The Official Newsletter of Triskele Game Design Studios

Æthergate Newsletter
Welcome to the June 2005 edition of the Æthergate newsletter. We’re probably shifting
back to a bi-monthly schedule for the newsletter for a little while. Preparations for Volume 1, Issue 7
KublaCon sort of delayed the “missing” May edition, and it allowed us to put together a June 2005
slightly more robust newsletter for June. Edited by Jason
Speaking of KublaCon, this year was our second appearance at the San Francisco Bay Lauborough
Area’s best convention (and some say it’s the best convention on the U.S. west coast) and Published by Triskele Game
the first time that we had books on hand. Last year, Triskele was there mainly to show Design Studios
off the game in its nearly-complete state, and the demos served as an extended playtest Contents
session. 1: Latest Errata
This year, we were able to show people the book, and thanks to Fantization Miniatures 2: New Abilities
3-4: Army Feature: KublaCon
the game was for sale at the convention. My thanks go out to Fantization for carrying the
2005 Tournament Champion
game and to every customer that picked up the rulebook.
Thanks to the help from the KublaCon staff and Tim at Armorcast, our demos and www.triskelegames.com
tournament went off without too many problems. The players had fun, the terrain looked
great, and we had great visibility for our demos.
KublaCon 2005 also featured the First Official Ætherverse Tournament! The
tournament championship came down to the final game, with a few players still
mathematically able to take the prize. In the end, the winner was Davis Kingsley, with
three very solid wins. The Best Army award was given out to Jimmy Jones whose
swarm of bugs was quite frightening to behold.
This issue of the newsletter features a look at Davis’s tournament-winning army list. It
also adds six new abilities to the game, including a couple new versions of Bionics that
expand the flavor of the original ability (while also justifying the TEK 5 requirement of SPECIAL
the Tinkerer minor magic ability). Finally, some fixes to the rulebook are below. ANNOUNCEMENT:
Thanks again to everyone reading. Shipping is now FREE on all
Ætherverse orders placed
-Jason Lauborough, Designer: Ætherverse
through the triskelegames.com
website!
NEW ERRATA Effective 1 Jun 2005
The following changes to the Ætherverse Rulebook are immediately to be considered “in effect”.
Reserve: Teleport (Page 72): The text “No models may be placed in base-to-base with an enemy model”
should be added to this entry. Reserve: Teleport is intended to be a more accurate version of Reserve: Air Drop,
and as such has the same restrictions as that ability.
Explosive (Page 70): Reword the first sentence of the last paragraph to read as follows: “If the unit gets
charged or is involved in incidental combat, they will strike (and explode) as if their DEX was 0 and with a
1” combat range. If the exploding unit has both “strike as if DEX was X” effects in place, the worst one applies
and they will strike at initiative 0.”
Organic (Page 65): Replace the last sentence with “The army’s armor cost is based on TEK as normal. The
army may not field any vehicles except for Beasts. Beast vehicles in the army use the CON in the army’s basic
profile to determine the cost and limits of weapons purchased for the vehicles.”

The following is a change to the February 2005 Æthergate. That issue and the A’Gate Compilation have been
updated to reflect this change.
Combat Focus: The cost of this ability for personalities has been changed to the following: +10 points for the
first attack traded in, +20 points for the second attack traded in, etc.
Expanded Abilities
New Attributes for use with Ætherverse
The following abilities are added to the Ætherverse rules. They’re considered official
immediately and can be used in any armies being designed for play (or designed with the An ongoing feature
AVDesign license). at the Triskele
website’s discussion
Early Bionics Unit Attribute
forums is a section
+5 points per model. Requires TEK 4. for “experimental
Model gains a 10+ save and suffers -1” to MOV and -1 DEX. Ability counts as Bionics. rules”. In this
Personalities: +5 points. section, players can
help develop new
Early attempts at combining mechanical or electronic parts into biological entities often do
ideas for unofficial
more to confuse the user’s nervous system than provide any real benefit. play. Promising
Advanced Bionics Unit Attribute suggestions will
+35 points per model. Requires TEK 8. sometimes even
be brought into
Model gains a 7+ save, +1 STR, and +1 CON. Ability counts as Bionics.
“official” status.
Personalities: +40 points.
The highest levels of traditional bionics often provide the implantee with enhanced strength
or stamina as the mechanical components replace the weaker flesh.
Composite Bow Ranged Weapon Attribute
+5 points, requires TEK 3 or lower. Basic and Elite units only. May not be given Blast or Flame-
thrower.
Wielder suffers -2 DEX when shooting. The weapon causes a critical hit on a 9 or a 10. Critical
Hits with the weapon add the STR of the wielder to the DAM of the shot (be sure to use different
colored dice for the shots, or roll them seperately from the others).
This weapon has been enhanced with a stronger shooting mechanism that imparts more force
to the projectile. This reduces the weapon’s accuracy, but when it hits a critical spot on the tar-
get it is more likely to do permanent harm. The low-tech nature of the weapon means it remains
weak against the more powerful forms of deflection technology.
Heavy Ballista Ranged Weapon Attribute
+15 points, requires TEK 3 or lower. Team Served weapons only
The unit with this weapon suffers -2 DEX when shooting. The weapon scores a critical hit on to-
hit rolls of 9 or 10. Shots that score Critical Hits have their DAM doubled (be sure to use different
colored dice or roll them seperately from the other hits). The DAM of these shots may exceed 10.
This weapon launches huge arrows at enemy units. These arrows have the capability of pierc-
ing multiple victims in a single shot, and the weight of the bolts makes the damage particularly
devastating, even to larger targets. Even heavy vehicles occasionally suffer when a giant metal
arrow finds a chink in the armor.
Spread Fire Ranged Weapon Attribute Heavy Ballista,
Composite Bow,
+5 points
and Spread Fire
If at least half of the target unit (when shooting) is within 12”, this weapon gains an addi- were developed
tional shot. May not be selected in addition to any weapon attribute that limits a weapon to a based upon the
single shot. This attribute has no benefit in melee combat. When measuring range, check for initial ideas
each individual model in the unit; some may gain the extra shot, others may not. This allows of forum user
a weapon to fire more than its normal limit. “LibrarianBrent”.
Additional input
Shotguns, spray-fire crossbows, splatter-gel guns... all are intended to take advantage of provided by
compressed troops by spreading their damaging fire across more space than normal. “Phear”.
Heavy Stabilization Armor Armor Attribute Heavy
+15 points, Support Units, Personalities Only, Requires TEK 5 Stabilization
Unit suffers -2 DEX. Unit may move and fire with heavy weapons, but suffers an additional Armor began with
an idea from forum
-1 to DEX while shooting for every inch moved (rounding fractions up). Unit may not move
user “Shadow
after firing. Armor is Bulky (must be mounted on a base as if it were Large unless it’s Huge or Hunter”.
larger). Unit may not be Mounted or Flying.
357th Air Cavalry Tournament-winning Army
at the 1st Official Ætherverse
United Horizons of Terra Tournament, held at KublaCon
Basic Profile 2005, May 29, 2o05.
STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR Army designed by tournament champion
5 5 8 7 6 6 Davis Kingsley. Davis provides some
commentary on the creation and play of
Army Characteristics: Chivalrous, Experienced, Hardened, Sorcerous
this army below.
Units
This army was designed to be based on a
FLIGHT ALPHA BASIC piece of fiction that I was writing when I
first heard about Ætherverse. The soldiers
UNIT COST STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR
in it are super-elite troops who wear
468 5 5 8 7 6 6 powered armor that has giant mechanical
Unit Size: 3 models
MOV: 10 WP: 1 WL: 15
wings sprouting out of the backplate when
Armor: Personal Armor Wing System active, allowing them to move really fast
Veteran
+7, Jump Armor and outflank/destroy enemy troops. They’re
Magic Ability: Time
Ranged Weapon: PANTHER Assault Carbine supported by guys wearing heavier armor
DAM 7, 20” Assault 2 Improved Initiative who have long-ranged automatic rifles and
Honorable provide firebase support for the advancing
Reserve: Air Drop troops.
Unit Leader: Sergeant Flights Alpha and Beta represent squads of
normal troops, armed with assault carbines
FLIGHT BETA BASIC
and the aforementioned wing armor.
UNIT COST STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR These guys were represented in-game by
468 5 5 8 7 6 6 converted GW Assault Marines who have
Unit Size: 3 models plastic Pegasus wings on their backs and
MOV: 10 WP: 1 WL: 15 carry bolters with the clips cut off.
Armor: Personal Armor Wing System
Veteran
+7, Jump Armor Squad Gamma represents the support
Magic Ability: Time troops, and Flight Delta represents a
Ranged Weapon: PANTHER Assault Carbine
DAM 7, 20” Assault 2 Improved Initiative specialized unit equipped with pistols
Honorable and chainblades who get up close and
Reserve: Air Drop personal with enemy troops. I also took
Unit Leader: Sergeant two personalities, one of who was a stealthy
sniper/harassment troops and the other
SQUAD GAMMA BASIC who was a superpowerful close assault
UNIT COST STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR hero. Both of these guys were high-level
836 5 5 8 7 6 6 personalities with a bunch of attributes,
enabling them to perform very well on the
Unit Size: 5 models
MOV: 6 WP: 1 WL: 16 battlefield.
Armor: Powered Combat Suit
+8, Powered
Veteran In-game, my strategy was relatively simple.
Magic Ability: Time I would start by deploying one of my basic
Basic Weapon: TIGER Heavy Assault Rifle
DAM 6, 36” Assault 2 Unit Leader: Sergeant flights, the support squad, and the assault
Special Weapon (one in squad):
flight on-table, then infiltrate the sniper and
SPNK-R Portable Missile System keep the Champion and one of the basic
DAM 8, 48” Heavy 1, Blast flights in Reserve. My support squad would
find a suitable firing position in view of the
FLIGHT DELTA ELITE objectives, such as a hill or convieniently-
UNIT COST STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR placed wall, then stay relatively stationary
663 10 5 8 7 6 6 and rain down shots on enemy units who
approached the objective.
Unit Size: 4 models
MOV: 10 WP: 1 WL: 15 In the meantime, my basic flight would use
Armor: Personal Armor Wing System
Veteran their high speed to rush to the objective,
+7, Jump Armor
Ranged Weapon: HCP-20
Magic Ability: Growth while my assault flight attempted to reach
DAM 4, 12” Light 1 Improved Initiative and destroy enemy units in hand-to-hand.
Melee Weapon: LION Chainblade Combat Focus My sniper would pick off the odd sergeant,
Powered Melee Weapon, Keen (DAM 3, +1 Reserve: Air Drop radioman, or heavy weapon while hiding in
DEX in melee) cover and trusting in his Stealth Armor and
Unit Leader: Sergeant
Chameleonic Skin for protection, while my
Ferocious
Champion would D-Hop behind the enemy
Countercharge
units and assassinate their leaders and
heavy squads.
SCOUTMASTER JERRAN PERSONALITY (LEVEL 3) My other basic squad (the one in
reserve) would drop in at a key
UNIT COST STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR moment to turn the tide in my
219 5 8 8 7 6 6 favor. This tactic worked pretty
Unit Size: 1 model well, defeating all three of my
MOV: 6 WP: 3 WL: 11
Armor: Tacital Concelament Carapace opponents to win me the title of
Veteran
+3, Stealth Armor Tournament Champion. Overall,
Magic Ability: Time the high mobility of my army (my
Ranged Weapon: JAGUAR Precision Rifle
DAM 5, 72” Heavy 1, Sniper Rifle Graceful basic unit benefits from a 10”
Infiltrators move!) allowed me to outmanuver
Chameleonic Skin the enemy army easily, and my
high WLs protected my troops from
CHAMPION NOLOS PERSONALITY (LEVEL 4) harm.
UNIT COST STR DEX CON TEK PRE MOR Of course, I was very lucky too, but
346 10 5 8 8 6 6 that’s something else entirely.
Unit Size: 1 model -Davis Kingsley, 2005 KublaCon
MOV: 8 WP: 4 WL: 18
Armor: PAWS-HA (Heavy Assault PAWS) Tournament Champion
Veteran
+10, Jump Armor
Magic Ability: Growth IMPORTANT
Melee Weapon: PUMA Tesla Halberd
Ferocious NOTE: The
Energy Blade, Keen (DAM 9, +1 DEX in melee)
tournament
Melee Weapon: ION Assault Shield Improved Initiative occured before
Basic CCW, Keen (DAM 2, +1 DEX in melee) Countercharge the points cost for
Combat Focus was
Shield: Large
errata’d.
Combat Focus (+3 attacks) Therefore,
Tactical Flexibility Champion Nolos
Assassin uses the point
cost of the older
Reserve: Dimension Hop version of this
Honorable ability.

Participants at
the KublaCon
tournament
during one of the
three tournament
rounds.

All ÆTHERGATE
content copyright
2005 Triskele Game
Design Studios, Mill
Valley, CA.