Gates of Antares: Ghar High Commander Karg 12-40-9
The genetically engineered commander is ready to demolish the enemy.
The forthcoming Beyond the Gates of Antares narrative supplement, ‘The Battle for Xilos’ features six key new characters who find themselves (for better or for worse) at the heart of the struggle… you’ll soon become very familiar indeed with these antagonists – some of which you may recognise (though ‘The Battle for Xilos’ takes these individuals forward in time, to the events portrayed in the Xilos campaign) – and some will be entirely new to you!
During the build-up to the launch of ‘The Battle for Xilos,’ we’ll be offering a few tantalising previews of what you might expect from the first narrative supplement for Beyond the Gates of Antares… to whet your whistle and offer a primer before final checks of the Drop envelope, and deployment to the battlefields of Xilos…
We kicked things off with a couple of familiar character – Fartok – Leader of the Outcast Revolt – and Commander-in-Chief Josen… and today we have another familiar name…
You may recognise Karg’s name from Fartok’s backstory in the Antares core Rulebook (page 240) – but ‘The Battle for Xilos’ includes much more detail on Karg… here is just a snippet (please note that some sections have been removed, and other segments are excerpts of longer/larger material from the book.)
AdvertisementGhar High Commander Karg 12-40-9
Since the defeat and disgrace of the renegade High Commander Fartok, Karg 12-40-9 has become by far the most successful and most highly favoured of the Ghar Empire’s many commanders. The Supreme Commander himself has rewarded Karg with yet greater responsibilities and ever growing armies to support his selfless efforts on behalf of the Empire. Like all Ghar, Karg is a clone bred upon the homeworld of Gharon to serve the sole purpose of the Ghar race: to rid the entire universe of abomination! Untold millennia ago the Ghar race was genetically engineered to fight an unending war against the degenerate races of humanity, to hate their enemies with an undying hatred, and to serve their own kind with unbreakable loyalty unto death itself. For that is the nature of Ghar. The Ghar will prevail!
Except that Karg is quite unlike any ordinary Ghar. Karg was one of a series of genetically improved clones created to form the next generation of top-ranking leaders and commanders. Karg is possessed of mental powers both considerable and unusual for his race; perhaps more unusual than the Supreme Commander’s geneticists intended. For Karg is ambitious, hungry for power, willing to put his own interests over and above all Ghar-kind… over and above even the Supreme Commander.
Karg has established a base of operations on Xilos, a world ideally placed to launch further attacks upon the hated Algoryn. The world has been turned into a fortress, but its substantial defences prove unable to keep the enemy from effecting a landing. With his fleet driven from orbit Karg is forced to send for reinforcements. Unfortunately his messengers are captured by Karg’s old enemy Fartok, and instead of the reinforcements he was expecting he finds himself with another battle on his hands as Fartok’s slave army hunts down the rebel leader’s old adversary.
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**INCOMING IMTel… STATS PARTIALLY DISCOVERED FROM PAGE 108**
Ghar High Commander Karg’s Command Crawler
Vehicle Command Unit
Substitutes For: Ghar Commander Crawler in Ghar army.
Special: you can only include other Support or Strategic units in your army if it also includes a Command Crawler or Other High Command unit of any kind.
Unit: Crawler Vehicle Command Ag Acc Str Res Init Co High Commander Karg: Command Crawler with 2x Scourer cannon 5 5 10 13 9 9 0 x Ghar troopers: scourer cannon 3 5 10 4(12) 9 9 Special Rules
Command, Follow, High Commander, Large, Crawler, MOD2, Scramble Proof and Plasma Reactor. Are all standard special rules that are described in the main body of the rules. High Commander replaces the usual Leader rule and gives Karg a Resist reroll against any number of hits. See Special Rules for Units on page 133. Mastermind (excerpt) …Karg is a military genius of a new kind, possessed of both vision and imagination. These same qualities make him only too aware of the potential dangers to which he would sooner not be exposed. The Mastermind rule therefore comes in two parts – one to reflect Karg’s undoubted genius, the other reflecting his extraordinarily un-Gharlike sense of self-preservation. If the player gives Karg a Rally order and passes any order test required, then in addition to removing the extra D6 pins from Karg as usual, every Ghar unit within 10” of Karg also removes 1 pin if it has any. If there are enemy units within 10” of Karg then the only order he can be given is Run and this order cannot be used to initiate an assault.– See page 108 for further explanation. Ruthless If Karg uses his Command rule to boost the stat value of a Ghar unit add a further +1 bonus. I.e. instead of testing using a stat of 9 the unit will use a stat of 10. Karg’s reputation for dealing ruthlessly with failures is a great motivating force! Hand-Picked Crew Karg’s specially selected crew are not only the best of Ghar-kind but are only too well aware of what fate awaits them should they fail their master. If the unit fails any reaction test against its Initiative then it can immediately take the test again, and if it passes this second time no pin penalty is applied. However, if it fails a second time the usual pin penalty is doubled, i.e. the unit takes 2 pins on a fail and 4 pins on a critical fail of a 10.
The Battle for Xilos is available for pre-order today.
