One of the things that appeals to me about Beyond the Gates of Antares is how wide open the galaxy is. Listening to some of the earlier episodes of the Freeborn Shard, I heard about the Antares Initiative which showcased just how much you could shape your experience anyway that you wanted. To that end I decided to focus on a few worlds near each other in the Determinate for my armies. This lets me create a narrative for my forces and also helps me focus on specific types of terrain which is always a plus in my book. To that end, here's a brief introduction to my little corner of Antares.
The Algoryn World of Yadrolla
Roughly half of the surface of Yadrolla is covered with water while most of the landmasses a choked with dense swamps along the coasts that give way to thick rainforests as you travel inland. Originally settled by a Freeborn group much earlier in the seventh age, the colony managed to survive for a time until their monthly supply drop stopped coming. It's not clear why this happened but without the supplies, order within the colony started to erode with the humans ultimately abandoning the settlements and reverting to being little more than savages.
More recently the Algoryn arrived and set up several outposts to act as a monitoring station for Ghar activity within the system, although they are also doing research into the local flora for possible medical applications. While they are aware of ruined Freeborn settlements, they have had little need to investigate more and have left them and the survivors from the original colony largely untouched.
Several Freeborn houses have also been in contact with the Algoryn and have set up some tentative trading arraignments, though in some cases the Freeborn have also been covertly "recruiting" feral troops from the ruins. Its not clear whether the Algoryn are aware of this activity at this time but if they are, they are choosing not to address it with their trading partners yet. Only time will tell if this remains the case.
The first of my armies are the Algoryn. My focus with this army is going to be infantry units and eventually some Intruders and possibly an Avenger or two for support. Since this world is mostly a dense swamp, I want to stay away from most of the larger transports and tanks. Let's be honest though, I'll probably wind up grabbing some eventually.
For my paint scheme, I wanted to move away from the typical red armor and do something different. Since Yadrolla is a swamp/rainforest, I thought that a dark green would fit the bill but I must admit that I'm not sure. I've added some reds, oranges, and yellow to them as almost tribal markings but I'm still trying to decide if its what I'm looking for.
The Concord World of Bastion
Located on the edge of an isolated pocket of Concord territory in the Determine, Bastion maintains a strong military force to repel any invaders that might threaten their shard. While ships from the main body of the Concord still travel to their space, Bastion largely depends on trade with several nearby Freeborn houses. Currently there is an uneasy peace with the Algoryn Protectorate although their recent occupation of Yadrolla has some ranking members of the C3 concerned about future expansion by the Algoryn. C3 training has been stepped up and the shard is building its forces to deal with this threat to the Concord.
The next army is the Concord. I really like the Ghar but I want to make sure that I started with some more basic armies to be able to show people the game. While the Ghar look good, it seems like there are lots of exceptions to the rules with them so I think that Concord is a better fit for demos.
Unlike the Algoryn, my Concord scheme was very easy to decide on. I'd seen a Concord force on Facebook that someone did using Star Wars Imperial colors and it really struck a cord with me. I've settled on light grey instead of white but I really like the stark look to them. The Concord sounds like a clean and orderly society so I think this scheme captures that feel well. I also want to quickly expand this force to include several transports to make them more of a rapid strike unit.
Traahiri Mercenaries
(sci-fi reptile minis from an unknown manu)
The Traahiri are a race of warm blooded reptiles that have been contracted and supplied by Bastion to supplement their own forces. They are not as advanced as most races and do not benefit from the nanosphere so C3 have supplied them with more basic mag weapons instead of plasma weapons. The Traahiri have been quick to learn how these work and they have been used quite effectively for a number of military and policing actions by the C3. Given the humid and swampy nature of Yadrolla, the C3 are hopeful that their "allies" will be helpful in dealing with the new Algoryn threat.
I had originally plan on buying both of the starters for Gates of Antares so that I would have a solid core for the Algoryn, Concord, and the Ghar. Unfortunately real life intervened so its hard to justify dropping the money for the Battle of Xilos set right now which left me short handed for the C3. Before the summer sprue sale I'd dug around and found some minis that I could make use of to supplement what I had.
These particular minis are sci-fi lizard men but I must admit that I have no idea who the manufacturer was. There was what looked like a company name on their bases but my Google-Fu didn't turn up any definite hits. Thankfully I've got enough to field a couple of squads as Freeborn mercenaries, so between these and the extra Concord troops I grabbed in the sale I've got a pretty respectable C3 force in the works.
As for paint scheme, I'm going to go with you basic lizard man greens but I'm going to paint their equipment in the same scheme as the Concord. I think that this will give them a nice contrast and ties them in with the rest of the army as well.
Sulia Mercenaries
(Skinnie minis formerly by Mongoose Publishing)
The Sulia are an alien race from the arid world of Trora. It is not clear if this is their native homeworld but they have a strong presence there, including a good sized standing army. While the Sulia have developed their own versions of some of the more common weapons (such as mag and plasma weapons), they routinely trade with several of the Freeborn houses and typically use some of the more common devices including various types of drones such as spotters and even the T7 transporter.
Ages ago I ran demos for the Starship Troopers mini game by Mongoose Publishing. While that game went the way of the dodo, I still have a lot of the minis from the line, including thirty of the Skinnie soldiers. These sets included some heavy weapons mixed in with them but I figure I should be able to field a few squads of them with a command unit as well. I have the Skinnie dictator mini that I can sub in for the Captain but luckily Rebel Miniatures have picked up a number of molds from this line so I have some options there if I want to add some more units to their forces.
As for drones and transports, I'll probably just use the generic drones from the Freeborn/Concord since these seem to be more easily accessible to others, plus it will make it easy for anyone to identify what they are as well.
For their paint scheme, I had done a gold and red which I think I'll probably keep. Looking over most of my collection, I must admit that tend to prefer on greens and reds so it just seems to make sense to run with it.
And there you have it, at least for now anyway. I've still got a number of Ghar battle suits on the sideline waiting to get painted up but I want to focus on the main forces first. As always the trick is finding time but I'm finally making steps towards having a small hobby space instead of occupying the kitchen table. This should let me make more consistent headway instead of the sporadic bursts that I've been working through.
