Miniatures: Gates of Antares - Ghar Starter Army

As I mentioned a few posts back I got into 3 new gaming systems; one these was warmachine (now trying to sell as I still don't get on with it), another is Bolt Action, (as mentioned in my last post) and the third is Gates of Antares (those following my blog will have realised I own nearly all the Warlord games rulebooks)

The decent into this game started with seeing some models on a website that caught my eye, then a demo by a friend who I knew owned it. Next thing I knew I had bought the 2 player starter, which I split with my friend Grum. What's the logical step that follows a 2 player starter set, an army specific army starter set of course!

That's what I'll be reviewing in today's post:

I deviated from my usual online store and despite Warlord dangle various discount codes I chose R K Studio Wargaming as they had one of best prices around and I was trying not to spend too much money. Now I must admit I was reluctant to use them as I hadn't heard of them but I thought "to the hell with it, Paypal will protect me" and placed my order.

The great thing about their site other than there price is live stock levels! so if you can order it then it's in stock! a plus in my books.

The communication was good, as was delivery, receiving my items the same week I placed the order.

Anyway, enough gushing over an online retailer and onto my review on the Gates of Antares Ghar Starter Army.

The packaging

The box was a lot smaller than I was expecting, which I was initially perturbed about but soon can to enjoy as it slipped nicely into my wargaming cupboard.

The box is made of sturdy card and unusual for Warlord pictures the models on the front and sides instead of artwork.

As you can see by the picture above the front picture reflects the contents. On the sides of the box shows each unit on its own.

The back of the box contains fluff about the Ghar, what the box contains, instructions on how to build the battlesuits and a picture of some battlesuits

Well done Warlord! this is a great design!

The models

Inside the box was a blister (above) that contains 6 Outcasts (6 different poses & 6 bases), 1 Disruptor cannon (consisting of 5 parts (3 legs, 1 arm on controls and the other arm) plus a base) with loader (with a base) & 4 flitters (consisting of two parts (head with the eyes and the rest of the model) each plus flight stands and bases)

The Outcast models are detailed and dynamic, I'm looking forward to painting them

The Disruptor cannon is detailed although the pilot seems to blend into the model, I'm hoping that when I paint it the detail will come out. The accompanying loader has great detail, also looking forward to painting him

The Flitters are also detailed, looking like giant robot mosquitoes.

Battle Armour

Assault Squad

Then there are the battlesuits made up of:

6 Battle armour sprues: Which consists of 19 pieces (4 parts for the body, 1 for the head (3 varients to choose from), 3 parts for the claw weapon, 4 parts for the arm with the scourer cannon, 6 for the legs and feet

3 Assault sprues: These also consist of 19 pieces in essentially the same way as above although they have a plasma claw and Disruptor discharger as their weapons.

The detail on these models is enough to enhance them to allow enjoyment to an experienced painter and yet being basic enough that an inexperienced player wouldn't be put on painting them.

The building of the models

 As you may have seen in the picture in "the model" section the Flitters were attached to a hefty strip of metal.
The first Flitter came away easily, however it also resulted in the snapping off of one of the wings as they are a thin strip of metal. After tidying up the model, removing excess flash and tags I glued the head on then the broken wing, which went on and stayed there.
The remaining three were removed with care.

The Outcast themselves had a fair amount of flash, tags and some mold lines, all of which were removed with ease using a sharp craft knife.

The Disruptor cannon and the loader needed a little tidying from flash and tags, but nothing compared to the Outcasts and Flitters.
However building the Disruptor cannon was a bit of a pain. The legs went in with ease and glued quickly, the arms however were difficult. They are a small piece of metal that needs to fit into a small gap. If, like me, you have sausages for fingers I recommend the use of tweezers, as I still don't own any I struggled on until they fitted and were glued into place.

The Battle armour and Assault Squads came away from the sprues easily, I then glued them together after a little removal of excess plastic from where they came away from the sprue.
I ran a little mass production line on each sprue: removing, cleaning and gluing the body, then attaching the "waist" of which the legs were glued into.
While the glue dried I removed the feet, weapons and head from the sprue. I tidied these up then glued the relevant parts together.
I then moved back to the body and glued the feet on, let that dry for a minute before gluing the feet to the base. While that glue was drying I glued on the weapon arms and the head.

As I mentioned in "the model" section there is a choice of 3 heads. I chose one head for the leader models (1 in each squad - total of 3) and a different head for the remaining models.

The entire box set was built in one evening during a football match from the Euro 2016 competition!

Once again, Well done Warlord this seems to have everything right about it! Keep up the good work...now to get painting.