"Rick Priestley's Beyond the Gates of Antares Sci-Fi Rules Available" Topic

oh boy! from the guy who gave us the 40k rules!!!

oh, wait ….

Why make a snide comment like that, especially for an announcement of public playtesting? What does it accomplish?

I am intrigued by the game and will try out the playtesting version. Thanks for the announcement.

So is this gonna be based on the bolt action rules or something completely new?

"Why make a snide comment like that, especially for an announcement of public playtesting? What does it accomplish?"

--if the 40k rules are not great gaming material and the writer is now making a new set of rules in the same genre it's not shocking that someone may comment on it. don't take it personally! have you ever not liked something and mentioned it on an internet forum?

So is this gonna be based on the bolt action rules or something completely new?

I think it's similar to the Bolt Action rules, but I'd heard it's d10-based, rather than d6. I'm always looking for rules that step out of the old, d6 "box" so these might be worth a look.

Some people say that d6 are far more common than polyhedral dice, but I would counter that statement – polyhedral dice are available from (I would guess…) EVERY decent game shop, or online at least, so the "d6 availability" crutch is a bit weak these days…

Wasn't the whole " I must use D6 in my rules because D10's are too hard to find" always a bit absurd?

You mean the people playing the game can find all the obscure miniatures they need, which aren't sold by general retail merchants but only in specialty stores, but they can't seem to find polyhedral dice?

I always thought the argument was – I CHOOSE to use d6 in my rules because players are commonly familiar with these dice.

Nothing wrong with the basic concepts behind 40K. Move – shoot – Assault. We play the Warhammer colonial rules. They are great fun! :-)

I understand these are based upon Bolt Action.

The thing that spoils rules sets is the focus on tournament play and all the special rules that inevitably get added.

1) Mr. Priestly should not be judged by the current version of Warhammer/40K… Rogue Trader was his baby, not 40K v3.6 (or is it 3.7 …? Hard to keep up w/ GamesSweatShop…)
On top of that, perhaps experience is a good teacher?

2)d6s for me, please, just a silly preference (just like d10s)… not really important, either.

3) "Available" for play-testers…. Not really "available" then…

4) Always good to see a new rules-set (and miniatures?)
(No comment on probable 'lifespan' of said rules/miniatures production/support, however…). Best of luck to 'em, however, as at least it is not 'collectable' or 'chibi'…

If they are similar to 40K I wouldn't be interested. The mechanics are fine but the plethora of rules exceptions, special rules, rules only for certain bits of equipment and so forth make it so that no one knows the complete rules and as we have seen with 6th edition 40K they are impossible to keep balanced.

If they are similar to Bolt Action, then I am much more interested. While BA is a bit beer and pretzels, it is at least fun and the rules are extremely reasonable. The faction books only have data for the most part and not large expansions to the rules. The data defines the army's flavor quite well.

I have corresponded with Mr. Priestly as far back as 1989 and I have found him to be full of humor, a generous spirit and a reasonable person who knows a lot more about history than most, so please consider that before making unfounded assertions. There are a few personalities in the gaming world I'd like to meet in person and Mr. Priestly is certainly on the short list.

Viva la D10.

Anybody can join as a "playtester", even if it is to only read the rules…

It is indeed BA in Space with D10. There a few slight alterations to the order dice mechanic, making it slightly easier to remove pins and you have to roll to recover from going down…

still have to keep reading after that :-)

Yeah he's written lots of games. Dust warfare, starship troopers, some historical stuff too. Most are pretty fun.

"I have corresponded with Mr. Priestly as far back as 1989 and I have found him to be full of humor, a generous spirit and a reasonable person who knows a lot more about history than most,"
I would echo that sentiment.

I personally understand knee-jerk reactions to GW; I also have heard nothing but glowing praise for Mr. Priestly. Including, great patience with part A. ;->=

Just a point: you have to have a sign on with the Warlord Games forum, which may or may not take time to get back to you with a setup.

Not stopping me.

Doug

roter, didn't Andy Chambers do Starship Troopers?

If you made a sandwich 20 years ago with mustard and ham, that doesn't mean that you could never make any other type of sandwich.

They are an excellent set but our mistake was going in thinking it was going to be Bolt Action in space. It is very very different. Considering it is the Alpha set it is gearing up to be my favourite set of sci-fi rules.

Guilty as charged your honour:)

Just to repeat what others have said – Antares is a free download to anyone who signs up for our playtesters forum. You don't have to contribute to the playtesting – but you do need to be signed up to access the various updates and other free downloads that will become available over the next few months.

The game is based on the Bolt Action order dice and pin system – but in other respects it's a new game. It's D10 based – but uses other dice too – I know some will like that and some won't. I do:)

Just me having some fun really – putting together a set of rules that supports the kind of scenario driven semi-role play gaming I've always enjoyed.

Can I use my Warmaster Ancients then? Still a favourite even with the Hail
Priestley Ancients availability ;-)

Could this herald the Return of Abdul Goldberg?

Some podcasts who had access to beta rules or advance copies point out the similarity to Bolt Action, which is a fine and fun system. I wish the name were less…goofy, I guess. It's on the BUY side of my budget.

khurasan miniatures among others has some really fine 15mm sci-fi figures. I'd love to find some good rules to use with them. Something fast, playable, a good game in maybe 90 minutes……Can anyone recommend anything that's currently out there?

Oh, if this were to replace the monster fail that is 40k 7th edition then a lot of people would be happy.

Everyone forgets Mr RP created Warmaster. Easily the best game ever from GW. I think these rules will be great.

Thanks for responding Rick, I'm a fan of BA so this will be fun!

-Mike

Also, the art is definitely channeling some Mass Effect vibes there. Thumbs up.

I'll sign up.

Who could resist a game that already has a soundtrack?

youtu.be/wwxLPR6sU3A

"Just me having some fun really – putting together a set of rules that supports the kind of scenario driven semi-role play gaming I've always enjoyed."

Now that's worth a look. Thanks.

"Look, ma, I was 'clever' on the internet!"

Le sigh.

Great ruleset so far- all the moreso for the realization that it's still in alpha. Very much looking forward to further testing (beyond my contribution the other day, of the list of assorted proxies I'll be using for them, obviously), and I'm a cinch to buy when they go full release…

- Monk

Could this herald the Return of Abdul Goldberg?

Now THAT would be worth plunking down some change for.

oh boy! from the guy who gave us the 40k rules!!!

Actually he gave us the 1st Edition of 40k…

I.E.

Far better set of rules than the current bunch of crap GW calls rules.

Well I am signing up as soon as the forum administrator approves my account.

Looks like my Warlord forum acct has been deactivated during a tidying up. I can't re-register because my email acct has already been taken (by me). Guess I'll see the rules once they hit retail.

Just waiting for the forum admin to approve me. Mr. Priestley has given us a lot of great games over the years, from Rogue Trader, to Warmaster, to Black Powder. I can't wait to take a look at this new project.

Anyone having trouble logging on to thissite and finding these beta rules …..or is it just me ?

1st Edition Warhammer and 1st Edition 40K were the only versions of these rules I ever owned and I thought they were good.

@Rick – I also like polyhedral dice: I find people's aversion to them as rather bizarre: my favourite system ever is still the Metal Express Silent Death system which uses poly dice so D10 would not put me off in the slightest.

khurasan miniatures among others has some really fine 15mm sci-fi figures. I'd love to find some good rules to use with them. Something fast, playable, a good game in maybe 90 minutes……Can anyone recommend anything that's currently out there?

@mikeguth – May I humbly suggest The Crucible? hammers-slammers.com It even has a whole force based around Khurasan vehicles link

But then I'm rather biased…

John T