Moving to Nottingham was part of the deal so we will be relocating in the summer after the schools have finished. Someone else will have to guard the coast from invasion.
Now... Something for the holidays from the Deadzone RC for you with gaming time between meals, TV and family:
The Deadzone Rules Committee have been hard at work. Here's an update for you from them.
Merry Christmas, Deadzoners! Have a rules update to keep you busy during the Holiday season. :-)
Ha! I knew it wouldn't be Fallout. I'm glad. My money is safe.
If the property doesn't turn out to be Mad Max, I'm not sure there are any other post-apocalyptic licenses left that I'd call "major." If it is Mad Max, I definitely have no interest in it, and wish fans of the property a very merry KS campaign.
Wish they hurry up and announce, it's been a long wait not being able to talk about it after the preview, I've not backed a a Mantic KS, bar one, but when this one launches I'll definitely be going all in, knowing my gaming group I don't think I'll be the only one. I think the increase in staff Mantic are highlighting is in part prep for this KS and product launch.
Today marks the first day of Mantic’s Twelve Days of Christmas – two weeks of previews that ends with the biggest super secret surprise we’ve ever kept. All we can say for now though is start saving your Christmas money for February
{bit about destiny of kings that isn't copy}
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US
2015 has been a year of two halves for the few of us who will make up the Mantic team going into 2016.
Kings of War 2 has been an unprecedented success, Dungeon Saga has taken retailers by storm and 2016 promises a new Deadzone and a new Warpath - but we’ve not been without fault. Too often our customer service response rates have been poor, we broke our talented graphic designer under the weight of Dungeon Saga and our Kickstarters have shipped far later in the year than we planned.
To help improve this for 2016 we are pleased to welcome: Zak Gucklhorn as Customer Experience Manager Fabian Krautkramer as Germany Sales Executive Diana Neet as Administrative Assistant for Mantic Games North America
Alex Earle as Production Supervisor Ricky Dove as Metal Production Wizard Alberto Martin as Dispatch Supervisor Matthew Hobday as Product Manager Matt Gilbert as Chief Operations Officer
Dave Symonds starts his new role as Content Marketing Coordinator, and we look forward to Lucia Jimenez returning from a long layoff with illness to take charge of our web order dispatch.
Great people make Mantic great, and with this team – the biggest at around 30 people and best it’s ever been - we’re hoping to make great strides towards achieving our goals.
We’re looking forward to the challenges and surprises of 2016, and we hope that you will join us for the journey.
Today marks the first day of Mantic’s Twelve Days of Christmas – two weeks of previews that ends with the biggest super secret surprise we’ve ever kept. All we can say for now though is start saving your Christmas money for February
So that last one was the announcement of the announcement for the announcement? Feth off, Mantic.
If you're talking about the guy who wrote the adventure books, I'm glad they moved him into a position with power he can abuse to get those books in print.
Also, maybe he'll do something about all the Mantic that passes through Mantic.
Hunger Games would be the greatest late Christmas gift. I'd play the crap out of the Where's Peeta scenario just so I could annoy my friends by asking where's Peeta. Peeta?? Peeeetaaaa!
Daedleh wrote: You mean the guy who wrote half of the army lists in v2?
I'm sure you thought of them all first anyway.
Agreed. Matt is clearly going to be one of the best acquisitions that Mantic has picked up. (And congratulations, Matt!). Here's hoping that it's a proper COO position with actual 2iC level power. Mantic's run of public-facing guys are good at talking the talk (Ronnie, Stew) but not so great at the actual walk. Let's hope that Matt can make a big difference from the inside. And still have time to make sure that the rules to the games work properly. Maybe even have a proper amount of playtest time before deadlines, and so forth even?
Will there be options for left-handed as well as right-handed riflemen? (There really only needs to be one per sprue to be better than none.)
I agree with you, I just thought it was interesting they went from 100% right on the enforcers to 60% or 80% left on GCPS from the renders. I get annoyed at all the RnF fantasy sprues that never have right-handed shield arms or left-handed weapon arms by default. No reason why there can't be at least one per sprue of five.
The GCPS troopers look good- have gone for a battlegroup of them as one of my 6 in the Ultimate "I spent too much money on this" Tyrant pledge. Planning on giving them a New Conglomerate-ish scheme.
Daedleh wrote: You mean the guy who wrote half of the army lists in v2?
I'm sure you thought of them all first anyway.
Matt Gilbert being an official Mantic employee is the best thing that has happened to Mantic since Ronnie and Alessio got drunk and made their illicit Kings of War baby.
Fingers crossed he'll actually have the power to say nope,
we can't launch the super secret KS project in Feb unless absolutely all the missing/broken items from our outstanding projects are delivered by then
(and in future we won't empty the warehouse into the retail chain until KS backers have a chance to go through their stuff and find what's missing, we'll always make sure to keep more than enough back to cover them)
and next time we offer people a public playtest we'll give 2 months to collect feedback rather than a week or so
Ha, that's not how Ronnie rolls! I'd love Mantic to be able to grow up as a serious company but they've had long enough by now, how much longer do they need? They've already lost the support of two of my gaming mates, don't have many more that are interested in Mantic atm.
I agree with you, I just thought it was interesting they went from 100% right on the enforcers to 60% or 80% left on GCPS from the renders. I get annoyed at all the RnF fantasy sprues that never have right-handed shield arms or left-handed weapon arms by default. No reason why there can't be at least one per sprue of five.
Well, actually... it makes sense for everyone to be right-handed (or using the right hand for the weapon): Locking shields is way easier if everyone has their shield on the same side. You get a front looking like this:
IOIOIOIO
If one or two lefties get in, its look more like this:
IOIOOIIO
Suddenly, youve got a pretty big gap with no weapons to defend it, and a smaller gap with no shield. Plus, fighting in regiments is a lot simpler than one on one. Holding the weapon in your offhand doesnt really matter all that much in that case.
Though its definitely different with modern/scifi stuff.
Also many rifles are designed to only be used right handed: eg the current British rifle would eject spent cartridges into your face if used left handed.
That too. Not necessarily an issue though, since its entirely dependent on the weapon. And there *are* ambidextrous rifles out there. (plus, lasers probably dont eject spent cartridges.)
Definitely something to keep in mind with the design though. If theres an ejection port on just one side of the weapon, itd be kind of iffy...
Why are you guys bring real world into this fantasy business? Also, I prefer my sword and board guys to fight stupidly wide-open, rather than locked into a shieldwall (only need 60-75% model coverage of base!)
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Hunger Games would be the greatest late Christmas gift. I'd play the crap out of the Where's Peeta scenario just so I could annoy my friends by asking where's Peeta. Peeta?? Peeeetaaaa!
Im hoping they got the gears of war licence to do more for the board game, they don't need to mess with the rules just some 3d terrain some new models maybe an expansion are two.
jimf747 wrote: Im hoping they got the gears of war licence to do more for the board game, they don't need to mess with the rules just some 3d terrain some new models maybe an expansion are two.
Seriously, is that actually an option? It would be awesome.
I remember posting that black tusk/microsoft contanct mantic, gamsworkshio and infinity about a mini line. Seeing as halo got a fleet game, I'd be amazed to see a deadzone esq gears game.
Alpharius wrote: I would've bet WARPATH would have been a $1m+ one too though...
We also thought that they'd have a firmer grasp on the rules for the game before launching the Kickstarter. It was never very clear what, exactly, we were pledging for.
well I think warpath was meant to be in feb, and the supersecret project was originally meant to be when warpath ran but the contracts just didn't get done intime so stuff had to shift around,
hopefully those extra months mean this one will be a lot more solidified
Alpharius wrote: I would've bet WARPATH would have been a $1m+ one too though...
We also thought that they'd have a firmer grasp on the rules for the game before launching the Kickstarter. It was never very clear what, exactly, we were pledging for.
Would that help though? Even when Mantic sets something firmly in stone during a kickstarter, they have no qualms about changing it to concrete later on.
Yep KS, why would they not? I'd agree Warpath was badly done but this new one has almost certainly got a lot more nailed down about it, the materials, rules, range etc than a Warpath did.
Alpharius wrote: I would've bet WARPATH would have been a $1m+ one too though...
We also thought that they'd have a firmer grasp on the rules for the game before launching the Kickstarter. It was never very clear what, exactly, we were pledging for.
Would that help though? Even when Mantic sets something firmly in stone during a kickstarter, they have no qualms about changing it to concrete later on.
Nothing is set in stone in a Kickstarter. By definition its product development, and things can change.
the most I've seen mantic change was the look of sculpts, the materials used, or other alterations that don't change the fundamental purpose of the product.
Warpath was a kickstarter for a mass combat sci-fi game that never actually made it clear what the rules were going to be like, and instead offered two possibilities. I followed the campaign pretty closely, and I couldn't tell you beyond the broadest brush strokes what type of game either version of the rules will be. that's not a great way to build steam for a gaming system.
TwilightSparkles wrote: Yep KS, why would they not? I'd agree Warpath was badly done but this new one has almost certainly got a lot more nailed down about it, the materials, rules, range etc than a Warpath did.
What would make anyone think the rules for this new game are more nailed down? What rule writers and playtesters does Mantic have that have not been busy trying to unscrew Deadzone and Warpath over the last several months? And work on both of those is still ongoing as far as we know.
TwilightSparkles wrote: Yep KS, why would they not? I'd agree Warpath was badly done but this new one has almost certainly got a lot more nailed down about it, the materials, rules, range etc than a Warpath did.
What would make anyone think the rules for this new game are more nailed down? What rule writers and playtesters does Mantic have that have not been busy trying to unscrew Deadzone and Warpath over the last several months? And work on both of those is still ongoing as far as we know.
If it's a licensed property, there's a good chance the owner of the IP wants some sort of oversight to prevent damaging the brand.
TwilightSparkles wrote: Yep KS, why would they not? I'd agree Warpath was badly done but this new one has almost certainly got a lot more nailed down about it, the materials, rules, range etc than a Warpath did.
What would make anyone think the rules for this new game are more nailed down? What rule writers and playtesters does Mantic have that have not been busy trying to unscrew Deadzone and Warpath over the last several months? And work on both of those is still ongoing as far as we know.
If it's a licensed property, there's a good chance the owner of the IP wants some sort of oversight to prevent damaging the brand.
Like Fox kept Prodos from screwing up the AvP rules?
The owner of the IP will have oversight, but may not know a damned thing about wargame/boardgame (as appropriate) rules.
But of course even with oversight for the rules and the rest of the product line, it would not mean Mantic right now has them locked in and ready to go prior to the KS starting. Again, what resources has Mantic been allocating? Maybe they have, but I've not read anything to indicate the rules are going to be ready to go...
Like Fox kept Prodos from screwing up the AvP rules?
The owner of the IP will have oversight, but may not know a damned thing about wargame/boardgame (as appropriate) rules.
But of course even with oversight for the rules and the rest of the product line, it would not mean Mantic right now has them locked in and ready to go prior to the KS starting. Again, what resources has Mantic been allocating? Maybe they have, but I've not read anything to indicate the rules are going to be ready to go...
Anything is possible. Given that this is one of the few Mantic projects that's actually been kept secret, I don't put a lot of weight into the lack of news about it's progress.
I'm not saying that this Kickstarter is going to be different, merely that it's plausible that its different.
To be fair, Fox haven't exactly done well protecting the AVP brand when it comes to multimillion dollar films, nevermind board games.
But yeah, if the brand is as big enough as people suggest (with fallout out of the running, I kinda doubt that...) There will be oversight from the relevant companies. I doubt that will go into the minutiae of rules though. Instead it will have more to do with the look and presentation of the product on the shelves or laid out on a table.
Of course it is possible, but one of the best indicators of future performance is past performance. Mantic has set patterns, betting they go against them in this case without evidence they're doing so seems silly.
I hope I am wrong, and if/when evidence to show I am pops up I'll reevaluate my position and admit being wrong.
But to assume they are doing something differently because 'licensed IP' without any thing else to go by seems premature.
But yeah, if the brand is as big enough as people suggest (with fallout out of the running, I kinda doubt that...) There will be oversight from the relevant companies. I doubt that will go into the minutiae of rules though. Instead it will have more to do with the look and presentation of the product on the shelves or laid out on a table.
Also true!
The IP Owner will be mostly concerned with things 'looking right' and being branded correctly.
Dungeon Saga has 12 different people complaining just in the past 24 hours about incorrect or totally missing deliveries that look like they won't be addressed until April.
Deadzone rules are being blown out of a shotgun to meet a self-imposed deadline (hats off the rules committee for dealing with that mess as well as they have though)
Warpath Firefight rules don't appear to be bucking that trend in any way, with no sign of a rules release.
Jake Thornton is tasked with Dungeon Saga fixes, still obviously has to have some finger in the Deadzone pie, and has another Kickstarter product coming in January (Age of Tyrants), so with Alessio on his other projects and Jake booked solid again it leaves Mantic without their signature designers.
Adventurer's Companion snafu is still fresh in the minds of the boardgame crowd that typically makes or breaks a $1m+ Kickstarter.
Forge Father "are we even still getting what we had stretch goals for" question remains open, on top of the issue that the hobby models are now coming clipped.
Mantic and Beasts of War's relationship being questioned after a glowingly positive review on the site when they even during the review show pages with the "Page XXX" issues.
Material switch still hasn't been totally addressed for Deadzone and Warpath issues (Blaine "might" be coming with a bonus in Deadzone, and the Chem Thrower and Aberration being switched from Resin to the latest resin plastic hasn't really been touched).
On that note, Warpath miniature materials for many of the new models seems to be left obviously up in the air in the pledge manager, after most being cleanly listed during the Kickstarter.
We got a "sorry about the mess" letter at the end of the year that sounded very much like the "sorry about the mess" letter we got at the beginning of the year. (I will at least admit seeing Matt coming aboard and then many positions being created is encouraging).
While Dreadball original got rave reviews and Deadzone 1 was well recieved for the game part by the boardgame community, the last few Mantic board games haven't exactly set BGG or other boardgame focused communities on fire. Mars Attacks has been on fire sales everywhere and has essentially no community, Dreadball Extreme looks to be stillborn, while Dungeon Saga is at least geting a "meh, good as a 2 player tactical game but not really the deep co-op campaign you might be looking for" review
Mantic's kickstarters in general were down across the board in 2015 from what would have otherwise been the expectations.
These are just things mostly in the past month or two. Maybe January sees some incredible feats happen, but right now Mantic is not in a place to be running million dollar kickstarters without Star Wars, Marvel, or another incredibly huge IP being attached. Then again, I'll still be there grabbing an early bird because who knows when we'll have another Mars Attacks situation where Mantic gives us fire sale price access to Battlezones again...
Gears would both make sense and be strange to bring back simultaneously. On one hand, The Coalition (current studio developing Gears 4) was looking for someone to make their minis line, and Mantic is an acceptable fit from their needs of rebooting the franchise under a new studio and just getting some tie-ins out there. Fantasy Flight also just lost the Gears licsense, so it is certainly available.
On the other hand, Fantasy Flight just lost the licsense after making a FANTASTIC IP driven game. The game was great on its own, and felt like a good implementation of Gears thematically too. If Mantic is going to come to the table with a Gears board game that is going to be an incredibly tough act to follow and likely won't be viewed upon positively by the boardgame community (Gears taking the IP from FFG's great game to make a quick buck with a Kickstarter company will be the likely complaint). Going full wargame seems unlikely, as even the heavily hyped wargames on Kickstater haven't really exploded and Mantic making hard plastic Gears miniatures when they are just finally getting their flagship property into the material is asking to die a death by overreaching. Likely it would be an expandable skirmish game a la Mars Attacks using a modified Deadzone engine, but what gamer is pounding down the doors for Mantic's third skirmish system?
Still holding out hope for a Mad Max Fury Road game, as nothing is really in that design space and that IP lends itself to doing some crazy stuff both for retail and for Kickstarter one-offs.
Ya but Deadzone layout and gameplay also work great for gears. small squad vs A.I. card deck or another player controlling the horde.
My biggest gripe would be the quality of the finished product, I'd want it to be insanehly high, thats something mantic has never quite achieved except with the new enforcer plastics.
This is my last off topic, generalization on this topic for now. I don't want to keep bumping it with just speculation. I want it to get bumped with the actual announcement
Bombad wrote: Gears would both make sense and be strange to bring back simultaneously. On one hand, The Coalition (current studio developing Gears 4) was looking for someone to make their minis line, and Mantic is an acceptable fit from their needs of rebooting the franchise under a new studio and just getting some tie-ins out there. Fantasy Flight also just lost the Gears licsense, so it is certainly available.
Hrmmm.. I didn't realize they decided to not renew it. I'm not surprised given the poor support after release and the years long delay in getting it out. I picked up a copy long ago but have yet to play it. I was a huge GOW1 fan but soured a lot on the series with the sequels. It never really crossed my mind that it would be in the running (even if I had known the FFG license expired)
I can't imagine Independence Day as a gaming KS making $1million+. The AvP franchise KS Prodos ran didn't come close that, and from a franchise perspective there have been a lot more toys/games for AvP than for Independence Day.
Sci-fi or Fantasy - it's basically going to be up against their own IPs. That is, unless the company licensing it, allow them to to mix it in with their own IP.
Mars Attacks gained rules for Deadzone and Mars Attacks figures have been sold within the Warpath KS as well so it'll get Warpath rules.
The LotR IP from GW forbade them to mix it in with their own Fantasy Warhammer stuff - to the point where GW made it a more true scale 28mm and gave it circular bases, so it didn't match.
My prediction for this license would be a Mars Attack style skirmish game set with something like Independence Day. The KS will have bucket loads of exclusives in an attempt to copy Cmon's Zombicide survivor mania, raising the value of the KS with addons to a level that it hits front pages of mini sites.
Personally, I just hope they give the DZ RC more time to sort out Deadzone to make it perfect and then actually do something about the Warpath Firefight rules before the Pledge Manager for that ends. I'm guessing Mantic are passed caring about these two though and just want them done and dusted. They're probably just seeing $$$ from the new KS license. :-(
Dungeon Saga has 12 different people complaining just in the past 24 hours about incorrect or totally missing deliveries that look like they won't be addressed until April.
Deadzone rules are being blown out of a shotgun to meet a self-imposed deadline (hats off the rules committee for dealing with that mess as well as they have though)
Warpath Firefight rules don't appear to be bucking that trend in any way, with no sign of a rules release.
Jake Thornton is tasked with Dungeon Saga fixes, still obviously has to have some finger in the Deadzone pie, and has another Kickstarter product coming in January (Age of Tyrants), so with Alessio on his other projects and Jake booked solid again it leaves Mantic without their signature designers.
Adventurer's Companion snafu is still fresh in the minds of the boardgame crowd that typically makes or breaks a $1m+ Kickstarter.
Forge Father "are we even still getting what we had stretch goals for" question remains open, on top of the issue that the hobby models are now coming clipped.
Mantic and Beasts of War's relationship being questioned after a glowingly positive review on the site when they even during the review show pages with the "Page XXX" issues.
Material switch still hasn't been totally addressed for Deadzone and Warpath issues (Blaine "might" be coming with a bonus in Deadzone, and the Chem Thrower and Aberration being switched from Resin to the latest resin plastic hasn't really been touched).
On that note, Warpath miniature materials for many of the new models seems to be left obviously up in the air in the pledge manager, after most being cleanly listed during the Kickstarter.
We got a "sorry about the mess" letter at the end of the year that sounded very much like the "sorry about the mess" letter we got at the beginning of the year. (I will at least admit seeing Matt coming aboard and then many positions being created is encouraging).
While Dreadball original got rave reviews and Deadzone 1 was well recieved for the game part by the boardgame community, the last few Mantic board games haven't exactly set BGG or other boardgame focused communities on fire. Mars Attacks has been on fire sales everywhere and has essentially no community, Dreadball Extreme looks to be stillborn, while Dungeon Saga is at least geting a "meh, good as a 2 player tactical game but not really the deep co-op campaign you might be looking for" review
Mantic's kickstarters in general were down across the board in 2015 from what would have otherwise been the expectations.
These are just things mostly in the past month or two. Maybe January sees some incredible feats happen, but right now Mantic is not in a place to be running million dollar kickstarters without Star Wars, Marvel, or another incredibly huge IP being attached. Then again, I'll still be there grabbing an early bird because who knows when we'll have another Mars Attacks situation where Mantic gives us fire sale price access to Battlezones again...
All these reasons are why I won't back a Mantic KS anymore. They should be professional by now but it seems they don't won't to leave the amateur level they are currently at.
I just think Mantic have to much going on at once, it seems like a constant state of rushing to get this project are that project done. If they could just focus on one game for a while there end product would be so much more polished.
Dungeon Saga has 12 different people complaining just in the past 24 hours about incorrect or totally missing deliveries that look like they won't be addressed until April.
Deadzone rules are being blown out of a shotgun to meet a self-imposed deadline (hats off the rules committee for dealing with that mess as well as they have though)
Warpath Firefight rules don't appear to be bucking that trend in any way, with no sign of a rules release.
Jake Thornton is tasked with Dungeon Saga fixes, still obviously has to have some finger in the Deadzone pie, and has another Kickstarter product coming in January (Age of Tyrants), so with Alessio on his other projects and Jake booked solid again it leaves Mantic without their signature designers.
Adventurer's Companion snafu is still fresh in the minds of the boardgame crowd that typically makes or breaks a $1m+ Kickstarter.
Forge Father "are we even still getting what we had stretch goals for" question remains open, on top of the issue that the hobby models are now coming clipped.
Mantic and Beasts of War's relationship being questioned after a glowingly positive review on the site when they even during the review show pages with the "Page XXX" issues.
Material switch still hasn't been totally addressed for Deadzone and Warpath issues (Blaine "might" be coming with a bonus in Deadzone, and the Chem Thrower and Aberration being switched from Resin to the latest resin plastic hasn't really been touched).
On that note, Warpath miniature materials for many of the new models seems to be left obviously up in the air in the pledge manager, after most being cleanly listed during the Kickstarter.
We got a "sorry about the mess" letter at the end of the year that sounded very much like the "sorry about the mess" letter we got at the beginning of the year. (I will at least admit seeing Matt coming aboard and then many positions being created is encouraging).
While Dreadball original got rave reviews and Deadzone 1 was well recieved for the game part by the boardgame community, the last few Mantic board games haven't exactly set BGG or other boardgame focused communities on fire. Mars Attacks has been on fire sales everywhere and has essentially no community, Dreadball Extreme looks to be stillborn, while Dungeon Saga is at least geting a "meh, good as a 2 player tactical game but not really the deep co-op campaign you might be looking for" review
Mantic's kickstarters in general were down across the board in 2015 from what would have otherwise been the expectations.
These are just things mostly in the past month or two. Maybe January sees some incredible feats happen, but right now Mantic is not in a place to be running million dollar kickstarters without Star Wars, Marvel, or another incredibly huge IP being attached. Then again, I'll still be there grabbing an early bird because who knows when we'll have another Mars Attacks situation where Mantic gives us fire sale price access to Battlezones again...
All these reasons are why I won't back a Mantic KS anymore. They should be professional by now but it seems they don't won't to leave the amateur level they are currently at.
I think I've learned to stop saying "Well it can't get worse!", cause clearly Mantic is trying to prove me wrong.
Thing is, the lead times on this stuff are so stretched out that no company can afford to focus on one brand, if that company wants to be beyond being a small 1/2/3 man band type of company.
GW has sat on the Horus Heresy sprues since 2014, Warlord has a steady drip feed of product across 3 big brands and several smaller ones, along with supporting other companies stuff and general hobby line.
As for KS predictions, well at one point people were convinced this was going to be Fallout 4. Imagine if it had been how many people would actually care it was Mantic, imagine how many people just buy in because they know the brand and love the entertainment media based on that brand. Mars Attacks did stupid well and that was almost retro, based on a comic series and card set, with very very little merchandising previously. And Mantic fudged the KS mid way on that one.
On another note, anyone taken the plunge for the uber crazy box? Im tempted but afraid Im going to open it to find a Deadzone box and a ton of forgefather sprues......
Gimgamgoo wrote: My prediction for this license would be a Mars Attack style skirmish game set with something like Independence Day. The KS will have bucket loads of exclusives in an attempt to copy Cmon's Zombicide survivor mania, raising the value of the KS with addons to a level that it hits front pages of mini sites.
Whilst they might get away with one or two, I don't think the nature of the IP lends itself well to this route.
Wait. What's going on with the new Forgefather plastics? I hadn't heard there was a Mantic with them--what did I miss? (Forgefathers were the plastics I went nuts on. It's the Basilean Men at Arm's all over again.)
Also, is Warcraft technically a post apocalyptic setting? That might be worth $1 million. however, an Independence Day Resurgence fighter game in DZC scale would have my attention.
If Blizzard wanted to make miniatures they could probably just afford the molds themselves by now? But I don't think it really is, cataclysm was two expansions ago and otherwise the setting is high/fantasy.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Wait. What's going on with the new Forgefather plastics? I hadn't heard there was a Mantic with them--what did I miss? (Forgefathers were the plastics I went nuts on. It's the Basilean Men at Arm's all over again.)
I think the sprue will come with a bunch of clipped off arms from a second sprue which they've not shown, leading people to suspect that they're not going to get quite the inumber of weapon options that they wanted/were promised
(from the sound of it some people were expecting to be able to build the complete sprue with weapon A or B or C etc, but now you probably won't be able to do the complete set with some of the special/heavy/fancy weapons.... I'm not certain if this is actually a mantic backtrack or just assumptions being made that turn out not to be true)
It could be "Sword of Shannara" I guess, to match with the new TV show that's coming soon. - Although that's fantasy, that's actually a post apocalyptic setting, set in 'our' future.
I know it has a strong following, but I don't think it's that strong.
Which is the problem I think (unless the $1m is just really wishful thinking).
To have that kind of kickstarter, it has to be really huge. Fallout could have done it, Walking Dead could do it (but that's FFG or GF9 I think). Mad Max will be popular, sure, but $1m popular? Nah.
You are forgiven for missing it, as it came in the same update as the material change. The wording in update 58 was:
[...]we have had to make a few tweaks to the number of heavy weapons just to get it to fit on the tool we funded!
Followed by that is an image including two Drakkarim flamethrowers and 3 Stormrage heavy weapons. There was a stretch goal to fund the Steel Warriors, a Stretch goal to add 5 heavy weapons, and a third stretch goal to fund 4 Drakkarim flamethrower options. Whether we have these or not hasn't been clarified beyond the wording in that update, so it has festered in the comments on both Warpath and Deadzone for a few weeks now. At best, just a miscommunication
Clipped off arms and not enough weapons... It sounds like maybe the sprue they come on is subpar, and instead of sending it back for retooling Mantic is just clipping off the acceptable bits and throwing them in a baggy. I guess that works if they clip and send enough parts to cover what was promised.
The 2 sprues were shown at the open day - the one that's being clipped into parts is the one on the left. As can be seen there aren't enough parts to arm all members of a 5 man "specialist" squad with the appropriate weapons (Rekkhhyrr, Stormrage Veterans), you need to mix a few sprues worth together which isn't a major issue if you intend on building all the variants as there will be left overs for other squads but a single 5 man kit will not build a full unit of specialists. I still think the issue with the sprue being clipped is down to retail packing as the sprue might be too long for the boxes.
The final sprue contains 2 heavy weapons less than funded but the Dragon Breath flamers didn't specify a number
We will pack the frame full of heavy weapons including at least two hailstorm autocannons, two heat cannons and one missile launcher, allowing you to make a variety of heavy weapon troopers for your Deadzone Strike team.
This stretch goal adds the Drakkarim options to the Forge Father Steel Warrior sprue, allowing you to field up to four Forge Fathers with Dragon's Breath Flamethrowers – the perfect weapon for clearing the Veer-myn from their tunnels in Exham IV!
When we hit this stretch goal, we will upgrade the sprue to include all of these extra bits, giving you more choice and variety in the types of units you can field, whilst allowing you to field Drakkarim in hard plastic for the very first time.
Just looking around the mantic store for something that's no longer appears to be on sale, what happened to the giant Martian robot kit? I thought mars attacks was a big seller?
Over the next week the warehouse will be close as they perform a complete stock take. During this time, we will not be dispatching any items. Normal dispatch operations will resume on Monday 11th January.
For those of you who are waiting on missing items or pledges, the Customer Service team are working through these as quickly as they can.
If you have a webstore order placed earlier than the 26th December that is still awaiting dispatch, then please contact us through the contact form on our site.
I agree that zombicide will likely always be the stronger gaming franchise, but I hesitate to underestimate the amount of backers the IP alone would bring in. I'm unsure of how big walking dead really is in terms of that, but given that it's got a bunch of seasons, a spin off show, and even fricken lego sets... can't be too small.
I think it's becoming my pick for what they've got up their sleeves if fallout is out of the running. I'd back it, conditionally.
I think, to put things in context, Walking Dead is probably one of the 4 biggest TV and film entertainment licenses on the planet right now.
Star Wars
Marvel
Game of Thrones
Walking Dead
It pretty much is that big. And would definitely be a huge draw. But. And here's the thing, Zombiecide has very much taking a huge chunk of that pie, several times already. And, I do think Mantic really are at the point now, where the negative press about their screwups is going to have a measurable impact on them kickstarter wise.
In saying that, I'm sure it will do well. Just not as well as it could have been. - I'm almost certainly not going for it, got enough zombies already with Deadzone thank you very much!
That's what I was wondering. See I think it fit's SS's 1m kickstarter projection then because a lot of people backing it won't care that zombicide exists because they won't be backing it as gamers per se, there are the people who watch the show and buy the legos and play the video games who say ooh boardgame? Score! I think that's where a lot of the slack would get taken up. But like you say, plenty of us regular mantic customers will be wary, and the boardgame community will probably stick to their zombicide guns to some degree depending on their experience and research into Mantic.
@CptJake, depending on how they handle shipping, I wouldn't mind a couple urban mat choices. If they go with their existing terrain stuff. They may opt for card tiles like some other board games. Though it would seem like a good idea to take advantage of existing scenery too..
If it's modern post apoc I'll wait for the inevitable Mantic firesale then pick up stuff to use in the Terminator Wargame. There are boxes and boxes of zombicide here. And when it comes to Mantic I'm unfortunately finding it cheaper to pick up their Kickstarter pledges post kickstarter. DZ2 and Warpath earnt Mantic $2 from me. That said I was happy enough with my "lower sweet spot" pledges in DZ, MA and DBX which probably broke even.
I love "The Walking Dead", Mantic....less so. But didn't they say it was something that was recent in the last year, so either the spin off(which I haven't seen) or it could be that Brad Pitt zombie movie.
Brad pit movie was as generic as they go, although fast zombies. Z nation is a thing lately too but I don't think it has hardly the chops of Walking Dead or one of the other big post apoc IPs they could do.
I tried watching z-nation , that's why I think Mantic would go there. They also hinted at will smith, so is there a second "I am Ledgend" coming out"...where he survives blowing himself up?
Theophony wrote: I tried watching z-nation , that's why I think Mantic would go there. They also hinted at will smith, so is there a second "I am Ledgend" coming out"...where he survives blowing himself up?
According to IMDB Will Smith doesn't have any movie coming out in 2016 that could be classified as anything post apocalypse. The closest thing I can think of is Independence Day 2 since Smith was in the first one but that doesn't fit with the projections of a $1m KS, Will Smith isn't in the sequel and it would be awfully similar to Mars Attacks.
Theophony wrote: I tried watching z-nation , that's why I think Mantic would go there. They also hinted at will smith, so is there a second "I am Ledgend" coming out"...where he survives blowing himself up?
Independence Day 2 is in the works, though Will Smith's character is dead in that one.
See, I thought walking dead got boring with all of the talking, Z-N didn't seem to bog down as much though it was weirder. Kind of a slightly more fallout approach to the apocalypse IMO, though still zombies. Just the attitude. Less serious.
Anyway on topic, I think I could pass on I am legend / omega man (you know they tweaked the ending of the latter 180 to get the former?, if I recall correctly) and they didn't have anything this year rigiht? Hunger games would be lol but thats more distopian than post apoc, I assume divergent is kinda in the same boat?
Nobody knows for sure if it's zombies, I think Mad Max is still on the radar.
My original copies of the first 4 issues of the Walking Dead has helped pay for the majority of games I've kickstarted in the last three years, so there is that whole level of fanaticism going for it.
If it resulted in a skirmish game giving me lots of cheap scenery, I'd be willing to back it. Even moreso if Mantic somehow managed to give us multipart modern day zombie kits, but I doubt it would head that route as their boardgames bring in way more cash then the skirmish/ wargames seem to.
I have bought a lot of Battlezone scenery lately and decided to wait for the industrial sprues to get available in shops and use them for the same project
What is the current ETA for the industrial terrain? Spring 2016?
I would be all about a good walking dead game if anyone else was doing it. I just don't trust Mantic with their kickstarters anymore. I will look into it at retail though, and probably have a better version than you folks who back it
Is Walking Dead really that big of a franchise? Someone claimed it was the fourth largest multimedia franchise for merchandising? I never would have guessed.
Even som how does that translate into a million dollar kickstarter? Zombie minis and zombie rule sets are plentiful and fairly interchangeable. This isn't like Halo, which I would have expected to be an even bigger franchise, where the characters and units have little generic competition. Did Halo pull in a million dollars in preorders?
I said it's one of the 4 four main brands in film / tv right now. - Not necessarily merchandising.
For example, it's only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones that I'm aware has an hour long TV show, based entirely around discussing an hour long TV show, airing 5 minutes after you watch the hour long tv show...
The first Zombicide made $800k, even without any KS pedigree or a brand name, so I'd be surprised if a Walking Dead game didn't do better than that. Peoples willingness to buy zombie miniatures doesn't show many signs of stopping any time soon, so as long as Mantic don't complete balls it up then it should do pretty well I;d imagine.
CMon have managed to essentially release the same game 4 times with tiny rules additions and each time more people back it for millions of dollars, so the market is clearly pretty huge.
Whether it's Mantic, or not, is yet to be confirmed.
Also, saying BOLS confirmed anything is rather silly.
Okay maybe I should say this is yet more evidence from yet another source that Mantic is doing a Walking Dead game. It was pretty much was confirmed way back at Mantic open day by the Dead zone podcast.
What's the point of a TWD mini game? How could they make it substu different from zombicide, or at least enough that people who own a billion zombie minis would be interested in more? As others have said, that market is pretty tapped and just because people will buy a darrel t-shirt or the myriad board games (in full cor) will be interested in dealing with Mantic restic issues and unpainted minis.
agnosto wrote: What's the point of a TWD mini game? How could they make it substu different from zombicide, or at least enough that people who own a billion zombie minis would be interested in more? As others have said, that market is pretty tapped and just because people will buy a darrel t-shirt or the myriad board games (in full cor) will be interested in dealing with Mantic restic issues and unpainted minis.
What's the point of mantic's other games? How do they make their scifi game with space orcs and space dwarves and space ratmen and space elves substantially different from the other game with the same? Or their fantasy game different from the "other" fantasy game with the most of the same factions? The rules would be one way. The scope and scale of the game (mass battle tabletop minis vs boardgame) would be another. Zombicide certainly wasn't the first zombie game and despite its popularity I doubt there isn't room for improvement.
If it ends up a skirmish game like Frostgrave that focuses on grabbing supplies before the opposing survivors and getting out, all with AI zombie hordes in the background I could be intrigued enough to let them tell me more.
If it is a co-op game like Zombicide, then combined with my current temperature on Mantic Kickstarters it will be an easy pass on the game.
Bombad wrote: If it ends up a skirmish game like Frostgrave that focuses on grabbing supplies before the opposing survivors and getting out, all with AI zombie hordes in the background I could be intrigued enough to let them tell me more.
Think you're going to be very happy with the rules for Mantic's next game (whatever it might happen to be!).
Mantic has their 12th day of Xmas thing on the blog tomorrow, one to keep a look out for.
Bombad wrote: If it ends up a skirmish game like Frostgrave that focuses on grabbing supplies before the opposing survivors and getting out, all with AI zombie hordes in the background I could be intrigued enough to let them tell me more.
Funnily enough there was a KS for a game all about that concept last year but it failed spectacularly.
It'll be interesting to see Mantic's approach, but I'm more and more leaning away from it.
Bombad wrote: If it ends up a skirmish game like Frostgrave that focuses on grabbing supplies before the opposing survivors and getting out, all with AI zombie hordes in the background I could be intrigued enough to let them tell me more.
Funnily enough there was a KS for a game all about that concept last year but it failed spectacularly.
It'll be interesting to see Mantic's approach, but I'm more and more leaning away from it.
Yes, but did they have Mantics proven track record....
Compel wrote: I said it's one of the 4 four main brands in film / tv right now. - Not necessarily merchandising.
For example, it's only The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones that I'm aware has an hour long TV show, based entirely around discussing an hour long TV show, airing 5 minutes after you watch the hour long tv show...
If that's the standard to go by, then "Take Me Out" is a major brand Ditto most shoddy reality shows infesting TV nowadays.
Zombies, meh. I get peeps like the genre but it does nothing for me. And it is a heavily drilled well on kickstarter by this point.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Is Walking Dead really that big of a franchise? Someone claimed it was the fourth largest multimedia franchise for merchandising? I never would have guessed.
It's Santa Barbara with zombies, so maybe all the bored housewives watch it? I'm not sure if that's a great demographic for a tabletop wargame, tho.
For add-on wednesday? Nah they'll put them in at the end on thursday or friday to boost pledges. Add-on wednesday will follow tradition and be dice, bags for dice, maybe a really generic shirt...and possibly individual pieces of the core box sold separately, but only on the last wednesday of the project.
Sorry. But those tend to disappoint.
Neat buildings though. I'm hoping my embarrassing battle systems post apoc order will be compatible but we'll see.
Looking forward to knowing one way or the other what we're dealing with.
agnosto wrote: What's the point of a TWD mini game? How could they make it substu different from zombicide, or at least enough that people who own a billion zombie minis would be interested in more? As others have said, that market is pretty tapped and just because people will buy a darrel t-shirt or the myriad board games (in full cor) will be interested in dealing with Mantic restic issues and unpainted minis.
What's the point of mantic's other games? How do they make their scifi game with space orcs and space dwarves and space ratmen and space elves substantially different from the other game with the same? Or their fantasy game different from the "other" fantasy game with the most of the same factions? The rules would be one way. The scope and scale of the game (mass battle tabletop minis vs boardgame) would be another. Zombicide certainly wasn't the first zombie game and despite its popularity I doubt there isn't room for improvement.
They make money by being the cheaper alternative. Can they undercut CMoN? Maybe.
And you think Mantic can do a better job than CMoN? We'll differ here as I never had the issues with Zombiecide rules that I have with the rules of every game that Mantic produces. If they would just slow down and quit half-arsing stuff, they could be a real quality game developer instead of what they currently are.
agnosto wrote: What's the point of a TWD mini game? How could they make it substu different from zombicide, or at least enough that people who own a billion zombie minis would be interested in more? As others have said, that market is pretty tapped and just because people will buy a darrel t-shirt or the myriad board games (in full cor) will be interested in dealing with Mantic restic issues and unpainted minis.
What's the point of mantic's other games? How do they make their scifi game with space orcs and space dwarves and space ratmen and space elves substantially different from the other game with the same? Or their fantasy game different from the "other" fantasy game with the most of the same factions? The rules would be one way. The scope and scale of the game (mass battle tabletop minis vs boardgame) would be another. Zombicide certainly wasn't the first zombie game and despite its popularity I doubt there isn't room for improvement.
They make money by being the cheaper alternative. Can they undercut CMoN? Maybe.
And you think Mantic can do a better job than CMoN? We'll differ here as I never had the issues with Zombiecide rules that I have with the rules of every game that Mantic produces. If they would just slow down and quit half-arsing stuff, they could be a real quality game developer instead of what they currently are.
We're not differing as I've never played either a Mantic game nor Zombiecide and someone would be very hard pressed to call me a fanboy of either. I would point out that your original post that I quoted and responded to said "different" and not "better". I just pointed out two ways it could be different.
If its the walking dead I probably would be interested. I like the characters and story of the walking dead (more the comics than the tv show) but the setting is generic zombies.Which is already pretty saturated. For me to have an interest the models would have to be fantastic (Which is sadly rare with mantic), the rules would have to be very good and it would have to offer me something that zombicide doesn't
agnosto wrote: What's the point of a TWD mini game? How could they make it substu different from zombicide, or at least enough that people who own a billion zombie minis would be interested in more? As others have said, that market is pretty tapped and just because people will buy a darrel t-shirt or the myriad board games (in full cor) will be interested in dealing with Mantic restic issues and unpainted minis.
What's the point of mantic's other games? How do they make their scifi game with space orcs and space dwarves and space ratmen and space elves substantially different from the other game with the same? Or their fantasy game different from the "other" fantasy game with the most of the same factions? The rules would be one way. The scope and scale of the game (mass battle tabletop minis vs boardgame) would be another. Zombicide certainly wasn't the first zombie game and despite its popularity I doubt there isn't room for improvement.
They make money by being the cheaper alternative. Can they undercut CMoN? Maybe.
And you think Mantic can do a better job than CMoN? We'll differ here as I never had the issues with Zombiecide rules that I have with the rules of every game that Mantic produces. If they would just slow down and quit half-arsing stuff, they could be a real quality game developer instead of what they currently are.
We're not differing as I've never played either a Mantic game nor Zombiecide and someone would be very hard pressed to call me a fanboy of either. I would point out that your original post that I quoted and responded to said "different" and not "better". I just pointed out two ways it could be different.
Gotcha. Sorry, my brain is in a 1000 places today. Though better would be different, right?
The question I have is how valuable would a TWD tabletop mini game be? Are their enough TWD fans who would also be willing to build and paint minis? Are there enough mini gamers interested in yet another zombie game willing to have even more zombies (I have about 200 for example)?
We'll see I guess if this turns out to be the way it lands.
Gotcha. Sorry, my brain is in a 1000 places today. Though better would be different, right?
The question I have is how valuable would a TWD tabletop mini game be? Are their enough TWD fans who would also be willing to build and paint minis? Are there enough mini gamers interested in yet another zombie game willing to have even more zombies (I have about 200 for example)?
We'll see I guess if this turns out to be the way it lands.
Better is indeed different although I'd be hard pressed to comment on these two games beyond just general broad gaming preferences. If you're going to do a LICENSED zombie game, TWD would indeed be probably the best or tied for best IP to base it on and that should help with the number of fans/sales at least initially. The big name likely will help with KS funding since it's so far in advance of the actual end products. I'm not particularly a zombieapocalypse fan personally and would have preferred Gears of War instead so I in all likelihood I'll be skipping this KS.
If it's Walking Dead, my money is safe. Never started watching the show.
I was afraid it would be Fallout, and I'd have to sink everything into the Kickstarter. If only to use the minis with the This Is Not a Test rules I picked up for holiday travel reading. (Turns out they're pretty good, even with a stiff $25 price for a PDF file...)
If it does turn out to be Mad Max, I might go in just enough to get any plastic raider types that might be on offer. I'm just not interested in modelling up a bunch of vehicles anymore, though.
Maybe we'll see today. The Mantic Blog sure is enjoying dragging out this reveal. As usual.
Polonius wrote: Warpath was a kickstarter for a mass combat sci-fi game that never actually made it clear what the rules were going to be like, and instead offered two possibilities. I followed the campaign pretty closely, and I couldn't tell you beyond the broadest brush strokes what type of game either version of the rules will be. that's not a great way to build steam for a gaming system.
I'm curious about this. During the KS my buddy and I read through and did some dry runs of the alpha rules. Is this because you were unaware of their availability? I believe they were only posted when there was a week left in the KS, which may have been the source of confusion.
If that's the standard to go by, then "Take Me Out" is a major brand Ditto most shoddy reality shows infesting TV nowadays.
I don't know much about "Take me Out" but, as for reality shows.... Just because they're trash, has no relationship to whether they are a major brand or not. The reason they're 'infesting' TV nowadays, is because they make money, particularly a whole heap of money. In other words, a major brand.
Incidentally, there is a 'Take me out' board game, that I imagine was for sale in supermarkets, WH Smiths and bookstores over Christmas. - In other words, a whole heap of places more.
People need to be wary of thinking, "just because I don't like that thing, nobody likes that thing and it's completely unimportant and irrelevant."
Mantic Games having Walking Dead (if they do have it, of course), is going to be a massive coup for them. However, they are going to have a lot of challenges that they will need to account for and, I personally, do not know the impact these challenges will have on the final total. Some might be minor, some might be major, some I might just be blowing out of proportion.
A TWD boardgame does seem kind of unlikely though... if only because there are already licensed TWD boardgames out there. So if it *is* TWD, a skirmish seems more likely... which would mean another competitor for DZ and MA... Which doesnt really seem likie a great idea, imo.
Tyr13 wrote: A TWD boardgame does seem kind of unlikely though... if only because there are already licensed TWD boardgames out there. So if it *is* TWD, a skirmish seems more likely... which would mean another competitor for DZ and MA... Which doesnt really seem likie a great idea, imo.
If a Walking Dead game does become a reality, a skirmish game would fit in nicely if the rules were compatible. Martians vs zombies? It's not like it hasn't been done before...
There's gonna have to be some really awesome post-apoc terrain deals to make me even consider this one. And I don't mean the Mars Attacks battlezones. I just don't understand why the windows on those are solid...
Yup, congrats to Mantic on the big scoop. I'm not personally a fan of the genre (although I did used to watch the TV show for the first few seasons) but it's a big license deal for them compared with the others (like Mars Attack).
Does this fall under Sci-Fi? does it need it's own thread? (it's not something I'll be keeping this thread updated for) plus they released updated Deadzone Redux rules today which will just get lost in TWD chatter.
At this point in time, the Warpath rulebook is going through amendments and layout to prepare it for print and proof-reading. Thank you to all those of you who have provided feedback so far, it has been invaluable.
The Firefight rules we're still working on. We've always stated that we wouldn't release these until we were happy with them and we aren't satisfied yet, but we are close to having the game we intended. We want to have the rules out to you as soon as possible and likewise will be holding the pledge manager open as long as we can - even into March - so that you won't be caught off guard by rules changes.
fallout would of got my cash, mad max probs, shannara chronicles defo, but walking dead seriously the most boring cliché zombie apocalypse ever the comics ok the tv subpar icant get excited over this. Maybe the blaine will be good cos that's all I'm getting
Fallout or Mad Max would have had me throwing money at the screen. TWD? Nope, I have over 200 zombies and don't want/need/can stand to look at more. Mantic will be competing with a great number of companies and Wargames Factory for one has been doing this for a while now via their Dark Futures line:
These run about 30 minis for $20 with a great deal of variety.
Well the variety peters out after you make the first ten. I have a set of each of their three best zombie/survivor kits, the regular dude zombies are older and don't look as nice. You get 30 dudes/ladies/lady zombies with 10 unique sculpts per sprue, and three of the same sprue. So basically the same 10 guys three times. You can swap arms and heads, though a lot of the combinations don't work without greenstuff, and a couple of the bodies per sprue (well male/female survivors) really don't look much different from eachother unless you, again, use the greenstuff to expand your options. You *can* mix a few male/female arms and still have the right scale of limbs, and the female survivors and zombie vixens boxes have some cross compatibility too.
Some people will probably just not like the zombie vixens at all because they're all scantily clad and a bit slutty for animated corpses.
They really are great kits, although I don't think I'll be able to make 30 unique survivors out of either of them (though the left overs will be easily made into zombies).
I think mixing the WGF survivors in with my Mars Attacks and, if things turn out well, TWD survivors/factions will yield some interesting groups for the table.
GrimDork wrote: Well the variety peters out after you make the first ten. I have a set of each of their three best zombie/survivor kits, the regular dude zombies are older and don't look as nice. You get 30 dudes/ladies/lady zombies with 10 unique sculpts per sprue, and three of the same sprue. So basically the same 10 guys three times. You can swap arms and heads, though a lot of the combinations don't work without greenstuff, and a couple of the bodies per sprue (well male/female survivors) really don't look much different from eachother unless you, again, use the greenstuff to expand your options. You *can* mix a few male/female arms and still have the right scale of limbs, and the female survivors and zombie vixens boxes have some cross compatibility too.
Some people will probably just not like the zombie vixens at all because they're all scantily clad and a bit slutty for animated corpses.
They really are great kits, although I don't think I'll be able to make 30 unique survivors out of either of them (though the left overs will be easily made into zombies).
I think mixing the WGF survivors in with my Mars Attacks and, if things turn out well, TWD survivors/factions will yield some interesting groups for the table.
Do you honestly think Mantic will make more than 10 unique sculpts per sprue?
Well, my comment had nothing to do with mantic, aside from thinking that using it all together would be neat.
I was just adding some thoughts on the WGF survivors as I have them and have assembled and painted several from each box.
Honestly, I don't expect Mantic to be making sprues. I would think that for an IP like this with specific persons to represent, and also given the cost of tooling hard plastic... that they'd go with boardgame materials like Mars Attacks or what have you. Infinity makes monopose models for their skirmish game and people buy the crap out of that, modularity is something people seem to want but honestly with good sculpts I don't think it's necessary regardless of the material.
I mean if they *do* make hard plastic survivor and zombie kits then I'll be pretty stoked. I'll also be on the podium from day one advocating split torsos/legs where possible because that will allow for a lot more unique posing, that and ball joints.
GrimDork wrote: Well, my comment had nothing to do with mantic, aside from thinking that using it all together would be neat.
I was just adding some thoughts on the WGF survivors as I have them and have assembled and painted several from each box.
Honestly, I don't expect Mantic to be making sprues. I would think that for an IP like this with specific persons to represent, and also given the cost of tooling hard plastic... that they'd go with boardgame materials like Mars Attacks or what have you. Infinity makes monopose models for their skirmish game and people buy the crap out of that, modularity is something people seem to want but honestly with good sculpts I don't think it's necessary regardless of the material.
I mean if they *do* make hard plastic survivor and zombie kits then I'll be pretty stoked. I'll also be on the podium from day one advocating split torsos/legs where possible because that will allow for a lot more unique posing, that and ball joints.
Man but you're demanding.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with because I can't think of a way that this will be interesting BUT I'm ready to be surprised!
I think you've posted previously that you're not interested. But, it's the one of the biggest rated network shows in the US (possibly the biggest?), and therefore you must admit is going to be an extremely lucrative licence if Mantic don't score an own goal.
+EDIT+ And I love it that you managed to get the first post in on the Mantic Blog, lol
I think you've posted previously that you're not interested. But, it's the one of the biggest rated network shows in the US (possibly the biggest?), and therefore you must admit is going to be an extremely lucrative licence if Mantic don't score an own goal.
According to the immutable word of God aka Wikipedia: "The Walking Dead has the highest total viewership of any series in cable television history, including its two most recent (fourth and fifth) full seasons, during which it averaged the most 18- to 49-year-old viewers of all cable or broadcast television shows. Total viewership for its season five premiere was 17.3 million, the most-watched series episode in cable history."
lord_blackfang wrote: That show is a soap opera, tho. A beefy portion of that demographic isn't interested in gaming of any kind.
And even if only a fraction of that viewership is interested in gaming ever, it's still probably higher than the total complete viewership of Mars Attacks when rerun on cable so kudos to Mantic for scoring a license that isn't dead (pun intended).
lord_blackfang wrote: That show is a soap opera, tho. A beefy portion of that demographic isn't interested in gaming of any kind.
And even if only a fraction of that viewership is interested in gaming ever, it's still probably higher than the total complete viewership of Mars Attacks when rerun on cable so kudos to Mantic for scoring a license that isn't dead (pun intended).
It sounds like it might be even more lucrative than, say, a Terminator movie license...
lord_blackfang wrote: That show is a soap opera, tho. A beefy portion of that demographic isn't interested in gaming of any kind.
And even if only a fraction of that viewership is interested in gaming ever, it's still probably higher than the total complete viewership of Mars Attacks when rerun on cable so kudos to Mantic for scoring a license that isn't dead (pun intended).
It sounds like it might be even more lucrative than, say, a Terminator movie license...
Judging by how the recent Terminator Genysis minis game apparently landed with a dull thud, you may be right... Of course, the devil is in the details which is seemingly where Mantic tends to misstep.
Judging by how the recent Terminator Genysis minis game apparently landed with a dull thud, you may be right... Of course, the devil is in the details which is seemingly where Mantic tends to misstep.
I suspect Mantic will have a better price point and include more minis.
I do think going towards a skirmish game measuring with inches is going to hurt them when it comes to retail. A good 'board game' for TWD could find its way to real retail chains, a miniatures game, as much as I and many here on Dakka may prefer it, will not sell as well. Non-gamer TWD fans may take a chance on a board game, less will on a true miniatures game. Friends/family of TWD fans may pick up a Walkin Dead board game they see at WalMart as a gift, they are less likely to walk into a game specific store carrying Mantic games.
I think it is a lost opportunity, but again, for me, I do like the fact it will be a modern gang skirmish game.
There is already a TWD board game. I played it. Didn't care for it.
Mantic might be stuck making a wargame the same way Palladium was stuck making a Robotech Roleplaying Tactics game due to license restrictions.
Judging by how the recent Terminator Genysis minis game apparently landed with a dull thud, you may be right... Of course, the devil is in the details which is seemingly where Mantic tends to misstep.
I suspect Mantic will have a better price point and include more minis.
I do think going towards a skirmish game measuring with inches is going to hurt them when it comes to retail. A good 'board game' for TWD could find its way to real retail chains, a miniatures game, as much as I and many here on Dakka may prefer it, will not sell as well. Non-gamer TWD fans may take a chance on a board game, less will on a true miniatures game. Friends/family of TWD fans may pick up a Walkin Dead board game they see at WalMart as a gift, they are less likely to walk into a game specific store carrying Mantic games.
I think it is a lost opportunity, but again, for me, I do like the fact it will be a modern gang skirmish game.
Depends. Is it better to be the only true zombie wargame or one of dozens of zombie board games?
Judging by how the recent Terminator Genysis minis game apparently landed with a dull thud, you may be right... Of course, the devil is in the details which is seemingly where Mantic tends to misstep.
I suspect Mantic will have a better price point and include more minis.
I do think going towards a skirmish game measuring with inches is going to hurt them when it comes to retail. A good 'board game' for TWD could find its way to real retail chains, a miniatures game, as much as I and many here on Dakka may prefer it, will not sell as well. Non-gamer TWD fans may take a chance on a board game, less will on a true miniatures game. Friends/family of TWD fans may pick up a Walkin Dead board game they see at WalMart as a gift, they are less likely to walk into a game specific store carrying Mantic games.
I think it is a lost opportunity, but again, for me, I do like the fact it will be a modern gang skirmish game.
Depends. Is it better to be the only true zombie wargame or one of dozens of zombie board games?
I have several zombie wargame rulesets... This is not going to be the One True set, just as Warhammer 40k is not the One True sci-fi rule set and Flames of War is not the One True WW2 rule set.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: There is already a TWD board game. I played it. Didn't care for it.
Mantic might be stuck making a wargame the same way Palladium was stuck making a Robotech Roleplaying Tactics game due to license restrictions.
I think Mantic will be safe as the TWD the license is pretty loose in terms of merchandising to a degree. The 2 games by Cryptozoic are The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: The Best Defense (better game than the other one) but based on using actual show images. There is one by Z-Man Games as well, the difference in terms of artwork/packaging is one is limited to the comics and the other to images from the show. Based on what Mantic has shown, the artwork are comics style and not TV images so based on previous licenses they should be fine.
General wording clarifications throughout, in particular defining the catch-all "Infantry" and specific "Regular Infantry" to make the rules clearer.
Amended various points and stats across the board in line with comments. In particular I've toned down a few of the heavy weapons, bumped the Defence on Mules, and knocked a couple of dice off the Cyphers.
Commanders can now only give Orders of a level up to their Command value.
Amended the Vehicle rules so that transported troops only die if the vehicle explodes.
The section on missions and objectives has had a massive overhaul. All six standard scenarios are in, along with a D66 chart for secret secondary objectives. These will also be done as a card deck for easier gameplay.
In line with the new missions and objectives, the Expendable rule has been added, and I've tweaked the Infection rule to fit. There are a couple of new orders to tie into the missions as well.
Each army will have their own individual objectives to choose from, but I haven't done these yet. I am open to suggestions - you guys have had some excellent ideas in the past, keep 'em coming!
Added new units and characters, mostly to the Asterian list, but there are a few others as well.
Now, a lot of this, particularly the missions section, is a first draft. I'm aware that some of it will likely be broken. I am very open to suggestions on how to make any of the new additions cooler or more elegant, or how to further differentiate the different races.
Finally, a quick clarification. There's been some confusion and debate about the Forge Father Steel Warriors Sprue's contents. To be completely clear, the components are:
There will be two flamers, one Magma Cannon, one Hailstorm Autocannon and one Mjolnir Missile Launcher along with rifles, pistols and close combat weapons, as shown. Those of you building units for Warpath will always have spares from fielding units of Steel Warriors to create whole units with flamers and heavy weapons (Stormrage Veterans). Those of you building for Deadzone will have more than enough option to build your strike team from just one sprue. If you are unhappy with the changes we had to make to this sprue, get in touch and we can refund the cost of the product, as always
restic/PVC looks ok there, but as always the proof will be in what they actually deliver having been mass produced and spent months in a metal box on a ship
compared to what the factory has cherry picked to send them by air
So I'm a little upset about the forge father sprues, yet at the same time unperturbed because I ordered a lot and do intend to make the base/grunt steel warriors with some of them. I guess when I really think about it, having *that many* flamers and heavy forge father weapons in my bits box wasn't going to enhance my joy all that much. Still seems a bit dodgy with the 'lets upgrade the sprue to be able to make X type of unit' stretch goals (which were not zero dollars, oh no) that turns into just squeezing a few extra guns onto the sprue.
Again, since I have several dozen coming... not so much an issue, but for people who ordered just a couple of sprues to make certain things maybe? Lame. Also lame at retail unless they sell the units in bigger kits and break down exactly what you can make... Like...
Forge Father Detachment unit box! With this box you can make 10 steel warriors, 5 storm rage veterans, and 5...uhh...whatever you call the flamer guys I've honestly forgotten today.
Otherwise selling a box of 5 or even 10 will be somewhat confusing and lame for retail backers.
Of course, then again, I know some of the Warpath units seemed to have upgrades that changed a squad's name/type and doubled it's killing power with only one attached gun... so who knows, maybe the Dwarf flamer teams will only need one flamer to be dwarf flamer teams? At that point, it would be more of an issue for people trying to use them for space marines than in Warpath... but we'll see. The whole rules situation still seems like a mess, no?
Plastic changes seem fine. I don't mind metal, I have a lot of Infinity, but especially for those big things I don't mind the plastic/restic/whatever.
If, and its a big IF here, the actual quality of the production parts that backers receive are as shown in the pictures then Mantic have done well and are onto a winner, in fact it will have made me want to back it. But Mantic are not known for there QC. What backers will receive will have massive mold lines, mold slips, soft detail and wobbly parts. I hope I'm wrong though.
The bikes do look nice. I notice that there's only one of each special weapon per... sprue? of two bikes... but I'm assuming that you can't take heavy support bike units which all have the big guns so I'm sure it'll work out. Having the enforcer legs and torso in one piece like that is... a relief after putting together a few of the hard plastic guys. I mean, I like being able to position the legs, but it *can* be a bit of a pain and not having to do it on the few bikes I ordered will be nice.
GrimDork wrote: The bikes do look nice. I notice that there's only one of each special weapon per... sprue? of two bikes... but I'm assuming that you can't take heavy support bike units which all have the big guns so I'm sure it'll work out. Having the enforcer legs and torso in one piece like that is... a relief after putting together a few of the hard plastic guys. I mean, I like being able to position the legs, but it *can* be a bit of a pain and not having to do it on the few bikes I ordered will be nice.
Good point in the latest rules jetbikes are large infantry so 2 models per team and come in regular Jetbike teams with genling assault rifles (2 on sprue), ranged support teams with heavy burst lasers (1 on sprue) and heavy support teams with missile launchers (1 on sprue) so you need 2 sprues to field 1 ranged or 1 heavy support team
Oh so they *do* both get the gun in those squads? Hmmmmm. I know the enforcer support fireteam or whatever just needed the one burst laser to get the profile with way more shots, so I wasn't sure how it worked with some of the other stuff like bikes and FF units.
Sorry my bad checked the unit entry ( rather than recalling from memory) and they do have both twin genling 45 lasers and heavy burst laser/missile launcher so 1 of each is sufficient
Automatically Appended Next Post: And some Warpath minis
Plague Bursters
Hornet Render WIP
Automatically Appended Next Post: And a note on why sprues have been clipped
... but with the Jetbike, it's due to the sprue being large enough to cover all of the components. It's very bug - too big to easily transport in bulk, so the cost of removing the components is offset by the saving on shipping space, weight and packaging at a later date.
Hornet is lookung decent. My biggest fear is that it'll end up like a GW Space Marine flyer and have wings that are way too stubby. It isn't looking like that'll be the case though. They appear to be an acceptable length.
The Bursters don't look especially Plague-like, but they do look decent.
I pledged $1, but I'm liking a lot of these renders.
I have over a month to make up my mind, which will allow me to see my hobby progress continues (shameless plug for my Mantic Ogre painting log here), how taxes work out, and how much overtime I get at work.
I want to believe in the Hornet and GCPS troopers...
Polonius wrote: I pledged $1, but I'm liking a lot of these renders.
I have over a month to make up my mind, which will allow me to see my hobby progress continues (shameless plug for my Mantic Ogre painting log here), how taxes work out, and how much overtime I get at work.
I want to believe in the Hornet and GCPS troopers...
You and me both. I really hope they can pull these off. I hope the Mule turns out good, too. If the GCPS stufc actually comes out good, I think Mantic may win back a lot of people and win over some new fans.
How much was that NC-17 guy? I like how he turned out a lot, but wouldn't pay resin prices for him on general principle. Blaine on Jetbike also looks really good, although I'll likely clip off his Play Doh jacket. The transport has a nice B-movie look to it, although I'm not sold on the fans. Will it be plastic or resin/not resin?
Part of me wants to throw money at the mules because 13.33 per resin vehicle is nice. But It's not likely they'll stay resin now is it... 13.33 still sounds solid for restic, but I'd want to see them first in that case. Not sure if I'll be putting anything on the PM or not.
There appears to be 2 bodies and several head and arm/ leg options so I'd put money on these being PVC ( if the sales volume is there) I ordered 4 so its good to see the variant parts
Restic vehicles are pretty tricky to get right. The Forgefather thunderfire cannon was warped, poorly detailed and covered in mold lines. It was unsalvageable junk. Restic space pickups probably won't fare much better.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Restic vehicles are pretty tricky to get right. The Forgefather thunderfire cannon was warped, poorly detailed and covered in mold lines. It was unsalvageable junk. Restic space pickups probably won't fare much better.
Mantic's reliance on restic is only part of the problem, as you point out: Mantic had pretty low quality restic models, compared to PP.
I wouldn't say I enjoyed building Restic Jacks or Stormblades, but I'll take that over any of Mantic's stuff.
It's a one shot deal once you finalise thats it. If you want to add more later there is no option to add to the existing order it becomes a separate order on which you pay postage again so only finalise when you are sure of your order
Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Hornet's compartment will be removable, guys. there's a part designed to fill the space underneath and we're looking at options.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Just finished the Warpath PM. Twenty dollars shipping on a handful of sprues. Twenty fething dollars. Keep that in mind throughout this KS.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Just finished the Warpath PM. Twenty dollars shipping on a handful of sprues. Twenty fething dollars. Keep that in mind throughout this KS.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Just finished the Warpath PM. Twenty dollars shipping on a handful of sprues. Twenty fething dollars. Keep that in mind throughout this KS.
I'm in Australia. I'll have to check and see if they have tubes of KY as a shipping add-on.
For those Aussie pledgers who are feeling the burn on shipping with their minimal orders, I am really liking that Hornet model but missed out on the KS.
If we can work out an appropriate arrangement for both of us I would happily tag in and share the shipping costs.
I'd like to help, but Aust Post from Melbourne to Adelaide would run at least $10 (and we thought Mantic's prices are expensive). Hopefully you can find a local able to help you out.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Just finished the Warpath PM. Twenty dollars shipping on a handful of sprues. Twenty fething dollars. Keep that in mind throughout this KS.
Welcome to my world.
Don't be a tease. If I were in your world, I could go out and buy Japanese toys, ride a bullet train, and have my pick of a range of Japanese eateries that far exceeds what you can get in the USA.
If you want to welcome me to your world, damn it, I want all the benefits, too.
The same applies to you Australians who like to use "welcome to my world" on Americans complaining about shipping prices. If I were in your world, I could go out and get eaten by a shark, get stomped by a Kangaroo, or be bitten by any number of things whose venom is far deadlier than anything we have in the USA.
I'd say "g'day mate", then go to the beach to look at incredibly hot women in bikinis while drinking Foster's. Then I'd complain a bit about GW prices.
Bunch of dreadball xtreme and mars attacks stuff just showed up in Miniature Market's clearance bin, ~50% off. DBX teams, MA redbrick battlezones, and the MA army/booster sets. Stocks are existent, yet not particularly fat/healthy so jump in there sooner thanater if interested.
I'd be all over the red brick terrain, if it weren't for the stupid solid windows. If I'm going to have to cut out windows to allow line of sight, then I might as well do it in foamcore.
The same applies to you Australians who like to use "welcome to my world" on Americans complaining about shipping prices. If I were in your world, I could go out and get eaten by a shark, get stomped by a Kangaroo, or be bitten by any number of things whose venom is far deadlier than anything we have in the USA.
On the plus side you wouldn't get shot while doing it.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Just finished the Warpath PM. Twenty dollars shipping on a handful of sprues. Twenty fething dollars. Keep that in mind throughout this KS.
I'm in Australia. I'll have to check and see if they have tubes of KY as a shipping add-on.
They do, but a tube will add $20 AUS to the tab. This will require the purchase of another tube, and you get into something of a loop...
The same applies to you Australians who like to use "welcome to my world" on Americans complaining about shipping prices. If I were in your world, I could go out and get eaten by a shark, get stomped by a Kangaroo, or be bitten by any number of things whose venom is far deadlier than anything we have in the USA.
On the plus side you wouldn't get shot while doing it.
Ya sure? Seem to recall who populated Australia originally...
The same applies to you Australians who like to use "welcome to my world" on Americans complaining about shipping prices. If I were in your world, I could go out and get eaten by a shark, get stomped by a Kangaroo, or be bitten by any number of things whose venom is far deadlier than anything we have in the USA.
Kangaroos don't stomp, though they can give a nasty kick designed for disembowelling.. but we've indeed got lots of venomous things.
Mymearan wrote: I'd say "g'day mate", then go to the beach to look at incredibly hot women in bikinis while drinking Foster's. Then I'd complain a bit about GW prices.
Huh. Again you foreigners get it wrong. No-one here actually drinks Fosters!
I plan on doing an unboxing thingy but, I might as well be boring and tell you.
Uber Crazy Box of Doom:
Mars Attacks Big Stompy Robot plus shrunken soldiers
Mars Attacks Flea
2 Mars Attacks insects and handlers
Mars Attacks Martian Chancellor
Mars Attacks Martian Standard Bearer
Mars Attacks Civilian
Dreadball Extreme Plague Team
Dreadball Zzor MVP
Dreadball Helder, Void Sirens MVP
Warpath Corporation Infantry Squad
Warpath Forge Fathers Stormrage Veterans
Warpath Forge Fathers Jotun Cannon
Warpath Orc heavy weapon / sergeant
Deadzone Zombies sprue
2 Battlezone Accessory Sprues
2 Battlezone Angled / extension sprues
2 Battlezone Core Sprues
Loka Yellow team
To be honest, it's not bad but it's not worth £50 in my view. - But then, my opinion is probably coloured by the fact that I already have 2 Plague dreadball teams. If I didn't have that though, a dreadball team would be a pretty darned awesome thing to have in a crazy box.
The same applies to you Australians who like to use "welcome to my world" on Americans complaining about shipping prices. If I were in your world, I could go out and get eaten by a shark, get stomped by a Kangaroo, or be bitten by any number of things whose venom is far deadlier than anything we have in the USA.
On the plus side you wouldn't get shot while doing it.
The same applies to you Australians who like to use "welcome to my world" on Americans complaining about shipping prices. If I were in your world, I could go out and get eaten by a shark, get stomped by a Kangaroo, or be bitten by any number of things whose venom is far deadlier than anything we have in the USA.
Kangaroos don't stomp, though they can give a nasty kick designed for disembowelling.. but we've indeed got lots of venomous things.
Mymearan wrote: I'd say "g'day mate", then go to the beach to look at incredibly hot women in bikinis while drinking Foster's. Then I'd complain a bit about GW prices.
Huh. Again you foreigners get it wrong. No-one here actually drinks Fosters!
Duh! I actually knew that, from similar conversations in the past... it's primarily an export good, right? My bad The rest of my post still stands! *looks out of window at -20C snowy landscape*
On the Deadzone Infestation comments section, Mantic have stated that the Veer-myn tunnelers will be done in hard plastic, like the other vehicles. That's a bit of a surprise upgrade, as they were never advertised as hard plastic during the campaign. I think I'll be doing that bundle of 3 deal for them now.
Mantic also said that the Veer-myn Tangle will be either metal or resin.
I realize that the rest of you lubbers don't like the Veer-myn, so I posted this just to waste your time.
Seriously, though, after the latest material switcheroo brou-ha-ha, isn't it nice to have an unexpected Mantic material switch that everyone can be pleased with? Even if you're not into the Veer-myn per se, in hard plastic these vehicles should be simple enough to re-purpose by inserting the pilots of your choice.
The Tunneler (large vehicle) was always HIPS its the tunnel runners (1 man bike size) that are an as yet undecided material. Mantic correctly answered the question asked (about the tunneler) but you've mixed up the vehicles when you asked the question about material.
I might be getting rats (or dorfs ) for Warpath so I'm liking a lot of the Infestation stuff turning plastic. Really looking forward to those squeel wheels being shown, before the damn PM closes at least. Need to know if I should buy too many, or WAY too many.
Yeah, I should have probably snipped off the stuff at the end before exporting it to youtube. - The last chunk of it was me having a look at all the pieces of the robot, which is fine for twitch but not really necessary for youtube.
Mars Attacks Big Stompy Robot plus shrunken soldiers
Mars Attacks Flaming Cows
2 different Mars Attacks insects and handlers
Mars Attacks Martian Chancellor
Mars Attacks Martian Standard Bearer
Mars Attacks "Beloss Bel" Civilian infiltrator
Dreadball Extreme Plague Team
Dreadball Zzor MVP
Dreadball Helder, Void Sirens MVP
Warpath Corporation Infantry Squad
Warpath Corporation Rangers Squad
Warpath Forge Fathers Stormrage Veterans
Warpath Forge Fathers Jotun Cannon
Warpath Orc heavy weapon / sergeant sprue
2 Battlezone Accessory Sprues
2 Battlezone special sprue A (i.e. the ones that were only offered as last-minute PM add-ons in the 1st Kickstarter)
2 Battlezone special Sprue B
Loka Blue team (Undead)
...so not much variance from what has been posted already! Fortunately a lot was stuff that I either didn't have or could use duplicates of, but this is only very debatably worth £50.
Any word on when Mantic intends to deliver on the last Deadzone KS? I would REALLY like to have that before I fill out my Warpath pledge manager (currently pledged at $1.00).
Damn, I meant to ask about the tunnel runners, not the tunneler. Now I'm back to expecting the tunnel runners will be resin or metal.
I guess Mantic is trying to wait and see how many get ordered before committing, while their customers are trying to wait and see what material Mantic are going to use before committing.
I think I'll stick with my original plan of just ordering hard plastic 20 for 20 troop deals and skip the whole "mystery materials" nonsense.
Dammit Vermonter, you got my hopes up for plastic buzz saw rat wheelies!
I'm afraid my PM selections are going to end up rather limited to hard plastics as well for the most part- I will be grabbing a Tangle though. Got to have a complete set of Deadzone rats at the very least.
Plus it'd probably fit in rather nicely with all my Skaven anyways.
Woe to my Skaven slaves and clanrats if there are any spare weapons on those sprues, because they will most certainly be getting them grafted onto them!
I think you're supposed to be able to make both gun and pistol/weapon versions of the basic rat dudes. Though... if the steel warrior bits shortages are indicative of how the hard plastic is going to run in general... you may not be getting double parts *per sprue*, hard to say atm.
Right now I have the one dollar down, that's a pretty good investment for the rule PDFs, especially if they turn out well. Even the 20/20 hard plastic dudes aren't swaying me right now, though that's largely due to this being my slow season with work...though there's some model overload in there too. Trust is an issue as well but not a huge one. TWD coming up also doesn't help.
Vermonter wrote: Damn, I meant to ask about the tunnel runners, not the tunneler. Now I'm back to expecting the tunnel runners will be resin or metal.
I guess Mantic is trying to wait and see how many get ordered before committing, while their customers are trying to wait and see what material Mantic are going to use before committing.
I think I'll stick with my original plan of just ordering hard plastic 20 for 20 troop deals and skip the whole "mystery materials" nonsense.
Keep in mind that shipping is $20, so the deals are not nearly as good as they sound unless you are buying a lot of troops. Personally, I haven't pledged for a Mantic Lot of troops since the Basileans... 20 bucks for 20 new plastics is what I consider a great impulse buy price, until shipping damps down the impulse.
TheWaspinator wrote: It looks like they still have the "crazy boxes" for sale. Anyone have one yet and can give insight to what's in them?
My Uber Crazy Box Contained;
Mars Attacks Giant Martian Robot x 2
LOKA Yellow Team
LOKA Red Team
Mars Attacks Giant Mutant Spider x 2
Mars Attacks US Soldiers x 2
Dreadball Kovoss Kryptics - Mutant Team
Mars Attacks V.I.M. - Very Important Martians
Dreadball Anne-Marie Helder
Forge Fathers Support Booster
Forge Fathers (5 Models)
Orx Marauders Command
Dreadball Ludwig
6 x Battlezone Sprues (3 lots of 2 different sprues)
My Sci-Fi Crazy Box Contained;
LOKA Yellow Team
Mars Attacks Tiger Corps
Mars Attacks Giant Mutant Spider
Marauder Raptor x 2
Dreadball Painmaster Yurik x 2
Forge Fathers (5 Models) x 2
Dreadball Mellisandra
Marauder Orc (1 Model) x 2
2 x Battlezone Sprues.
Overall I was quite disappointed in what turned up. Yes on the face of it there is ok value but there is a lot of overpriced Mars Attacks stuff and 3 x LOKA teams I just didn't need. Was also hoping for some sort of Kings Of War stuff in the Uber Crazy Box - not necessarily a whole regiment but a few sprues would have been nice. Also having multiplse of the same model in box isn't great.
I think when grab bags start pushing $100 US the opportunity cost starts to sink in. The 50 pound box is the same price as, say, a starter army for a plastic range.
On a a side note... Is it just me, or are the new starter armies really good deals?
Yeah, that's definitely true. - Especially when you need to spend what was it? £40 for free shipping anyhow. At that point, the sci fi box is only worthwhile if you're buying something else direct.
I just looked at the abyssal army, its got a LOT of lower abyssals but nearly a dollar per fig with no kind of sale is pretty solid. I think their bigger army deals have always been pretty good though.
I actually tried leaving a negative review on the Mantic webstore for the box, and no matter how I edited the review, it refused to publish it, citing "invalid characters" (which were standard letters, commas, brackets and full stops).
But other people are clearly not happy with this one - as people have mentioned, £50 is sufficiently above the impulse purchase price that they're not impressed with the scrapings from defunct/clearance lines.
I just looked at the abyssal army, its got a LOT of lower abyssals but nearly a dollar per fig with no kind of sale is pretty solid. I think their bigger army deals have always been pretty good though.
The lower abyssals can also be built as flamebearers.
Flamebearers are awesome, especially as troops supporting larger melee units.
Horde of lower abyssals with brew of strength supported by 4 troops of flamebearers is really solid.
There might be lots of lower abyssals, but you will get good use out of all the models.
The army is quite good in that it has great counters to current meta favourites like flyers (a carefully positioned efreet or two can murder any flyer that tries anything, a lot of armies have trouble with them, but abyssals just turn around and burn them to a crisp) and shooting spam (lots of options to either screen or return fire). The army is an interesting one, no war machines but plenty of fast, killy short-ranged things.
I wasn't so much complaining as pointing it out. Its a new line so of course they give you a lot of what already exists.
I'm gonna have to get my mantic forum thing sorted out because I need to come read up on the meta. What you've said in like... a paragraph, is more information than seems to be on the whole of dakka on the subject (or my search fu is weak), and my poor orcs need some guidance
I certainly hope the trend of good army deals continues after the warpath stuff hits the market.
Bioptic wrote: I actually tried leaving a negative review on the Mantic webstore for the box, and no matter how I edited the review, it refused to publish it, citing "invalid characters" (which were standard letters, commas, brackets and full stops).
Sounds like their form doesn't make data sql safe (ie, "escaping" things like apostrophes and dashes) before trying to update, and the mysql service is throwing back an error.
apostrophes terminator sql char blocks, double-hyphens begin comments, etc. so at least their mysql service is stopping sql injections at it's core.
There's some 'blah blah blah' in there too but who cares, renders!
I think I like them. Supposedly you'll be able to make 5 infantry or 5 rangers with heavier rifles. Also a grenade launcher and flamer included with each sprue as well as commander and comms trooper bits.
Each sprue can be used to build either five GCPS Marines with rifles or five GCPS Rangers with heavy rifles. We've finalised the sprue contents, so each sprue will also contain additional components to build a unit leader and a comms trooper and two special weapons; a flamer and a grenade launcher.
Those of you who chose the GCPS Battlegroup will be the first to get their hand on the new heavy weapons upgrade. These metal components will upgrade two GCPS models to a weapon team, complete with a powerful weapon option. A couple of examples are below.
Laser cannon on tripod is similar just sleeker. Rockets are new. Apparently the space/future binoculars needed to get bigger as well.
Grenade launcher is new, and that flamer looks more like a heavy laser machinegun to me but whatcha gonna do.
Heavy laser rifles are a new direction but who's to say they stuck with Genling or that they didn't get a new model. Lighter laser rifles look more like the samaritan guns from sediton wars but it's not really a bad thing.
I like the ammo boxes on the fem trooper on the right. I have no idea if it would be practical in real life having never used a machinegun but it looks cool.
, that's why I think Mantic would go there. They also hinted at will smith, so is there a second "I am Ledgend" coming out"...where he survives blowing himself up?
Yes, but did they have Mantics proven track record.... 
.
The rest of my post still stands! *looks out of window at -20C snowy landscape*
