In April of this year, the first vehicle made from plastic for Beyond the Gates of Antares was available. A big step for the system and Warlord Games. It moves the game into another, available size and shows that the game is big enough to be supported by an advanced plastic kit.
This first vehicle kit is the C3M4 Combat Drone, that can be used by the C3 Concord as well as the Freeborn. It features a "standard chassis" on which other variants of the tank will be released, like the recently added variant C3T7 Transporter Drone.
Warlord Games sets the price for this flying / hovering tank at 25 GBP. It consists of two hard plastic sprues, an instruction leaflet and a new design of flying bases. No decals included in this kit. The drone covers three different main weapon systems, a plasma cannon, a fractal cannon or compression cannon.
The sprues are properly filled and the production quality is top notch. Proper details, amount of mold lines is low to non existent and you got options, along with moving parts.
First step of the assembly are the podded engines of the C3M4 drone. Very plastic design and proper use of the mold.
The smaller steering pods, that are in the front of the drone, are next.
The main body of the drone consists of a longer, single cast along with smaller parts, to these are the already build engines added. Few parts, like the steering pods are movable / can be glued into different position. So far a very clean build, with good fit.
After this step the parts from the second sprue are added. So this is the point, where the building process would be split, if you were to build the T7 transporter drone. The substructure of the main body and the turret are added. The weapon system is not determined so far. The smaller weapon turret on top of the turret is turnable, as well as the turret it self. The side weaponry can be moved within a small arc as well.
Next up the drone can be set up on to a transparent flying base. These have a oval base with two different height pillars you can choose from. The pillars have rounded tops, so you can tilt the drone on top of them, to give them a more dynamic pose.
As early mentioned the C3M4 drone has three different weapon systems to choose from. They don't need to be glued into position and can be elevated a bit. But to be sure, I'd suggest you magnetise the weapons, so they don't get lost during gaming / transport.
In size comparison the C3M4 next to a Space Marine and a Stormtalon Gunship.
A short 360° view of course may not be missed in this review.
ConclusionPlastic kits are an important step for many game series, as they mark a certain point in size and growth. The material is prefered by many gamers in comparison to resin, and makes things possible that metal would be to heavy in that size. After an all plastic starter set for Gates of Antares, this is an remarkable first vehicle kit for the Antares series.
It has a decent size, a futuristic design that is believable and has an accessable styling that favours a unicoloured painting theme, even if you are not a pro painter (large, flat surfaces without proper painting techniques / skills often makes a model look boring). But stil gives you enough "canvas" to really go at it.
The price is reasonable, compared to historic miniatures these kits have a limited audience. If you compare it to other Sci-Fi plastic kits, for example the Stormtalon above is 33 GBP, a third more expensive.
I'm excited about the next large(r) kits for Antares in plastic, as the c3M25 heavy combat drone might share bits of these kit as well. Due to the clever spread of the parts in the sprue, I assume that there will be more variants, maybe with an additional / exchanged plastic sprue and / or resin parts, like they cover for Bolt Action. But due to the current broad expansion of the Warlord Games range in general, I'd expect such at earliest around Salute (but I'd be glad to be proven wrong).
Beyond the Gates of Antares is a brand of
Warlord Games.
July 04, 2014, 02:37:18 AM