Beyond the Gates of Antares: Heroic Edition Announcement

With last weekend in the rearview mirror I want to take some time to discuss the most talked about topic from the Antares Lives Q&A on Sunday.

Beyond the Gates of Antares has been my most played wargame since I discovered the first edition rules in 2020.  I’ve played every combination of faction vs faction multiple times, own almost every model in the Antares range and have played hundreds of games in that time.

As I often do, I eventually started looking for ways to shake things up.  It began as a few homebrew rules – a handful of ideas that I discussed with my regular opponents and later formalised into something I am calling Beyond the Gates of Antares: Heroic Edition.

This does not supplant the existing rules, nor are the new rules endorsed by Rick or Tim beyond allowing it to exist as a fan project.  It is not yet complete and currently the list builder does not support the proposed ruleset.

Now that you know what it isn’t, let me discuss what it is.  It is an evolution of the second edition ruleset, existing in two formats.  The first is an optional set of modules that you can apply to the existing v2 rules.  These make fairly fundamental changes to how the game is played, but allow you to dip your toes into HE and apply only the bits you like.  Taken together, these rules form the basis of a new ruleset, complete with updated PDFs and army lists.

The core rulebook is already complete, as is the army list for the Concord.  I still have work ahead of me before the full Heroic Edition ruleset is ready for the public.  There are seven more army lists to write, not including mercenaries, along with the other rulebooks – “Playing the Game” and “Weapons & Equipment”.  Once the rules are a little more battle-tested, I intend to add the new edition to the Antares list builder app, which is no small task.  And there is much to playtest, but I’m sure I’ll have no shortage of volunteers when the time comes.  

Goals

I wrote BtGoA:HE with two specific goals in mind: 

1. To reduce the cognitive load on players
2. To provide a more cinematic experience

I’ll go into more detail what each of these goals entails over the coming weeks as I outline specific changes, hopefully tying them back to one of these two fundamental concepts.  But let me give you a high level overview for now.

Reducing the Cognitive Load on Players

A fairly universal truth is that the more realistic a game is, the more intricate it becomes.  Game designers tread a fine line between abstraction and complexity.  Antares walks this tightrope well for small to medium games, but in larger games, I often find myself feeling overwhelmed.  A day of gaming leaves me feeling emotionally rewarded and mentally exhausted in equal measure.  Antares: HE is, at its core, an attempt to streamline parts of the game without losing what makes Antares fun and unique.  Moving the needle a little towards abstraction reduces complexity, making numerous small changes that compound over the course of a game and saves mental effort and time.

Providing a More Cinematic Experience

Antares is, for most of us, a narrative game.  Conflicts are zoomed in far enough to appreciate individual acts of bravery while still feeling like a battle instead of a minor altercation.  Yet for all that, I rarely see character units in the field.  Heroes like Hansa Nairobi and Kamrana Josen are amongst the finest fighters in the Antares universe,  but in a game of numbers, it often makes more sense to take a squad of infantry whose extra firepower and overall durability present a more reliable choice for less points.  Antares: HE seeks to make heroic characters a viable choice in any force without making them overpowered.

I also hope to give players a toolbox of tricks they can employ at critical moments to swing the battle in their favour.  The key thing about doing so is ensuring that nothing is overpowered and everything is immersed in the narrative.

Next Steps

I’ll be sharing details over the coming weeks and months on the Antares Nexus, publishing articles that detail each of the modules and how you can apply it to your existing games. Further down the line I will share the updated rulebook and army lists.  This will be more than the sum of the modules, providing a more intricate application of the HE rules.  For example, if the HE rules make changes to unit or weapon stat lines (and they do), the HE rulebook will provide the new stats for you.  The module, on the other hand, will provide a way to easily convert from v2 to HE, but this will sometimes be imperfect.

The modules should give you a chance to experience the Heroic Edition vision without learning a whole new set of rules.  When it’s ready, the new rulebook will give you a way to jump into the new edition feet first.