Gates of Antares Battle Report: Strike on K'ara Nine scenario one and two

This past weekend I had some free time so I set up a half table and tried out the first couple of scenarios from the Strike on Kar'A Nine set.  I'm already familiar with Bolt Action and Konflikt 47 but I decided to try the starter scenarios to get the feel for it from the ground up.

The first scenario (appropriately enough called Escape and Evade) has three C3 strike troopers trying to get across the board while two teams of AI troops are trying to stop them.  As its one of the intro scenarios, only some of the rules are used.  No pinning, no hand to hand, no command checks... just movement and shooting.  One of the Algoryn teams was able to quickly take down one of the strike troops but the other team didn't fare so well as the two remaining strike troopers teamed up and gunned them down.  With no one to stop them, they literally just ran across the table to rejoin the other members of the C3 force.

This was a good introduction to the mechanics but there were a couple of instances where pinning and command checks could have come into play.  I do think that this would be a good start for someone unfamiliar with the basics of the Bolt Action activation system and since the first scenario went so quickly I decided to play the second one as well.

The Algoryn AI open fire on C3 Strike Troopers as they move through open ground

This scenario (called Weakness?) features two three man C3 units facing off against two five man AI units, with all of the units getting spotter drones.  The AI objective for this mission is to eliminate the C3 units, while the C3 supposed to either get one of the units onto the AI side of the board or destroy one of the AI units as they are trying to determine the overall strength of the Algoryn force.  Now the first time I played this, I missed the second part of the C3 objectives so it instantly devolved into a firefight with the AI troops in cover and the C3 troops getting mowed down as they tried to cross the board.  I was kind of disappointed by the end of the game but decided to try it again using the full rules to see how they would change the feel.  It was at that point that I reread the objectives and realized that I'd made a pretty serious blunder there.

C3 forces from Bastion take cover from the Algoryn AI.

Whoops!  It turns out that using all of the objectives instead of just half of them added more to the game as it wasn't just the C3 walking into a flurry of mag fire.  It was cool to see pull in the command and pinning rules as well as they definitely add another dimension to the game play.

Next I need to assemble my third squad of AI troopers so I can give the third scenario a try.

Random Update: Terrain and Inspiration for the Freeborn

Things have been busy again so I haven't been able to make a lot of headway with my troops but there has still be some progress!  I've done some research on the more common types of plant life in more tropical regions and come up with some cool ideas that I'm looking forward to trying.  Thinking a couple of large mangrove style trees with giant root structures.  In looking around I actually have a lot more terrain than I'd thought I had so at this point anything else will just be more like accent pieces to give the table more of a jungle/swamp feel.

I've also picked some very inexpensive terrain in the form of one of the scenery packs for Infinity. Sci-fi style structures are one of the only things that I don't have much of and while these are fairly basic, they give me some quick and easy elements that can go onto the table.

Here are a couple of the buildings with some minis for scale

I've never done much with card board terrain but these went together fairly easily.  The larger structure was a little fiddly but considering the whole set was less than $10 before shipping, I'm okay with it.  The set contains a total of four of the larger structures, six of the smaller square structures, and two bridges which you can move around and have going to any of the buildings in the set.  This particular set is called Kurage Station but there are at least half a dozen different sets, each with a different skin plus they all come with a paper poster mat that ties in with the buildings.

While I really like the three dimensional look of fancier terrain, these sets are a great way to get a good amount of 3d terrain onto the table for less than $1 per piece.  Definitely not a bad option in my book.

My final paint scheme... at least for now anyway.

I've also gotten more done with my Algoryn.  I was really trying not to go with the red... but I just couldn't resist.  It a good combination with the green and I was actually surprised at how many things I was finding in looking up floral in rain forests and swamps that are red.  I also decided to go with the more tribal style stripes as I'm imagining a their world has an old human colony from a previous age and the remnants are little more than savages now.  Not only does that open up more ideas for terrain, it also give me a possible theme for a Freeborn contingent if I decided to go that way.

Speaking of Freeborn, I was also struck with a great idea for expanding my miniature options without needing to buy anything.  I currently only own the K'ara Nine starter and was saving up for the full Xilos set but life has reared its ugly head so I can't really justify spending that much cash on plastic soldiers.  Hobby is important but bills must come first.  Unfortunately this left me short on the C3 army as I don't have enough force selections to field even a 500 point army because I only have two tactical units.  Thankfully I was able to find a solution in the Battle for Xilos expansion which gives rules for mercenary units.

Years ago I did demos of the Starship Troops mini game for Mongoose Publishing.  Unfortunately that game went the way of the dodo but I still have a ton of miniatures for it, including a good sized force of Skinnies.  There are several references that I've seen for Antares that imply there are a number of alien races that have been encountered so combining that tidbit with the Freeborn mercenary list means that I can flush out my C3 army with a unit of alien mercs!  This will tide me for the time being and really says something about the versatility of the game.  Sure there are the established races in the setting but they have left a door open for people that want to use other minis to fill out the ranks or field as an army.  I don't plan on having them replace any of my actual Antares armies but its nice to have that option.

The next step is to run through the game a couple times to make sure I have my head around the rules then I'll see if I can find or convert some players locally.  40k is the most common game around here but there is a strong Bolt Action following as well so maybe I can convince some people to give it a try.  Here's hoping!

Workbench: Modern Ruins and Ghar... with Pictures Even!

Unfortunately there was not a lot of hobby time this past week but I was able to mostly finish off the first of my Ghar miniatures.

A Ghar assault suit in all its red glory!

I still need to add some details to the back of it (painting the reactor plus some more glowing bits too) but its looking pretty sharp from the front.  I also based this one along with my Algoryn minis and I'm liking how it ties them together.  I still need to figure out something to add a pop to them as the green is so dark but I'm not sure what direction to go with it.  Thinking maybe some yellow accents but painting with yellow is such a pain.  Red would be my go to as its easy to get good coverage but I'd like to do something a little different.

I also set up the ruins from Mars Attacks on the board to show the coverage just from the basic game.

The terrain included in the Mars Attacks game.

With just in the box, its enough to break up the fire lanes and with the extra terrain I grabbed I can definitely get some good coverage. Probably not enough to do a full 4' x 4' table in ruins (Mars Attacks typically plays on a 2' x 2') but its good have some modern ruins that I can throw onto the table.  Mix in some hedges and trees and it should do nicely for a bombed out suburb or a war torn village in Europe.

I've also ordered one of the Infinity scenery sets to check out.  These are very inexpensive cardboard options for some quick terrain so I'm curious to see them first hand.  After all, quick and cheap terrain that looks good is always a good thing!

Workbench: Modern Ruins and the Ghar

With the high temperatures and humidity in the Northeast last week, I just decided not skip on any hobby until it was over.  Beyond it just generally being really oppressive, I wasn't sure how it would effect paint drying and such so a break seemed like the best bet.

Thankfully last weekend it cooled down considerably and I was able to break out some of the modern ruins from Mantic.  These were originally produced for Mars Attacks but they did expand the range some to include some complete buildings as well as the ruins.  Though they say that they can be rearranged, I'd read some reviews that said the concept was better than the execution so I decided to just go ahead and glue them together.

Yeah, there was supposed to be a picture of them here but I haven't had a chance to take one yet.

Overall I'm very happy with how they came together.  There were more than enough clips and a few nice little details that you can add (store signs and fuse boxes for example).  There was also a good amount of terrain just in the basic game though I had also picked up their Ruined Village set so that I would have some more options available.  Eventually I'll get some paint on them as well though for now I'm happy with just getting them assembled as I'll be able to push around a couple of scenarios for Mars Attacks so I can finally see how the game plays.  Plus these should work well for the Terminator Genisys miniature game as well which is a nice plus.  I'll take two birds with one stone any day!

This past week, I've gone back to my Antares miniatures and I've been making some headway with my Ghar.  Currently I only have a few of their minis but I'm planning on buying Xilos Horizon in the next month which will give me a solid core of battle and assault suits to build off of.  I'm also really liking the paint scheme that I choose for them; red with some black accents.  I still need to paint on the lenses, reactor lights, and the like but its good to finally have a direction for painting them in mind as I've been having a heck of a time deciding on the paint scheme.

I'm also going to try to work on some terrain for them as well.  While I have a good amount of generic terrain laying around (mostly fantasy stuff I'd been making for Song of Blades and Heroes) but I'd like to make pieces specifically for Antares.  At this point the thing that is actually stumping me is coming up with an inexpensive but durable way of basing the terrain pieces.  Warlord has some nice looking pieces that come with MDF bases but I haven't been able to find anything comparable online where I could just buy the bases.  It seems like its go to be out there somewhere, the trick is just going to be finding it.

Workbench: Painting the Algoryn for Gates of Antares

With the paint scheme on my Concord decided and well underway I turned my attention to my Algoryn troops.  They are a militant society and I do really like the red armor but I wanted to do something a little different.  Looking through their history, the Algoryn are a resilient people so harsh environments would of little concern to them.  Flipping through the mini rulebook for inspiration I was really struck by the image of a swamp world with a raised structure in the background (its on page 50 at the beginning of the terrain section).  I really like the idea of modeling terrain around this kind of image so I decided to have my Algoryn based on a swamp world.

My Algoryn troops outside catching some rays

Rather than the typical reds for their reflex armor, my troops are a dark green base, drybrushed up with an olive green similar to the technique I used for my Concord.  Once this was done, I went over their weapons with the medium grey you can see in the picture and then hit that with a thin black wash.  With some basing they're table ready though I want to try going back and adding more detail to them when things cool down a little around here.  In the meantime, I've picked up some supplies so I can start working on the terrain.