Beyond the Gates of Antares

Finally, I have the starter boxed set for Warlord Games Beyond the Gates of Antares game.  I have been following the development of this game for years, initially because Rick Priestley wrote and developed it, but even more so when I found out that the game mechanics would be based on Warlord's Bolt Action game. I don't do product reviews or unboxing videos but in this situation, I just can't help myself and I want to show people what a cool product this is.

The first thing that struck me was how much smaller the box is compared to a typical GW starter set. However, one needs to just pick up the box to quickly discern that this boxed set is packed from corner to corner with content. Opening the box up, one is immediately greeted by the hardcover rulebook, and I was pleased to discover that it is a full sized book like their Hail Caesar and Black Powder rules books and not small like the Bolt Action book.

After lifting that impressive tome from the box I discovered the Quick Start guide which also has assembly instructions for the models within. It's a great guide and it should be handy for helping me to teach others how to play this game.

After removing that from the box you find yourself admiring all the models that come with this boxed set. 20 Concord Strike Team figures, their support drones, and the 6 Ghar battlesuits. Great looking models, and a big improvement over Warlord's initial metal releases. I look forward to working on them!

The boxset comes with all the dice you could need to play, as well as some snazy, and unique templates and pin markers.

The templates remind me of the early days of 40k, when different weapons, psyker powers and vehicles required different templates to use them properly. I file this time of 40k in my memory under "fun".

So, with the box somewhat explored I took to the book, and it was difficult setting it down. The games has a 40k Rogue Trader feel to it, but with a cleaner presentation. It was very easy to dive into, and after skimming the rules I immersed myself in the background section of the book, which, like Rogue Trader, you get just enough info to get the ball rolling and know why it's rolling, with it clearly stated that future supplements, campaigns, etc with fluff it all out further. So far, I am digging it.

The art is mostly in color and pretty good. The cover art, reprinted as a nice spread within, has a layout that virtually mirrors the cover of Rogue Trader, and not only is that fine, I appreciate the gestalt and what it means. What it means is, Rick Priestley is back, and so is his ideal of a space age miniature game. And I am excited to play this game!