To Warlord, and Beyond! (the Gates of Antares)

Last week I had the prevelage of visiting Warlord Games to have a few games of Beyond the Gates of Antares using the recently released Concord Strike Force, against Jez Allum and Sam Phillips whom both used Algoryn armies. My force consisted of the contents of Warlords new Concord Starter army.

 After a quick tour of the Studio and seeing some amazing stuff that is due to be released over the next few months Jez and I set to having our first game.



 This was the first time I've played Beyond the Gates of Antares, and we were guided by Richard Dando, although having played Bolt Action the rules were simple and quick to pick up, despite still being the beta version.

Antares allows you far more reaction choices, and has more detail to the game than Bolt Action, however it doesn't get bogged down in details and is very intuitive. The Algoryn forces appear to be very flexible and are good at both range and melee/close quarters, whereas the Concord played best at keeping their enemies at arms length due to their superior firearms and body armour.

Jez managed to beat me in the first game however the second saw me wrestle a hard fought win against Sam.

I'm a fan of Bolt Action, but I really enjoyed the flow of Antares, it felt even more nail biting as the firing was more likely to result in kills, and pins are easy to shake, making games feel quicker. I found myself using the rally order more in those two games than I have in all the Bolt Action I've played!

Also worthy of note is that the game makes far use of statistics than BA for it's units, as I discovered when one of my squads horrendously failed an agility test to climb a small wall, fell over, then got shot to pieces. The dance Jez performed in his moment of triumph more than made up for this however.

I really urge anyone interested in sci-fi gaming to check out Beyond the Gates of Antares here. Currently the beta version of the rules are available to download from Warlords website.

More of my painting can be found at Volley Fire Painting Services

I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone at Warlord Games for a fantastic day, and to Richard Dando Rick Priestly and Andy Hobday in particular. Can't wait for the rematches!