Beyond the Gates of Antares is moving forward at a roaring pace – with momentum snowballing!
As we see more and more pictures of painted armies, battle reports, and community questions roll-into Warlord HQ, the energy and excitement of the community feeds our imagination…
A huge part of the development of Beyond the Gates of Antares is working in collaboration with the community – you’d be surprised the level at which your input, comments, and suggestions are taken on board!
As part of this, we run a monthly ‘Ask Rick’ column – in which we post your questions to the esteemed Mr Priestley – whether it be rules questions, backstory questions, questions about the playtesting process, questions about our future plans for Antares, etc…
To put your question forward, head over to our Facebook page and leave a comment on the ‘Ask Rick’ post – we’ll then gather all of the questions roughly once per month, and post the answers in our Newsletter.
So, without further ado, we present the second installment of ‘Ask Rick!’
Matt Houghton: Why is everyone wearing armour when they are protected by fields?
Rick: The armour plates carry the field armours – they need something to attach to – Boromites achieve this by nailing connectors into their skin. That’s Boro’s for you. There is also some element of physical protection – there is also some element of ‘because it looks cool’ – couldn’t have them all wandering around in pyjamas and slippers could we.
David Horobin: Are there any plans to make a “Necroheim-Bowl-esque” style of localised campaigning system? Roster sheets and experience progression kind of thing?
Rick: I’d like to build the background and game around narratives, campaigns and semi-role playing adventures as much as one-on-one gaming – I know most people are comfortable with one-on-one games so we do have to respect that – but once we get going I’d like to do loads more including taking the scale of action down a little and allowing for variation in personal abilities and experience. But we have to get going first!
Jez Allum: Will any background fluff be released online first or will there be inevitable surprises left in the book(s)
Rick: I have written a lot of little pieces that start to open up the universe – some of which have made their way online – but I’ll obviously do more for the book. I’m not going to write huge amounts for the launch because I want to leave room for the background to develop – and so far I’ve got lots of directional ideas for that – but until you make a start you don’t really find the detail!
Andy Singleton: Will there be books of lore and artwork that we can buy to help get an extra feel for the setting?
Rick: No plans at the moment – if things take off well I’m sure we’ll have T-Shirts and lord knows what – artwork would be nice!
Karl Pedder: I understand that getting well rounded forces for Concord, Isorian, Algoryn, Boromite, Freeborn and Ghar as well as the boxed game are priorities but are Vorl and PanSims something we can expect to follow in a reasonable timeframe?
Rick: We have a concept piece for Vorl – and we have already made a start with the Ghar – I did describe these as human but looking at the blighters it’s kinda hard to tell! They certainly have some ape-like qualities. I think we’d like the Vorl to be our first big project after release. They are very alien indeed… a positive limb-fest:)
Gregory Greenwood-Nimmo: Are there any plans for expanding the types of Wardrones available to the factions? Are there any plans for the type of advanced, highly intelligent machine soldiers that were quite prominent in the original treatment of Antares? Also, will the Tsan Kiri ever appear as a faction in the current Antares epoch, or were they wiped out at the end of the Isorian/Tsan Kiri War?
Rick: We’re working on more weapon drones. We dropped the plans to make a generic humanoid wardrone type as that was dependant upon plastic and we were never entirely happy with the design. We might return to it one day. Tsan Kiri… well now, that’s a good question…:)
Remember – to have the chance to have your question answered by the one and only Rick Priestley, head over to the official Warlord Games Facebook page – and post your question on the relevant thread – and keep your eyes peeled for a response in a future Newsletter!
Sam Phillips