Iron Forest Club Day 08/03/15: Damn! Their Armour is Good!

Yesterday I finally managed to get my first game of Beyond the Gates of Antares. It was my Algoryn 45th Blood Moons vs Faction Ray's Concord 9th Cosmo Rangers.

In a slightly different approach, Faction Ray will report this battle - if you go to the following link - He has made a detailed report and a narrative report on the game, both excellent reads.

Here is my narrative prelude to the battle...

"Oreshi-san carefully trod upon the ashen earth as he stalked his way through the alley way between the two abandoned hab huts. He was here for the old tech, a fifth age battle golem but now Concord had arrived. He could see them positioning themselves upon the rooftop of the far perimeter of the settlement north of his position, it would be only a matter of moments before they would spot his Blood Moons. He took a quick taste of the air through his natural keratin layer that protected him from this worlds harsh heat, the air was dryer than Algor, gritty and rich-less, he honked it through his nose to his mouth and spat it back out in disgust. He tapped into his comm. "Biting Wind..." the call sign for this light support team "Cast these little birds to the hills"...

By this one game, I am very impressed with the Antares rule set. I was sceptical about this game as while I am a big fan of Bolt Action, the thought of adding a stat line to the game felt as it would just slow things down - not the case at all. Everything you know and love from Bolt Action is there plus great little details in how armour works (Concord troops armour gets better with distance) and drone spotting (They can network with each other like when in range and provide spotting for Mortars and such).

Now am off to give the rulebook another read through and see about giving those damn ranger some payback :P

Thanks for your time - cya soon ;)

Production Line: Beyond the Gates of Antares - Algoryn Force

Since the beginning of 2014, I had made myself a promise - not to start any new wargames till all the minis I own for the systems I play are fully painted - and so far I managed to keep to that promised - that's until I heard about Beyond the Gates of Antares by Warlord Games...

So what made me break my promise?
Was it the cool mass effect style aesthetics?
Was it that it was based on Bolt Action?
Was it that it was being written by non other than Rick Priestly?

Not only was it all the above, but actually the biggest draw is the amazing community that is already backing this game. You can find it here on facebook. Never have I witnessed such a close, supportive community and never have I seen the author take such an active role - Rick and the Warlord guys really need to commended in making the GoA community invovled in the games growth. A lot of other companies should be taking notes - as someone who wants to break into this industry - I am! lol.

So promises broken, I acquired myself a small Algoryn force - mainly because they remind me of Turians from Mass Effect. And once reading the background, and learning about there marital society, they are defo my faction of choice!

There cool, mandalorian-esque visors and high collars gave me this kind of sinister feel so when I was thinking of a colour scheme - that is the tone I wanted to capture.

Excuse the quality of these pictures as I had to put the flash on as normal lighting wasn't capturing the detail but this in turn reflected off the varnish - so trust me - they look better in person :P

I have always wanted a black/ stealth coloured army but always had trouble in creating tone and depth to the black. While I think I still haven't quite cracked it yet, this is my best effort to date. This was done by drybrushing GW dawnstone onto a black basecoat and washing with nuln oil. Once dry I drybrushed dawnstone again but this time on to the more raised areas, in a almost zenith process and washed again with nuln oil.

The Red areas are Khorne Red, washed with Agrax Earthsade.

The visors are Nihilakh Oxide and the skin is Vallejo 886 Green Grey, washed with Agrax.

I still have three "buddy" drones left to paint and then I shall be purchasing some reinforcements (After some Napoleonics, Dreadball Xtreme and Bolt Action Fallshirmjager are done!). I heard recently there is to be a special Gates of Antares open day at Warlord HQ this year, so am hoping to be able to attend and take this force with me. If I do go, I will be sure to return with some pics :)

Thanks for your time, cya soon ;)