dice), plus the ones from Amplifiers. By contrast, due to the fact that I went pretty elite with the Concord, they always had much fewer order dice. That proved fatal, because the chances favored the Ghar to be activated first. That, coupled with Disruptor munitions, allowed them to effectively block many Concord order dice.

All in all, it was quite an interesting game. We made some mistakes, but much smaller ones than last game. So far, it looks like you'll need to use different approachs to face different enemies, which is nice.

I really enjoyed reading the bat rep and your conclusions. Something I thought throughout many times was you should really add more line-of-sight blocking obstacles to each area of the battlefield. Some buildings and some hills - if you dont have them in your collection yet, different sized books laid flat and piled up under pieces of cotton and Tupper boxes are a good start. It prevents the Ghar from murderpinning everyone and also allows each side's troops to react to the enemy by moving hidden. I think the game profits from this, and it also adds a strategical element of timing attacks. I am not talking about boring endless walls but hills you can hide until the right moment to climb up and shoot and blocks of buildings where you have to cross 'the streets' etc. Play missions that are forcing both sides to move and re-position right from the start.

Nah, I do have buildings and the like. It was a confluence of two things:

1) We've been playing a lot of Infinity lately, almost every time on urban tables, absolutely every time with buildings.

2) I had just gotten hold of a Citadel Battlemat ^_^.

So basically, it was a change of pace and a bit of fresh air from being too enclosed with buildings, lately. I need to get some hills, though.

Not a whole city! The A bit of fresh of air made me lol. I see. But such an open battlefield... It's like War of the World tripods lazoring tiny humans

I've succumbed to yet another great deal on a miniatures starter set. Gates of Antares, here we come. To Infinity, and Beyond!

Anyone picked up Algoryns yet? Do they look as much like not-Turians in person as they do on the web store? That was something that caught my eye. I'd love to have 28mm stand-ins for my favorite Mass Effect aliens (Geth don't count, they're robots, not aliens) Even better to have a great rule system that they fit in and play well in.

Albertorius wrote:Nah, I do have buildings and the like. It was a confluence of two things:

1) We've been playing a lot of Infinity lately, almost every time on urban tables, absolutely every time with buildings.

2) I had just gotten hold of a Citadel Battlemat ^_^.

So basically, it was a change of pace and a bit of fresh air from being too enclosed with buildings, lately. I need to get some hills, though.

Warhams-77 wrote: Not a whole city! The A bit of fresh of air made me lol. I see. But such an open battlefield... It's like War of the World tripods lazoring tiny humans

I once had plans to make a load of tree trunks - about 6" in diameter, 8" tall, or so - to represent the lower reaches of something like a giant redwood forest. That way you could fight out something like the battles round the shield generator on Endor and still have large LOS-blocking terrain pieces.

 bocatt wrote:
I've succumbed to yet another great deal on a miniatures starter set. Gates of Antares, here we come. To Infinity, and Beyond!

Anyone picked up Algoryns yet? Do they look as much like not-Turians in person as they do on the web store? That was something that caught my eye. I'd love to have 28mm stand-ins for my favorite Mass Effect aliens (Geth don't count, they're robots, not aliens) Even better to have a great rule system that they fit in and play well in.

They kinda do, yeah ^_^. They also fit quite nicely into the same "warrior race" mold, all in all.

BTW, Warlord has just put this on preorder:

http://www.warlordgames.com/pre-order-algoryn-ai-intruder-scout-skimmer-squad/




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I once had plans to make a load of tree trunks - about 6" in diameter, 8" tall, or so - to represent the lower reaches of something like a giant redwood forest. That way you could fight out something like the battles round the shield generator on Endor and still have large LOS-blocking terrain pieces.

That actually sounds extremely cool

 Albertorius wrote:

 bocatt wrote:
I've succumbed to yet another great deal on a miniatures starter set. Gates of Antares, here we come. To Infinity, and Beyond!

Anyone picked up Algoryns yet? Do they look as much like not-Turians in person as they do on the web store? That was something that caught my eye. I'd love to have 28mm stand-ins for my favorite Mass Effect aliens (Geth don't count, they're robots, not aliens) Even better to have a great rule system that they fit in and play well in.

They kinda do, yeah ^_^. They also fit quite nicely into the same "warrior race" mold, all in all.

BTW, Warlord has just put this on preorder:

http://www.warlordgames.com/pre-order-algoryn-ai-intruder-scout-skimmer-squad/

Sweet! I like them. I'm not sure if I like the Concord Interceptors or these more. The shape of the bikes kind of reminds me of the Kodiak



I swear I'm not just making this up! I can't help but think they were inspired by the game. Which is not a bad thing. They're by no means the same (Algoryns are exiled humans right? And Turians are dinosaur aliens ) and I think they're creative and original enough to stand on their own merits while still being awesomely reminiscent of our favorite gruff alien neighbors.

Alogryn are their own Human Faction. They are fighting for their own survival against implacable rivals to maintain their Independence. They are a caste society based around military needs and have a warrior culture.

So, they are not exiled. However, it's not written but I'd guess IMTeL thinks the Algoryn Protectorate needs to be reabsorbed and controlled. I don't think Algoryn are looked on as needing to eradicated by IMTeL C3 like the Isorian shard. Isorian shard is incompatible with IMTeL and therefore needs to be destroyed due to their incompatibly with IMTeL. That's my take on it with what I've read so far.

I like the look of the Algoryn and the new skimmer. I wasn't aware of the similarity with Mass Effect but I've never played that game.

I've heard people say they like the Algoryns precisely because they do remind them of Turians from Mass Effect!

Definitely a strong resemblance, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, it's very difficult to be entirely original and 'cool' ideas (such as reptile-like aliens) are a pretty good concept.

Heh I have to admit, I was tempted to get some Algoryns for exactly that reason! I may yet do.. once I've build and painted all those Ghar and Concord...

I've only just found this thread, very cool
I'm just starting on my Concord army.

I really like the concord strike figures on page 1, Albertorius, did you use army dip with them?

I've used it before, and found it too glossy. Someone at work told me I should use a matt spray, but I've no idea what it is.

How do you guys feel about the sculpts?

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

Albertorius wrote:Nah, I do have buildings and the like. It was a confluence of two things:

1) We've been playing a lot of Infinity lately, almost every time on urban tables, absolutely every time with buildings.

2) I had just gotten hold of a Citadel Battlemat ^_^.

So basically, it was a change of pace and a bit of fresh air from being too enclosed with buildings, lately. I need to get some hills, though.

Warhams-77 wrote: Not a whole city! The A bit of fresh of air made me lol. I see. But such an open battlefield... It's like War of the World tripods lazoring tiny humans

I once had plans to make a load of tree trunks - about 6" in diameter, 8" tall, or so - to represent the lower reaches of something like a giant redwood forest. That way you could fight out something like the battles round the shield generator on Endor and still have large LOS-blocking terrain pieces.

This sounds really good