Azazelx wrote: Oh, it's restic? For some reason I thought it was going to be real plastic. Damn, I got two.
I was thinking the same thing, so I went back and looked at the Vanguard KS, and it clearly states "PVC Plastic Giant" in the update where the stretchgoal was unlocked, so I guess my memory is going too
Still, I'm ok with restic for larger stuff, especially the newer restic I got in Deadzone 2 and already received for Warpath, ie the Hultr Halftracks.
As far as I know, Mantic haven't made anything in that original 'hated' restic for at least 2 years now, probably longer.
The material they use for wargaming models has been very different. Near resin like for the Deadzone 2 models that weren't hard plastic.
The Walking Dead models seemed pretty close to being hard plastic without actually being hard plastic.
Except for a few TWD miscasts, the only stuff they've released of late that I've been disappointed with was the lousy Star Saga models. It seemed a lot softer than TWD models, much closer to what CMON's Zombicide were like.
I for one still find it strange to see the hatred of the material Mantic use, then some of the same people gush over the images of the forthcoming zombicide game. I know all the zombicide minis I have are nothing like as good as the stuff Mantic put out - with the exception of Star Saga which seemed like it was the same stuff.
I for one still find it strange to see the hatred of the material Mantic use, then some of the same people gush over the images of the forthcoming zombicide game. I know all the zombicide minis I have are nothing like as good as the stuff Mantic put out - with the exception of Star Saga which seemed like it was the same stuff.
It's fine for boardgames where miniatures are usually already built and you don't really care about them (most of the players don't paint them). It's annoying for wargames where you have to build the models yourself and quite a lot of them in a row. Usually Mantic uses it for cost issues, but in the end, you end up having the feeling of buying really cheap stuff - and that's not a compliment here.
The material isn't fun at all to work with, that's all. I can enjoy building GW plastic kits. That's never the case with Mantic restic miniatures.
Well Star Saga is first and foremost a boardgame, meant to appeal to people who play dungeon crawler boardgames, so it's probably fair for the game pieces to be made out of the cheaper material, using simpler and repetitive poses or factory assembly.
They learned that lesson about the different expectations of boardgamers with the original Dreadball release.
Spring Open Day
There were three drafts of this text. I was going to lead you into this gently, then it struck me: come out swinging!
After discussion here at the Mantic Bunker we unanimously decided that we want to lead with a big hitter for our Open Days. We would resurrect the 3-Ups which our long-term friends will remember fondly – and add some verve!
So we commissioned a 3-Up print of the rather epic Sgt. Howlett model from our Warpath Universe and, what they heck, we’ll be placing this gently into your goodie bag for attending! Yes, that’s right: your attendance secures you a 3-Up as a thank-you from us for joining us on the day.
Hang on, I can’t make it – How Can I Get The 3-Up?
We’ll be sad that you cannot join us on the day. Whether you were too slow getting your ticket, were unable to attend due to Real Life getting in the way, or if you simply live too far away.
The 3-Ups will be available to pre-order online on 5th May.
I’ll say that again: you will have the chance to buy one of each on 5th May (time slot to be confirmed). These will also be made available at other Mantic Events during 2018 – at which time they will again be made available online.
The Hornets never made it to Adepticon attendees got $40 Adepticon store credit instead or can wait for it to be shipped out. They left China last Tuesday.
After its discovery five years ago, XH8-211 (called Starfall by its inhabitants) has retained its initial low appraisal. Besides the ‘squatters’ occupying the planet’s barren surface, the world has been ignored by the GCPS at large, seemingly having no resources or indigenous population worthy of corporate exploitation. Until the world-quakes began.
Alongside the release of the GCPS at the end of the month (on pre-order now!) we’ll be trying something new. Available on the website to pre-order, for the low, low price of FREE! (well, you’ll need to cover shipping if you want it on its own), we have brand new mini-supplement, featuring a campaign that pits the Veer-Myn against the GCPS. While stocks last, the Starfall campaign booklet can be added to orders at no extra cost and if you’re already ordering some of those sweet new GCPS miniatures, that means it’s totally FREE. Again, did we mention it’s FREE! FREEEEEEEEEEE.
This supplement brings some new background to the fore, as you’re introduced to the oft-overlooked planet of Starfall. Until recently, this world barely registered on GCPS records and was a hotbed of mercenary activity. Once valuable resources were unearthed by unusual tectonic activity, the planet was brought by the Damrod Mining Corporation, who swiftly dispatched their private military to stake their claim. However, it isn’t only the GCPS who have a stake on this world. The Veer-Myn have risen, conquering the world by force and now stand ready to repel the would-be invaders. The scene is set for a desperate battle between two ruthless powers. Whose side will you choose?
The campaign is based around the Starter Forces for the Veer-Myn and GCPS and even includes suggested army lists for these box set in Firefight. There are three simple scenarios to play through for the planet’s fate, with rules for linking them together into a short campaign. We also take a look at each force individually, with a miniatures showcase of the Mantic Studio range. This all ties into the coverage on Warpath: Firefight we’ll be sharing over the next few months so you can start playing the game with ease. We might even be recording a game ourselves in the not-too distant future!
Mantic now have their GCPS preorders up - shipping date 23rd of April
Question: Does anybody know when Veer-myn Tunnel Runners will be available outside of the big army boxes? I feel like I've been waiting for years now, very much want to throw credits at a freighterload of rats in monowheels
Salute - when the internet is subjected to a barrage of blurry, out-of-focus pictures taken at incompetent angles on shaky camera phones of models behind smeared perspex glass which will ruin public opinion of sculpts for months until the companies can be bothered to release official promo shots
mattjgilbert wrote: Warpath update is planned for Monday I think. Vehicles are in transit and almost here so the KS should then also get planned and start shipping soon too (all three remaining vehicles).
The Warpath vehicles (Hornet, Mule and Chira) are due to arrive in the warehouse tomorrow (Tuesday). We wanted to give you the date only once we were sure it was accurate, rather than provide inaccurate information. We are aiming to start the shipping process before the end of the week, to be complete shortly afterwards.
As we’ve run into the retail launch date for the GCPS vehicles, these will be shipping to stores before backers, mainly because the Kickstarter shipping is a more complex operation to set up than the retail shipping. We’re very sorry about this, but they will be with you soon and they’re definitely worth the wait. However, the Asterian and Plague vehicles will be shipping out several months (or more) before they launch to retail!
If you need you update your shipping address, it is vital that you get in touch now through support@manticgames.com. In a couple of days, we will start shipping so it will be too late to change your details. We have processed any changes that we have received, so it is only if you haven’t contacted us with a new address that you need to get in touch.
What is being shipped?
Just as a reminder, these are the outstanding products to ship.
The GCPS Mule will have only the components to build the GCPS Mule. The Plague Mule can be used to build either the Plague or GCPS Mule. This was originally planned differently in the Kickstarter (when the Mules were due to be resin), so it wasn’t until we had finalised the production that we were clear on the make up of the kits.
Why did this take so long?
You might remember that the initial shipping time for the Kickstarter was 12 months from the end of the funding period. This is because that is roughly how long it takes to tool a hard plastic kit, especially something as complex as the vehicles.
However, following the Kickstarter we had some issues with the manufacturer we had planned to use for the tooling. This meant we basically had to start the process from scratch and find an entirely different manufacturer. We initially got them to only produce the Veer-myn Tunneller and once we were happy with that, we gave them the green light to make the remaining vehicles.
So, 12 months later we’re now looking at the final production models arriving imminently. We know that it hasn’t been an ideal nor easy wait, but we are very thankful for your patience (and for supporting the project originally) and couldn’t apologise more for the delay. The rewards for you patience will soon be in your hands!
They have addressed this in the comments as there are some compliants that backers are not gettting what they paid for with the Mules. What is being delivered is what was originally offered during the KS, 2 separate kits originally both to be in resin with different parts depending on the variant ordered. Each sold as separate kits. With the change to HIPS for the base model only upgrade parts are necessary for the plague version the GCPS set doesn’t need or come with them and only builds a GCPS mule. The plague version is effectively a dual kit as it builds either but that is as a result of using the same base kit and wasn’t the original plan. I suspect will retail at a higher price. If you ordered the GCPS variant you are getting what you paid for the fact that the plague variant can build both is neither here nor there I get that people would have ordered the plague version had they known it would build both but they aren’t getting anything less than they pledged for.
Hi Guys,
So regarding the mules. I've spent a while trawling through updates and such, and although we have changed from the original plan in the kickstarter, it's not in the way everyone seem to be suggesting.
The original plan was that there would be two separate kits. The GCPS Mule would build the GCPS Mule and the Plague Mule would build the Plague Mule. this was then they were to be made in resin.
Once we made the switch to hard plastic, the plan was that there would be resin upgrade components for the Plague Mule, as we didn't know if we'd hit numbers to make both out of plastic.
The final kits, wherein both versions are plastic features a plague upgrade kit for the Plague variant is what we will be supplying. The GCPS Mule was never promised to build both variants, and the pledge manager listed these as completely separate products.
"Restic" isn't a hybrid of anything. It has no resin in it. It's PVC grade 110. It's just very hard PVC. Same factory and material as Privateer Press were using at the time for Warmachine. It's not been used by Mantic for years. No idea where the whole "restic is resin and plastic" thing came from, or the name. It's not a thing.
Dungeon Saga minis, Mars attacks minis, TWD minis, Star Saga minis are ALL all grade 95 PVC. What make some appear harder than others is purely the thickness of the sculpt (and therefore the amount of material in any given weapon, arms, torso etc.). There haven't been any experiments in different plastics.
All new sculpting briefs for models destined for PVC are to go thicker.
Thanks for this, that was very interesting. If you have a moment, I'd like to ask two further questions regarding Mantic's plastics.
Was the PVC used for Deadzone minis like the Veer-myn progenitors and the Piper also grade 95 PVC? Those seem to me to be better quality than the Star Saga minis (which, don't get me wrong, aren't bad), but it's interesting to think that the difference may just be down to relative sculpt thickness.
Yes I believe so. That's the default for that factory.
Vermonter wrote: Also, with Mars Attacks in particular it seemed like certain colors of plastic (the Red martian figures) came out less crisply than others (like the Beige Star Wars Alien / Human good guy resistance guys, whatever they were called.) Does the color added to the plastic actually impact the quality of the casting, or is it just that some colors make it harder to read detail but the casting quality is actually the same?
I guess there's a possibility the colourant may alter the physical characteristics of the plastic but it's not something I'm aware is a cause. Mars Attacks was before my time working for Mantic but I suspect different models in the range were done by different sculptors so that can account for some differences. One big factor is the one you mention - colour. The colour of a model has a big influence on the perception of the detail (and what the eye can see). Compare a bare metal model to one sprayed grey. The grey one will be much easier to see. I remember when the second round of Deadzone models came out and they were darker than the first, lots of people (me included) said well done to Mantic for changing the material as it looked and felt much better. In fact it was grade 110 pvc just like the first wave, but a slightly darker colour.
We experimented with the colour mix for our in-house resin too for this very reason. Too light or dark and you can't see the details as well. Make it black or white and it can look cheap. Mid-grey is what you want.
If anybody gets one of the new Giants, and they have Gomagg from Mierce, could you do a comparison between the two?
I have a bunch of lower body bits for Gomagg (legs and waist) from Mierce from their grab bags, so if anyone wanted to do a swap if they're compatible, that would be really great!
Also, kind of kicking myself for not backing to get some of those flyers. They're pretty great!
Boss Salvage wrote: Question: Does anybody know when Veer-myn Tunnel Runners will be available outside of the big army boxes? I feel like I've been waiting for years now, very much want to throw credits at a freighterload of rats in monowheels
They will also be available at the open day next weekend along with the following prerelease, limited release or unreleased minis
As far as Limited/Unreleased Stock goes, we’re opening the future archives and unleashing Plague and Veer-myn items in strictly limited numbers. Deadzone and Warpath players have been calling out for these items previously available to Kickstarter Backers and we would like to help even up the playing field!
Everything due to ship from the Warpath kickstarter has now left the building.
That means that the GCPS Mule and Hornets, Plague Mules and Hornets, and Asterian Chiras/Chromas are all on their way to you.
Your vehicles will be with you in the next couple of weeks. We ask that you wait for 28 days for your parcel, as this is the official length of time to declare a package as ‘missing’. If your pledge hasn’t arrived after 28 days from the date of this update, then please get in touch with support@manticgames.com.
If you have received your pledge, but have missing items or any other issues, then please contact support@manticgames.com.
Thank you very much for your support, we hope you enjoy the last parts of your pledge.
pretty good but quite a few annoying 'dents' where they didn't quite inject enough plastic (not so much of an issue when building the plague version)
and a top tip, most of my wheels wouldn't fit over the hubs, so rather than sanding them down just pop the wheel in a mug of boiling water to soften and then insert the hub and they'll go together perfectly
My genestealer cult is going to enjoy their reinforcements
pretty good but quite a few annoying 'dents' where they didn't quite inject enough plastic (not so much of an issue when building the plague version)
and a top tip, most of my wheels wouldn't fit over the hubs, so rather than sanding them down just pop the wheel in a mug of boiling water to soften and then insert the hub and they'll go together perfectly
My genestealer cult is going to enjoy their reinforcements
Any chance of a picture of the plague parts as these have never been shown and I probably won't see mine until later next week. Thanks.
My 3 Hornets arrived along with 1 mule (listed as my addon plague mule on the delivery receipt).
Not sure there were any plague parts. I dry built it and there was nothing plaguey about it.
Anyone else got a pic of the plague parts? The 3 bags of plaguey bits I got seem for the Hornets.
I was also missing a mule - the remaining part of the GCPS battlegroup - but looking at KS comments, quite a few people are still missing this.
I'll grab a photo of the plague bits as soon as I get a chance,
they're in a separate bag from the mule itself and include
alternate cab, alternate side panels for cab, spikes dozer replace the winch, 4 spiked wheel covers, separate side door & top hatch, corpse, gun and a 'blob' that could be a magazine for it but i'd need a closer look to be sure
there you go, the casting of most of it is pretty good and fits onto the normal body fine, although there are some tricky to clean mould lines across the wheel covers, and the gun is really thin (the blob turned out to be the handle)
(actually I had forgotten about them..... although my frustration in trying to clean up the many ridges on the roof gun makes me think i'd go mad if I had to clean up another pvc trooper so they may just get a pass anyway)
Thanks Orlando.
I definately didn't get any of those parts with my "plague mule".
Or the GCPS mule from the original GCPS battlegroup.
I guess that's another email to Mantic's support which must be a pretty big queue. :-(
Looking forward to building all the Hornets and Mules though. I loved building and magnetising the Tunnellers - Mantic's simple to build models have been far more enjoyable than some of the airfix style gw kits I've had recently.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Looking at the comments I've a horrible feeling they forgot the GCPS battlegroup was meant to include a mule as it seems to be a repeated complaint
I got my "and pick a flyer!" Hornet but not my battlegroup group Mule and came to ask if that had happened to anyone else or if they shipped separately. You answered my question before I could ask it! I guess we'll have to watch the Kickstarter for info on this, then.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Looking at the comments I've a horrible feeling they forgot the GCPS battlegroup was meant to include a mule as it seems to be a repeated complaint
(I do hope they've got enough left for everybody after they filled the retail orders and nobody's stuck waiting for a restock)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
a couple more images as I've seen people posting that the Mule is smaller than the Taurox which isn't really true (unless you're talking about height)
(the Taurox here has the Zinge Industries wheel conversion kit on in case anybody wonders)
I'm torn between using my Mule as a Taurox for Imperial Guard, or a Goliath for Genestealer cult. I guess it depends on how easy it will be to make a roof for the bed.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Looking at the comments I've a horrible feeling they forgot the GCPS battlegroup was meant to include a mule as it seems to be a repeated complaint
(I do hope they've got enough left for everybody after they filled the retail orders and nobody's stuck waiting for a restock)
Spoiler:
Automatically Appended Next Post:
a couple more images as I've seen people posting that the Mule is smaller than the Taurox which isn't really true (unless you're talking about height)
(the Taurox here has the Zinge Industries wheel conversion kit on in case anybody wonders)
Thanks so much for the pics. Mule looks great. Definitely smaller cabin volume than tha Taurox, but the same footprint.
Just sanity checking, the only way to get a Plague Mule was in a mule battlegroup, right?
I think this means, aside from my missing Mule from my GCPS battlegroup, that's my kickstarter done... My 5 Hornets turned up today. Of course, I can't remember which were intended for GCPS and which for Plague...
I'm going to assume, 3 Hornets for plague, 2 for GCPS, to balance out vehicles...
Compel wrote: Just sanity checking, the only way to get a Plague Mule was in a mule battlegroup, right?
I think this means, aside from my missing Mule from my GCPS battlegroup, that's my kickstarter done... My 5 Hornets turned up today. Of course, I can't remember which were intended for GCPS and which for Plague...
I'm going to assume, 3 Hornets for plague, 2 for GCPS, to balance out vehicles...
There was an addon for a single plague mule, and an addon for a group of 3 plague mules. This was similar to the GCPS addons. The GCPS mule was also included in the GCPS battlegroup as well.
Have Mantic officially stated anything on the missing GCPS battlegroup mule?
Nothing on the KS comments, but i'm uncertain if anybody with missing stuff has actually asked directly rather than just asking in the comments (which mantic probably no longer look at?)
it's also been a Mantic open day on Saturday so everybody is probably otherwise engaged anyway
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Nothing on the KS comments, but i'm uncertain if anybody with missing stuff has actually asked directly rather than just asking in the comments (which mantic probably no longer look at?)
Someone on the KS comments apparently got a response from Mantic Support about it which stated the missing Mules were due to a system issue and would be coming out later but that other missing items would be sent out as/when they were notified.
No sign of the crew - or are we supposed to have forgotten about them at this stage
I could probably do them with the HIPS plague but you know they were designed and shown.
I emailed mantic about the incomplete mould fill on the mules so they can hopefully get the factory to use a touch more plastic in future production so I asked about these too and was told they're just the existing gen 3s added to the render so as expected we're not meant to have got them
No sign of the crew - or are we supposed to have forgotten about them at this stage
I could probably do them with the HIPS plague but you know they were designed and shown.
I emailed mantic about the incomplete mould fill on the mules so they can hopefully get the factory to use a touch more plastic in future production so I asked about these too and was told they're just the existing gen 3s added to the render so as expected we're not meant to have got them
Thanks well they would say that now but yeah they are mostly the HIPS 3rd Gens so no big issue adding them, the head on the left one is new it's not on the HIPS sprue. Better not to show these things off with parts you're not going to get as it causes undue confusion and expectation. As I understand it for the Plague Hornet you get the gunners arms but not the body?
Most likely they were originally intended to be included - I'd imagine on a HIPS sprue along with the plague parts before they got changed to restic - but as we know with Mantic materials and plans seemingly change on a dime, and retconning what was promised or implied is part and parcel of Mantic's way of running their business and kickstarters and comes down to a case of caveat emptor for us when backing them.
Mantic Games 16-time creator about 4 hours ago
Hi All,
So as we've already said in a few messages, there was an error on the shipping of the mules for the army sets. We're going to be dispatching these as soon as possible and already know who needs them sending, so you don't need to worry about it.
Any other missing items, contact support@manticgames.com.
Azazelx wrote: Most likely they were originally intended to be included - I'd imagine on a HIPS sprue along with the plague parts before they got changed to restic - but as we know with Mantic materials and plans seemingly change on a dime, and retconning what was promised or implied is part and parcel of Mantic's way of running their business and kickstarters and comes down to a case of caveat emptor for us when backing them.
Wasn't the mule one of those items listed originally as resin but Mantic decided to go plastic because of high demand? If so, a good move imo. The plastic vehicles have been a joy to magnetise and build so they can have every option from one kit. Much better than some other companies do. No need for half a million parts either.
I hope Mantic keep up the standard of the plastic Warpath stuff when new models release rather than the melted pool of plastic I got for Star Saga.
Yeah Mule was originally resin with a promise to go PVC if orders were high enough, then suddenly they were hard plastic, then a hard plastic body with PVC wheels because I guess big, chunky ass wheels like that are more trouble than they're worth to do with a hard plastic injection mould.
NTRabbit wrote: Yeah Mule was originally resin with a promise to go PVC if orders were high enough, then suddenly they were hard plastic, then a hard plastic body with PVC wheels because I guess big, chunky ass wheels like that are more trouble than they're worth to do with a hard plastic injection mould.
Consider me corrected in that case. For some reason I thought it was always HIPS (at least since the pledge manager), but it's been awhile. Makes me wonder even more why it was shown with plague guys, as Dave noted.
Anyone remember when GW used to do a chunky wheel sprue that they included in with various kits? They came in two sizes with an axle hole and separate end cap/hubcap and came with pretty much everything they did that had wheels at the time from Marine Bikes, Trikes, Ork buggies , wartrakks, etc. That might be something for Mantic to consider in their next round of vehicles, as the same couple of wheel sprues across the entire model range gives a nice economy of scale.
Any time there's a figure of a plastic spaceman in a photo like that without mention, I always assume it to be a 'for scale' shot, and not included. Thought that was a common assumption?
Star Saga stuff is PVC, some people didn't like it. Mine are at least as good as any other board game piece I've got here.
Azazelx wrote:
Anyone remember when GW used to do a chunky wheel sprue that they included in with various kits? They came in two sizes with an axle hole and separate end cap/hubcap and came with pretty much everything they did that had wheels at the time from Marine Bikes, Trikes, Ork buggies , wartrakks, etc. That might be something for Mantic to consider in their next round of vehicles, as the same couple of wheel sprues across the entire model range gives a nice economy of scale.
Might be a good idea to reuse those wheels for possible future Marauder vehicles but there are no other vehicles outstanding at present that would need them. The only vehicle still without a model is the Lancer battle tank and that's a hover tank so no wheels needed.
I'm guessing that the Lancer will require at least a mini KS to get made.
NTRabbit wrote:Any time there's a figure of a plastic spaceman in a photo like that without mention, I always assume it to be a 'for scale' shot, and not included. Thought that was a common assumption?
Star Saga stuff is PVC, some people didn't like it. Mine are at least as good as any other board game piece I've got here.
Usually the miniature is beside the miniature it's "for scale" with and is noted as such. The Plague minis are actually shown in the Mule and have parts not currently available (the head). But look the Mules have changed material so many times over the last 2+ years it's not surprising that the exact specs have changed as well. I'll happily take a HIPS Mule without crew any day over any other version with them.
As for Star Saga they are fine for board game miniatures the detail is a bit soft in places and I found myself having to paint in missing details (don't get me started on the eye lens!) but they do the job.
I hope when the Deadzone Maison Labs list (Star Saga Minions - list due with the Nameless supplement) gets released there might be some additional metal or resin minis for them.
NTRabbit wrote: Any time there's a figure of a plastic spaceman in a photo like that without mention, I always assume it to be a 'for scale' shot, and not included. Thought that was a common assumption?
If they're next to the item, and have "model for scale" that's one thing. When they're being presented as gunner and crew, as they are in the Mule shot that's another thing entirely. Put aside your fondness for Mantic for a moment and look at it objectively.
Spoiler:
Star Saga stuff is PVC, some people didn't like it. Mine are at least as good as any other board game piece I've got here.
Sure, but "melted plastic" suggests something went wrong. Perhaps with his copy, perhaps with many, perhaps overly-bent bendy figures. I don't know, as I've only just purchased the game at retail and haven't opened it yet. OTOH Boardgame PVC has really gotten quite good as evidenced by projects like Conan, Mythic Battles: Pantheon and Blood Rage. I haven't looked at Star Saga's models in person, but that particular bar is a lot higher than it was just a couple of years ago. But then, I don't know if you have any of those games, either.
In other news my Mules and Hornets arrived today. Full credit to Mantic and especially their CSR Elvis for making sure that everything arrived as it should have for my Plague versions (missing GSPS Mules notwithstanding, but that's been discussed here and via KS updates).
Literally just opened the shipping boxes and have a fair few other things in the queue to do first, so barring any missing pieces when I get to them properly down the line, I'm quite happy.
Can somebody with a MULE give me the approximate dimensions of the vehicle? I want to see if there is any hope of it fitting in the Forward Base Garage from AW.
Mine arrived today. I've put a Plague Mule together to see how it fits. Everything went together well. I hot water treated the PVC panels to get the best fit but they don't really need it. I also wanted to see if it was easy to add the crew and it is very easy. The Plague Hornet gunners arms have the same connectors to the weapon so it fit right in. The gunner is little low down and I might put the next one standing on an ammo crate but I kind of like the straining to see over his own weapon look.
Apologies if that has already been asked, but how can I check what my pledge from the pledge manager was? there's no itemised confirmation in my email.
They used Mantic Digital for the Warpath PM but it’s now gone as they currently use backerkit they migrated the details to pledgehammer but that’s gone too so there is no longer an online record. If you keep old emails you should have got a receipt listing your pledge items from the PM otherwise you’ll probably need to ask Mantic support for it.
Fenriswulf wrote: Any idea how they scale in comparison to a GW Taurox?
From a page back:
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: Looking at the comments I've a horrible feeling they forgot the GCPS battlegroup was meant to include a mule as it seems to be a repeated complaint
(I do hope they've got enough left for everybody after they filled the retail orders and nobody's stuck waiting for a restock)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
a couple more images as I've seen people posting that the Mule is smaller than the Taurox which isn't really true (unless you're talking about height)
(the Taurox here has the Zinge Industries wheel conversion kit on in case anybody wonders)
Wave Two Update + expansion PDFs
Posted by Mantic Games (Creator)
Hi everyone,
Firstly apologies it's taken so long for an update. We've been very busy behind the scenes getting everything ready for Wave Two, however we should have been keeping backers more regularly updated about the progress.
Regarding the delivery of Wave Two, everything is in production now and is due to finish soon. Unfortunately the tooling has taken a little longer than we expected and this will push the delivery back slightly. We were expecting to start shipping Wave Two in late June but shipping is now likely to begin in late July. We never like it when products are delayed but we didn't want to compromise on the quality of the miniatures.
The good news is that we're pleased with the quality of the miniatures we've received and next week we'll have an update showing the test miniatures from the factory, so you can have a closer look. The Nameless Goliath (aka the Nameless Monstrosity during the campaign) is absolutely fantastic and we can't wait to get that in your hands. It's an absolute beast.
Finally for this update, some other good news is that to whet your appetite for the arrival of Wave Two, we'll be sending out PDFs of the expansion mission books so you can start looking through them. Look out for an email from BackerKit with details on how to download the expansions you've pledged for.
We'll be back next week with a look at those miniatures!
The expansion pdfs are available now in Backerkit, I just downloaded them
I've screen capped a few images from them of minis not yet seen, the quality isn't the best but it does the job until they post official images.
They are all from the KS, most didn't have any finished artwork (any artwork was place holder only) and had vague enough descriptions during the KS
The Rebs are from The Devils Betrayal
Original artwork and description
Spoiler:
The Simian Brawlers are the 3 large Rebs, The Sphyr, Rin, Sorak and Human are the 12 small. Shayo Silverback is the Brute Simian Boss and Erriq Umunsar is the Grogan "twin"
The Veermyn are from The Blackstar Station
Original artwork and description
Spoiler:
The Crone is the Broodmother, Thorn is the Progenitor, The Overchargers (Night Terrors) are the 3 large minions, The rest are the 12 small minions.
Welp, bought SIX Mules to use as various things (civilian trucks for Warpath and 40k, destroy one for terrain for Warpath and 40k, Planetary Defense Force vehicle for 40k, etc) and I am incredibly happy with them. Excellent price for such a good kit.
Got my Mule yesterday and for what it is, it's an impressive little kit. Goes together very easily and you barely need glue for the majority of it. The wheels are tiny bit of bother, but overall I'm quite happy with it. Not sure I'll order six more like Doug, but if I ever get around to my GCPS troopers I'll probably be adding some more support.
Wow, I love the look of those Veer-myn. I wish they'd had the final art or the sculpts ready during the campaign. I think they would have got a lot more people throwing in money if those designs had been available. I know I would have. I love that the Veer-myn all look to be wearing sealed environment suits. That's awesome!
Barzam wrote: I love that the Veer-myn all look to be wearing sealed environment suits. That's awesome!
There's a little bit of fluff in the expansion about this Thorn is from the Technoratus who use advanced technology to augment themselves and their "test subjects". The Technorati upgrade flesh and bone with synthetic systems, electronic implants and bionics. Thats' why all of the Blackstar Veer-myn look the way they do. It's particularly obvious on the Overcharger and Shocker . A nest of Technorati are colloquially known as "Voltchasers" due to their almost religious desire to acquire technology. The Blackstar itself is an advanced R&D station hence the reason the Veer-myn are there.
In other news the Asterian Chroma/Chira is up for preorder
Aside from the guns that come with my Mule I'm quite pleased with the kit itself, already added on extra bits and pieces to turn it into a proper little engineering truck.
The Rebs expansion looks skippable, but I agree with Barzam, the Veer-myn sculpts look pretty sweet.
Hacker Half-Tail from Star Saga was already one of Mantic's best Veer-myn sculpts ever. I'm increasingly disenchanted with Mantic's hard plastic Veer-myn troopers, but there are a number of PVC ones from Deadzone, and now Star Saga, that make great substitutes.
DaveC wrote: They used Mantic Digital for the Warpath PM but it’s now gone as they currently use backerkit they migrated the details to pledgehammer but that’s gone too so there is no longer an online record. If you keep old emails you should have got a receipt listing your pledge items from the PM otherwise you’ll probably need to ask Mantic support for it.
ot it, cheers dude. Reason I asked was I received the Hornet but was still waiting on the Mule, which arrived on its own a few days later.
Really impressed by the Mule. Wished I'd gotten a few more. I will at retail regardless, enough to make a little military parking lot I think.
however I'm missing some parts from the Hornet. Got the rotors for the wings, but no wings.
Deadzone: Outbreak is coming soon and next week we'll be going over all of the content - including the brand new Nameless faction - over on the Mantic Blog. There will be features on the new online campaign, background, units and even some great bundles for those of you who want to get started in Deadzone. Stay tuned!
DEADZONE: OUTBREAK
Perhaps the most exciting release for Deadzone is a new supplement – Deadzone: Outbreak. A little like the Clash of Kings supplement for Kings of War, this will bring together a wealth of great content:
Tips for running tournaments and leagues
New equipment/weapons for your strike team
Updated and new scenarios for tournament play
Updated faction lists that include the latest changes from the errata
The faction lists in particular will be extremely useful as it means all the updated factions will be in one place, so there’s no need to flick between the original rulebook and the errata. The Rules Committee is already hard at work on the content and it is going to be released in June. [Note now July]
However, that’s not all the book will introduce…
THE NAMELESS!
That’s right, The Nameless are coming to Deadzone. Along with their own Star Saga expansion The Nameless will become an official faction in Deadzone and their stats will appear in Outbreak.
A new Faction Starter will be released that includes the Minions from the Star Saga expansion, along with some brand new miniatures that will ensure they’re an effective faction. So expect to see a vehicle-like Nameless miniature and more. [Note probably the nameless Goliath]
We’ll also be working on the background of the Nameless to explain why they’re heading into space and trying to colonise new planets.
Maison Labs list has also been mentioned in interviews, Maison Labs would allow the use of the Star Saga Minions (Lab Techs etc.) in Deadzone.
It's a proper chunky book, which all of us on the rules committee have been working on for the last 6 months.
Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).
There's a number of other things in there to refresh the core game as well, 8 core missions (the 4 from the original book revised + 4 more), so you can now roll a d8 to determine mission, adding a lot more variance and balance to the overall experience. Secret missions got a revamp as well.
The book can basically be considered a v2.5 for Deadzone, to rebalance the whole thing, remove the need to check errata, refresh the scenarios and provide official tournament play guidelines.
It lays down the groundwork for future releases (there's potentially a lot more to come!), Deadzone is being pushed a *lot* by Mantic this year, as a sci-fi skirmish game with quick, grid-based mechanics, small board size it has had a lot of traction since it is very easy to get started with (buy & paint 5 minis, have a friend with the rules/ terrain and you're sorted).
Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).
Thanks for the info and it's nice to have a proper spelling for Mazon! Maison seemed a bit weird but I'd only heard it mentioned in audio interviews so I had no reference for spelling!
I assume there will be a few new metal/resin minis to flesh out the Nameless and Mazon Corp and maybe others?
Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).
Thanks for the info and it's nice to have a proper spelling for Mazon! Maison seemed a bit weird but I'd only heard it mentioned in audio interviews so I had no reference for spelling!
I assume there will be a few new metal/resin minis to flesh out the Nameless and Mazon Corp and maybe others?
That sounds like a good assumption to make if one observes that the 8 different nameless sculpts for star saga aren't really enough for a full faction.
Mazon Corp don't get anything new in model terms (as far as I know, anyway), but they have quite a good amount of sculpt variety already and as a GCPS/Plague mashup have a lot of options from both. Very happy with the Mazon corp list, lots of fun to play and really feels like a barely-held together mad scientist's experiment.
A lot of the focus is going to be on getting Star Saga players to try Deadzone, if you have the core box, you already have complete GCPS and Mazon Labs strike teams, so that game can be considered as an entry point to Deadzone, in the same way that Deadzone is an entry point to Warpath.
scarletsquig wrote: It's a proper chunky book, which all of us on the rules committee have been working on for the last 6 months.
Every army list gets a complete reprint, so there's no more flicking through errata for changes, and there's 10 factions in the book, inlcuding the two new ones (Nameless and Mazon Corp).
There's a number of other things in there to refresh the core game as well, 8 core missions (the 4 from the original book revised + 4 more), so you can now roll a d8 to determine mission, adding a lot more variance and balance to the overall experience. Secret missions got a revamp as well.
The book can basically be considered a v2.5 for Deadzone, to rebalance the whole thing, remove the need to check errata, refresh the scenarios and provide official tournament play guidelines.
It lays down the groundwork for future releases (there's potentially a lot more to come!), Deadzone is being pushed a *lot* by Mantic this year, as a sci-fi skirmish game with quick, grid-based mechanics, small board size it has had a lot of traction since it is very easy to get started with (buy & paint 5 minis, have a friend with the rules/ terrain and you're sorted).
So you're saying this book is what the Deadzone 2 kickstarter was billed as being, and then wasn't?
^ Pretty much. The switch from v1 to v2 was a good idea overall, the earlier version didn't do nearly as well. I wouldn't expect a v3 for a very long time, the focus will be on releasing new complete factions and scenario/ campaign books.
Quite a bit, it adds the Nameless into the background as a species that the GCPS doesn't have a clue how to deal with, can't predict, can't effectively fight, can't properly communicate with or fully understand, and the summer campaign will determine how their entry into the galactic scene plays out. It does also go into the background from a non-GCPS perspective as well, to give some details on their culture, religion, various sub-factions (some friendly/ indifferent, others aggressive).
Also, we're sorting out the Mars Attacks lists for Deadzone very soon now that Outbreak work is mostly complete, the game might slowly be going OOP, but we'll make sure the minis everyone has are still supported.
scarletsquig wrote: Also, we're sorting out the Mars Attacks lists for Deadzone very soon now that Outbreak work is mostly complete, the game might slowly be going OOP, but we'll make sure the minis everyone has are still supported.
Good! I've been a bit salty about my Martians being abandoned in the beta stage. Now, if we can just get the promised Warpath lists for the Mars Attacks factions...
Oh, and am I correct in assuming the GCPS faction list will also be included in the Outbreak book?
Firestorm games are listing Outbreak at £14.99 ($19.99 €17.99) and the Nameless Faction Starter at £24.99 ($39.99 €34.99) contents listed as
DEADZONE - NAMELESS FACTION STARTER BY MANTIC GAMES
12 Plastic Miniatures, 6 Resin Miniatures, 1 Rules Leaflet
The 12 plastic are likely these as that's how they are tooled
Spoiler:
Release date 20th July.
DEADZONE OUTBREAK: WHAT’S COMING UP THIS SUMMER?
This summer Containment Protocols are in full effect thanks to the Deadzone Outbreak Summer Campaign. It’s a chance for Deadzone players around the globe to get together to decide the fate of an entire planet and it will be backed up by a range of new releases too.
Over the course of this week, we’re going to be delving deeper into the campaign by looking at: how the campaign will work, the new Nameless faction, a preview of the Outbreak supplement and lots more. Also, make sure you’re signed up to the Mantic newsletter because this Friday we’ll be giving subscribers the opportunity to download the Firefight rules for FREE! More on that in a moment. Anyway, to kick things off, we’ve got a brief overview of everything that’s coming up over the next week…
DEADZONE SUMMER CAMPAIGN
Earlier this year we released a mini campaign booklet for Firefight called ‘Starfall’. This told the story of a backwater planet that had become the centre of GCPS attention following some tectonic shifts that uncovered precious minerals. Unfortunately, it also uncovered a resident population of Veer-myn that weren’t too happy about the invading GCPS forces. The Starfall campaign booklet introduced a series of linked missions that told this story. In fact, you can still get the Starfall booklet by ordering it from the website. It’s free and you’ll just need to pay for postage.
The book ended with a mysterious spaceship arriving in Starfall’s orbit… the Nameless had arrived! The summer campaign will take place on Starfall, as different factions land on the planet ready to exploit its natural resources and get their hands on the mysterious (and powerful) Nameless technology. Very much like the Kings of War: Edge of the Abyss campaign last year, we’ll be creating an online hub where players can upload their battle results. Each faction will have their results tallied to see who gains control of the planet. We’ll have more details about the summer campaign tomorrow, so stay tuned. But for the moment, mark August 20th in your diary as that’s when the campaign will begin!
DEADZONE OUTBREAK
Accompanying the summer campaign, we’ve got a brand new 88-page supplement for Deadzone. A little like Clash of Kings for Kings of War, which introduced new units and scenarios for KoW, Outbreak is pretty much Deadzone 2.1. Inside the book you’ll find re-balanced/new units for each faction, plus two brand new factions: Nameless and Mazon Labs. There are also four new scenarios, plus we’ve re-balanced the original scenarios, and introduced new pieces of equipment.
This supplement is an essential purchase for any Deadzone player and we’ll be putting it up for pre-order later this week. We’ll also be exploring the book in more detail on Wednesday to give you a taste of what’s to come!
THE NAMELESS!
This summer also sees the introduction of a brand-new faction for Deadzone: The Nameless. There are a number of new releases centred around the Nameless, including a Deadzone faction starter, a new expansion for Star Saga and the monstrous Goliath (aka the Monstrosity from the Star Saga Kickstarter).
In the Outbreak supplement, Christopher Verspeak explores the background of the Nameless a little more and explains why this previously peaceful race is encroaching into GCPS space. Head to the Mantic Blog on Thursday for a closer look at the terrifying Nameless.
FIREFIGHT
With all this Deadzone action taking place, we realise that some people may be itching to take their Deadzone games to the next level. Firefight is the next logical step, as you only require around 30 to 50 miniatures for a decent sized scrap. As part of the Outbreak summer campaign, there will be an optional mission to play a full-on Firefight battle, as the conquest for Starfall comes to a dramatic conclusion.
To make sure as many of you as possible can experience the Firefight rules, for a limited time only we’ll be offering a PDF of the entire rulebook as a FREE download. That’s right, you can get the Firefight rules for FREEEEEEEE! Make sure you’re signed up to the Mantic Games newsletter to receive the download link first. You can sign up here.
PRE-ORDERS!
All of the above will be going up on the website later this week. Plus, we’ll have some special bundles for those of you who are just getting into the wonderful world of Deadzone. Don’t miss out on what promises to be an action-packed summer of sci-fi gaming.
Make sure you head back to the blog tomorrow for a closer look at what’s happening during the summer campaign…
The book can basically be considered a v2.5 for Deadzone, to rebalance the whole thing, remove the need to check errata, refresh the scenarios and provide official tournament play guidelines.
...
Sounds very cool! This isn't the entire rulebook though, we'll still need the rules to play, right? Or will this be replacing the current ruleset?
What’s the quicklink to send to for items missing? I haven’t received the paid add-on hornets or mules. Just the two “missing” mules from my battlegroups.
timetowaste85 wrote: What’s the quicklink to send to for items missing? I haven’t received the paid add-on hornets or mules. Just the two “missing” mules from my battlegroups.
Today we’ve got a sneaky peek at the brand new Deadzone Outbreak supplement. This 88-page book will be going on pre-order later this week but first we wanted to whet your appetite about what’s inside. Firstly though, let’s explain a little bit about the background behind this book… With Outbreak we (and the ever-vigilant Rules Committee) wanted to create something that acted as a foundation for an online campaign but wasn’t tied directly to it. Instead, it’s a major update to the rules that also introduces two new factions (Mazon Labs and Nameless), plus a bunch of new units for existing factions. What’s more, Deadzone 2.0 was released in 2016 and the RC felt it was time to look at re-balancing unit stats where necessary. Think of Outbreak as Deadzone 2.1.
Anyway, with all that in mind, let’s run through the contents…
NAMELESS
The launch of the new Nameless faction is one of the key elements of Deadzone Outbreak. Warpath writer Christopher Verspeak has written a new background for these be-tentacled horrors and this is all explained in Outbreak. Alongside this you get the full faction listing for the Nameless, along with small pieces of info about each unit. We’ll be exploring the Nameless in more detail tomorrow, so stay tuned…
NEW SCENARIOS
Something else the Rules Committee was keen to introduce in Outbreak were new scenarios. There are four in the Deadzone rulebook but, seeing as you roll a D8 to decide what mission to play, it made sense to expand this to eight. As a result in Outbreak you will find four new scenarios: Scatter, Divide & Conquer, Invade and Occupy. These scenarios will be used in the online campaign too. As well as introducing the new scenarios, the Rules Committee also went back to the four original scenarios and tweaked those where necessary. We’re really excited about this increase in scenarios and can see it being very useful for tournaments to ensure that things are kept fresh and exciting.
NEW EQUIPMENT
Another piece of feedback that came through the dedicated Deadzone community (#Deadzoneislife) is that the current selection of items wasn’t particularly well balanced. It tended to favour the more ‘shooty’ factions, rather than the close combat specialists. So, there are now four different item selections to choose before the game and this introduces four new items: Combat Blades, Shock Baton, Adrenaline Shot and Stimulant Shot. These alternate items are represented by the standard counters in the game, so there’s no need to buy a new set of counters.
NEW ABILITIES
With the introduction of new factions and some new units, it was time to also create a slew of new abilities as well. This has led to the creation of abilities such as Cloaking Device, Communications Relay, Evade, etc. What’s more, the existing abilities Fire Control, Knockback and Teleport have all been amended in Outbreak too.
NEW UNITS
As well as introducing the new factions, Outbreak also has a host of new options for the existing factions. For the Asterians, this includes the likes of the Support Drone, while the Forge Fathers get the new Thorgarim unit, Marauders gain Goran Auxiliaries, Rebs recruit the Teraton Shock Trooper, etc. It’s also the first time the Veer-myn beta list (which seems to have been in beta since Deadzone 2.0 launched) has been officially released in print. As you can hopefully tell from this, even if you’re not planning to take part in the summer campaign (because you’re being forced to go on a pesky family holiday or something), Outbreak is still a vital addition to your Deadzone arsenal.
NEW ELITE LISTS
Finally, if you like your themed lists, you’ll find Elite Lists for each faction (apart from Mazon Labs, as they’re already pretty elite).
Deadzone Outbreak blog week continues with a preview of the new Nameless faction! Hopefully by now you’ve already caught up on the structure of the summer campaign and found out what’s inside the new Outbreak supplement. However, at the heart of both the summer campaign and Outbreak is the arrival of a brand-new faction for Deadzone: the Nameless.
Buy why did we choose the Nameless? Well, following their introduction in DreadBall and the arrival of Project Oberon in Deadzone, they’ve always been a popular race within the Warpath Universe. After all, who doesn’t like Cthulhu-style space monsters with more tentacles than your local Sealife Centre? The answer is absolutely no one. NO ONE!
This love for the Nameless came to a head during the Star Saga Kickstarter when we introduced the Nameless as the core of not one but TWO expansions: Fear in the Darkness and Terror ihn the Deep. The introduction of the Nameless immediately saw the total start shooting upwards and we immediately had calls to make the Nameless into a Deadzone faction. However, this left us with a little bit of a problem – in the DreadBall background they’re described as a peaceful race
GENESIS OF THE NAMELESS
Never fear, we thought! The Outbreak supplement is a chance for us to really expand on the Nameless background and turn them from a bit of a joke faction into a fully-fledged (and fighty) faction for Deadzone. There was really only one man for the job: Christopher Verspeak! Christopher wrote the excellent First Strike novel and also contributed a lot to the Warpath Sourcebook.
He went back to the drawing board with the Nameless and began exploring their origins in more detail. We’re not going to spoil everything here but, in keeping with the DreadBall background, they’re mostly a peaceful and heavily religious race. However, with the aggressive expansion of the GCPS, one of the hostile religious sects within Nameless culture has decided the GCPS is a threat that must be wiped out. Although this militant group is mainly shunned by Nameless society, they’re attracting more followers by the day. If their incursion onto the planet Starfall goes well, it’s likely to encourage even more to join and the Nameless will become increasingly violent.
As such, the success or failure of the Nameless during the summer campaign will dictate how their culture progresses. Will they become a race determined to wipe out humanity, or will they continue to choose a more peaceful path? Only YOU can decide.
NAMELESS FACTION STARTER
The core of the Nameless faction will come in the form of a new Deadzone faction starter. This will include a brand new leader (in resin) and 17 troops (a mix of PVC plastic and resin). The Nameless are led by the powerful Psychotroid, a bizarre creature with Psychic attacks and the ability to cause enemies to flee.
It will be backed up by smaller minions, like the Scuttler and Inker, plus core troops such as the Caratid (similar to the DreadBall striker) and specialists like the lumbering Ogre. If you fancy a different leader for your Nameless troops, you’ll be able to pick up the Kickstarter Exclusive The Fear for just 15 Mantic Points or The Blight for £7.99. This will give you more options when battling it out on Starfall.
Currently there’s no faction booster for the Nameless, as this summer campaign will shape how aggressive they become within the Warpath Universe (and what extra troops they require), however that doesn’t mean we’re done with the Nameless releases…
GOLIATH
Releasing as part of the Star Saga line is the Nameless Goliath, however this mighty beast can also be used as a ‘vehicle’ in Deadzone. This is currently due for release in August alongside a Nameless Minion Booster for Star Saga – this will include 12 of the PVC miniatures, so might come in handy for Deadzone too if you want to bolster your troops. Both will be going up for pre-order in early July.
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BATHOMITE
A completely new unit for the Nameless is the resin Bathomite, which is also heading your way in August (just in time for the summer campaign). Again, this is another ‘vehicle’ for the Nameless and is shaping up to be an awesome miniature, as you can see in the concept art below.
THE FUTURE OF THE NAMELESS
What’s going to happen with forthcoming Nameless releases? Well, this is where YOU come in! With the summer campaign there’s the chance to shape the future of the Nameless. Will they become a thorn in the side of the GCPS? Could they ally with the Rebs to bring the GCPS to its knees? Will they retreat to their home system to nurse their wounds before another attack? This summer is just a taste of what we’ve got planned for the Nameless and we can’t wait to get our tentacles on more units in the future.
The Nameless Faction Starter, The Fear and The Blight (along with a host of other Deadzone-themed releases) will all be going up for pre-order on the Mantic website tomorrow (Friday). Will you be fighting for or against the Nameless in the summer campaign?
Star Saga backers are already getting the following Nameless
The Fear
1 Goliath
3 Ogres
3 Inkers
3 Scuttlers
3 Gunslingers
3 Riflemen
3 Assassins
Terror in the Deep adds The Terror and the Blight.
Hopefully the Psychotroid can be represented by an existing character/mini or is available separately but I might consider a Nameless faction set if there’s enough resin parts to provide for a good amount of variation to the standard PVC minis
I really hope Mantic nail the nameless releases. I love the concepts. I love the diversity of aliens Mantic brings to the tabletop. I would really hate to see CMON outcompete Mantic and kill their most interesting new lines with some cynical FOMO KS ploy.
Free Deadzone and Firefight .pdf downloads are going out to every newsletter subscriber today, here's the signup link for anyone who wants in, it's the full rulebook for both games:
Galas wrote: The models look good but the painter that has made those eyes did make a mistake
Yeaaaa my immediate thought: these models are better than these paint jobs Would be interested what a proper gribbly 'body horror' paint job does for these sculpts, something more bone and organic than Hive Fleet Googly Eyes.
Also FWIW Deadzone is looking pretty neat to me. I don't really want or need another sci-fi skirmish game, but I've enjoyed the Nameless designs - or the tentacled bipeds anyway, not really these generic buggy things - and their new big bug looks great, on top of Mantic's track record of doing very nice vehicles of late. So color me interested! If sad about these immediate minis
Not a fan of the sculpts, actually these are like the old Mantic miss sculpts, but the paint job is f.... horrendous. This is really a gakky way of promoting your minis. They are shooting themselves in the foot.
Free Deadzone and Firefight rulebook download links, full versions, exactly the same as the print books: The newsletter says its for a limited time only, so grab the downloads while they're there!
Very easy games to get into, the Mantic store is also doing a promo where you get a deadzone faction starter and faction booster for £39.99 (20% off) which gives you enough minis for both a very large deadzone strike team and about 1000+ points for Firefight.
I'm liking the Blight especially. Seems he and the Terror are supposed to be included in the Nameless Star Saga expansion (if we added it).
Hopefully this Deadzone starter doesn't fudge the Star Saga expansion, as I didn't add it at the time and planned on waiting til retail- wasn't a fan of how the Dungeon Saga expansions got shipped out for backers last time around.
I'm hoping all the expansions come out as planned because they all look good. I might also buy the nameless resins. I'm pretty happy with where Mantic has been going lately.
...ooooon the other hand, the set is really inexpensive at only £24.99 for the starter set that includes a bunch of the star saga plastics in addition to the two larger resins and four drone resins.
Seen in that light, these are not really all that bad. just wish the paint job was better.
It's a pretty good deal overall, there will, of course, be a faction booster as well which will have even more new resins in, we were given free reign to develop new units to make sure the list had lots of options beyond the star saga minis.
scarletsquig wrote: It's a pretty good deal overall, there will, of course, be a faction booster as well which will have even more new resins in, we were given free reign to develop new units to make sure the list had lots of options beyond the star saga minis.
So there is a chance that there will be Feromites? Or is the Ogre considered a redesign of them?
Anyway, very nice to hear that there might be coming more.
Well, yeah, it couldn't be that some people actually don't like them...
This is Dakka. If you dislike something it is bad. if you like it, it is good. There is no disliking and something still being okay, just not to your taste.
This is Dakka. If you dislike something it is bad. if you like it, it is good. There is no disliking and something still being okay, just not to your taste.
That's not unique to Dakka. It's most people, anywhere.
A Wise Man wrote:That's entirely on the individuals involved, nothing intrinsic to this forum. You'll find similar behavior anywhere a large enough group of people are talking about GW.
I like Mantic & have been involved with Mantic products since 2011. I've seen some lovely stuff (the Deadzone 2 PVC was great, as were the early Undead hard plastics). But I've seen a lot of bodge jobs and "Mantic..almost" stuff.
Those Nameless? The sculpts are crap, the paintjob isn't much better than drybrushing and massively thick highlight lines. They haven't even tidied up the texture on the base edges. Poor- very poor. They are such a miss. I like the rulesets and I look forward to playing more of them, and I'm looking forward to the summer campaign. But as time goes on it seems like while their rulesets are fun, they just don't have the budget/talent/capacity for the miniatures.
Any updates on them sending the missing vehicles that they knew were missing and we don't need to remind them about? That all seems to have gone rather quiet...
This is Dakka. If you dislike something it is bad. if you like it, it is good. There is no disliking and something still being okay, just not to your taste.
That's not unique to Dakka. It's most people, anywhere.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: I also am reminded I need to actually watch In the Mouth of Madness. How have I not watched it after all these years?
Same here, and I'm shocked and appalled at myself
Still a fan of the other Nameless, tentacle-faced mostly-bipeds ftw. Especially crab dude, good stuff. Just don't really have a use for these lumpies here, even if screaming flying polyp has its charms.
Azazelx wrote: Any updates on them sending the missing vehicles that they knew were missing and we don't need to remind them about? That all seems to have gone rather quiet...
They should have all been sent a few weeks ago. I opened a ticket last week as mine hadn't turned up, either, despite giving them the extra time to rectify the missing ones.
This is Dakka. If you dislike something it is bad. if you like it, it is good. There is no disliking and something still being okay, just not to your taste.
That's not unique to Dakka. It's most people, anywhere.
But here it's been honed into a bloody art form.
Eh, not really.
And besides, that's not helping either - just be the change you wish to see in the world here on Dakka Dakka!
Also, the sculpts are mediocre but the real offender here is the paint job - they really shouldn't have let that out into the world.
I can understand people not liking the designs of the creatures and the execution of the sculpts. There's a reason I compare them to low budget horror monsters and not mainstream blockbuster monsters. But comparing them to the old goofy nids? I have seen goofy nids. I own goofy nids. And these, sirs, are no goofy nids.
Mantic seems comfortable as king of the B-level miniatures. They have a lot of fun products, some that are even great, but no one will ever confuse their minis with Games Workshop, Kingdom Death or even Malifaux's.
To be honest, Mantic always struggled with the quality of their miniatures. Their motto is "cheap miniature wargames", after all.
Those Nameless really look like they escaped from an 80' SF movie, yeah. I'm not especially nostalgic of that design. But hey, still can be good for Space Monsters if the price is right.
Azazelx wrote: Any updates on them sending the missing vehicles that they knew were missing and we don't need to remind them about? That all seems to have gone rather quiet...
I got mine. It’s the non-missing vehicles that are missing for me! I’ve already submitted a ticket and those are on their way now too, though.
Mantic seems comfortable as king of the B-level miniatures. They have a lot of fun products, some that are even great, but no one will ever confuse their minis with Games Workshop, Kingdom Death or even Malifaux's.
I tihink part of the frustration with Mantic comes from the fact that it's so inconsistent. I have some of their plastic Asterians and Veer-myn, and they're lovely models. So they're clearly capable of producing quality miniatures.
Mantic seems comfortable as king of the B-level miniatures. They have a lot of fun products, some that are even great, but no one will ever confuse their minis with Games Workshop, Kingdom Death or even Malifaux's.
I tihink part of the frustration with Mantic comes from the fact that it's so inconsistent. I have some of their plastic Asterians and Veer-myn, and they're lovely models. So they're clearly capable of producing quality miniatures.
Their HIPS minis have all been really good lately (except maybe for the forgefathers). I'm excited to see how their new Vanguard HIPS minis turn out.
Their HIPS minis have all been really good lately (except maybe for the forgefathers). I'm excited to see how their new Vanguard HIPS minis turn out.
New forgefathers HIPS kits are quite good, but they still feel like some years behind GW.
And yes, I agree with Insaniak. The real trouble with Mantic is the incoherence within the same line of products. You can have the fine as well as the good and the "meh". It's either "hit" or "miss". Really suck when you play the faction that is in the "meh" category.
This is Dakka. If you dislike something it is bad. if you like it, it is good. There is no disliking and something still being okay, just not to your taste.
That's not unique to Dakka. It's most people, anywhere.
But here it's been honed into a bloody art form.
Eh, not really.
And besides, that's not helping either
"Negativity isn't the problem, pointing out the negativity is the problem."
I believe they have multiple people doing different projects. I know at least one Dakkite who has been approached recently by Ronnie about his painting style.
Azazelx wrote: Any updates on them sending the missing vehicles that they knew were missing and we don't need to remind them about? That all seems to have gone rather quiet...
They should have all been sent a few weeks ago. I opened a ticket last week as mine hadn't turned up, either, despite giving them the extra time to rectify the missing ones.
Have yours turned up yet? I'd prefer not to hassle them with a ticket, but if I have to, I will of course...
This is Dakka. If you dislike something it is bad. if you like it, it is good. There is no disliking and something still being okay, just not to your taste.
That's not unique to Dakka. It's most people, anywhere.
But here it's been honed into a bloody art form.
Eh, not really.
And besides, that's not helping either
"Negativity isn't the problem, pointing out the negativity is the problem."
There's nothing wrong with being critical or sharing that you're not fond of something. It's just as valid as stating that you like or love something. The problem comes when it's done with the intent of pissing on others' enjoyment of whatever the thing is, or is repeated ad nauseum, or is done with a "hater" mentality - see: endless threads on Mantic's models, Age of Sigmar, 40k 8th, Games Workshop in general. Of course, being a "water carrier" or "white knight" is just as problematic. Products should be able to stand up on their own merits, and attacking people because they don't like a product that you like - as though the product needs someone to defend it is kinda pointless.
As for my own opinion on these particular models, I think the models look bad - like terrible-level bad, and the paint makes them look worse. On the other hand, Mantic have turned out some good stuff lately, but then again, they're incredibly inconsistent. If you personally like them - cool, buy an army's worth and paint them up and play with them. No skin off my nose if you like something that I don't. But then the little pumps of plastic, resin and lead don't need you to defend them from my hurtful words, and you shouldn't need to feel that your enjoyment/appreciation of them is invalidated by me thinking they're bad.
Both "sides" need to learn to agree to disagree. Of course, in the faceless, consequence-free format of online forums, lots of people tend to feel that it's fine to act without a lot of maturity, deal in absolutes and needlessly be dicks to each other, because ONLY MY OPINION IS RIGHT, RITE??!?
Azazelx wrote: Any updates on them sending the missing vehicles that they knew were missing and we don't need to remind them about? That all seems to have gone rather quiet...
They should have all been sent a few weeks ago. I opened a ticket last week as mine hadn't turned up, either, despite giving them the extra time to rectify the missing ones.
Have yours turned up yet? I'd prefer not to hassle them with a ticket, but if I have to, I will of course...
The originals haven't but the replacements sent as a result of the ticket arrived a couple of days ago.
I am torn on this subject. Simple models at good price point is a good thing. Eye-watering paintjob (in the horrible as a raw onion to the face) is bad thing. So, I will wait for the price announcement and maybe pick up some of them. Or - I'll try my hand at sculpting alternatives.
Presently my main Mantic gripe is with their PVC panthers. Can these be worse?
As it’s not Sci-Fi or part of the Warpath Universe (Deadzone, Warpath, Firefight, Dreadball, Star Saga) it hasn’t been discussed in this thread.
I swear I looked for a Walking Dead thread and didn't see one. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. But I should point out that "zombie post apocalypse" IS science fiction. If this thread is explicitly for the Warpath Universe, the thread title should be updated to reflect that.
Star Saga wave 2 delayed also has a knock on effect for some retail releases.
Wave two shipping update - June 27th
We never like giving bad news but unfortunately that’s the case today. Although we were told by the factories producing the components for Star Saga that Wave Two would be delivered to us and shipped in July, we’ve recently been told by one of the factories in China that they’re running behind on production.
What does this mean for backers? Sadly, it means that Wave Two of the Kickstarter is unlikely to arrive with backers until early September. We’ve tried to work with the factory to bring this date forward but unfortunately, they’ve said they won’t complete production until August and then it needs to be shipped to the UK ready to be sent to you.
What’s in Wave Two?
Nameless minions
Nameless Goliath (aka Nameless Monstrosity)
Mission Creator
Character Creator
Bonus hard plastic miniatures
All the Optional Buys (e.g. the expansions, Beyond Eiras book, dice tower, etc.)
Although some Wave Two items are ready to be shipped, we want to ship everything to you in one parcel to make the process as smooth as possible and avoid any shipping errors.
In the interests of transparency, the Nameless minions will be released at retail in July as part of a new Deadzone Faction Starter, so you may see them in your FLGS over the course of the next month. However, the planned July retail releases of the Star Saga Terror in the Deep expansion, Nameless Goliath and Star Saga Nameless Minion Booster have been pushed back to late August to be more in line with the Kickstarter delivery.
We’re extremely sorry that Wave Two has been delayed once more and fully understand how frustrating it is for backers (it’s frustrating for us too). We’ll update backers once the production is complete and will give a more definitive answer about the expected delivery date too. Once again, we’re very sorry about the delay and thank you for your patience while waiting for the remainder of your pledge to be delivered.
Well at least it's just a printing issue and that's easier to sort than a miniatures issue but yet more delays. I cancelled some store orders from Mantic as I wanted them along side the KS stuff but they keep getting pushed back.
The cynic in me might think they don't want to be shipping Vanguard and Star Saga at the same time and Vanguard takes priority.
Mantic Games
4 hrs ·
Following the Marauder Raptor's appearance on Kenny Boucher's Next Level Painting channel we've had a number of requests from people wanting to pick one up.
Mantic Games
4 hrs ·
Following the Marauder Raptor's appearance on Kenny Boucher's Next Level Painting channel we've had a number of requests from people wanting to pick one up.
You can pick up both of these incredible deals until October 31st or while stocks last.
That’s not all – until October 31st you can use the code ORCY20 to get 20% off orc/Marauder products on the Mantic website. You could grab a Deadzone Faction Starter. Just enter the code ORCY20 at the the checkout! This offer is only available until October 31st.
I'd have been sorely tempted if they had such a deal with any other faction. The Deadzone marauders do nothing for me, and I already have a bunch of HIPS orx, or whatever they're calling them now.
I'd imagine they're piggy-backing off of GW releasing Orks now...and are giving the $-friendly alternative, which can net them some big sales. It's actually a pretty awesome marketing strategy. Kudos to them!
Yeah if it was any other faction I'd get some but not the Marauders. Hopefully they are trying to clear their stock of them for an eventual replacement but really this is just Mantic trying to get a slice of Orktober.
DaveC wrote: Yeah if it was any other faction I'd get some but not the Marauders. Hopefully they are trying to clear their stock of them for an eventual replacement but really this is just Mantic trying to get a slice of Orktober.
100% agree. However, I find the basic GW Ork boys uninspired, so these work for me.
Psychopomp wrote: Are the Goran Auxiliaries the ones that combine fantasy orc sprues and restic bits?
They are fully HIPS but come from a time when Mantic couldn’t afford to do new Warpath sculpts so they converted over their Fantasy sculpts so the base mini was the KoW orc but it had some sci if bits added and a new mold was made
Polonius wrote: That's honestly a lot of minis for the price. That's basically the same cost as the Deadzone Marauder booster (cheaper in USD) for a lot more stuff.
Spitballing here... three of them for $105 nets you four 30 man slugga mobs, two 30 man shoota mobs, six burna boys, and six big guns.
Unfortunately, though, they'll look like Mantic Marauders...
Psychopomp wrote: Are the Goran Auxiliaries the ones that combine fantasy orc sprues and restic bits?
They are fully HIPS but come from a time when Mantic couldn’t afford to do new Warpath sculpts so they converted over their Fantasy sculpts so the base mini was the KoW orc but it had some sci if bits added and a new mold was made
Oh, wow...I completely misunderstood how those worked for years, then. Thank you.
There's nothing wrong with Mantic's Marauders. I'd be interested in this deal if it weren't for the fact that I already have a ton of Marauders, myself.
Polonius wrote: That's honestly a lot of minis for the price. That's basically the same cost as the Deadzone Marauder booster (cheaper in USD) for a lot more stuff.
Spitballing here... three of them for $105 nets you four 30 man slugga mobs, two 30 man shoota mobs, six burna boys, and six big guns.
Unfortunately, though, they'll look like Mantic Marauders...
Hah, was just going to say the same. To top it off, they'd be PVC. I owned a few of them from Deadzone and... yeah. Almost couldn't give them away. Took me 3 years to get rid of them.
Deadzone Orx are pretty great looking, but I don't care for a bucket of the old HIPS "Fantasy Orx in chainmail with goggles and a raygun thrown on the sprue"
lord_blackfang wrote: Deadzone Orx are pretty great looking, but I don't care for a bucket of the old HIPS "Fantasy Orx in chainmail with goggles and a raygun thrown on the sprue"
This, I like the Commando Marauders, but the Goran/Orx on the other hand...
Email just now that Star Saga wave 2 is finally going to start shipping soon
From next week we will begin the pre-shipping bagging and assembly, getting everything together into sets and packages for picking. Our aim is to start shipping of the second wave from the 15th November. As always, we will let you know once shipping begins.
they've had to go to a local printer to get some of the stuff done too, presumably China was dragging it's feet over completing the order
From next week we will begin the pre-shipping bagging and assembly, getting everything together into sets and packages for picking. Our aim is to start shipping of the second wave from the 15th November. As always, we will let you know once shipping begins.
they've had to go to a local printer to get some of the stuff done too, presumably China was dragging it's feet over completing the order
Didn't they have this issue with the cards as well? I recall them having to do those on the fly locally as well. Recalling that event is why I'm a bit more forgiving with this sort of delay.
Though Mantic really shouldn't be working with that company anymore if it's the same one.
I'd guess part of the problem is they may well be trying to get everything delivered in a smallish window to let them maximise warehouse space for day to day trading, rather than having stuff printed then sitting on it for months taking up space
so when things do slip it's always right before delivery
I wouldn't put it past China for Mantic to have walked from a printer who wasn't getting it done, found a new agent from a new company, negotiated a new deal, and then on signing day had the agent walking them back to the same factory through a different entrance.
- New Intel Deck for Deadzone - changing goals throughout the game
- There are new units and minis in the works - Marauder leader mentioned.
- Deadzone Mercs getting rebalance and getting their own faction list
- Possible weather effect rules for DZ
- No new terrain planned for Deadzone/Warpath - they are kind of out of ideas they have an idea for 1/2 a terraincrate but not enough to fill even one so no Sci-Fi terrain crates for now - terraincrates will be for scatter type stuff rather than the buildings which are done.
- Stuntbot to return in resin and will be getting new alternate arms
- Pathfinder on monowheel in resin will be back as well possibly with alternate riders GCPS mentioned.
- Vanguard has taken all of their resin casting capacity this year so they couldn't do these before.
Under 2kg your stuff will just arrive, over 2kg they'll send via courier so you'll get a tracking email
unfortunately (as we've come to expect from mantic)
Retake the Blackstar Station note - for those of you who have ordered Retake the Blackstar station expansion and the Expansion Mega Bundle, here's a quick note regarding the Veer-myn minions. In the book and on the packaging it shows you will receive 1 x Shocker and 2 x Fuser. Unfortunately, there was a packing error when putting together the minis in this expansion - which we spotted as we were preparing to ship out wave two - so you will receive 3 x Shocker or 3 x Fuser.
Unfortunately, we're unable to provide replacement miniatures as the factory only produced enough overall to cover the Kickstarter. However, there is a set of arms in the minion bag for the other miniature, so if you've got a decent pair of clippers, you can cut off the arms currently on the minion and replace them with the spare ones. We realise this isn't ideal but it can be done. Also, you will still receive the stat cards for the Shocker and Fuser, which you can use during missions. We're very sorry about this last minute hiccup but the expansion is still playable with the miniatures provided - particularly if you are able to replace the arms.
It's not clear what stopped them opening them up and correcting the mistake since they spotted it before anything has left the building as even if they only ordered enough to fulfil these orders the total number of fusers & shockers should be right.
It's not going to be a huge number of people effected so it shouldn't take a huge amount of manpower to fix
No one in with the “almost” yet poor response for what is supposed to be a board game converting figures just doesn’t cut it.
Anyway Black Friday Sci-Fi deals including Valkyr bundle!
SCI-FI BUNDLES
We’ve got a great selection of ‘crazy’ bundles that will be perfect for Deadzone players looking to start a force, Firefight players want to bolster their faction or Starfinder RPG fans that want to add miniatures to their games. From Friday you’ll be able to get:
Enforcer Crazy Bundle (4 Defenders, 2 Medics, 10 Pathfinders, 2 DOG Drones and 2 Clear Plastic Jetbikes)
Plague Crazy Bundle (11 3rd Gens, 1st gen, 3 2nd Gens, 3 Plague Hounds, 2 Plague Swarm and 2 Teratons)
Asterian Crazy Bundle (Overseer, 12 Cyphers, 6 Wardens, 2 Primes and 3 Sky Razors)
All of the above cost £14.99/€17.99/$19.99 each.
To accompany the sci-fi Crazy Bundles, there’s also a Scenery Crazy Bundle that comes with five sprues of Battlezones scenery (mixing sci-fi and Red Brick terrain), plus connectors. There are plenty of ways to build this combo of parts, such as the mini factory Dave put together as a demonstration. Of course, the more you buy, the bigger the structure you can build. Crazy Bobby’s house is actually made from Battlezones scenery.
Talking of scenery – do you need some scatter for your sci-fi games? Perhaps you need some pieces for your Starfinder games? Well, great news because you can get a bundle of the Starship Scenery and Starship Doors for just £19.99/€24.99/$29.99.
DREADBALL BUNDLES
Following on from the DreadBall Xtreme and DreadBall Second Edition offers we mentioned yesterday, there are also some team offers going live from Friday too.
Matsudan Crazy Bundle – Matsudo Tectonics team, Blaine MVP, Kickstarter Exclusive Captains (Raiden, Frank Burke, Romeo Blue and Na’Huatl) and Kickstarter Exclusive Coaches (Fergus and Tracer)
Cyborgs Crazy Bundle – New Eden Revenants Team, Blaine MVP, Kickstarter Exclusive Captains (Raiden, Frank Burke, Romeo Blue and Na’Huatl) and Kickstarter Exclusive Coaches (Fergus and Tracer)
Yndij Crazy Bundle – Ninth Moon Tree Sharks Team, Blaine MVP, Kickstarter Exclusive Captains (Raiden, Frank Burke, Romeo Blue and Na’Huatl) and Kickstarter Exclusive Coaches (Fergus and Tracer)
Neobots Crazy Bundle – Draconis All-Stars Team, Blaine MVP, Kickstarter Exclusive Captains (Raiden, Frank Burke, Romeo Blue and Na’Huatl) and Kickstarter Exclusive Coaches (Fergus and Tracer)
All of the above will cost just £14.99/€17.99/$19.99 each. What’s more, it’s worth noting this is currently the only way to buy the Ninth Moon Tree Sharks and Draconis All-Stars without having to purchase the two-player starter set. You will need to get the Collector’s Edition rulebook for the stats though, but that’s on offer too. Hooray!
WARPATH REINFORCEMENTS
Finally, we’ve got a selection of much-requested items for Warpath that will be heading your way this Friday. Perfect for expanding your Warpath army or adding to your Deadzone reinforcements.
Marauder Commandos – still need more Marauders after Orcy’s Mega Deal? This contains 10 Commandos and 5 Goblin Snipers
Rebs Troopers – join the rebellion with 10 Rebs Human Troopers, 10 Yndij and 5 Sorak
Plague Aberrations – why take 1 Aberration into the shower, when you can take 3?
Forge Father Valkyrs – you asked, so we’ve obliged. Finally, you can get the Forge Father bikes without having to buy more Deadzone boosters. You’re welcome
Marauder Raptors – seems like orc vehicles are popular at the moment, so why not get three for less than a fiver each?
Just like our other bundles all of the above are £14.99/€17.99/$19.99 each and we’ll have some bundles of the bundles that will save you even more money. Because Crazy Bobby wouldn’t have it any other way.
That's a truly awful response on the Blackstar Veer-myn problem. I'm all for converting models, but missing out on a promised original sculpt - a completely different soldier type, even - isn't ok.
I was interested in Blackstar but, fortunately, didn't trust Mantic enough to pre-order it via Kickstarter. If they re-release the minis in the proper mix later, I might pick some up.
Got mine on Monday not impressed the minis are poor quality the Rebs in particular these are no where near the level they managed for the Warpath PVC minis some have no face the detail is so poor and the production quality is very cheap at least they sent the retail packaging with the wave 2 stuff so I might off load it at some point. For all of the delays it looks like they just said sod it get out and forget it. Lesson learned between both “Saga” games no more Mantic board games they just don’t put the effort in. It’s clear Vanguard got all the resources put into it instead.
DaveC wrote: Got mine on Monday not impressed the minis are poor quality the Rebs in particular these are no where near the level they managed for the Warpath PVC minis some have no face the detail is so poor and the production quality is very cheap at least they sent the retail packaging with the wave 2 stuff so I might off load it at some point. For all of the delays it looks like they just said sod it get out and forget it. Lesson learned between both “Saga” games no more Mantic board games they just don’t put the effort in. It’s clear Vanguard got all the resources put into it instead.
Ouch! Sorry (but not surprised) to hear Mantic basically pulled a Mantic on this.
I'm glad I only took the core pledge and a few extra furniture sets (of which we can also throw in the garbage anything with parts less than 5mm thick).
Actually just another annoying thing the red dye they used for the original minions is different to the first batch it’s much darker now not a problem if you paint them but some consistency would be nice. The furniture is as bendy as ever.
Aye with the material switches on Star Saga, Terrain Crate and Warpath(vehicle parts) im done with anything none Hips style hard plastic minis that Mantic makes, so far ive spent $300+ on rubbery gak when it was supposed to be the harder PVC used in TWD
This is some advance warning that these forums will be closing shortly. The last day will be the 17th December 2018. We have noticed over the past couple of years that traffic on the forum and regular users have both decreased. As a result we’ve taken the difficult decision to close the forums. We’ll still be able to answer rules questions via social media and we’ll produce articles on the Mantic Blog too.
Many thanks to all of you for your contributions and conversations on the pages here. Special thanks are extended to the moderators who have kept things ticking over for us in the background.
If there is any content you wish to keep, please download and save it before the final closing date.
Just in case anybody uses them occasionally and hasn't noticed (like me) the Mantic Forums are set to close permanently on 17th December
The plastic for those KS/games were supposed to be in a "hard" PVC blend that was used on Mantics The Walking Dead game, that material was nice and held detail well and the minis were pretty sturdy but the plastic isnt hard enough to snap if dropped on the floor like proper hard plastic minis.
The 1st sign of a change was in Terrain Crate where none of the terrain items were made from the new material but the bendy PVC used for the Dungeon Saga furniture, then parts of at least the Asterians Warpath vehicles got the bendy PVC(i think that was to replace resin or restic), then Star Saga base game come with imo the same plastic used on TWD(others disagree) but the furniture had been replaced with the bendy PVC, then we get SS wave 2 and all minis(bar the 3 hard plastic sprues of existing DZ/WP minis) have been made in the bendy PVC and in some cases the detail is non existing on some minis faces/guns/bodies, badly glued bases/arms(wave 1 & TWD were 1 piece casts IIRC), no idea if any material changes on KOW as i didnt back it.
Mantic have some cool ideas but cock it up doing stuff like this, so if its not hard plastic sprue minis from them as i can not fault those, il be avoiding it.
Star Saga wave one had a lot of two piece preasembled minis.
Disheartening to hear that the rebels came out so badly. That was the faction I was most looking forward to. Between that and the Veermyn screwup (or rather how Mantic is refusing to handle the Veermyn screwup), wave two has been a fairly big misstep for a company that seemed they they had finally gotten their crap together.
Disheartening to hear that the rebels came out so badly. That was the faction I was most looking forward to. Between that and the Veermyn screwup (or rather how Mantic is refusing to handle the Veermyn screwup), wave two has been a fairly big misstep for a company that seemed they they had finally gotten their crap together.
Thanks for the correction, i only glanced at wave 1 minis under a crappy light when i got wave 2, but arnt the bases and bodies on wave 1, 1 piece?
I was looking forward to the Veermyn myself, there hard plastics are outstanding imo
The Matsudan is fine for the most part poorly assembled as are most of the mutlipart minis but had decent detail to begin with. The factory really flung these together and most will have to be broken down and reassembled if you plan to paint them. The blue PVC seems to have held detail slightly better. I was surprised by his size I thought they were bigger but he's human height.
The beige minis (Rebs) seem to have lost the most details although they have finer proportions to begin with but it's evident on the Simians fur as well and normally larger minis survive PVC better. I've said it before but even if the PVC mix is the same for all minis the dye seems to have an affect on the hardness and detail. Dark Grey seems to hold up best and no it's not just the colours tricking the eye.
The Vanguard minis are better they are in the dark grey colour but even there I ended up discarding heads and weapon arms and swapping them for HIPS stuff from my bits box - KDM armour kits are a prefect fit. I have some ME Broken faction minis that I might use to fix up the Rebs and some of the GCPS plastics can swapped around but the PVC GCPS and HIPS are different sizes and don't mix that well.
these are the Nameless minions that just arrived for me (you got another set in the pack too). The plastic is a harder PVC as found in the walking dead and most recent CMON games (certainly not green army men plastic some are talking about)
the actual casting is decent although there are plenty of mould lines, and the usual annoying 'twisted off the sprue' divots, assembly is not great with a fair few bits broken off where the glue has given way (not too bad, a bit of clean up and re-glue and that's sorted)
the problem here is the sculpting with the detail just not being deep enough in many places to come out well in the PVC which is frustrating as they SHOULD know better by now (the colour doesn't help visually but it isn't the issue). My guess is if you sprung for the resin they'll look a lot better as shallow, blurry details will be sharp and as intended
I don't feel cheated at $15 for the set, just sad that with a little extra effort the would have been so much better
I got my wave 2 yesterday. Didn't have time to really go over the miniatures, but the Nameless Goliath looked pretty nice.
I was a little disappointed by the Mission Creator rules...it's pretty much just the same ol' Gamemaster Chapter advice from a roleplaying game: Location, Theme, Baddies, Story, and Playtesting, etc, etc. Not an actual rules system. Though, I suppose my old gold standard (the original Warhammer Quest) was pretty much the same way. At least there's a big ol' stack of minion cards to serve as a Warpath bestiary. I wish there had been some random facility generation cards for tile layouts, so you could do a truly random, co-op game.
One weird thing to me was that I got all the expansions in shrink-wrapped retail packaging....but the miniatures weren't in there. They were packed separately in bags. Why did they shrinkwrap and include incomplete retail packages?
Miniatures and printing/packaging were done separately as there was a delay on the printed materials side so Mantic already had the minis and I assume the printed stuff arrived sealed. Mantic put the 2 parts in the delivery box and Backers can put the 2 together for a full set. Remember originally retail packaging wasn’t even going to be given
The delay is that although the miniatures arrived as expected (and they look great), we had several issues on the printed materials - and these have not arrived.
Picked up my SS Wave 2 today. No formless blobs in my (core only) pledge, tho the detail could (should) definitely be deeper.
I also ordered 3 extra sets of furniture, of which I got 1 retail packaged Sci-Fi Terrain Crate and the other two loose in a zip lock bag. The odd thing here is that the warping is much less than in the core game box (or the fantasy terrain crates) and even the table-with-benches piece came out perfectly good. I don't even know why they would cast these in two separate batches, but apparently they did.
The question is, would it be possible to turn other Nightstalkers into Nameless?
While I like the concept of the Nameless, most models are from the old days of Mantics design low.
I first thought about purchasing some Tyranids to use the bits to boost the faction starter (mainly claws and heads and the Carnifex looks perfect as Ogre or Terror)
But now the obvious solution is the use the much better looking KoW models to upgrade the Nameless
I mean replacing the Caratid with those is easy
Using the Reaper as Assassine too
But Gunslinger or Rifleman are more difficult (what weapons to use and better using the plastic Scarecrows as base or the Reapers?) especially as I like the Gunslinger model but not as duplicates therefore using the Scarecrows would be the better solution
PS: asking here because the Mantic Forum is gone and I haven't found a dedicated Deadzone topic
Thanks to the huge success of Hellboy, it means our warehouse is due to get very full, very quickly in a few weeks as we prepare to deliver the Kickstarter. So that means we need to clear some space. In fact, we need to clear a LOT of space. The good news foryou, is that to help generate that space, we're holding a WAREHOUSE CLEARANCE SALE! Until 9am (GMT) on Monday, March 18th you can grab a host of frankly ridiculous bargains!
No only that but we're also halving the minimum spend for free shipping! So until March 18th you'll only need to spend £25, €35 or $40! Just remember to make sure you're paying in the correct currency for your country. See the delivery details section for more info. Anyway, let's take a look at some of those sweet, sweet clearance sale items!
New contaignment protocol supplement each year focusing on a different theme.
Next one (June 3rd) is Escalation - 120 page book
- Something for every faction at least 1 new unit each.
- Rules rebalancing
- 2 mat scenarios 350 - 400 point games
- Interactive terrain rules - objectives - terminal hacking etc.
- Mercs faction rules - not the most balanced more extreme
- Some Mercs will be a direct option for the faction they belong to
- Rules for Star Saga minis - Volt Chasers Veermyn
- Alpha Simian is Merc leader
- Online campaign
- Intel Deck - tactics deck - random events extra VPs.
- Stunt Bot rerelease in June with new weapon options.
- Monobike rerelease - 3 versions original Pathfinder, GCPS version and Rebs version with Sphyr rider.
It looks like Mantic HQ was professionally turned over at some point after Saturdays open day
Mantic Games is feeling disappointed
So after a fantastic Open Day on Saturday, we arrive to these scenes at the Mantic Bunker this morning !! It was a pro job, so if anyone who attended spotted people behaving strangely please get in touch. Thanks
- Intel Deck - tactics deck - random events extra VPs.
- Stunt Bot rerelease in June with new weapon options.
- Monobike rerelease - 3 versions original Pathfinder, GCPS version and Rebs version with Sphyr rider.
Looking forward to those in particular
I really like the Enforcer Scouts Monobike and a Reb version will be a nice addition for those.
Certainly computers, I doubt the thieves were after their miniatures.
I don't know if you noticed on the picture, but given the door, no wonder they just demolished it. It's clear it was junk. If they have insurance, I'm not sure they will do something if they have that kind of security for their building.
It's kinda ironic to call their place the bunker, but yeah, it sucks they got that while they were at the Open Day.
Cue Kickstarter of terrain doors to fund new door at HQ.
Sad to see it happen, but as said above, that doesn’t look like the sturdiest of doors to protect what I imagine to be a business with lots of electronics.
Oh man, that's awful. I hope it wasn't as bad as that door breach suggests... Presumably no one was around or even within earshot. That's going to produce a lot of noise tokens (sorry, wrong game)
Yeah, that's why they're looking for witnesses. Classic case with thieves when faced with complex lock and weak door - just ignore the lock and beat the door. They don't need to be professionnal or have a lot of stuff to smash a door like this. You just kick it strong until it breaks, as the blows shown on the picture kinda suggest it.
If you really want to be mean, though, you could say the irony here is that they have a history of using low quality material for selling their products at a cheap price - and that their broken door is a sad allegory of that.
Is that a Mantic Kickstarter "You think it's a steal but in the end you're the one getting ripped off" joke?!?
All kidding aside - getting robbed is horrible and I really wouldn't wish it on anyone.
It is probably worse when it is your home (which I had happen to me once - it was awful to come home to that!), but still, this sucks and here's to hoping the thieves get caught, and caught quickly!
If they don't have adequate insurance this could really put them in big trouble. It isn't cheap to replace so many computers plus all the lost work and files etc.
I'm a little surprised at the cavalier and a bit cruel attitude many of you here have taken about it. This could potentially sink them.
Mantic have made many mistakes, but they have also done some pretty amazing things given their origins. The community is enriched by having them be strong and thriving.
Yup, opinions on their models aside, Mantic have done a really impressive job of building themselves up into an actual player in an industry where that's incredibly difficult. and I very much suspect that their example has been no small influence on other little guys trying to make a go of it.
Having all that hard work ripped away by some bottom-feeder breaking in the door would be heartbreaking, so I hope it all turns out ok for them.
Stop being bitter freaking nerds, guys. I mean, really....come on.
Mantic has had some hits and some misses. Show me a company in this hobby which hasn't. Doesn't mean they earned such a thing. Even just Kings of War alone is awesome (some bad minis, but the rules are great fun to a ton of people.)
I’m a fan of Kings if war, however when they called myself and other backers Liars saying we either didn’t order the Kickstarter stuff or we had received it and then later found the computer glitch that ate out orders and gave no apology I have little respect for them.
I think it sucks that someone broke in and stole their items, but I’m not going to cry to hard for them either.
Theophony wrote: I’m a fan of Kings if war, however when they called myself and other backers Liars saying we either didn’t order the Kickstarter stuff or we had received it and then later found the computer glitch that ate out orders and gave no apology I have little respect for them.
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Theophony wrote: I’m a fan of Kings if war, however when they called myself and other backers Liars saying we either didn’t order the Kickstarter stuff or we had received it and then later found the computer glitch that ate out orders and gave no apology I have little respect for them.
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When did that happen?
During the Kings of War second edition Kickstarter. A bunch of us backers info was “misplaced” in the computer system and when they placed their orders for Blaine on the dinosaur and Ronnie the bard they didn’t have enough because the true numbers were not known to them. They also didn’t have enough stock ordered or produced for wound counters and other stuff, so when they finally discovered that people weren’t lying, they didn’t have the product they needed to fulfill so some of us waited longer. No apology given, though they sent me an extra Ronnie when they were already short for other backers. This was when their resin company decided they couldn’t make anymore of the Blaine on Dinosaur, so I think (been a few years now) that they got Prodos to make them some.
In the end I got my order, but it killed any hope of me buying more Mantic stuff. I know at least two others in my area who also swore off Mantic because of this Fiasco.
I fully understand your feelings regarding Mantic and how they handled the situation
But than a KS is always a "risk" at some point and not just an extended pre-order kind of thing (although some companies use it like that).
I backed a KS once (not Mantic) and won't do it again, the same as I will never again pay for early access, pre-order a PC game or use GW Mail Order to pre-order something.
Never had problems with (pre-) orders from Mantic directly
kodos wrote: I fully understand your feelings regarding Mantic and how they handled the situation
But than a KS is always a "risk" at some point and not just an extended pre-order kind of thing (although some companies use it like that).
I backed a KS once (not Mantic) and won't do it again, the same as I will never again pay for early access, pre-order a PC game or use GW Mail Order to pre-order something.
Never had problems with (pre-) orders from Mantic directly
I understand Kickstarter risk, but this was not really that, but a really screwed up situation that was poorly handled by all involved (myself included as I was less than pleasant to deal with).
Anyway, I wish them well in recovering their loses.
It was 3 non-critical laptops (we have no critical laptops) and some cash that was taken. The door in the picture was an internal door to the servers and some HR/accounting files. It wasn't the main door to the building. They'd have had to have gone through steel shutters to do that.
No data was lost. We work in the cloud. On prem servers all back up to the cloud too (we have on and off site backups of everything).
mattjgilbert wrote: It was 3 non-critical laptops (we have no critical laptops) and some cash that was taken. The door in the picture was an internal door to the servers and some HR/accounting files. It wasn't the main door to the building. They'd have had to have gone through steel shutters to do that.
No data was lost. We work in the cloud. On prem servers all back up to the cloud too (we have on and off site backups of everything).
Good to hear, best of luck finding the perpetrators!
Exciting news Deadzone fans! Command Protocols: Escalation is now heading to the printers and will be available to order soon. It's clocked in at a mighty 120-pages
palaeomerus wrote: Hey cool, the Sunty-bot mech is back! I always wondered why they let that one lapse as it was one of their better designs.
QFT. And I'm pretty sure it's back with additional arms too, might be able to dig up a pic ... because I've totally been watching this one in case I actually do an AdMech army, gonna need punchy robots and Stuntbots are way more appealing than Kastellan pulp bois
Gruntbot looks quite a bit better than the renders! Much bulkier / stouter than in progress. Also happy to see more Sorak - like the Dug in Star Wars, I'm a fan of this kinda derpy alien design One more release and I'll probably slap together a squad for sci-fi team shenanigans of one flavor or another. (EDIT: Tho it would be SO much easier to do that if I could piece the Rebs out by species )
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Is that a mix of the old Deadzone "restic" Rebs and the new Star Sage boardgame plastic Rebs? Is the Star Saga expansion available on its own yet?
Weird.
Might explain why you get 2 of some of these guys but 1 of others.
The Feromite is metal. Monobike and Gruntbot are not specified but I'd assume they are resin. The rest is PVC.
The Rebs Alpha Strike team is a mix of 1 set of the old "restic" Rebs plus the new PVC Rebs from the Star Saga Devil's Betrayal expansion which is not yet released to retail with 1 each of Shayo Silverback the new Rebs faction leader and the Grogan "Twin" character. If you got the Devils Betrayal from the KS you pretty much have everything except the old Rebs.
I am tempted to get a Gruntbot and paint it up for my Ork-playing friend. He always goes on about his Grot boss, might be high time to suit that goblin up and tear some faces off.
