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About the Antares Nexus

This site is the source of all the core information on the wargame Beyond the Gates of Antares, 2nd Edition (Antares 2) by Rick Priestley and Tim Bancroft, now in fan-maintenance.

A major feature of the Antares universe is that it evolved as a result of international games days: the games between the players on those days determines how the politics develop. This brought a faction to the brink of civil war, directed where the pestilent Virai would expand, and resulted in the release of a strange, new artificial lifeform (the Chryseis Shard) into the universe.

Many of the images and articles here are from players!

A lot of background articles can be found here, and more can be found in the downloadable, Guide to the Universe on Rules Central.

As of October 2025, support from Tim and Rick is no longer possible, so the game is maintained on a fan basis, led by a small team of ‘Keepers’. the ‘canon’ ends with the history up to that date (end 7A.1326/start 7A.1327) and there will be no more ‘official’ or canonical material produced. See this post for more information.

Rick Priestley is a veteran of Games Workshop and Warlord Games, was the creator of Warhammer 40,000 and was behind numerous – nay, countless – other games, as well. His name is known throughout the industry and he writes for a myriad of publications. He is also involved in the development of old and new rule systems.

His fantasy game for Warlord Games, Warlords of Erehwon, uses the same dice system as Antares 2 and Alessio Cavatore’s Bolt Action.

Tea, especially with biscuits, is important. Rick has an Erehwon blog.

Tim Bancroft is a writer, professional wargamer and games designer who wrote for BtGoA v1 and worked in the Warlord studios supporting Antares before co-authoring and producing Antares 2. He has written a dozen or so RPG books, loads of articles and contributions for various RPGs and wargames, and has even won a few writing competitions, been longlisted for the James White SF Award 2015 and won the Orwell Dystopian Fiction Award 2014.

He also likes T, but prefers it with a ‘G&’ in front.

Nexus Acknowledgments

Thanks to all the contributors who have allowed us to use their images and articles from the old BtGoA V1 Nexus and convert them to A2. We’d also like to thank the following for their work in editing and bringing the new Nexus up to spec, or for editing their own material, or for their major contributions to A2.

  • Jamie Morris, who is the Master Keeper, the main Admin. He developed an excellent list builder for Antares 2 and has been a great help at major games days. The article saying how to find it is here.
  • Jon Harrington who also contributes with .stl files and other articles, and who was also incredibly useful in helping with A2 playetsting.
  • David Horobin, whose knowledge of Antares and BtGoA is encyclopaedic. He has been of great help in A2 development and Tim, in particular, would like to him to be covered in praise.
  • Tangential James (James Turner), who runs his own wargaming blog at https://tangentiallyimbricatedcontrivances.blogspot.com
  • Vardos Cadix (Adam Murton) who wrote many stories for Antares and who helped in playutesting A2.
  • Ben Buxton, who also wrote some of the articles here.
  • Finally, we have to offer our thanks to the late Joey Pruitt, who created the Vorl .stls for Antares 2. His files, accessible here, are a superb memoriam to his skill.

There were many others who helped in A2 development and who contributed to the lists. We have acknowledged them in each book and list: many thanks to them all!

Translations

The following have laboured hard in producing translations on Antares 2 with no thought of reward. Just awesome, and many thanks!