With this year’s much anticipated release mere weeks away, we’re looking at the PanHuman Concord. These new multi-part all-plastic figures form one of the armies within the ‘The Xilos Horizon’ starter set.

The Concord

The military of the Panhuman Concord is organised and directed by a branch of the IMTel called the Concord Combined Command – otherwise known as CoCom or more commonly as C3. The Concord responds to threats against it with logical ruthlessness, organising and dispatching heavily armed forces throughout Antarean space.

Concord C3 Drop Squad take out a Ghar with their plasma lance  (by Andy Singleton of Volleyfire painting)

The Concord armed forces are the most sophisticated and most powerful in all of Antarean space, rivaled only by those of the Isorian Senatex and the Vorl Synthesis.

Concord Strike squad and Drop squad advance with Heavy Drone cover (by Matt from Evil Bear Wargames)

Concord forces are highly advanced and concord units form interconnected shards fed by spotter drones and sophisticated combat interfaces. Many of the roles undertaken by human troopers in other armies are performed by drones in Concord forces. These come in all shapes and sizes from small ‘buddy’ drones that accompany troops in battle to vast heavy combat drones bristling with weapons and protected by their own array of smaller drones carrying forcefields or acting as spotters.

Troopers are protected by extremely effective hyper-light armours and armed with plasma carbines capable of variable fire modes. Man for man there are few enemies that are their equal. Support drones provide them with a powerful mobile arsenal capable of facing the most heavily armoured enemies.

Concord Military Formations

Headed by Strike Commanders, C3 Strike Units form the bulk of Concord forces, backed up by support teams – the Concord have access to the most advanced weaponry in all of Antarean space – with their standard Strike Troopers going to battle armed with heavy-duty plasma weaponry and protected by advanced hyper-light shielding.

Strike Squads form the core of the Concord Combined Command’ s armed forces wherever they fight from the embittered battlefields of broken worlds to primeval jungles and the depths of space. The iconic image of the armoured Strike Trooper is both feared and admired throughout the Antarean universe, both as the armed champions of peace and order, and the merciless agents of the Integrated Machine Intelligence – IMTel – that watches, protects and ultimately controls the thousands of worlds of the Concord.

Highly detailed plastic frames – Check out the Concord collection here

Drop troops are the most heavily armoured and armed of the Concord Combined Command’s Strike forces. Their role is to spearhead assaults onto enemy held planets, and capture and hold objectives without the support of conventional heavy equipment. For this reason Drop Squads are heavily armed with powerful plasma weaponry including the ferocious plasma lance, capable of destroying even heavily armoured targets.

Armour comparison C3 Drop troop next to standard reflex armour

In the Antarean universe ‘drone’ is a cover-all term for self- aware machines that are capable of intelligent decision-making. Drones have a sense of identity and personality, although some have only rudimentary or narrowly focussed characters depending on their role.

Concord Weapon Drones are usually employed to carry support or heavy weapons. They are propelled by suspensors that also lift them from the ground surface.

Probes are small hovering unarmed drones surrounded by a cloud of nanobots. They are simple machines with limited and specific intelligence.

Targeter probes exude nanobots that feed information back to the parent probe, which in turn sends its nanobots to nearby friendly units, where they feed information into the unit’s combat shard. As spies in the sky, targeter probes guide fire onto enemy positions.

Concord Strike Squad lead by a NuHu Mandarin confidently open fire on the Ghar (by Jez Allum)

Concord Weapons

Plasma pistols are carried by highly trained elite troops including the Concord’s C3 formations and armies of the Isorian Senatex

Whilst details and appearance varies from model to model, plasma weapons can usually be recognised by their distinctive plasma coil. The larger the coil the more powerful the shot, but plasma weapons don’t need to be especially long as their effect is not based on velocity. Plasma weapons shoot a burst of energy that initiates an ionisation reaction – effectively a small explosion or eruption of whatever has been hit. A plasma weapon’s ability to generate energy is key to its effectiveness, and over time this conversion rate declines and plasma coils become less effective.

The plasma carbine is larger and more powerful than a plasma pistol but is essentially the same in terms of how it works and operates. Troops so armed have a distinct advantage over mag armed opponents, whilst the ability to switch from a highly focused energy burst to a shorter ranged scatter makes plasma carbines the master of all situations.

The plasma lance – or heavy plasma carbine as it is also known – is a larger and more powerful version of the plasma carbine calibrated to give a third very potent shooting option – lance!

The X-launcher (or magnetic launcher) is one of the most universal and adaptable light support weapons and is found in every kind of force. X-launchers are magnetic launchers that fire explosive bombs or various kinds of special munitions. They are extremely common support weapons, compact in design, relatively accurate, and capable of handling a variety of ammunition where necessary.

Beyond the Gates Of Antares – The Xilos Horizon

The launch edition of ‘Beyond the Gates Of Antares – The Xilos Horizon’ is released on the 7th November at your local stockists and is available to pre-order now – with the special launch edition model of Strike Leader Kai Lek Atastrin!

Beyond the Gates of Antares game play utilises the successful and exciting dice activation system first pioneered in Warlord’s popular and award-winning Bolt Action WW2 wargame – ensuring that both sides remain active and engaged throughout every game. There is no down-time – action is fierce, fast, constant, and unforgiving. Resolution is by ten-sided dice offering considerable expansion and great range of detail compared to traditional six-sided dice.

Set against the backdrop of a vast and ever-expanding brand new science-fiction universe – the Warlord design studio has already created an entire year’s worth of supporting product. There are plans for six plastic kits to be released over the next 12 months, along with countless metal support teams and additional units – and of course, we couldn’t resist creating larger units such as vehicles, monstrous lifeforms, and other creations from the darker depths of Rick Priestley’s brain…

Pre-Order in Store Now

As a special thank you for pre-ordering from Warlord Games you will also receive the following absolutely free…

• The box cover artwork personally signed by the game’s creator Rick Priestley
• Free PDF downloads of the Ghar and Concord Army lists from the book
• The exclusive pre-order miniature Fartok, Leader of Battle Group Nine, unarmoured – this figure will not be available again after launch day!

View in Store

PLUS! If you order the Beyond the Gates of Antares starter set direct from the Warlord Games webstore it is free postage, that’s right your copy of the Xilos Horizon starter set will be shipped to you ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Although the release date is slated for 7th November, we’ll be shipping them out as soon as we have all of the components available – so you’ll be among the very first people in the world to receive your copy of ‘Strike Vector One: The Xilos Horizon’ and to start exploring this brand new universe and the conflict within…