Antares: Starting LIfe as a Ghar in Exile

I have had my Ghar minis sitting on my desk for a while as I've agonized over their paint scheme.  I had decided to go with just bare metal since the Ghar are only concerned with war.  Why not simply churn out the warmachines and send them out as is?  It kept feeling like there needed to be more though but the question was what.

As I mulled this over, my Ghar collection continued to expand like a gremlin that got wet which is when the Antares Facebook group started talking about Ghar Rebels and Exiles.  This got the gears going but it was the Mandolorian that finally sealed the deal.  After watching a few episodes, I sat down with some Menoth white base and started painting in panels on one of my assault suits.  I hit it with a wash of seraphim sepia, painted a couple of panels different colors to make it look more ramshackle...  and now I'm working on painting up my first armored trooper squad.

I'm really happy with how they are turning out and since I took this picture, I've been working on five more armored suits, a couple of outcast disruptor cannon teams, and ordered a set of rebel outcasts to mix into my outcast squads for a bit of variety.

One of the questions for me now is what I'm going to do with my command crawler.  In the Exile list the command crawler has fewer options available and even looses Command, Follow, and Leader but its still a beast of a machine.  Ultimately, I think I'll have to figure out a what kind of cap I want to look at for my list and then build accordingly but for now I'm just going to aim for 750 as a good starting point.  Planning to get a chunk of that completed next week and then there will be more pictures.  Until next time...

Workbench: Ghar and Algoryn and Distortion, Oh My!

(Just a quick note...  I took pictures of these minis again with my highly advanced, extremely expensive light box.  Yeah, it's made out of a cardboard box, some duct tape, and a sheet of printer paper.  Really advanced, let me tell ya!  Anyway, these are cleaner pics so I thought I'd update this post but nothing else has changed.  And now back to our regularly scheduled Dispatch already in progress...)

As I mentioned previously, I have been making some good headway with the  2020 Painting Challenge.  I was going to wait until the month was finished and just do all of my minis in a massive update but I've also had very little time for the blog since I've been painting... and watching the Office.  Damn you Tim!

But I digress...

Instead of waiting, I've decided that I should post them as I go since I am painting units at a time.  Far more efficient plus it makes it easier to maintain the same color scheme when it's fresh in your mind.  So without further ado, here is the start of my Painting Challenge!

For my first ones out of the gate I had to go with my brand new Ghar tectorists.  I've wanted to add these to my Ghar army for a while now but I haven't been able to pick any up until earlier this month.

These troops act as probes for the Ghar forces, scouring the battlefield for enemy targets and helping their own troops rain disruptor death on them!  Mechanically this lets a Ghar unit reroll one miss if there is one or more Tectorists within 15".  Always a handy thing plus I really like the models.

In addition to the tectorists, I also decided to slap some paint onto one of my spare order dice (Which I forgot to include in the picture.  Oops!  I'll be sure to post a pic of it later).  This is a special die that is used when there are Ghar forces on the table.  The archaic technology highly unstable and even distorts time itself!  In the game, you are supposed to add one unique die to the bag with the other order dice, making the distortion effect a result of the order die pull in the turn which I think is a good way to handle it.  And since it is supposed to be a unique die, I decided to kick it up a bit and paint it like I've painted the plasma reactors on my battle suits.

Next I decided to hop factions and finish some of my unit options for my Algoryn.  Even with all the troops that I've previously painted, for some reason I just never got to the rest of the spotter drones so it was time to amend that.

As with the tectorists, spotter drones also allow rerolls but unlike the Ghar troops, these little robots hang out with their assigned unit.  In the case of these four, the three in green are for my x-launcher teams and mag cannon while the more traditional red is for my assault squad.

And speaking of the mag cannon, I finally finished painting up this imposing piece of support weaponry.

The mag cannon only rolls a single die when it fires but if it hits... well, if it was a person, they are now pink mist and vehicles won't fare much better.  Not only does it pack a massive punch, its maximum range is 100 inches!  Of course you still need line of sight but that's still an insane range for a table top miniature game... until you look at the next one.

This is the first of my two x-launcher teams.  Unlike the mag cannon, the x-launcher doesn't need line of sight if you have spotter drones that can see your target.  This lets you hide them behind cover and still lob shells down on the enemy.  This is also one of the few weapons that has five optional ammo types besides it regular explosive round.

And when you consider that you can lob these shells up to 120"...  Sure, you might not hit but just the threat is enough to make your opponent take notice!

With all these extra troops fighting for Algor, it was only fitting to command squad so they can lead them all into battle.

Unlike regular AI troopers, the command squad is equipped with the slightly more potent plasma carbines.  These have slightly less range that a standard mag gun but make up for it with two modes of fire, one with better penetration while the other has a higher rate of fire.

I also decided that it was time to change up the scheme on my AI troopers as well and repainted their shoulder pads so they had the traditional red.

I think this ties them in better with my assault troopers and its also easier than doing the tribal pattern on each shoulder.  I am thinking about going back and doing a different mark for each squad as well but one step at a time.

And that's what I have so far!  21 minis not including the repaints but there is more to come soon, hopefully with some better lighting if I can remember to grab a light from home.  So there might be more pics of these guys in better light as well but fear not... the Hukk is coming.  Until next time...

Workbench: Stewie, Objectives, and Ghar

This past weekend was a long weekend but that was family time.  Now that I'm back out for work though, I've been plugging away on a few projects.  I went overboard and brought a ton of stuff with me this time.  All of my paints, some Bolt Action to work on, all my Concord, Ghar, and Algoryn, and even a 4' x 4' table topper.  Yeah, things definitely escalated.

First and foremost is Stewie aka the M3 Stuart fielded by the US Army in WWII.  This is a light tank with the potential to mount a ridiculous number of machine guns.

All told, this tank can potentially roll 23 dice on an attack which is just silly.  Of course this is the reason that I've been assembling it.  This Saturday I'll be playing in a BA combat patrol tournament and Stewie might be part of my force.

For those that haven't heard of this format, it's a 450 point tournament with some special restrictions for balance.  There are three specific scenarios which focus on infantry units so the most appropriate thing to do would be focus on the foot sloggers and pass on the tank.  Unfortunately I like crazy lists so I decided that I needed to build the Stuart that I've had sitting around just in case I want to field it.  I'm still really on the fence about it but it is really tempted.  I'll have to see once I get closer to the event whether I go with the tactically sound choice or Stewie and the gang.

Besides making my tank, the scenarios also call for a number of objective markers.

Since I had the Stuart kit with me, I scrounged up the various leftover bits and pieces and cobbled together four markers for the tournament.  Nothing too fancy but I like how they came out.  I think it's a hold over from Frostgrave; making "treasure markers" is just fun to do.

I also decided to make a drone objective for Antares.  I have a couple of Virai drones that I can use but I like the idea of a crashed Concord style research drone.

For this I used a C3D1 general purpose drone but cut off the arms from the subverter matrix (I used these to make my custom batter drones for my C3).  This keeps its profile familiar but makes it different enough looking to stand out.



To make it a bit more functional, I also made a crash site and the drone won't be glued to its flight stand.  This will let me place it on the "crash site" until it is reactivated at which point it can be popped onto its stand as its escorted off the table.

Last but not least, I've also taken steps to base the first of my Ghar force, namely the command crawler and some of the battle suits.

I still need to finish the three last battle suits and dig out the outcasts to slap some paint on them, but I like how these are looking so far.  It's definitely been a busy but productive week, and hopefully I can keep that momentum going into next week!  Until next time...

Workbench: Painting Machine... Kind Of... Plus I-Sores, and Combat Patrol

I had planned on getting a battle report up this week but I'm thinking that it's going to be delayed until next week.  I've been busy getting some more paint onto my Ghar and I'm pretty happy with how they are progressing.

The command crawler is the piece that is the furthest along though the squad of suits that isn't too far behind.  I still haven't gone as far as weathering yet but I've been adding some details; purple for the plasma generators, red for the sensors, and some black to break up some of the bare metal.

Once I get the squad of suits detailed, I think I'll hit the outcasts and see what I can do with them.  I grabbed the wrong color wash for the skin tones but the one it grabbed seems like it might work out.  It'll be easier to tell how it's working once I use it on a whole mini and not just the small flesh details that are on the command crawler.

I also went through the rest of my Therian miniatures and found some more that I can use as proxies for Isorians.

This gives me even more options for the regular troops though I still need to work out how many points I'm up to now.  Unfortunately it didn't look like there was anything that would really pass for support weapons or drones but this is a good start.

And finally, I've decided to take part in a Bolt Action Combat Patrol tournament next month.  I'd never heard of this format but it is a three round tournament with secret objectives for additional victory points, and a force limit of 450 points.  I'm excited to give this a try though I'm finding myself torn.  I'd planned on playing this one choosing the best combination of units to achieve the objectives.  Actually apply tactics and such.  Then I saw the M3 Stuart and my mad scientist brain started kicking in.

The M3 Stuart is a light tank from the beginning of the war but it can also mount a ridiculous number of machine guns.  One coaxial MMG, one hull mounted MMG, two hull mounted LMGs, one pintle mounted MMG, all with a light anti-tank gun for the icing on top.  This means this tank can lay down 23 dice just for the machine guns on a Fire order.  It's also a third of the total points, has weak side and back armor, and makes some of the objectives impossible to achieve since that can only be done by infantry... but it's still really tempting!  We'll just have to see if sound reasoning wins the day or the desire for more dakka!  Until next time...

Random Updates: Painted Ghar, Tabletop Warlords, and Proxy Isorians

I'm not gonna lie, I had originally been planning on trying to get in a game of Antares featuring the Algoryn troops of Yadrolla against the mighty Ghar Empire!  It didn't quite work out that way but instead I was able to actually get some paint onto my Ghar.  Huzzah!

This isn't the finished product but it gives you an idea what I'm going for.  Originally I was planning on painting my Ghar red because... well, because I like to paint things red.  It's kind of a trend.  After reading more about the Ghar, I don't see them as being so concerned with things like paint.  I mean the studio paint scheme for the Ghar is really crisp but I like the idea of having them dirty metal instead.  Their suits are churned out on an assembly line and sent out to war.  I plan on carrying this through with the outcasts as well, making them dirty from the harsh life they have been forced to live.  No idea how it will work out since I don't have a lot of experience with weathering minis but this seems like a great place to start.

I have also been watching the Tabletop Warlords on Youtube, a great channel that features Gates of Antares battle reports plus they are looking to expand into terrain making videos as well.  Sergey and Kevin do a great job breaking things down, making it easy to follow what is happening in the game, and they have a good chemistry that make them really fun to watch.  I recommend checking them out if you currently play Antares or are looking to find out more information about how the game works.

All of which leads nicely into my next tidbit, proxied Isorians.  When I first got into Antares the Isorians just didn't appeal to me aesthetically.  As I learned more about the game, they (along with pretty much all the other factions) really started to grow on me.  Unfortunately the Isorians are one of two factions that don't currently have a plastic set for their core infantry and I can't really justify plunking down more money while I'm still working on assembling and painting my first three armies.  Thankfully I stumbled across at least a temporary solution to this problem; the Therians.

This blog first focused on the game AT-43 by Rackham Games.  Unfortunately Rackham went the way of the dodo years ago but I still have all of my old Therian minis.  The Therians are basically a mechanical race but stylistically they have an organic look to them... just like the Isorians.  So, bada bing, bada boom...

...and instant Isorians!  While I do have a good number of Therians floating around, I don't have enough to be able to field a large Isorian proxy force.  I'd invested pretty heavily into the Golgoth walkers compared to the regular infantry units but I can pull together enough ground pounders for about 500 points, which is good enough for me to be able to try pushing them around to see how they play.  Who knows, it might even lead to yet another army for my collection.  Until next time...

Antares: The Mighty Ghar Assemble!

Having played some games with my Algoryn and Concord forces, I decided it was time to get my Ghar on.  I must admit that these are some of my favorite minis for the game but I'd stayed away from them due to the extra rules that come with them.  My first goal was to have a couple of armies that I could use for demos and the Ghar just don't seem to fit that very well.  With all their special rules and exceptions to the norm, I'd planned on looking at the Ghar later... and then there was that first sprue sale way back when.  Then I found an army box for about half price... Then there was the command crawler that was half price on Amazon...  And the outcasts for half price...

Yes, I admit it; I'm a sucker for a deal.

Sucker or not, I'm glad that I've picked up the ugly little bastards.  They have a lot of character and I can't wait to give them a try.  For now I've put together (but not painted) a 750 point list to try pushing around against the Concord and the Algoryn.

This force seems small since its only five order dice before the plasma amps but I think they will be fun to play.  There are two battle suit squads supported by a mob of ten outcasts and led by a command crawler.  This seems like it will be a good core to build from but I'm thinking that instead of going with Ghar Empire as I'd originally planned that I'm going to make them Ghar Exiles.

Looking over the lists from Antares day, it looks like the points are comparable but they can mix battle and assault suits together in their units.  Since I own a fair number of assault suits (due to the aforementioned sprue sale) this will work really well for me.  I still need to pick up the Dronescrouge Returns which has the Exile list but until I grab it, I'm just going to use the points for the regular Ghar list but use them as they are modeled.  I'm just doing this for fun so I might as well see how they work, right?  But first, the 750 point battle... coming soon!  Until next time...

Workbench: Machine Guns, Crawlers, and Critters

After the Bolt Action games this past weekend, I decided I should break out some of the US troops that I have laying around waiting to be worked on.  The first ones I broke out just had to be my medium machine gun teams.

The US version of dakka dakka!

This was the first one that I did and primarily as a test for the basing but I like it.  Rather than having the whole team on one base, I decided to piece them out so that I can easily remove casualties.  The positioning of the ammo feeder and the gunner are a little fiddly but I'm going to finish off the other two like this as well.  Might even redo some of the completed weapons teams that I "inherited" but we'll have to see how inspired I get.

I also put in some more time with my Antares stuff, though not the stuff that I should really be working on.

So cool! Wasn't going to get one originally but I'm so glad I did!

I still have yet to finish painting my Algoryn troops but I've been drooling over the Ghar command crawler for a few weeks now so I just had to put it together.  This thing is a beast let me tell you.  Very nice model though; some mold lines but it was a pretty easy clean up and I can't wait to get some paint on it.  I need to do the Algoryn first though; really want to have both armies ready to field by the end of the month.

And last but not least I started basing some more of my sci-fi critters, by which I just mean gluing them to bases for now.

The space rhinos are gonna getcha!

I can't remember which toy line these came with but I've got about a dozen beasties like this that I picked up years ago.  I plan on painting these up and to use them for random fauna for Antares games but I'm thinking I can use them for Operation Last Train as well, provided I have enough of them of course.  I'll have to get some more glued up to see what I can do.

On top of all of that I also had my Wrath of Kings order show up from Miniature Market.  Now I have almost all the basic troops, leaders, and specialists for four of the five armies in the game.  Think I'm done for now since I still haven't played the game but I'm sure I'll be good for a bit.  There are the named character specialists and leaders but those have always been less of a priority to me.  At this point I know that I can pull out a couple of armies and play the game with someone without them having to buy into a new game, and I do like the minis so I'm sure I can find something to do with them.  Until next time...

Workbench: Concord Buddy Drones On The Cheap

When I had looked at Antares the first time the concept of incorporating drones into the game seemed interesting.  Drones have already had an impact on modern combat so seeing it integrated into a sci-fi game just makes sense.  Once I actually decided to take the plunge and read the rules... well, those little buddy drones are amazing!  They really let you add some tactical options to the army and by making them part of the units or members of shards (typically a unit composed of drones) they don't throw off the balance created by the order dice mechanic.  The question is how to model them.

Warlord sells mixed and single type packs of drones which is great plus they aren't too expensive either.  That said I have a ton of C3 sprues lying around so I have their spotter drones in abundance.  Luckily I saw a post on the Antares Facebook group where someone converted a spotter into a batter drone by chopping off the sensors on the sides of the spotter and adding the fins from the subverter matrix.  I quickly slapped one together and started brainstorming some ways to create the other drones I needed.

In the front of the "pack" is a regular spotter drone.  Clockwise from there is a batter drone, a shield drone, and finally a gun drone.  To make the shield drone I decided to cut down on the size of the spotter and mount the engines closer, the theory being that this would make it more nimble to intercept incoming fire.  The conversion was easy enough as well; I snipped off the sensor wings, cut off the rear engine, cut down the stem on engine and then glued it on vertically.  Quick and easy but I think that it gives it enough of a different profile that it works really well.

The gun drone I'm less happy with.  I debated mounting carbines on both sensor wings but the drone only carries one so that might look a bit odd.  I also cobbled one together that replaced one of the wings with a carbine but that one also didn't do much for me.  The final product is what you see; the central sensor is cut back to give the carbine a good mounting surface and then I just attached the end of a carbine to it.  It's not bad but I'm not thrilled with it.  Even so, I just need a couple of them for my NuHu so the design will work for now.

And on a somewhat related note, I stumbled across a Ghar Command Crawler on Amazon for a really good price so now I'll be able to have my two 750 points armies face off against my one 1500 point Ghar army.  Time to start building some battle suits!

Workbench: 750 Points of Antares At Last!

This past weekend I placed an order that will give me a well rounded 750 point list for my Algoryn troops.  Finally!  It's taken longer than I wanted but real world concerns need to come first.  I also took a good look at my Concord and Ghar forces and figured out what I need assemble and paint to field 750 lists for both of those as well so I finally have some direction which helps.  Before this I've been a bit too haphazard to really make any solid progress but things should work out nicely now.

This also seems like a good time to address the paint scheme for my Ghar as I've decided to mix things up a bit.  Currently I was looking at dark red but red tends to dominate my color palette. I'm going to paint my Concord command squad and NuHu red, plus my Sulia mercenaries are already dark red so something different is needed for the Ghar.

Given their comparatively primitive technology and limited skill set just a basic bare metal sounds perfect.  I'm thinking a dark steel shade for most of their gear with select bits picked out with either a gold or brass.  Hit this with a coat of Nuln Oil, pick out the reactor highlights, and this sounds perfect.  Simple and utilitarian which just sounds right for them.  So far I only have paint on two of them as test models so this is the perfect time to switch as well so I'm excited to move forward with that once my Algoryn and Concord are painted up.

I've also picked up some zombies and spectres from Zombicide Black Plague.  My selection of undead is kind of lacking and since I'm looking at running Curse of Strahd for my D&D group it seems like something that I should have on hand.  Plus know I'll be able to use them for other things to so it just seemed to make sense.

Now if only I could finally resolve my workroom to get it more usable.  I've been very slowly chipping away at the mass that has been stopping me from moving forward but I need to just invest some time into getting it organized.  Easy to say though things do have a tendency to pop up that I need to take care of.  Still, its overdue and hopefully by putting it out there on the blog I can finally get it finished so I'm aiming for the space organized by Sunday night.  Even just an hour a day should be more than enough to get things sorted out and it will finally get the clutter out of my creative space so I can focus on getting some of these projects done.

Gates of Antares: Reinforcements For Bastion!

My order from the Warlord summer clearance sale arrived! Now I have enough Concord strike squads for days (which translates roughly into six squads), plus a NuHu Mandarin to act as a commander, and a targeter probe shard.

The might of Bastion assemble!  No, really, glue yourselves together, will you?

In addition to filling out my Concord, I also grabbed a targeter shard for my Algoryn and a bunch of Ghar assault suits and a bomber suit as well.  This helps round out the core of my Algoryn force and gave me one heck of a jump on starting a Ghar Empire force.

The Ghar shall reign supreme!  As soon as I get some more of them anyway...

Now I've just got to get some more assembling and painting done, then I can start hitting the game store.  Currently I don't think that there is anyone seriously playing Gates of Antares locally but there is a strong Bolt Action crowd so I'm hoping that I might be able to get some people interested.  I might pick up a support team for the Algoryn and possibly a T7 just to have on hand as well but one step at a time.

Unrelated to GoA, my family and I are still trying to settle into our new home as there were boxes and boxes and still more boxes full of... well, crap mostly it seems like.  It's amazing how much we hold onto that just is meaningless in lots of ways.  Dead games from publishers that closed their doors years ago because I might want to play it again someday.  Seemed like a good idea at the time but now... well not so much.  Maybe just in the insight we gain from getting old but there is only so much time in the day for everything so why include the other random bits of detritus that just add clutter to our lives?

So why this sudden serious note in my blog?  Well, I've decided that its time to lighten the load and finish the things that need to be done.  By the end of the month I plan on getting some of the random stuff that I've got laying around onto Ebay.  I figure I might as well try to send some of these things to people that are going to get some use out of them before I consign them to the scrap heap.  If some of it sells, great!  More more to invest into GoA and other projects that I'm currently working on and not things that I might have a use for someday if the moon is in the right phase... well, you get the picture.

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!