Back in August last year I think it was, I took an exploratory dive into the Antares universe, and since that time, I've beevered away, building armies, trying out the game and roping in some of the locals to give the game a whirl, to whom I am very grateful; David, Jayden, Paul, Robert, Garry and Chris, please take a bow!
The game took a wee while to get to grips with, and whilst being conversant with Bolt Action certainly helped, there are certainly differences between the two games. And indeed Bolt Action itself has gone through a revision since then, incorporating some of the ideas from Antares... like the Follow or Snap to order mechanism.
Similarly we've had another game come along which appears to have then taken some hybridized route between the two games; Konflikt-47... which has incorporated the idea of Reactions from Antares but didn't adopt the other changes that came along with the upgrade to Bolt Action2...
But I digress, back to Antares and I have to say I have really enjoyed getting my head around the game, and it's more classic or 'high sci-fi' setting, if that's the right way to describe it...?
It's background is certainly a refreshing change to the doom and gloom laden milieu of another certain well established sci-fi game...
I have found the differing human races that feature there make the game easy to get your head round, yet each with a unique character of their own.
There are no other true alien race armies as such in their own right, the Tsan-Ra being one exception but even they are an allied squad with the Isorian force.
I am sure we will see an Alien race in the not too distant future... the name Vorl has been whispered in dark corners and we await with bated breath to see how they will eventuate.
The game is still relatively in its infancy and many of the described larger vehicles are yet to have models produced for them, making the game a largely infantry affair. But I am happy to say the guys at Warlord are steadily producing figures and vehicles to complete and expand on the range.
Having listened to the podcast the Freeborn Shard it's been interesting getting a glimpse of the mind of the games creator and how he plans to take it forward... Rick Priestley none the less.
Rather than coming up with an army list or revision of one and then trying to get all the models churned out for it before the next revision is due, Rick has this time taken the approach of adding story arc supplements which add and expand on the existing ranges, rather than replacing wholesale...
That was one of the reasons I dumped 40k many aeons ago... I had started collecting squats and collected and painted a whole army...only to see them canned ... I then switched to orks only to see a codex revision that made redundant half of what I had bought and painted.... even now the company continues to revamp it's ranges forcing you to try and keep up...
So nice to see a more reasonable approach to developing and expanding on a game system....
Antares plays well, and if you've enjoyed Bolt Action, and like sci-fi, then you really should give it a go. Admittedly the Xilos stater set, whilst good value, was a little tough to get to grips with, largely due to the number of special rules attached to the Ghar race.
The new Kar'a 9 set is a much better intro to the game with two well matched regular infantry forces. And great value again. And with an easy intro version of the rules to break you in gently.
So again I say give it a go... you won't be disappointed.
I will be taking our Hobby Corner stall to the Hutt Miniatures clubs Valley Con event this weekend... and whilst there will also be demo-ing Antares with mate Chris Pooch, and no doubt ably assisted by mate Dave Oemcke.
Here's some pics of the troops and scratchbuilt terrain I've been working on... (thanks again to Bala Menzies for helping out with some of these buildings)
Boromites
Concord troopers
Concord Drones
Concord and Boromite Comparison
Xilos Beasties - Drummer and Snappers
My painted Concord so far... still more to finish and Ghar to finish too...
Anyone with any good links to other Antares related blogs or websites... feel free to add then in the comments.
Some links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gatesofantares/