Beyond the Gates of Antares: The Ongoing News & Rumors Thread

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**Alpharius**

It does sound quite good - I just wish I like the miniatures more!

**Pacific**

It seems like I am the only person that likes them??

I quite like their under-stated nature, they're mostly quite minimalistic (dare I see more realistic, or more 'hard' sci-fi?) which is a nice counterpoint to some of the more extreme sci-fi games out there.

The rules too, I like the fact that they're trying to do something more involved, rather than having things dumbed down all the time, which seems to be a common trend in a lot of the industry at the moment.

Anyway! A new, newsletter - key point is release date of 7th November

++Welcome to IMTel*++
(*integrated machine intelligence)
By integrating yourself with the machine you will be the first to find out everything there is to know about Beyond the Gates of Antares by Rick Priestley.

WARNING: FREE TRANSMAT STATIONS RUNNING OUT!
Last week we announced we would be giving away a free Transmat Station to everyone who pre-orders from Warlord Games up until the launch.

Even though our friends Sarissa Precision donated a large quantity it has proven to be extremely popular with only 170 left at the time of writing.
This Thursday we will be announcing the same pre-order deal on the Warlord Games main site and through a general newsletter to everyone - not just subscribers to IMTel, so we are expecting to run out very soon!

As you are connected to IMTel we wanted to give you prior warning to make sure you don't miss out. Please note everyone who has so far placed a pre-order with Warlord Games will receive the free Transmat Station.
Our friends at Sarissa Precision are currently working on more scenery products for Gates of Antares, ready for the launch and once again we would like to thank them for their donation!

PRE-ORDER GOODIES: ONLY AVAILABLE UP UNTIL LAUNCH DAY

FREE GIFTS: When you pre-order directly from Warlord Games you will receive a personally signed art print of the box artwork from the game's designer Rick Priestley, a PDF download of the Concord & Ghar army lists, the limited edition model of Fartok, Veteran Leader of Battle Group Nine, Unarmoured and the free transmat from Sarissa Precision, while stocks last.

Gates of Antares is launched on the 7th November!

**judgedoug**

Pacific wrote:
It seems like I am the only person that likes them??

Oh, no, absolutely not, from what I hear Warlord's taken a huge number of preorders for it. I think I had mentioned previously, myself and three others in my group placed preorders for the box set (and I already own some Algoryn metals). The plastics they've shown look phenomenal, imho.
Well sculpted truescale sci-fi models in hard plastic. Brings a tear to my eye.

Pacific wrote:
I quite like their under-stated nature, they're mostly quite minimalistic (dare I see more realistic, or more 'hard' sci-fi?) which is a nice counterpoint to some of the more extreme sci-fi games out there.

Dead on correct.

Pacific wrote:
The rules too, I like the fact that they're trying to do something more involved, rather than having things dumbed down all the time, which seems to be a common trend in a lot of the industry at the moment.

I'm quite excited for a granular system to be applied to the Bolt Action activation.

++Welcome to IMTel*++

FREE GIFTS: When you pre-order directly from Warlord Games you will receive a personally signed art print of the box artwork from the game's designer Rick Priestley, a PDF download of the Concord & Ghar army lists, the limited edition model of Fartok, Veteran Leader of Battle Group Nine, Unarmoured and the free transmat from Sarissa Precision, while stocks last.

We had already preordered but the free terrain was a nice inclusion (probably about $15-$20 msrp, so a nice freebie considering we're already getting the signed print and Fartok)

Well, looks like we'll have our copies in about a month!

**warboss**

I like the Turian Mass Effect looking guys but I have no use for random Scifi figs and I don't play the games I own already enough so have no need for more.

**judgedoug**

ok

I have need for more! I'm sick of terribly proportioned figures and bland rulesets, either from games that grew up in the rules and design aesthetics of the nineties or new games that seek to relive those days. So give me truescale models and excellent rules! Don't worry warboss I'll spend enough money for the both of us

**warboss**

You go, gamer! Pick up my slack! A decade ago, I'd have jumped at something like that as I was picking up random sets of figs just because I liked them (some AT-43, some Vor, some Warzone, etc) even though I never played the games as I could theoretically use them as RPG npcs. I even considered your favorite, Starship Troopers, but the human faction figs were so damn ugly that I couldn't justify it (although the bugs were nicely done and accurate to the movie visuals). Now? The chief consideration is if I'll ever get any use out of the figs and if there is any existing local interest in the game. I jumped the shark a bit on Halo Fleet Battles but I hoped the Halo name brand would help.

**Zond**

I'm interested more and more. There's more models I like, though the army deals I'm not as sold on. Spoiled by plastics and kickstarter deals I guess. I'll preorder the starter set, but does anyone know what a decent size for the game is? Is an army deal substantial? Do the factions have distinct playstyles?

**judgedoug**

warboss wrote:
You go, gamer! Pick up my slack! I even considered your favorite, Starship Troopers,

Gosh, you could play Starship Troopers with wooden blocks and it would still be the best minis game ever made.

Or just use any number of other powered suit figs! (my personal favorite being the Komodo from Antenociti's Workshop but I believe it's out of production right now... but I bought a bunch just to use as mobile infantry for SST

)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Zond wrote:
I'm interested more and more. There's more models I like, though the army deals I'm not as sold on. Spoiled by plastics and kickstarter deals I guess. I'll preorder the starter set, but does anyone know what a decent size for the game is? Is an army deal substantial? Do the factions have distinct playstyles?

Hold off on the currently available Army Deals. It was in open beta for like a year and those army deals were for the metals, for anyone beta testing who wanted "official" models. Plastic core troops for all six core factions have already been announced, tooled, and are ready to be released, one faction per month. So there will be better army deal box sets, much like Bolt Action armies (plastic core troops, with metal special weapons etc, at a sizeable discount). so I'd just get the starter set, read the rules, and see how the community develops and watch the new releases.

**warboss**

judgedoug wrote:
warboss wrote:
You go, gamer! Pick up my slack! I even considered your favorite, Starship Troopers,

Gosh, you could play Starship Troopers with wooden blocks and it would still be the best minis game ever made.

And it would be more visually appealing with those wooden blocks than those human and skinny faction minis. Zing!

I will, however, try it out if I ever see folks playing it based on your zealous opinion of it.

**judgedoug**

warboss wrote:
judgedoug wrote:
warboss wrote:
You go, gamer! Pick up my slack! I even considered your favorite, Starship Troopers,

Gosh, you could play Starship Troopers with wooden blocks and it would still be the best minis game ever made.

And it would be more visually appealing with those wooden blocks than those human and skinny faction minis. Zing! I will, however, try it out if I ever see folks playing it based on your zealous opinion of it.

The skinnies have a certain 50's charm (the plastics are pretty good, I have some for Generic Sci Fi Bad Guy Aliens With Ray Guns, but yeah, the metal Skinnies were bleargh)

Though the Mobile Infantry Pathfinders are straight up some of the coolest 28mm sci fi figures ever made

move to Richmond VA and play SST and all the other cool games with all the cool dakka kids!

**Pacific**

Agreed about SST, it really is a wonderfully designed game.

Interested to hear that the plastic sets are coming out, although I do have a soft spot for the metal figs! Tempted by the Boromite Labour guild, I know some of them look a little bit derpy (the lavamites just look like a less fun version of a squig), but really like their support weaponry

Spoiler:

**insaniak**

Pacific wrote:
(dare I see more realistic, or more 'hard' sci-fi?)

You can say it, sure. But then there's this:

**warboss**

insaniak wrote:
Pacific wrote:
(dare I see more realistic, or more 'hard' sci-fi?)

You can say it, sure. But then there's this:

Yeah, that's some room temperature butter soft scifi there.

For those interested in a starship troopers discussion, I made the following thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/666987.page#8188132

**judgedoug**

warboss wrote:
insaniak wrote:
Pacific wrote:
(dare I see more realistic, or more 'hard' sci-fi?)

You can say it, sure. But then there's this:

Yeah, that's some room temperature butter soft scifi there.

yeah, seems like every game needs an orc analogue or something. But I personally am sick of WHFB/40k tropes, so tiny weak hairless lumpy alien dudes are way more interesting to me than just more green not-Orks. Kind of the same reason I got back into LOTR really heavily in the last year, because it's background and races are so much better written and defined than the mishmash that made up Warhammer (and all of the varied clones, looking at you Mantic), and I'm totally grimdarked out.

**Pacific**

insaniak wrote:
Pacific wrote:
(dare I see more realistic, or more 'hard' sci-fi?)

You can say it, sure. But then there's this:

Haha yes, with the exception of those guys for sure !

Otherwise yes as Judgedoug says its nice to have something that isn't a derivative or just trying to steal 40k players with really similar faction types.

The actual background itself though makes me think of the Iain M Banks Culture novels (which is definitely a plus point!)

**Pacific**

Apparently the Ghar plastics have arrived at Warlord HQ, a rubbish pic on this link:

https://instagram.com/p/8NeJR6Euel/

**judgedoug**

Pacific wrote:
Apparently the Ghar plastics have arrived at Warlord HQ, a rubbish pic on this link:

https://instagram.com/p/8NeJR6Euel/

That was a couple weeks ago

**Albino Squirrel**

There are some close up pictures of the Concord and Ghar plastic sprues up on Jake Thornton's blog:

http://quirkworthy.com/2015/10/13/gates-of-antares-concord-plastics-review/

http://quirkworthy.com/2015/10/09/gates-of-antares-ghar-battle-squad-plastics-review/

**Warhams-77**

I read it a few minutes ago - that's a good and (box content-wise) detailed review. Nice sprue pics also.

**Pacific**

Many thanks for posting the link to the sprue pics

Look very promising.

I guess being all ex-workmates helps getting hold of all of these pre-release sprues and the like !

judgedoug wrote:
Pacific wrote:
Apparently the Ghar plastics have arrived at Warlord HQ, a rubbish pic on this link:

https://instagram.com/p/8NeJR6Euel/

That was a couple weeks ago

Damnit, is that the date already?!

**warboss**

So the goofy little monkey brain guys are in those quadripedal robot suits?

**Pacific**

I believe so

THE GHAR EMPIRE
The Ghar live only for battle and conquest, expending their entire energies on war and enslaving other human species they defeat. This savage race is descended from genetically adapted slave soldiers, though when or why they were created is a mystery. The Ghar themselves have little interest in such matters. They rule over a sizeable empire that borders against the Agoryn Prosperate, with whom they have been at war for many centuries. Neither the Panhuman Concord nor Isorian Shard have ever taken much interest in the Ghar, possibly because Ghar culture is relatively primitive. Ghar worlds are heavily shielded against nano-based technologies. The Ghar themselves are repulsive creatures with hunched torsos, bulging guts and what look to be spindly arms and bow legs – but they are rarely seen out of their huge, armoured battle suits. Though unattractive, their appearance belies a brutish strength and tremendous resilience to damage.

The Ghar themselves would not choose to fight without the protection of their machines. Without access to mechanical sensors their native senses are poor and their bodies weak and vulnerable. Only creatures that have failed their masters and been reduced to the status of outcasts fight in this way. Their most useful role is to absorb enemy fire and expose enemy positions – a kind of reconnaissance by self-sacrifice that is judged a fitting end for Ghar who disappoint their overlords.

I'm actually quite starting to warm to the concept and the sculpts; think you need a little bit of humour to break up all the po-faced bits, and they look like they have a Goblin-ish mischevious style to them.

**Talking Banana**

I'm not looking to get into the game just yet. (Not without finding someone to play it against first, anyhow.)

But I'm sold on the Concord and Ghar hard plastic sprues. I'll be looking to pick those up as soon as they're available separately from the starter box. After that, I'll be following each hard plastic core infantry sprue release with interest, particularly the Algoryn and Isorians. As Warlord expands its hard plastic range, my interest in their universe will grow.

I think I'm too invested in the Dalek paradigm - icky, nasty things inside menacing battle armor - to go for the comedic nature of the Ghar troopers. I could almost do it if they just kept their helmets on, but I'm just not liking their faces, which seem cartoonish in their simplicty and exaggeration. But as those troopers are only available in metal, that's not much of a problem for me anyway.

**volume**

For those who didn't get the Newsletters yesterday - the boxed game, 'Strike Vector One: The Xilos Horizon' is now available direct from Warlord - and they're offering a bunch of freebies for those who pre-order direct from them...

http://www.warlordgames.com/pre-order-now-beyond-the-gates-of-antares-launch-edition-starter-set/

....and yesterday, the official Beyond the Gates of Antares website went live....

http://www.warlordgames.com/gates-of-antares/

The game is set for release in early November - looks like things are ramping-up...

**edlowe**

Some cool new pics

**Pacific**

Some very cool looking pics, wonder what that second one down is?

Looks a bit like the Concorde trooper with some more organic elements (hopefully not Chaos Concorde?

)

**Kharzak**

I think they are the Isorians.

**edlowe**

Pacific wrote:
Some very cool looking pics, wonder what that second one down is?

Looks a bit like the Concorde trooper with some more organic elements (hopefully not Chaos Concorde? )

ISORIAN

During long centuries of isolation from the rest of Antarean space the Isorian IMTel was contaminated with alien organic technology, and became incompatible with the Concord IMTel.

**Thraxas Of Turai**

Always glad to see more high quality plastic sci fi figures enter the market. As ever the aesthetics will be devisive but I will pick and choose as the months roll on and the core troops get released. Am especially interested by those jet bikes and how the plastic Algoryn will look.

**Phobos**

I like Warlord games, so I ordered a copy. Very interested to see where Rick takes the story.