Newbie questions!

[MrPieChee]

Hey all,

I’ve got interested in Antares a while back after reading Tim Bancroft’s tales of Batu and Baray, which resulted in me getting a Ghar army (I guess it was Shaltok that stood out really!). Life has stopped me actually playing any games so far, but hopefully that’ll change soon.

I was looking at getting the new supplement, but I bought the Xilos book with the main rule book in a bundle – is there any chance that Chryseis and Dronescourge will appear in a bundle in the near future? They’re a little pricey for what I’m used to.

And following on from that, is it worth while getting the Chryseis Shard book? The allies in Xilos are pretty interesting, and the new lists in Dronescourge sound great, but I don’t know of anything stand out in the Chryseis shard book.

In one of the early Videos with Rick, it was mentioned that the Freeborn are actually many factions and the Vardos(?) are just one such of these. Are there going to be an Isorian based freeborn faction at some point? A list with C3 stuff swapped for Isorian’s would be interesting. (one command squad can already take phase Armour, which I assume is meant to be isorian armour?). Are they’re any other plans?

The main rulebook states that most units/boxes come with command dice – so far I’ve only had three blisters with dice. Is it a straight up lie, or area things like Ghar battlesuit boxes and starter armies meant to have dice?

Also, are the bolt action dice them same (except the colours)?

Where does the Batu and Baray story from Open Signal sit in the timeline of the Nexus articles? I assume its before them all? (I read it after the others)

Finally, I know the Vorl have plastics planned (next?), but what other plastics are on the cards – I see lots of people asking about Borimite and Isorian infantry, but it would be great to seem some Ghar outcasts too (even if I probably have more than enough already). The Algoryn Liberator once said it was about to be replaced by a plastic kit – are there any plans for more plastic tanks? Are the Vorl planned for end of the year? (Christmas release?)

[Tim Bancroft]

Hi, and welcome back!

The ‘vardos’ are the Freeborn – or, rather, a vardos is a single Freeborn House (e.g. vardos oszoni, vardos delhreni). Depending on where they operate depends on their influence: the current models are House Oszon which operates in and around the determinate. A vardos operating within the Senatex would be influenced by the availability of Isorian purchases – hence the special options on the Freeborn command – but would not be ‘Isorian’ except in what Isorian equipment the house can buy (not specialised kit or anything that requires an Isorian nanosphere!). I run my Isorian vehicles in my Freeborn army, for example, and others use Isorian probes and drones.

The Batu storyline and sequence is here: https://www.gatesofantares.com/the-batu-and-baray-storyline-index/

Dice: BA dice are Antares dice. Early blisters and units contained order dice but I believe they are only in the starter sets now.

Vorl are potentially out in late 2019 – but be aware plans may change. Other plastic infantry are all on the ‘we’d like to do them’ shelf but such planning depends on factors and commercial decisions that are way above my cognisance!

And as for Chryseis, Rick’s notes on the Nexus may be helpful in making up your mind: https://www.gatesofantares.com/chryseis-shard-designers-notes/

[MrPieChee]

Thanks Tim.

I’d overlooked the fact that all the freeborn C3 vehicles share the same stats with the Isorian equivalents, so its just a case of swapping the models.

Final question (well, that’s probably a lie), does the T7 transport drone come with a mag light support option (or a twin mag light support)? All the pics should a plasma light support.

[Tim Bancroft]

Sorry PieChee,
For some reason the forum software never notified me of your reply – and I’m subscribed to the forums!

At present, there are no extra turrets for the Freeborn T7’s variations, though I have asked. An alternative is to use the Defiant if you have one (I use Defiant, Isorian and T7s for my Freeborn transports).

[Thomas B]

So I am sure that it exists somewhere but can someone point me to a source for blank army roster forms for creating G.O.A. lists ?

[Tim Bancroft]

Hi Thomas B
I’m not aware of any – most players I know use Army Builder or either Word or Excel to put together their lists and refer to the free, downloadable PDFs on the Nexus (https://www.gatesofantares.com/pdf-army-lists/, if you’re unaware).

If you want a formatted word doc, I can send you one of my old ones that I used which can bash away at for your own purposes. 🙂 Just email me at antares@warlordgames.com

Take care,
Tim

[Thomas B]

I actually have the downloaded lists already, I was just curious about a source for blank rosters. I play Bolt Action about twice a month and our group all use the Easyarmy.com site which prints out a list with page references/rule notes for all the unit special rules. I keep hoping they will do a Gates of Antares section too. If you wanted to send me your old/blank work file at callouttheguards@hotmail.com that would be great. Thanks

[Thomas B]

I am also curious if there are any plans to retool the Gates of Antares sprue to change from the free gun, free arm style to the integral arm-gun-arm style of the retooled Bolt Action sprue. The fiddly bits factor of trying to glue gun to hand then hand to arm then opposite arm to shoulder and gun is a pain and I loved when the Bolt Action sprues were changed. The variant between bodies and arm-gun-arm sets on each sprue still allow for a ton of posing and variety, but are so much easier to work with.

[Tim Bancroft]

There are currently no plans to re-tool until we’ve produced a few more plastics – Boromites and Isorians are desperately needed (as could be said for Outcasts)!

I dare say after the whole lot has come out, we’ll look back at the existing ranges.

[Thomas B]

Is there any equivalent of the EASYARMY.COM list builder for Gates of Antares ( or Warlord of Erehwon for that matter). I used to use Army builder but found it clunky and it didn’t seem to be very user friendly. The Easyarmy.com site has free list builders for Bolt Action and Conflickt47 as well as several other systems that are very user friendly.

[Tim Bancroft]

Hi Thomas,
Not that I am aware of. Battlescribe is being updated, at the moment, which may be different.

AB can be tricky to get into, at times, but it is kept up to date, I believe.

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