On March 26, 2022, Brandon Kordek and I agreed to tune up our knowledge of the Antares rule system with a 1250-point per sider border clash to be fought out in six turns at Ted Nagle's Little Bitz store in Villas, NJ. We arrived at noon and set up a battlefield in the birds-eye view below (Photo courtesy of Brandon). Four established Isorian combat outposts were (R-L) the two structures; the hilltop with covered barricades; and the dome formation (its lip barely can be seen on the far left). Brandon had secretly occupied two of them before the first turn. The aim was for the Concord to exit units off the board to the south (bottom) in sufficient number to meet an outright victory condition; the Isorian were to deny that. Otherwise, the winner would be the one with the most units left on board at the end. Brandon's Isorians (Below) consisted of: a command unit; 4 x infantry units; a lethal sniper ensemble; a plasma canon w/ crew; an X-Launcher w/ crew; a light combat support drone; a medium combat support drone; and a heavy Mod 2 Heavy Combat Drone. Sam's Concord force consisted of a command unit; 2 x Striker infantry squads; a Krasz Assault infantry squad; an X-Howitzer w/crew; a fast-mounted interceptor squad; a light combat support drone; a medium combat support drone; a targeter probe shard; a media-drone shard; and a T7 Transporter drone. His forces were uniformed in desert "tiger stripe" camouflage unit painted up by the Cloer family Skunk Works facility the summer before they departed for Tulsa, OK. Examples of the look of some the units are shown below: I. Concord Combat Drone (a T7 Transporter Drone has the same body but lighter armaments): II. Concord Infantry (shown are drop troops): III. Concord Interceptor: IV. Concord Sensor and Small Drone Fleet: a light combat drone is shown a left rear; a medium combat drone, at the right rear; targeted probes are arrayed across the front of the rear row drones display. Game Start: So, the Concord deployed on the northern edge of the battlefield (minus its fast Interceptor Squad which was to be brought in on the second turn. Meanwhile, the Isorian hid two units in combat units to harass and delay the Concord advance, and waited off board until the Concord completed deployment. Right away, Brandon drew serious blood using his super-dooper sniper ensemble to bloody Sam's Krasz assault troops. Concord efforts to suppress or destroy the sniper nest in one of the hard-cover dwellings on eastern end of the border line came up crickets. Sam knew he had to do something in a hurry. That sniper had a accuracy of 8 and an RF of 6! His troops would be decimated if he did not eliminate that sniper soon!! Sam countered by taking out one or two infantry with his Mod 2 T7 Plasma Repeater. (Sam's command squad racing for cover below where Brandon's sniper had been nestled in the upstairs of the structure on the right.) Turn 2 saw more of the same. Brandon's sniper drew more serious blood with Sam's infantry, whittling down Sam's Assault squad to two figures. Sam also lost light combat support drone to Brandon's own drone fire. But Sam brought on his Interceptor squad with urgent orders to take out the sniper. I fast maneuvered, fired, and hit taking it out! Sam maneuvered more on his right flank and brought more targets into view, especially the hilltop OP squad. He lost a couple of infantry to Brandon's SA fire in the meantime. (Sam's Interceptor Squad that arrived on Turn 2 and took out Brandon's murderous sniper!) Brandon's Isorian X-Launcher and a mercenary infantry squad arriving on the Isorian left flank in Turn 2. Turn 3 saw more of the same but the temp stepped up and the blood letting began in earnest. Sam took the hill top in a close assault taking casualties in the process. His T7 began to pound away at one of the Isorian infantry units. Sam lost his medium combat drone but not before taking out on of Brandon's light drones. Meanwhile, Sam began to maneuver in earnest on his left flank sprinting for the battlefield edge. in a sharp fight and costly exchanges he managed to eliminate one of Brandon's infantry units on the Isorian far right. Meanwhile, Brandon retook the hill top OP in another bloody exchange. (Sam's Concord X-Howitzer which had one good strike against an Isorian Light Combat Drone; otherwise, crickets.) Turn 4, Sam's T7 eliminated the rest of the Isorian infantry on the hill top OP (now designated Pork Chop Hill). Brandon countered by taking down one of Sam's interceptors. But Sam, in turn took out the the light combat support drones. Brandon kept trying to crank up his Heavy Combat Drone but was just not getting the rolls. Things were locked up tight on the Concord right/Isorian left. The center remained contested and unresolved with depleted units throwing spit balls at each other. On the Isorian right/Concord left, the Concord held sway with two units within spitting distance of the battlefield edge with only Brandon's command squad to fight back from the Isorian center-right. Brandon was scrambling to shift resources to his right when time was called. Four hours had expired with a lot of rule book look ups, and Ted needed to began to close up shop. By mutual agreement, the game was termed a draw. (Sam's Striker Infantry Squad runs down the Concord right flank boundary to close assault an Isorian counterpart infantry squad. It cost them! But in the end, after protracted hand-to-hand fighting, prevailed. The Isorians fought down to the last figure, taking down Concord infantry like a wounded bear.) Lessons learned: A. Game got faster as familiarity with rules returned. B. 1250 points is ample sized to play a decent up to four-hour, six term game. C. It helped to have OB sheets and unit STAT cards/sheets readily available. D. The Concord player needs to know what he is doing if he is going to deploy any drone/probe shards beyond Spotter Drones. E. IMTEL system is nice once you get the hand of it; it really helps indirect fires targeting. F. Well-placed terrain can create some interesting opportunities and challenges; we found it more interesting than banging away in "wide-open space." G. knowing the ammunition options well would make indirect fire more effective, rather than just relying on HE all the time with 30% hit probabilities.