This is a thread for News and Rumors related to Mantic Games' Kings of War and Dwarf Kings Hold games.
Darsc Zacal on Mantic Games Forums wrote:
GENERAL MANTIC NEWS -The new Kings of War hardcover rulebook is being planned as a June release. It will feature 8 armies and include rules for sieges, magic items, tournament play and special advanced rules.
-Only 7of the 8 armies will have been produced by the time the rulebook is released.
-3 new armies will be coming in an expansion to the rules in 2014, rather than rushing to get them into the hardback.
-Ronnie expects this version of the KoW rulebook to have no major revisions for the next 5 years.
-With the rules being fixed for the next 5 years, Ronnie expects Mantic to focus on boardgame style releases for 2 months of each year, with miniatures being the focus the remaining 10 months of each year.
-New warhost-style starter sets coming, with rules, dice and wound counters to give people a lower entry point to the game.
-Expect Orcs & Goblins vs Undead in the starter set.
-Mantic will soon be launching their own Podcast. The first episode will focus on the upcoming Pandora boxed game and will feature an interview with games designer Jake Thornton.
-Ronnie has stated that starting in 2012 it's Mantic's intention to alternate monthly releases between their systems, with a few surprises being thrown in of course.
DWARF KING'S HOLD - Ancient Grudge is the latest expansion for the Dwarf Kings Hold series of games.
- Introduces multiplayer rules, warbands, new races, and a couple new rooms to the game series.
- Because it is an expansion, and not a full game on it's own, you will also need one of the previous Dwarf Kings Hold sets to use this set.
ELVES No news or rumours for Elves at this time.
UNDEAD -The next miniature undead unit will be 3 "giant wights". no further info on them yet.
DWARVES -Ronnie has again stated that Dwarven Cavalry will eventually be released. No timeline given however.
-Ronnie also has mentioned them as mounted on Badgers. Although it's unclear as to whether this was a joke or meant to be taken seriously.*
ABYSSAL DWARFS -Ronnie has confirmed restic releases for the Abyssal Dwarves for later this year. They will include restic halfbreeds as well as large mortars, while the other releases will be announced at a later date.
-Slave Orcs will be part of this release. Ronnie has stated they will be based on the current Orc sprues although likely with different arms. Their official Mantic paint scheme will also like be something other than green, to reflect the fact that they have spent a lifetime underground.
ORCS -Rumours are that Orcs with bows will be coming out at a later date.
TWILIGHT KIN/EVIL NAUGHTY ELVES No current news or rumour updates.
GOBLINS -Ronnie has confirmed a plastic(unclear if restic was meant) unit of goblin archers will be released later in the year.
-No release date given, but Ronnie has stated that the archers are currently away being tooled, so it's sounds like maybe a bit sooner than later.
-Ronnie has also stated that the goblin spearmen will be redone plastic (possibly he meant restic). It sounds like this is planned to be done in time for the new KoW starter set.
Werewolfs *Insert howls of delight from gaarew here*
-Confirmed by Ronnie. We can expect werewolfs later this year. Ronnie stated they will be plastic, but again he might have meant restic. No further details yet.
TROLLS -Trolls are currently in the works and could be released before the end of the year.
-It's a little unclear how big a release this will be, but expect them as supportive units rather than their own army.
OGRES -Rumblings of Ogres from Mantic have been going on for quite a while now, and I'm pleased to say that Ronnie has confirmed they will be released as a mercenary unit after the trolls, so we're likely looking at Ogres early in the New Year 2013.
-I have to admit I was hoping for an Ogre army, but a mercenary unit is at least a start.*
HUMANS -Indications are that Ronnie feels that humans are already well represented in the Fantasy market by other manufacturers plastic ranges. It sounds like there are no immediate plans for Mantic to put out their own.
-Whenever mantic does do them, expect the first human army they do to be of a "good" alignment base.
DEMONS -Demons were mentioned for the first time at Mantics Open House. No further details on this possible army yet, although they might just exist as possible support units for the Twilight Kin army list.
Looks like the box will be Undead vs. Orcs and Goblins, which is good because those are mantic's 2 best-looking model ranges.
As an aside, I think I understand the design behind the orcs and goblins now, it seems like they are inspired by fish with big fangs, it explains the facial shape.
-3 new armies will be coming in an expansion to the rules in 2014, rather than rushing to get them into the hardback.
These 3 new armies are now confirmed to be human-based and "Angels/Paladins", "Nature" and "Evil".
I think they are just meant to look like the classic kind of 'orc' trope? I had some old illustrated Tolkein books, and in some D&D stuff they have more of that kind of cunning, evil look. World of Warcraft as well for that matter.
Thanks for opening this thread though Cyporiean
Just heard the Mantic event in Swindon next weekend has been cancelled, which is a great shame! Was really looking forward to seeing what kind of new stuff was on its way.
Also, if you look closely at the pic, you'll see 5 different bodies, which means the sprue will at least be a 5-goblin job, with seperate heads and arms... *or* that that picture is a hybrid unit consisting of 3 of the exisiting metal goblin bodies and 2 new plastic ones:
Here's a pic of the metal goblins for reference, you can clearly see 3 different bodies and all of the heads present from the metal kit in the archer pic posted above, the three in the centre of the archer unit are the same bodies and heads as the metal spears, and the 2 at each end appear to have bodies from the new plastics instead.
Only thing we're not sure on at this point is if the spears will move to plastic at the same time as the archers (would be quite easy to do by replacing the bow parts of the sprue with spear and shield parts).
I'm hoping they will, it would be great to have a proper goblin release of plastic bows and spears, people have already said loud and clear that they're not that interested in either restic or hybrids for them, but would go nuts for plastic.
Also, the Warpath box didn't get much in the way of plastic, which wasn't very well received, so I really hope mantic get more than a 2-goblin archer sprue out in time for the new KoW boxset, it would really, really pay off for them to put some real investment into the goblins now that we've confirmed that the sculpts look awesome.
frozenwastes wrote:If mantic makes plastic ogres that are not dumpy mongolians, I'll definitely be happy.
I'd favour a similar approach. GW's monstrous races are less than human, and I'd like to see that done differently. A race of giants that possess a more complex personality than "eat stuff" would be more my thing.
The goblins look awesome.
I like the Mawbeast handler better. The handler looks like it comes from a martial race (think Hobgoblins from D&D) one could imagine with classical-era armies of phalanx or legionnaires, something the actual rank and file fail to live up to.
Mr. Thornton has started something of a "Living FAQ" on his blog, fine fellow that he is t'would seem he's willing to answer queries directly if they're posted as a comment.
A gaming system that is simple, clearly written and innovative. Written by Alessio Cavatore, Kings of War is an easy-to-learn fantasy battle wargame that is simple, tactical and innovative.
All of the rules have been fine-tuned after thousands of games and hundreds of pieces of feedback from the gaming community – it is a game written for gamers, by gamers that allows you to play large-scale games with lots of miniatures quickly, or fun, competitive games in tournaments.
The new 144-page full colour rulebook also features new expanded rules for Campaigns, Terrain and Siege Warfare, as well as an in-built tournament pack.
An ever-expanding Miniatures range at an affordable price Six armies are now available with an ever-expanding range of miniatures – from horrifying Undead, brutal Orcs all the way to proud Dwarfs and stoic Elves – Check out the shop to see the full range of fantasy battle miniatures.
A fantasy battle game written for both the Casual and Competitive Player. With an innovative turn sequence, a built-in tournament pack and the option to play timed games, Kings of War is a fast and simple game that naturally lends itself to competitive events. It’s such a good fit, even our own tournament organizers have been able to play whilst running the event!
A fantasy world brought to life The Kings of War world has been developing behind-the-scenes for months and the new Rulebook finally lays it to bear. With a detailed map of the new world and the history of the land and its races, this rich fantasy realm is one of war and bloodshed where kingdoms clash in epic battles.
Kings of War "Assault Force" boxes are starting to appear as pre-orders.
There's 4 different ones, for Elves, Orcs, Dwarves and Undead.
According to rumours, they will include a copy of the rules, a ton of figures and stuff like wound counters and dice, to make them a proper starter set, with the armies balanced against each other, so you can play one box against another.
£30 each, for sale 23rd of June alongside the new rulebook.
I gotta say I like those. the faces are excellent, and the armour is really nice too. If I didn't already have a squillion goblins of various kinds, I'd be picking some up!
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Katsuchan Launcher
$24.99
August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Half-Breed Cavalry
$34.99
July
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Immortal Guard
$29.99
August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Blacksouls
$34.99
August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Decimators
$24.99
August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Army
$74.99
August
Kings of War Rulebook 2012
$34.99
July
Kings of War Starter Set
$74.99
August
Kings of War: Orcs Assault Force
$59.99
July
Kings of War: Undead Assault Force
$59.99
July
Pricing looks largely the same on the Abyssal infantry, although keep in mind that these advance lists are often wrong by quite large amounts (For instance, some webstores already put the assault forces up for pre-order for much less than $60). Plus, it *might* be a case of a complete restic reboot,so that the models are no longer hybrids based on the fantasy dwarves. The army box going down in price by 25% to £50/$75 certainly suggests that.
There was also something about Mega Army sets, for Orcs/ Undead/ Dwarves/ Elves/ Abyssals for $174.99, although I'm not sure if that's a new release or a re-release of the existing ones.
These are NOT new releases but sold for about a year, or do I miss something?
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Katsuchan Launcher $24.99 August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Immortal Guard $29.99 August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Blacksouls $34.99 August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Decimators $24.99 August
Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarf Army $74.99 August
The Abyssal Dwarf Half-Breed Cavalry seems new. Not sure about the newly named army deals.
Oh, on Vermyn: Officially they are NOT Fantasy miniatures.
These are new resin plastic releases, the entire range is being changed from metal hybrids to resin plastic to make them cheaper (or at least, make the army box cheaper, since restic and metal hybrids are about the same price).
No idea how much of the original metal sculpts will make it into the new resin plastic versions at this point, more previews coming this week.
Halfbreeds are all-new sculpts, only the metal halfbreed hero was released last year.
I'm pretty sure they are just normal orcs, the only differences I can see are the dude in the back with the whip and the weird thing on a rock at the front!
Kurgash wrote:I never understood why you would arm your slaves with fine armor and weaponry, such a waste of material resources.
Not to mention if theres a revolt......
that would depend on your means of control.
if, say, they were addicted to some chemical only you can supply they're hardly going to kill you. that can be exploited.
and of course the best means of control will always be giving some of the slaves some power over the others. not much, but enough to keep the infighting going. just hang a couple of revolutionaries as examples and you'd have no problems at all.
Pacific wrote:I'm pretty sure they are just normal orcs, the only differences I can see are the dude in the back with the whip and the weird thing on a rock at the front!
Yeah I think so too. But I must say, I much prefer the "slave" colour scheme to the official orc color scheme. It really makes them stand out and look more menacing.
Oh - all sorts of new surprises from Mantic today.
The goblins looks nice (and note to Mantic - preview models on terrain look loads better) but it appears the Rabble and Sharpsticks are just the plastic archers but with metal weapons & shields. :/
I'll be interested to see the Mawbeast packs and "War Trombone" though.
Schmapdi wrote:Oh - all sorts of new surprises from Mantic today.
The goblins looks nice (and note to Mantic - preview models on terrain look loads better) but it appears the Rabble and Sharpsticks are just the plastic archers but with metal weapons & shields. :/
Yeah, from what I've heard this is a stopgap solution to get the models out there. Plastics to follow whenever they can afford it.
Still, they're reasonably priced for hybrid metals, costing only £17 for 20 compared to the plastics at £14.
The new Abyssal Halfbreeds are £20 for 10, which is an excellent price for cavalry.
Schmapdi wrote:Oh - all sorts of new surprises from Mantic today.
The goblins looks nice (and note to Mantic - preview models on terrain look loads better) but it appears the Rabble and Sharpsticks are just the plastic archers but with metal weapons & shields. :/
Yeah, from what I've heard this is a stopgap solution to get the models out there. Plastics to follow whenever they can afford it.
Still, they're reasonably priced for hybrid metals, costing only £17 for 20 compared to the plastics at £14.
The new Abyssal Halfbreeds are £20 for 10, which is an excellent price for cavalry.
It's not the price (though cheaper is generally better) - it's the metal-ness of it all that makes me sad. *Fingers crossed that the Kickstarter gets resin/plastic components for them instead*
Also I noticed in the Mantic blog from the day before the Kickstarter that Mantic is possibly thinking of doing the Orc Slaves as a full restic kit, or maybe add-on components for the plastic orcs. I fully encourage that. (As spiffy as the new paintjob is - it can't hide the fact that the slaves are conspiuously well-armed/armoured).
I never looked at buying any mantic cos I dont like the look of the models. I only have dwarves fantasy, and their Dwarves just didnt look as good to me as the GW ones, I think cos I like a more cartoony look, but those Gobbos look bang on. I even prefer them to the GW night goblins.
Hence I've decided Ill start another army, I just changed my kickstarter pledge from 100$ to 225 and Ill get a gak load of Goblins.
Really interesting news in an email I received from Mantic this morning:
Alessio Cavatore has often stressed that he wanted a game that could be used well in a tournament setting, and it looks like they are pushing forward with it. What do people think of this? Good idea, or going to create an unpleasant playing environment ?
Email subject: Win £1000
Many of you know that the Clash of Kings Tournaments are coming next year - but we have something very special planned!
We believe that Kings of War is a fantastic gaming system. However, we also realise that switching to a new game is a big commitment - so we wanted to offer a reward that recognised and sweetened that effort (don't forget you can always use your miniatures in other gaming systems too !
We are offering a once-in-a-lifetime cash prize pool of £1500 for both the UK and the USA Clash of Kings Tournaments.
Clash of Kings UK National Tournament Held on the 8th/9th February 2013 at Maelstrom Games’ Eye of the Storm, you'll play six exciting 1800 point Kings of War games across two days in the first Mantic Kings of War tournament - using the brilliant new Hardback Rulebook. The USA tournament will be held during Adepticon in 2013, and the exact format will be finalised nearer the time - but the prizes will be exactly the same format (excpet it will be in dollars, not pounds!)
While we don't think playing your favourite hobby for money is necessarily a great plan, because these two are the inaugural Clash of Kings tournaments we really want to help hobbyists make the switch to this gaming system. The more people that do, the more people we'll all have to play against!
Here's the breakdown of the prizes:
Tournament Champion - £1000 (or $1000 for the USA tournament)
Second Place - £350 ($350)
Third Place - £150 ($150)
Kings of War is at home with both casual players and competitive gamers and we will also have prizes for Best Painted Army, Most Sporting Player and much more!
There’s no reason for not playing, so download your tournament pack here. If you'd like to know more, Ronnie's made a last minute dive in front of the camera and produced this video here!
I'm in - where can I get my ticket? Tickets for the UK National are now available from the Mantic webstore at a special launch price of £12.49 which includes entry to the two day tournament and lunch on both days. You can also download the official Clash of Kings Tournament Pack here.
As we have said we will also host a Clash of Kings US Tournament at Adepticon in 2013 (Date TBA) where there will be a prize pool of $1500 up for grabs and we'll have additional prizes and hopefully loads of fun as well - so look out for a future newsletter for more details!
Ive got a question, I wouldnt mind rocking up to the tourney for a laugh, but I as yet dont own any models, I just bought the big ass Gobbo one from the Kickstarter, and it says they wont be delivered until September 2013?!
Is that just a mistype, cos all the other ones are September 2012, or am I not going to be able to enter because I wont get my stuff for 15 months?!
mattyrm wrote:Ive got a question, I wouldnt mind rocking up to the tourney for a laugh, but I as yet dont own any models, I just bought the big ass Gobbo one from the Kickstarter, and it says they wont be delivered until September 2013?!
Is that just a mistype, cos all the other ones are September 2012, or am I not going to be able to enter because I wont get my stuff for 15 months?!
Think they confirmed somewhere that it was a mistype.
I always loved the mini army boxes of Mantic. They are doing everything right in order to help you convert your buddies.
It's basically "choose your starter box" Whatever army it is you like, you can choose one of those reasonably priced 30 pounds boxes and have a go, each one also get's a mini rulebook. It doesn't get much better than that! I hope they will keep pushing these out for every army they make! They are by far my favourite Mantic product and it's also my favourite gift present for Wargaming buddies.
Also.... very happy to see the 14 pounds for 20 mini price being continued. The Goblin plastic are a fine bunch and I hope they do have these awesome little gimmicks on their sprue, like Dwarven beer mugs, little dogs, knocked out soldiers or mini Orclings. A lot of the time I am hording sprues just because of these little gems.
I hope the Future for Warpath is just as bright as it is for Kings of War, because once the (hopefully extremely monstrous looking) ZZ'or get released I am buying the crap out of them!
If I read my survey correctly, there are two versions of the book coming out. One is the basic rulebook which is supposedly shipping and the other is the version with all the kickstarter names ($100 or more) in it. That's due sometime mid July if I remember right.
A quick question: I'm putting together and painting some Dwarves and Undead for a friend's Dwarf King's Hold (as a surprise) - how many of each do I need, and do they need to be armed in any particular way? Also I vaguely remember hearing something about bulldogs and bonepiles - do they need doing too? How many?
Cheers!
Some previews of 4 of the kickstarter units (not all parts are shown in this pic), they're making good progress on these already:
I was going to hold off on posting the pic since it's supposed to be for backers only, but it's already posted on a bunch of other forums, so one more can't hurt:
Hmmm.... those Ogres show some promise. I do notice a continuing trend that there really is a lot of variability in not just the quality of Mantic's sculpts, but also in their.. theme, I guess? Serious, cartoony, what have you. Different lines and all that. Interesting...
I'm getting a bunch of those brutes...got the email already with concept art and my ogre army will be looking good. Sub those guys in and kit ash with big monster units from regular ogre kingdoms. Woohoo!
Hmm maybe these could be used as a decent count as Warmachine thing....
Great idea. Perhaps as the ogryn demolition guys or maybe as some sort of hordes warbeast substitute.
I think Legion has two types of blighted Ogrun and Cryx has Ogrun pirates (!)... I could see some of these guys standing in for them, depending on how weapon loadouts go. The PP units tend to be uniform, so all 2hand weapons, all runs, etc.
I'm really curious to see more about the werewolves...
Hmm maybe these could be used as a decent count as Warmachine thing....
Great idea. Perhaps as the ogryn demolition guys or maybe as some sort of hordes warbeast substitute.
I think Legion has two types of blighted Ogrun and Cryx has Ogrun pirates (!)... I could see some of these guys standing in for them, depending on how weapon loadouts go. The PP units tend to be uniform, so all 2hand weapons, all runs, etc.
I'm really curious to see more about the werewolves...
I heard that the hardcover books have been making their way out to customers now. Has anyone got theirs yet and would like to write some comments on it?
Mantic have now released versions of many of their rules in a digital format, including:
- Kings of War 148 Page Rulebook
- Kings of War 32 Page Mini-rulebook
- Mantic Journal Issue 1-3
- Project Pandora: Grim Cargo Rulebook
Pacific wrote:I heard that the hardcover books have been making their way out to customers now. Has anyone got theirs yet and would like to write some comments on it?
Mantic have now released versions of many of their rules in a digital format, including:
- Kings of War 148 Page Rulebook
- Kings of War 32 Page Mini-rulebook
- Mantic Journal Issue 1-3
- Project Pandora: Grim Cargo Rulebook
Concepts for all 3 of the werewolf minis, separate heads and arms for all minis, so you'll be able to get some good variation going if you've got loads of them:
As with the ogres, looks like 2 body variants, but lots of different heads and arms will feature in the kit.
Yes I hope so.. although the minis have been much closer over the past 6 months or so (at least with the Corp and some Forge Father stuff) so here is hoping!
Not sure if this has been posted yet? Got an email today from Weyland Games about the new Kings of War boxset.
They have an offer, next 100 people to buy any Kings of War item will receive a free limited edition Dwarf King mini and an A5 copy of the rulebook.
Also, details of the new 2-player battleset, designed as an introduction set for new players I guess:
Total of 95 minis, and everything you need to play, RRP is 49.99GBP (Weyland have it on offer for 39.99)
Box contents:
- 32 Page Mini Kings of War Core Rulebook
- Dice
- 20 Plastic Skeletons with full command, armed with Hand Weapons and Shield or Spear.
- 10 Plastic Ghouls Extra weapons and accessories
- 20 Plastic Zombies
- 5 Plastic Resin Wraiths
- 20 Plastic Goblin Spitters Champion Bows
- 15 Plastic Orc Ax Troop with full command, armed with Hand Weapons and Shields
- 5 Plastic Resin Gore Riders with full command, armed with spears
- Orclings
- Mantic Points
- Bases
There are also some 'army boxes' on sale now, again Weyland have them on offer for 23.99GBP (RRP is 29.99)
At the moment these are available for Undead, Orcs, Dwarves and Elves.
Phew, thought I would post this and give Scarletsquig a break anyway!
That Dwarf King is a fan-made sculpt from a member of Warseer, sculpted to match the poster art of the dwarf king.
He showed it to Mantic, they liked it and cast it up. He was working on some alternate Drakon sculpts too, but I haven't heard anything from him in a while.
It's a great sculpt, hopefully it'll be available outside of this wayland deal at some point.
I wonder what those might be, though. Going through the list the only things not either released or due through the KS are a ballista, a catapult, the slasher and giant; now those latter two would be pretty huge - I can't see it being either of those as the resources required would be significant and with what's available in plastic goblins that would NOT be a smart more so either they add a war machine we can easily get from third party sources and the demand for which is, perhaps, dubitable, or they release the much-needed fleabag riders before KS backers get theirs.
If that happens, gak will hit the fan - they promised not to...
I might be wrong in an assumption or two, but don't count on it :|
or they release the much-needed fleabag riders before KS backers get theirs.
If that happens, gak will hit the fan - they promised not to...
Did they promise not to? My recollection is that they'll spend 6 months ish sculpting all the new bits then when they're all done I get some of everything, but if they want to release bits to retail as they complete them that's fine and up to them.
Yes, they certainly did.
Really, I wouldn't mind that much (though even if it doesn't matter to me all that much, breaking such a promise does not instill all that much confidence in their next project in me - and I'm a good way towards fanboy territory with mantic...) but there's plenty of folks who'd be positively howling if that happened.
Actually, they stated on the kickstarter that some sculpts *might* hit retail first. The question was asked, and it was answered.
At no point was a hallowed "promise" made, unless someone can quote me a more recent official statement on the topic.
It certainly wasn't a promise made on the Dreadball KS. Only promise that was made was the shipping deadline.
If if retail gets some minis in advance (and it's quite clear at this point that the internet will stage a full-on toys out-of-the-pram hissy fit if they hit the shelves even a single day before KS deliveries) you'll still get the bulk of your minis (around 80% of them) months at the same time or in advance of retail. Same as Dreadball, only the basic game went to retail first, everything else is going to KS backers 1-6 months before anyone else can get it.
The KoW Kickstarter represents the entire 2013 release schedule for KoW, so what exactly can they release in the first 3 months of 2013? If they hold back too much stuff that they've got ready to go just because a few KS backers will go into rage mode at the drop of a pin, they won't be left with anything to release!
Dreadball? Nope, same problem.
New board game/ Plague? Yes, for 2 of the months, that sounds likely... keeping the bulk of the exciting Warpath stuff on hold for the kickstarter, though.
KoW? Possibly just the Goblin Mincer. That was sculpted and finished 5 months ago.
They might hold off on releasing it for another 5 months after the DB reaction though, and just release a couple of metal warmachines instead, and if we're *extremely* lucky a plastic sharpstick/rabble sprue that doesn't have the tooling problems of the plastic archers.
I find it interesting that there's 50% off goblin spitters on their webstore currently, it's possible that they want to get rid of what's left of their stock of the older sprues to make way for newer and better ones.
The goblin release has been a bit of a drag really, I was looking forward to it, and the sculpting is brilliant, but having the metals come out (which are great, but too expensive), and then having the plastics come out (which are cheap, but look like ass because the Chinese manufacturing company forgot that they weren't working on kinder egg toys this month).
I really want to just plain have a high quality box of 100 gobbos for £50, none of this hybrid metal or melty sprue nonsense. The sculpts are the best in the KoW line, its a real shame that they've failed to get the tooling they deserve.
@ScarletSquig
Hmm, I'll have a look later this week - I firmly believe that promise was made. Oh well, as I said: I wouldn't terribly mind.
I'm not sure what my response would be to better gobbo plastics now. If you say there's a distinct possibility I'll hold off on assembling the spear/shield and hw/shield gobbos I'm just cleaning up the metal parts for - I'd probably be even more unhappy with the 180 rather bad models I already paid for :\
(though I must say they do still paint up surprisingly well for mass-battles effect!)
Do you have any of the metal goblins? do you know whether they come in the same parts distribution as the plastics do?
More to the point: could I get a bunch of the metals to form the front ranks for all my units and basically have quite a bit of the good of both worlds?
@Judgedoug
If that "Mantic Zombie Apocalypse" contains 35 models as the "(35)"suggests (yes, go captain obvious ) wouldn't that probably just be a repack of sorts of the corp zombies?
20x corp marines, 5x 3man zombie sprue?
Though I'm not sure what the Mortis would be, then...
"Zombie Apocalypse" has been confirmed by a staffer to be a repack of the Z-Corp, nothing more!
Do you have any of the metal goblins? do you know whether they come in the same parts distribution as the plastics do?
More to the point: could I get a bunch of the metals to form the front ranks for all my units and basically have quite a bit of the good of both worlds?
They all come in the same parts distribution, with enough parts for either 10 goblins or 7 + 3 command (which you'll want a lot of if you're using them for front ranks).
The detail is soooo much better on the metals, the plastics look like goop in comparison.
If they don't release new plastics, I'd actually be fine with them releasing the archers and rabble in metal, as £1.50 per model is still a pretty damn good price for metals.
I really have no idea if there will be anything new in terms of goblin sprues, entirely speculation. If it takes too long, I'll probably do something like buying the metal sharpsticks and the hybrid metal rabble in a 2:1 ratio.. that way I can have all-metal sharpsticks and rabble with only the spitters as plastics.
I personally wouldn't mind if, like, the Mincer was released. I'd still pick up a couple, even if I am getting a few from my KS pledges, as I need more than a few. Like the Orc Chariot/Fight Wagon... I'll be buying a half-dozen at least when they come out in retail despite my freebies from the KS.
I'm not sure what my response would be to better gobbo plastics now. If you say there's a distinct possibility I'll hold off on assembling the spear/shield and hw/shield gobbos I'm just cleaning up the metal parts for - I'd probably be even more unhappy with the 180 rather bad models I already paid for :\
(though I must say they do still paint up surprisingly well for mass-battles effect!)
I got about 50 or so gobbos assembled and primed, tried to paint some, and then got too depressed to do anymore. The rest are mouldering in their box. Still a bit pissed they shipped the sprues when they looked like that. But, then I look at the price and remember I paid nearly nothing for them, so c'est la vie.
czakk, is that a KS pledge? If so, wanna sell me your goblins? I'm looking for more if you're dumping 'em cheap. I like the models enough and need more for my army. PM me if you're interested.
It doesn't have a unit quantity next to it. I'm guessing it's some sort of character/war engine/necromancer/etc that's big and tough enough to have his own $20 box.
scarletsquig wrote: "Zombie Apocalypse" has been confirmed by a staffer to be a repack of the Z-Corp, nothing more!
Do you have any of the metal goblins? do you know whether they come in the same parts distribution as the plastics do?
More to the point: could I get a bunch of the metals to form the front ranks for all my units and basically have quite a bit of the good of both worlds?
They all come in the same parts distribution, with enough parts for either 10 goblins or 7 + 3 command (which you'll want a lot of if you're using them for front ranks).
Have 5 command sets from the KS batch already of course, and no way are all my rabble getting command groups!
The detail is soooo much better on the metals, the plastics look like goop in comparison.
...so basically the metal bodies/heads have the same level of detail as the metal bits for the hybrids? cool!
If they don't release new plastics, I'd actually be fine with them releasing the archers and rabble in metal, as £1.50 per model is still a pretty damn good price for metals.
Oh Feth of course, there's no metal bow arms. Ookay, that's a bit of a downer. Still, I'll live
I really have no idea if there will be anything new in terms of goblin sprues, entirely speculation.
Okay, that saves me abit of nerd-rage
I mean, if that happens 2-3 years from now - all good. half a year after receiving this stuff? naah, wouldn't be happy
Guess I might dig up my rubber and resin and recast a bunch of the heads from that metal kit, maybe. see if I get some better detail that way (and more importantly - see if my patience lasts that long ) too. Not feeling guilty at all over that
@Czakk
As you can see I have some issues with the models, just as you do. however, when done right (light color primer, bunch of creative washes) they do work well enough for mass battles work. It's never going to be better than the old "3 feet awesome" standard (and even 3 might be stretching!) but for cheap-as-chips models they might be annoying to paint (and yes, they depress me just as much ) but when I look at the paint scheme tester on my desk from a distance, I do get the idea that, well, yeah - I could do with an army of those.
I'd just prefer some better front ranks
...One good part about the softness of the detail is that you can get away with painting the entire head green and it'll look okay. Nothing of those stupid bits of cloth for me
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judgedoug wrote: It doesn't have a unit quantity next to it. I'm guessing it's some sort of character/war engine/necromancer/etc that's big and tough enough to have his own $20 box.
it would be cool if they put out something fancy just to go with those Z-corps. However, what would that be? $20 is Iron Ancestor level pricing if I'm not mistaken - that's a big kit to invest in for something which is very much a sideline bonus mini...
All this goblin talk has inspired me to finish assembling my KS goblins today. I'm going to be painting the army using the 24-hour-army challenge... spray prime brown, drybrush tan lightly on clothes and heavily on spear/bows, paint skin and anything metal (swords, spear heads, shield etc) then dip!
I've gone for something a bit more bold: Prime yellow (yes. yellow. and brightly ), paint metals metallic (duh) and bows off-white, wash everything except skin sepia twice, wash skin green two or three times.
Your method sounds good too, though. I might have to test a model like that as well - see how it works
Yellow... interesting!
I'm thinking of actually using the citadel foundation yellow/orange color for their skin. Who sez gobbos need to have green skin?
ohh no, you misunderstand!
Painting bright yellow, then applying a wash or three of, say, biel-tan green is actually the fastest way to get good looking *green*skins
Oh, no, I got ya, but you saying prime yellow/wash green is what was 'interesting', which the yellow part of it is what reminded me of what I might do.
The level of detail reminds me of the old citadel Warhammer Regiments box set of plastics that came with orcs, goblins, dwarves, dark elves, wood elves, and skaven, all static pose but with two different heads and weapons. (I loved that box set, my first Orc army was full of those figs)
judgedoug wrote: I've also heard they were horrible, but I have 200 of them or whatever. They're not great, but they're not bad either. Details are a little soft.
I found them a little disappointing individually, but ranked up in a block of 20, they'll look fine on the tabletop. Add some nice character models and they'll be perfectly servicable army.
If the best that can be said about a model / group of models is that they look fine in a block of 20 / are "serviceable"... well, those are not models that I want.
I think that'd be the same for most people, unless at a steep discount to fill out an army with on the cheap. But if they're at all similar in price to better gobbos, it'd be no contest to go with the alternative.
RiTides wrote: If the best that can be said about a model / group of models is that they look fine in a block of 20 / are "serviceable"... well, those are not models that I want.
I think that'd be the same for most people, unless at a steep discount to fill out an army with on the cheap. But if they're at all similar in price to better gobbos, it'd be no contest to go with the alternative.
Fortunately Mantic stuff is a a steep discount, averaging less than a dollar a dude if you go for the larger sets. Even the small sets of plastic rarely run more than $1.50 a dude.
You can buy 40 goblins for $25 off the Mantic store currently.
Also, to put everyone's minds at ease - Mantic are aware of the problems with the goblin sprue, aren't happy about it themselves and won't be releasing any more hard plastic until they're certain the issue is fixed. This isn't going to be a permanent thing, they do want to move back to hard plastic in a big way, but resin plastic is going to be the status quo for a little while longer until they can find a way to make that happen.
They waited until a full 6 months after the goblin sprue was released to announce that Celestian Men-at-arms and a generic horse sprue would be made in hard plastic and released in June this year.
So, there's good odds that they've used that time to find a new supplier that is capable of understanding that the minis are not simply disposable children's toys and that a shoddy detail-less sprue will not be "good enough".
That's the problem with getting stuff done in China, most of the manufacturers there are geared towards "low quality, pile 'em high, cheapest price possible" production because that's what most Western clients want, to sell the cheapest-to-manufacture, worst product they can get away with for the highest price they can, thus maximizing dividend yield for their shareholders.
If you need high quality, they're not so good. It took Wargames Factory three years to figure out that the wargames market is more like the scale models market than the "kiddies toy" market. Now that they've come to that understanding, they are producing sprues which are massively superior in quality to anything that GW has ever produced. (double-slide core tooling for as many undercuts as you want, coloured plastic casting, tolerances so precise that working hydraulics and posable ball joints can be used, almost *zero* mould lines).
If Mantic stick with the goblin manufacturer for their future sprues in the hopes that they'll improve, they'll have an extemely uphill struggle to convince them that high quality is required.
There's also the small matter that the people who made that sprue don't actually know what they're doing.. someone on the Mantic forum who works in plastic injection noted that the vents/gates/ whatever were all really horribly placed and it looked like an amateur job by someone without any training.
I hope one of the goals with the Warpath KS is to move plastic manufacturing in-house, like Reaper did with theirs.
There's a lot of people in the UK with the skills to do this sort of thing, but there just aren't any jobs going for them after the economy tanked and Airfix etc. went bust and others in the plastics industry fired a load of staff.
As long as Mantic can get hold of the equipment, it should be dead easy to find the staff to use it. You can even get away with a single person who really knows their stuff if most of your sculpts are digital (helps to hugely reduce the cost of hard plastic tooling by automating the bulk of the milling with modern CNC tech, rather than the laborious and tedious pantograph method that Renedra use).
Even GW switched to digital sculpting 5 years ago, so you know you're really in the stone age if you're unwilling to make use of it. Dreamforge have already produced more hard plastic in 2 months than Mantic have in 3 1/2 years, at 1/5th of the manufacturing cost (It costs $60k to tool a 5-man sprue from Renedra, using "ye olde dinosaur pantograph and 3-up" methods, and $8k for WGF to tool the exact same sprue, using digital sculpts as the base).
If they know they're low quality and are unhappy with them, I don't know if they should really be selling them. Not everyone reads forums/reviews (most don't) and might not assume discount = poor product, but just excess stock or the like.
Some more Men-At-Arms concept art, this time with the posing of the bodies that will appear on the sprue:
Latest rumblings from Mantic are that the staff are all really happy with how the Celestian range is looking.
We also know that they're the last models to be sculpted, so there's good odds that the sculpting phase of the KoWKS is nearly complete, with a move to get everything tooled over the next couple of months.
Those look interesting! Any word yet on who is doing the sculpting for them?
ScarletSquig, really like your idea of trying to get plastic manufacturing done in the UK - and like you say there should be the staff with the engineering prowess. GW are able to produce plastics in the UK and still make massive profit from it (someone did a break-down of the costs recently on another part of the forum - not as much as you would think comes from the production costs). So, the potential would remain for them to release a box set, but without the hyper-inflated prices presented by GW (or at least, I hope! )
Pacific wrote: Those look interesting! Any word yet on who is doing the sculpting for them?
ScarletSquig, really like your idea of trying to get plastic manufacturing done in the UK - and like you say there should be the staff with the engineering prowess. GW are able to produce plastics in the UK and still make massive profit from it (someone did a break-down of the costs recently on another part of the forum - not as much as you would think comes from the production costs). So, the potential would remain for them to release a box set, but without the hyper-inflated prices presented by GW (or at least, I hope! )
Not just GW, most of the plastic historicals out there were tooled by Renedra.
scarletsquig wrote: Some more Men-At-Arms concept art, this time with the posing of the bodies that will appear on the sprue:
Latest rumblings from Mantic are that the staff are all really happy with how the Celestian range is looking.
We also know that they're the last models to be sculpted, so there's good odds that the sculpting phase of the KoWKS is nearly complete, with a move to get everything tooled over the next couple of months.
Nice! I thought they were going to be corporation with the goggles taken off
Well, if those arms are going to be supplied with open hands as the undead were and poses one and five are going to be produced as shown, I guess it won't take long before we see diorama's of "the dancing basileans".
Not a bad thing, there's plenty of dynamic poses going to be possible with that stuff. I just hope and pray they found a better manufacturer than they used for the goblins. These concepts really deserve a decent final product!
And it seems Mantic will be one of the very few to deliver a major KS project entirely on time now.
It seems to be overlooked by cynics a bit, but that alone is a good indication of how well they've got their stuff together - hardly any major project gets delivered on time and KoW isn't exactly the least complicated of them all.
There being talk of WG buying their own machines, though, means they'll be quite a few months off from having them operational (these things tend *not* to be available off the shelf!) let alone getting into the business of running them for others.
Nah, I don't think that'd be workable in time even for the WP KS...
Pacific wrote: Those look interesting! Any word yet on who is doing the sculpting for them?
Highly likely to be Bob Naismith sculpting them. Before everyone despairs over "Not Remy", I'd just like to point out that the Undead and Orcs are both sculpted by him and he deserves a little more credit than he gets.
As long as he's working from quality concepts that actually stick to true-scale 28mm (dwarfs are too chunky, elves are too short), the models turn out pretty well.
The M@A kit needs to be *perfect*. If the sculpting is bad or the casting is as bad as the goblins then that'll kill the chances of them being able to produce any hard plastic for quite a while. Ideally they need to post sprue pics of it before starting the WP KS to reassure people that they've sorted it out.
(someone did a break-down of the costs recently on another part of the forum - not as much as you would think comes from the production costs).
Awesome, I'd be really interested in a link to that post. The tech is only getting cheaper and cheaper, and it might reach the point where eventually a solo sculptor can 3d-sculpt a mini, rent an advanced automated CNC machine to do all the tooling, then take the mould and rent a days machine time from a caster whenever they want another batch of 1000 sprues produced.
Highly likely to be Bob Naismith sculpting them. Before everyone despairs over "Not Remy", I'd just like to point out that the Undead and Orcs are both sculpted by him and he deserves a little more credit than he gets.
Actually, given how much Naismith has sculpted throughout the years, I'm really suprised he doesn't get more credit. Personally I prefer the Perry Twin's work on humans, but I've got no complaints about Naismith's work either.
To be honest im very nervous about Bob Naismith sculpting the Celestian Infantry, i had $100 of BOGOF Celestian choices included in my KS order and if they're poorly sculpted I'll be extremely disappointed with Mantic.
Its not that i think Bob is a bad sculptor, its just that so far i haven't really been impressed by most of the models he has produced for Mantic. which is odd because Bob has done some great plastics for other companies. (See below for Bob's Greek Hoplites for Victrix, and the Warlord games Celts that were used as stand-in infantry for the Kingdom of Men faction in the KOW rulebook.)
Spoiler:
(Edit.)
I was actually impressed with the quality of the zombies Bob produced for Mantic, just thought i would rectify that so i didn't sound so negative.
Is Dwarf Kings Hold worth the money? How is is for playing?
I've just come across this one, and saw the other two add on sets, and was really interested, seeing as I have a gakload of dwarves with nothing to do.
Well, it feels a bit on the expensive side given component quality according to many - but the game is fun enough
Be prepared to make sone custom box for it though!
Mr Gutsy wrote: To be honest im very nervous about Bob Naismith sculpting the Celestian Infantry, i had $100 of BOGOF Celestian choices included in my KS order and if they're poorly sculpted I'll be extremely disappointed with Mantic.
Its not that i think Bob is a bad sculptor, its just that so far i haven't really been impressed by most of the models he has produced for Mantic. which is odd because Bob has done some great plastics for other companies. (See below for Bob's Greek Hoplites for Victrix, and the Warlord games Celts that were used as stand-in infantry for the Kingdom of Men faction in the KOW rulebook.)
(Edit.)
I was actually impressed with the quality of the zombies Bob produced for Mantic, just thought i would rectify that so i didn't sound so negative.
My experience with bad works from good sculptors can often come down to concept art. Look at some of the figs out of Mierce/Maelstrom. They have some very good sculptors, and the flaws in the figs can often be traced to the concept art.
Given he did the zombies for Mantic, which I have and personally believe are among Mantic's best models, it shows he can do small limbs and delicate/thin features. I would be confident in getting a decent sculpt.
Interesting concepts, love the look of Berosos not too sure what to make of the second guy, he wouldn't look out of place in the next dynasty warriors game. Really looking forward to these Basilean guys they might just get me into Kings of War.
Has anyone got any ideas when these are coming out and how much of their range will be plastic?
Has anyone got any ideas when these are coming out and how much of their range will be plastic?
I think according to the KS its Q2/Q3 of this year? Cant remember
I believe the foot infantry will be another attempt at Hard Plastic (with mantic hoping better results compared to the goblins), mostly everything else the plastic-resin
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned that Mantic announced it is raising the price of its 20 man units by a whole pound-that's, what, like $1.50 in real money? Maybe nobody has mentioned it because, like me, they don't find $1.50 after the models have been out for 2-3 years to be a big deal (in the case of elves, dwarves, orcs and undead).
timetowaste85 wrote: I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned that Mantic announced it is raising the price of its 20 man units by a whole pound-that's, what, like $1.50 in real money? Maybe nobody has mentioned it because, like me, they don't find $1.50 after the models have been out for 2-3 years to be a big deal (in the case of elves, dwarves, orcs and undead).
Warlord has some similar price increases though only on their metal/resin stuff
timetowaste85 wrote: I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned that Mantic announced it is raising the price of its 20 man units by a whole pound-that's, what, like $1.50 in real money? Maybe nobody has mentioned it because, like me, they don't find $1.50 after the models have been out for 2-3 years to be a big deal (in the case of elves, dwarves, orcs and undead).
I've not seen/heard a word about it TBH. I just checked their blog and facebook page and saw nothing either. Do you have a source for this?
If they did, I do find it rather unwarranted and odd - considering how often one finds Mantic elves/dwarves/orcs in the clearance section.
Rolt wrote: Interesting concepts, love the look of Berosos not too sure what to make of the second guy, he wouldn't look out of place in the next dynasty warriors game. Really looking forward to these Basilean guys they might just get me into Kings of War.
Has anyone got any ideas when these are coming out and how much of their range will be plastic?
The second one is a mini modelled after a backer's wife. Please don't confuse a tastefully done woman for "some guy"--it will only lead to more chainmail pasties.
Mantic email wrote:
Santa’s Spring Clean was just a little tidy up of our range and we’re taking this opportunity to streamline our pricing so that it’s a little easier to follow!
The Corporation Rangers and Veterans are now £14.99
We’ve already lowered the prices going down (by up to £5) so you can take advantage of them over the weekend, including:
Warpath Plastic Forge Father and Marauder Grunt Platoons - down from £19.99 to £14.99!
Corporation Heavy Weapon Teams - down from £17.49 to £14.99!
Goblin Rabble and Sharpsticks - down to £14.99!
Some other products (mainly the Kings of War 20 Figure Regiments) will be going up by £1, coming into effect on Monday 4th February. This means that if you want to beat the price rise then you need to order this weekend!
Rolt wrote: Interesting concepts, love the look of Berosos not too sure what to make of the second guy, he wouldn't look out of place in the next dynasty warriors game. Really looking forward to these Basilean guys they might just get me into Kings of War.
Has anyone got any ideas when these are coming out and how much of their range will be plastic?
The second one is a mini modelled after a backer's wife. Please don't confuse a tastefully done woman for "some guy"--it will only lead to more chainmail pasties.
Funny, I recognised it as a female figure as well. I guess it's fair enough that there's confusion. There's barely any skin exposed and her breasts aren't massive! Lift your game, Mantic!
The £50 army boxes are remaining the same price with the same content, which is good, that's where most of your "making an army" purchases come from anyway, practically speaking.
And they've made a massive correction of their poor decision to make Warpath overpriced right from the start (pricing the plastic steel warriors and marauders at £20 for 20 without the quality to back it up).
Prices on all the basic Warpath kits have gone down to match what the KoW ones cost. Steel warriors box reduced in price by £5 (or 25%) is a very welcome change, the pricing never should have been that high in the first place.
Even the basic starter set has had an extra Iron Ancestor thrown in to make it better value for money.
So, yes, it's a slight price rise in some places, but on the whole it is also Mantic "reigning in" the price creep that was starting to seep into their new releases, charging extra "just because its sci-fi" or "just because the minis are elites". That left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths at the time. It's a lot more worthy of the title "price adjustment" than when GW uses that phrase.
They've set a new baseline of £15 for 20 hard plastic models, to be applied to their entire range.
The only outlier is the orcs, which are an odd case since they're on a 3-orc sprue and are larger models. Still, £25 for 30 isn't too far away from £15 for 20, just an extra 8p per model.
I missed the part where some things (Warpath) were going down at an appropriate amount. Kudos to Mantic. My previous comment sure wasn't a complaint either, it was merely a nod that Mantic barely raised prices on a select group of things, and nobody raised an eyebrow, when most of us comment heavily on other company increases. Of course, they also lowered prices on their Warpath models (thanks for that info SS). So all around, good example of "price-adjustment". Some up, some down.
And they've made a massive correction of their poor decision to make Warpath overpriced right from the start (pricing the plastic steel warriors and marauders at £20 for 20 without the quality to back it up).
Prices on all the basic Warpath kits have gone down to match what the KoW ones cost. Steel warriors box reduced in price by £5 (or 25%) is a very welcome change, the pricing never should have been that high in the first place.
...
it is also Mantic "reigning in" the price creep that was starting to seep into their new releases, charging extra "just because its sci-fi" or "just because the minis are elites". That left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths at the time.
You're bloody right there. What made it worse is the fact that the Warpath models simply aren't that good. They're baseline average for the most part, with a few nicer figures in metal, and a lot that are also below average. I wonder if their ongoing sales numbers were noticeably lower than they expected? Hopefully the combination of Remy and the Kickstarter coming up will move them forward, away from crappy recycled sculpts and hybrid kits and into a glorious new galaxy of possibilities! (see what I did there?)
No idea. Probably test proofs, it looks like they're in the vacu-sealed bags that the Chinese company provides their restic stuff in. So probably a "here's the first ones, make sure they meet your approval and we'll manufacature 50,000 of them".
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also is that a restic heavy enforcer?
apparently at the recent Clash of Kings, Mantic said they had a surprise license. I am guessing Deadzone is The Last Stand: Dead Zone, a popular online flash game where you survive in the zombie apocalypse.
If that's an underline indicating things related to Deadzone (like it's the header for the following list) then I can make out
Terrain features heavily into The Last Stand: Dead Zone; so maybe it is a zombie apocalypse skirmish game. Maybe using Wargames Factory's upcoming Zombie Survivors kit. Or a new boardgame like DKH or PP but zombie survival.
Bolognesus wrote: "Stretch goals" so we're going to see a KS for this before the KoW wave 2 ships and WP KS begins, it would seem?
Dunno, from what I read they showed off tons of the new models at Clash of Kings and seemed to indicate they are all done and being produced now. So perhaps the KoWKS stuff will be delivered early? I mean Q2 technically begins April, so they could conceivably deliver KoWKS first then launch this.
Or maybe "Deadzone" is what Warpath is now gonna be called. Or the new starter set. Warpath Deadzone with lots of plastic terrain. Who knows at this point?
...fair points
I was going off of the earlier assumption that deadzone was the licensed property.
Also, I believe ScarletSquig(?) mentioned earlier that two of the basilean units were not finished yet - and if they still have to finish sculpting thise, tool them, cast a gazillion and then take another month to ship them to the UK there's no way this is going to be anywhere near april...
Bolognesus wrote: ...fair points
I was going off of the earlier assumption that deadzone was the licensed property.
Also, I believe ScarletSquig(?) mentioned earlier that two of the basilean units were not finished yet - and if they still have to finish sculpting thise, tool them, cast a gazillion and then take another month to ship them to the UK there's no way this is going to be anywhere near april...
A bunch of wild guesses though, in part
I read on the forum that somebody said that Ronnie at Clash of Kings said that all the sculpts were off to be painted to show in April. So like fourth-hand information or something. But if the masters have all been sculpted those could be resin casts to be painted or something. They also mentioned new units, Druids with Hunting Dogs.
I think Cyporiean has this right, Deadzone is a Warpath thing.
The word "Deadzone" was used accompanied with a picture of the Plague concept art shown off at the beginning of this year.
Plague are confirmed as the next Warpath race, too.
So, possibly a new boxset for Warpath 2.0, Corporation vs. Plague?
Either that or a second Project Pandora-style boardgame to introduce them, one which introduces terrain elements to the board... the stuff on the sheet about explosives, barrels, etc. seems to hint at that.
New game that Mantic will be handling the manufacturing and publishing of - "Loka", a fantasy chess game by Alessio Cavatore.
Looks like a pretty cool concept.
They're also having a public vote on the official colour scheme for the KoW ogres over on the blog, currently blue skin and gold armour is the most popular choice, so I'd just like to have it on record that the internet is to blame for the next round of ultrasmurf paintjobs from Mantic. :p
They're also having a public vote on the official colour scheme for the KoW ogres over on the blog, currently blue skin and gold armour is the most popular choice, so I'd just like to have it on record that the internet is to blame for the next round of accusations that Mantic is just ripping off other concepts, in this case Hordes Trollbloods ...
Wait, is there a new Mantic hate claiming they ripped off Warmahordes now? What is this in reference to? I got a toothache today so I could use some amusement.
Any news or pics of finalized and/or assembled Bezerker brock riders from the event? I saw some greens someone else posted in a thread I started but they were from 6+ months ago and still apparently the unassembled greens with no news since.
judgedoug wrote: Wait, is there a new Mantic hate claiming they ripped off Warmahordes now? What is this in reference to? I got a toothache today so I could use some amusement.
Sorry, you'll have to find another source of amusement, it was in reference to the general hate leveled at the company ... and the fact that the blue-skinned ogre does look a bit like Trollblood Axer. Hope I didn't feed any trolls an idea though ...
Loka sounds promising - I think the mantic hate comes from the fact that a lot of people find most of their miniatures to be ugly - me being one of them. But that's just my opinion
Anyone is welcome to express an opinion, in fact it's better if they do so I can start pointing out that there's a lot more to Mantic than their minis.
Low pricing, high quality rules (which are free and regularly updated) and excellent customer relations are their strong points.
Armorum Ferrum wrote: Loka sounds promising - I think the mantic hate comes from the fact that a lot of people find most of their miniatures to be ugly - me being one of them. But that's just my opinion
I'm in this camp, these chess pieces are the first of their models that I like the look of.
Saying that though, the two pieces shown are rather lovely.
I'll repost my comments from the ill-fated other thread:
I'm glad that Mantic is moving up in the world and becoming one of the big companies people go to for manufacturing and worldwide distribution, but I can't say I'm very excited. The concept sounds very vague so far--chess with dice?--and neither miniature does very much for me. Maybe I will like it more once they start talking about the background.
Does anyone know what License Mantic acquired? I think that will be more interesting.
Well I guess its just another string in their bow. If they keep making different games, for different audiences, it might well be an idea to rename the company to something more appropriate - perhaps some kind of 'games collection production area' or something similar?
Actually I'm not being entirely facetious there - in amongst this, Dreadball, the different board games and god-knows what else they are becoming far more like that other company used to be.. definitely excited about the future for them.
Actually I'm not being entirely facetious there - in amongst this, Dreadball, the different board games and god-knows what else they are becoming far more like that other company used to be.. definitely excited about the future for them.
Seriously. if Mongoose folded and Mantic picked up the 2000AD licenses...
scarletsquig wrote: You can go and play it now if you like, it's a facebook game which is being ported to real life.
it's a facebook game
facebook game
Now they're invading real life and all my other hobbies, too!
It's only a matter of time before my FLGS tries to sell me a mini with the tagline "You won't believe she did this in public! No one noticed this in the picture!"
I get the impression that it's not Mantic's Facebook game, but one of Alessio's chess variants that he was talking about in some interviews awhile back that he (Alessio) must have gotten ported to a Facebook game.
Now I presume that Mantic is licencing the game from Alessio and making it into a game with miniatures/models...
Alessio develops Shuuro and releases it as a Riverhorse product with normal chess-pieces. Next expansion is Turanga, also from Riverhorse, expands Shuuro to 4-player-game. Next level was Shuuro-online to get the community closer together (and make some extra money ).
The latest but not last step is Loka. It takes the basics from Shuuro and evolves it in a more TT-like direction. Cause Mantic is into minis and Alessio worked for them in the past it was quite logical to cooperate on Loka.
And I hope the pawns, etc. will a look the same within one faction. Diversity might be fine for TT, but with chess-like games it only takes away your attention.
I like the last 3 minis pictured above tbh. I think they'd be a nice little project to paint up.
I'd probably not be into the game - but as a modelling project I'd grab a set or two to paint up. Personally I was hoping for a different kind of game when I first heard about it but the news for more Warpath minis is welcomed - I look forward to the Plague minis at any rate
^ They were supposed to be a KoW release, in hard plastic.
Then they realised, after tooling the mould (but before selling them to customers) that they screwed up the dimensions, and made them exactly 100mm wide instead of the 103-105mm that is needed to actually fit the models in there (a little wiggle room is required).
I'm not sure if any of them found their way into the hands of the general public, but it's a release that is currently on ice.
scarletsquig wrote: ^ They were supposed to be a KoW release, in hard plastic.
Then they realised, after tooling the mould (but before selling them to customers) that they screwed up the dimensions, and made them exactly 100mm wide instead of the 103-105mm that is needed to actually fit the models in there (a little wiggle room is required).
I'm not sure if any of them found their way into the hands of the general public, but it's a release that is currently on ice.
I would love some non-GW price level movement trays for all the dwarves I got from the KoW kickstarter. I really hope they redo those.
scarletsquig wrote: ^ They were supposed to be a KoW release, in hard plastic.
Then they realised, after tooling the mould (but before selling them to customers) that they screwed up the dimensions, and made them exactly 100mm wide instead of the 103-105mm that is needed to actually fit the models in there (a little wiggle room is required).
I'm not sure if any of them found their way into the hands of the general public, but it's a release that is currently on ice.
I would buy them. I multibase. I'm currently spending $2 or so on a 100x80mm piece of MDF, so if they're cheaper than that I'll snag 'em immediately. Do you know if they are sitting on a stock of them? Special order?
"The last of the Kings of War sculpts are due to arrive on my desk from the sculptor tomorrow, and then they'll go straight off for tooling (after we've got some pretty pictures to put up in an update this week of course ). Remember we've designed an entire new army from scratch, that during the Kickstarter didn't even have concept art. The Basileans are going to be incredible once the army is put together. Remy's Paladin figures arrived yesterday, and they're stunning. Keep an eye on the Kickstarter updates later this week"
Have they posted what the final brock riders will look like? I saw the green pic that was posted around 6 months back but haven't seen what the final plastic/painted version will look like.
judgedoug wrote: Posted by Stew (Mantic employee) on their forums:
"The last of the Kings of War sculpts are due to arrive on my desk from the sculptor tomorrow, and then they'll go straight off for tooling (after we've got some pretty pictures to put up in an update this week of course ). Remember we've designed an entire new army from scratch, that during the Kickstarter didn't even have concept art. The Basileans are going to be incredible once the army is put together. Remy's Paladin figures arrived yesterday, and they're stunning. Keep an eye on the Kickstarter updates later this week"
Oooooh. Can't wait. Over half my KS pledge went towards Basilean units. I'm really, really looking forward to them.
warboss wrote: Have they posted what the final brock riders will look like? I saw the green pic that was posted around 6 months back but haven't seen what the final plastic/painted version will look like.
No, just the teaser shot that you saw. At least as far as i know.
judgedoug wrote: Posted by Stew (Mantic employee) on their forums:
"The last of the Kings of War sculpts are due to arrive on my desk from the sculptor tomorrow, and then they'll go straight off for tooling (after we've got some pretty pictures to put up in an update this week of course ). Remember we've designed an entire new army from scratch, that during the Kickstarter didn't even have concept art. The Basileans are going to be incredible once the army is put together. Remy's Paladin figures arrived yesterday, and they're stunning. Keep an eye on the Kickstarter updates later this week"
Oooooh. Can't wait. Over half my KS pledge went towards Basilean units. I'm really, really looking forward to them.
Did you see the huge Angels that were shown off a week or two ago?
warboss wrote: Have they posted what the final brock riders will look like? I saw the green pic that was posted around 6 months back but haven't seen what the final plastic/painted version will look like.
No, just the teaser shot that you saw. At least as far as i know.
Ah, thanks. I was hoping that I missed something in the past few months as that was the part of the kickstarter that I was most interested in besides the angels and fantasy armored nuns.
bbb wrote: Is there a consolidated list anywhere showing the new models the kickstarted funded?
cut n paste from KS (i think this is correct) from the $225 level
A Kickstarter exclusive Undead Skeletal Dog Handler
- A free plastic Ogre Hero
- A free Orc Chariot/Fight Wagon
- A free electronic version of the Kings of War Hardback Rulebook
- An electronic version of the Kings and Legends Supplement
- A signed Lithoprint of the Mantica Map
-5 Celestian Mounted Knights,
- 3 Abyssal Golems,
-5 Celestian Human Paladins,
-3 Celestian Angels,
-5 Celestian Battle Sisters,
-5 Celestian Men-at-Arms,
-5 Elf Cavalry
-5 Twilight Kin Knights,
-5 Immortal Guard,
-5 Fleabag Riders,
-5 Brock Riders,
-3 Trolls
- 5 Palace Guard,
-5 Mummies and
- 5 Gargoyles
- A free limited edition Undead Standard Bearer
-3 Celestian Cat Cavalry,
- a Mincer and
-unit of 3 Werewolves,
-a unit of 3 Ogres (either Hand Weapons or Shooters)
- one of each hero model created as a result of the Kickstarter - that's now at least five unique hero sculpts!
Another post on the Mantic forums
"All KoW stuff will ship in June to the backers. There's a _possibility_ a couple of items might be delayed (e.g. the KS heroes) but we'll get notice of that. At the moment everything is on track as far as I know (cf: Stew above).
KS backers will get everything they pledged for well in advance of anything going to retail and the public. The retail releases will be staggered throughout the rest of the year"
KS stuff was scheduled for Q2, so June is at the end of that.
I've been busy with other things so I thought I'd ask here for an update...
Have Mantic posted anything regarding the Veteran Soldier release? It's 2 units of Werewolves + 2 units of Ogres + 1 unit of Ogre Shooters + Wound Counters + Undead Vampiress from the cover art due in May. I expect that may slip as most KS do but am hoping someone knows so I don't have to dig through 3000 + posts on the KS page.
Breotan wrote: I've been busy with other things so I thought I'd ask here for an update...
Have Mantic posted anything regarding the Veteran Soldier release? It's 2 units of Werewolves + 2 units of Ogres + 1 unit of Ogre Shooters + Wound Counters + Undead Vampiress from the cover art due in May. I expect that may slip as most KS do but am hoping someone knows so I don't have to dig through 3000 + posts on the KS page.
Thanks.
From the update that provided the above pic.
"All is well behind the scenes with Kings of War as the last unit sculpts have been sent off for tooling. This means we are bang on schedule to deliver our second shipment of Kings of War in June."
Wonder if since everyone over $100 is getting the below as well there just shipping all the packages when those are ready (June) and the May date for VeteranSoldier became OBE
- A Kickstarter exclusive Undead Skeletal Dog Handler
- A free plastic Ogre Hero
- A free Celestian Human Paladin
- A free Celestian Men-at-Arms
- A free Celestian Angel Paladin
- A free Celestian Battle Sister
- A free Elf Palace Guard
- A free Dwarf Berserker Brock Rider
- A free Gargoyle figure
- A free Mummy figure
- A free Troll figure
- A free Orc Chariot/Fight Wagon
In terms of background, they are a sun-worshipping cult based in a city that is heavily themed around Constantinople before the crusades (the last bastion of a fallen empire).
Definitely not bretonnians. High-fantasy zealots with their backs against the wall after having 95% of their empire destroyed in a magically-induced natural disaster that saw most of it drown beneath a newly-formed sea.
In KoW, the humans are heavily outnumbered by, and under attack from certain factions within the dwarfs, who are aggressive and highly territorial conquerors.
Is this the faction that the angel concept art was for? I have a fleeting recollection of a female angel concept, but I may be conflating the new Warmachine faction's clockwork angels with the angel paladins from the Celestians.
I'm looking forward to trading a great deal of my bonus pledge minis to bulk up the factions I'm focusing on.
I wonder if it would work better if we used a communal thread for it once they ship everything as I can't be the only one planning on doing some serious trading with the amount of stuff on the way.
I'm looking forward to trading a great deal of my bonus pledge minis to bulk up the factions I'm focusing on.
I wonder if it would work better if we used a communal thread for it once they ship everything as I can't be the only one planning on doing some serious trading with the amount of stuff on the way.
They also added the concept art for the Stormwind cavalry riders, which I believe is the high elf cavalry.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I am so happy with how the Basileans are turning out. I can't wait to put together that army and my Dwarves and see if I can convince people to play KoW around here since there's not much WHFB going on.
Cyporiean wrote: IMO, when you're dealing with things that have to be in Rank/File formation, its better to have mono-pose models.
Which would be fine, if they had more variety. But having low variety and low poseablitiy - leaves very little room outside of converting to distinguish anything from one another. I don't need 90 bits in the box like GW does, but there has to be a happy medium between 90 and 14. Like say 23?
I wonder if they will have a "Phase 2 Pledge Manager" just like they did for Dreadball. I especially wonder if they'll announce it just after they release sprue pics for the basic soldiers.
New Kickstarter update from Kings of War with a video of the 3D sculpts for the new Basilean / Human Man at Arms models. Spear/Shield wielding troops, basically.
"Mantic" wrote:We’ve increased our sculpting resource dramatically whilst putting together the 22 new units for Kings of War and one of the things we’ve started using is 3D Sculpting. The Men-At-Arms will be the first Hard Plastic sprue we’ve done using the technology and today we’ve got a special video showing you how the sculpts are progressing!
Note that these are not finished – the chests are too narrow and the heads slightly too small at the moment, so these will be getting amended. For now though, we thought you’d enjoy seeing the progress >
http://youtu.be/NP8oTdXo1C0
For this unit we used a master green from Remy Tremblay that was then scanned into a computer and reposed.
Are they going to redo their plastic elves? I wish they would considering the level of stuff they are now producing. I really want to get into this game, but I am waiting to see what they are planning on releasing.
One of the usual 'they look much better in your hand' comments, but I think the Elves really do - the online photos don't really flatter them, but they are quite neat little models.
A couple of minis in the range (the dragon riders) have unfortunately become the poster boys for them, and given them a bad name.
Probably best to forget about them and move on if they're not your thing, they're ancient 2009 sculpts that apparently never made back their tooling costs and are going to be left alone for a while while still being supported with new releases (plastic stormwind cav etc.) for those who do like them (there's quite a few people who do).
The human army is going to be awesome, I've been waiting so long for a good fantasy human range after GW turned their entire Empire range into overpriced skull-infested turds back in 7th edition.
These are definitely it, love the designs, love the background of them being part of a solar cult.
They look really "fantasy" in design rather than pseudo-historical, which is awesome.
More like something out of Game of Thrones, House Arryn troops maybe, considering the winged design on the shields?
They'll come with sword and spear options. Possibly crossbows, too.
I am totally loving those designs. I'm glad they are going to make the torsos a little bigger, too, because I think it will help make them look even less like not-Perry sculpts.
If there's one thing I feel the lack of, it's more eagle. It saddens me to think of them missing out.
This June sees the new sets ship to our backers, and then the range will roll out to retailers’ and on to the gaming tables around the world. We will be presenting the range as the figures and kits for Kings of War. However, we expect many sets will get picked up for other gaming systems – both RPGs and Wargames. The funding has allowed us to release these kits at fantastic prices – so while the kickstarters benefited, we can also release these sets into the trade market at very keen prices. For example a pack of three trolls will be retailing for just £14.99 $24.99 – and they are going to look something like this…
Wow, if they can keep this quality up, I will be all for Mantic! These trolls look great and that price is amazing! What I am so digging, is the fact that the kickstarter was so successful, that they pass that down to us poor saps who didn't/couldn't back the project! That speaks volumes to me as a consumer. If only other companies would be so generous...
So, the list of releases in that post has, for the Basilean faction, the book, MaA, paladins foot and mounted, sisters foot and mounted, elohi (which is probably the monstrous sized angels) and a hero (at least one of the KS heroes was said to be basilean, could be that one) but also a chariot and crossbowmen.
I wonder if perhaps we actually might get the option to add at least the new minis onto our pledges. Doesn't seem out of the question, given how Dreadball was handled.
Those trolls look fantastic, fit the aesthetic of the Orcs really nicely!
Can see these becoming very popular in O&G armies, especially because of the rather mental price point but also because they look really nice in their own right.
Yep, Mantic is going to tear GW a new one now that it is moving on to releasing the units that GW only has in £15/model finecast or £12/model plastics... as £5/model restics.
I've always felt that the elite niches are the best things to focus on since it takes GW *ages* to update them (and they end up priced insanely high when it happens anyway), and finecast hasn't helped matters.
AoW had a great hit with their dwarf slayers for this exact reason. Dwarfs haven't had a new army book or new model releases since late 6th edition.
Ogres are going to be a tougher nut to crack, since £5/model will price them higher than GW's (still bizarrely quite affordable) ogre range, but word is they'll be doing a big ogre army box to give a discount there.
Still think GW's new plastic kits are miles ahead of the competition. Problem is a number of their plastic kits are over a decade old and the ability to produce kits at or above that level is very accessible now.
Just hope Mantic doesn't fall into the same hole where it is several years out and they still are selling their same high elf sprues.
^ Yeah, their new kits are great quality (although in style often a little cartoony for my liking).
What I meant was, roughly speaking:
GW Troll: £13.80
Mantic Troll: £5
That's the kind of price differential (nearly 3x cheaper) that really makes a difference when it comes to deciding whether or not to buy these niche extra units, and how many of them to buy. Value doesn't just make a difference for poor people, it makes a difference for people who have some good money and want to try something bigger or start a new army or just do something fun without having to concern themselves with the price ticket.
Stuff like an all-troll Throgg WoC army just for the fun of it is quite a reasonable option when using the Mantic trolls, for instance. Won't cost you much more than £150. Whereas if you stuck to GW models you'd be looking at closer to £500 and doing a double-take before putting the cash down no matter how much money you're earning.
Plus, the Mantic one comes with seperate heads and arms so is arguably better than the generic troll option that GW offers, while not quite up to the level of options that the River Troll kit provides (albiet at nearly twice the price).
That's the kind of price differential (nearly 3x cheaper) that really makes a difference when it comes to deciding whether or not these niche extra units, and how many of them to buy.
Stuff like an all-troll Throgg WoC army just for the fun of it is quite a reasonable option when using the Mantic trolls, for instance. Won't cost you much more than £150. Whereas if you stuck to GW models you'd be looking at closer to £500 and doing a double-take before putting the cash down no matter how much money you're earning.
Plus, the Mantic one comes with seperate heads and arms so is arguably better than the generic troll option that GW offers, while not quite up to the level of options that the River Troll kit provides (albiet at nearly twice the price).
Exactly!
I cannot wait for these models to start arriving/shipping/showing up for sale!
Another thing I liked is the fact that Ronnie said on the blog that running the kickstarter has meant lower retail prices for everyone.
Because the Kickstarter paid 100% for all the tooling, that means they can now have more freedom to set low pricing without having to worry about potential sales volumes and "will it break even?" so much. They've already broken even, so the retail sales represent true net profit for them.
So, you avoid situations like what GW has where they sell their "elite" infantry at double the price of the basic infantry due to expecting lower sales volumes.
Some of that had previously started to creep into Mantic products with higher pricing due to uncertainty on sales volumes, very happy to see that KS has let them go back in the other direction. Low prices are the mark of a confident, healthy company, GW comes across as a dying company in my eyes whenever it raises prices, trying to scrabble what it can out of shrinking sales volumes.
My real hope is that Kickstarter will let Mantic go back to producing almost 100% hard plastic. It'll be a tougher sell since they'll need to raise more per unit (so $50k stretch goals for a new unit might make an appearance), but now they've got their digital sculpting process up and running (with the cost savings on tooling that result from that) it should be more viable to get that done through a kickstarter.
My real hope is that Kickstarter will let Mantic go back to producing almost 100% hard plastic.
Honestly, I rather like restic. It's light enough that I don't have to weight the bases, it takes paint more readlily than metal or hard plastic, and it's easy to work with once you accept that polystyrene cement won't work. My hope it that they eliminate all the hybrid kits-- my Enforcer rocket launcher guys are too top-heavy, and my goblin spearmen were a pain to assemble...
The metal-hybrids are a poor solution, but I am happy enough with Restic if the price and sculpt is right. Those trolls are nice, but I already have Lotr Trolls, PP Trolls, GW Trolls and RBG Trolls. I think my girlfriend might knife me if I got the mantic ones as well
Restic is not bad, nor is hard plastic, and heck even the occasional metal model is good
But metal hybrids of any type kind of suck. The metal hybrid Enforcers double the price which makes me leery of buying them just for some extra metal bitz
This just seems for mantic though, WL prices their metal hybrids much more reasonably imo ($6 or so more but a bag of bitz)
Okay, new update!
Long story short: there will be a june shipment and one a little later in the year (some units a little delayed).
June shipment:
The Basilean Legacy (Kings of War Expansion Book)
Kings of War Digital Art Book
Abyssal Dwarf Gargoyles
Abyssal Dwarf Immortal Guard
Abyssal Dwarf Lesser Obsidian Golems
Basilean Elohi (Angels)
Basilean Men-at-Arms
Basilean Paladins
Basilean Paladin Knights
Basilean Sisterhood
Basilean Sisterhood Lancers (Cat Cavalry)
Dwarf Brock Riders
Elf Palace Guard
Goblin Fleabag Riders
Goblin Mincer
Ogre Warriors
Ogre Shooters
Ogre Captain
Orc Chariot/Fight Wagon
Trolls
Undead Mummies
Undead Werewolves
Undead Vampiress
Undead Dog Handler
Undead Standard Bearer
Later shipment:
Elf Stormwind Cavalry
Twilight Kin Dark Knights
All eight Kickstarter Backer Heroes - these are the characters designed by and in some cases modelled on our backers, brought to life by our studio! Everyone who pledged over $225 will be getting one of each! These are: two Angels, a mounted Basilean Lord, a Druid, an Air Elemental, two Twilight Kin, a Dwarf Healer and an Elven Mage.
Kings and Legends (Kings of War Expansion Book) - containing rules for the above heroes
and look at this wonderful pic of one of the heroes:
Don't worry if you've missed out on any of the new units and characters above - there will be a new survey sent out shortly, giving you the chance to add on anything extra that you missed first time round, as well as some shiny new extras at low Kickstarter prices!
//told you so...
So now's the timevto hit up existing backers to piggyback onto their pledges for armies of your own
The Second Wave
Update #66 · Apr 9, 2013 · 7 comments
With the recent Clash of Kings tournament in the UK, and the US Clash of Kings and Mantic Open Day coming up, we've had gamers chomping at the bit for their 2013 Kings of War fix. Well worry not, it's coming!
The samples have started arriving from the factory, and Golem Painting Studio have already begun work on painting up the new units - it won't be long before the first pics start hitting the internet! You may have recently read the recent Mantic Blog post announcing our retail releases for June - August this year - as you can see, we've crammed insane amounts of Kings of War releases into a very short time, and it's all thanks to you!
Of course, this is only half the story, and our loyal Kickstarter backers will of course be getting even more than this coming their way - including units not released to retail until months later (early 2014 in some cases). The second Kings of War shipment will be on its way to you all in June, and here is a list of what you'll be getting (note that this applies to free units coming as part of your reward level - see the main page - as well as any others that you may have added separately):
The Basilean Legacy (Kings of War Expansion Book)
Kings of War Digital Art Book
Abyssal Dwarf Gargoyles
Abyssal Dwarf Immortal Guard
Abyssal Dwarf Lesser Obsidian Golems
Basilean Elohi (Angels)
Basilean Men-at-Arms
Basilean Paladins
Basilean Paladin Knights
Basilean Sisterhood
Basilean Sisterhood Lancers (Cat Cavalry)
Dwarf Brock Riders
Elf Palace Guard
Goblin Fleabag Riders
Goblin Mincer
Ogre Warriors
Ogre Shooters
Ogre Captain
Orc Chariot/Fight Wagon
Trolls
Undead Mummies
Undead Werewolves
Undead Vampiress
Undead Dog Handler
Undead Standard Bearer
This project has been a massive undertaking for Mantic, with the Kickstarter going further than we ever dreamed. This does mean that there have been a few items that were delayed longer than we'd hoped. Rather than hold up all of the units above while we waited, we have decided to instead send out a third Kings of War shipment later this year, as soon as the final pieces are ready. This third shipment will contain the last of the Kickstarter items, which are:
Elf Stormwind Cavalry
Twilight Kin Dark Knights
All eight Kickstarter Backer Heroes - these are the characters designed by and in some cases modelled on our backers, brought to life by our studio! Everyone who pledged over $225 will be getting one of each! These are: two Angels, a mounted Basilean Lord, a Druid, an Air Elemental, two Twilight Kin, a Dwarf Healer and an Elven Mage.
Kings and Legends (Kings of War Expansion Book) - containing rules for the above heroes
The last of these heroes - Damon Richardson's Basilean Lord - has just come out of sculpting. Huge thanks to Damon for his generosity and support with this Kickstarter! Anyway, I think you'll agree that this is worth the wait:
Don't worry if you've missed out on any of the new units and characters above - there will be a new survey sent out shortly, giving you the chance to add on anything extra that you missed first time round, as well as some shiny new extras at low Kickstarter prices!
Let us know what you think in the comments below, or visit our Facebook page or the Mantic Forums!
Werewolf is amazing, and that cat-riding lord...wow. That thing is gorgeous. I found my next KoW army!! Time to blast a crapton of money into the round 2 survey...
I am likely to file down that lion's teeth as I think they're a bit over the top, but I love the pose. Damn this was a great kickstarter. Can't wait to get my stuff!
That is absolutely fantastic! No criticism comes to mind. Lol. I definitely want one of these.
~Eric
Honestly, I'm pretty sure this model is perfect. I can't find a single flaw with it at all-it just radiates coolness. I'm glad I'm getting one free, as I pledged enough for one, and I'll probably get a second. It may be my favorite mini that's been built so far-by any company!
timetowaste85 wrote: Werewolf is amazing, and that cat-riding lord...wow. That thing is gorgeous. I found my next KoW army!! Time to blast a crapton of money into the round 2 survey...
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing....then I thought that I'd have to paint them.....maybe not.
I can see myself adding a fair whack more to my Mantic pledge when the manager comes out. Assuming they provide good pics of all of the models - let's hope, eh?
Looks like part of that is that Mierce has some ex-Rackham sculptors doing work for them, as does Mantic. I admit I'd prefer more realistically proportioned Lion teeth over the Sabretooth Lion tusks it's sporting in the picture, but the rest of it is outstanding.
Just to check, the lion rider and werewolf will be available at some point in the future through regular retail channels, right? They are not exclusive to the kickstarter campaign, that is.
Buzzsaw wrote: Just to check, the lion rider and werewolf will be available at some point in the future through regular retail channels, right? They are not exclusive to the kickstarter campaign, that is.
Correct, Mantic is releasing 8 new units per month to retail starting in June through Aug/Sept, after the KS backers receive their stuff. I think the only KS exclusive fig was the undead dog handler?
Buzzsaw wrote: Just to check, the lion rider and werewolf will be available at some point in the future through regular retail channels, right? They are not exclusive to the kickstarter campaign, that is.
Correct, Mantic is releasing 8 new units per month to retail starting in June through Aug/Sept, after the KS backers receive their stuff. I think the only KS exclusive fig was the undead dog handler?
And the vampiress. other than that everything will be retailed afaik.
I'm surprised no one has complained about the werewolf nipples after all the garbage ith GW and blood angels. I really like the sculpts coming out here. Definitely considering this human faction that is in the pipe.
Theophony wrote:I'm surprised no one has complained about the werewolf nipples after all the garbage ith GW and blood angels. I really like the sculpts coming out here. Definitely considering this human faction that is in the pipe.
People are complaing about them - or at least commenting on them.
Just a few posts up from yours:
Taarnak wrote:
Pose is still a bit stiff and the nipples are still oddly large, but this is an huge step up from the first one shown.
Don't forget backers can extend their pledges with a bunch of new stuff when they send out the final survey.
So if you want some basilean crossbowmen as well as men-at-arms you'll be able to add them... or an entire basilean army for that matter, on top of your pledge.
Does anyone know if we will be able to alter our original BOGOF choices when the new survey is live? i had a few BOGOF goblin units included in my original order, but i lost all desire to collect a Mantic Goblin army last year after i received the (IMO.) sub-par plastic goblins from the first wave of the KS.
@ScarletSquig
Are these Basilean crossbowmen going to be an entirely new kit, or will they just a hybrid metal set of the Men-at-arms?
That lion is outstanding, Mantics sculpts are starting to go through the roof, just imagine how good all the Warpath stuff is going to look when the game officially(?) launches.
I'm really starting to regret not pledging for this KS, oh well Deadzone and Warpath it is then.
Mr Gutsy wrote: Does anyone know if we will be able to alter our original BOGOF choices when the new survey is live? i had a few BOGOF goblin units included in my original order, but i lost all desire to collect a Mantic Goblin army last year after i received the (IMO.) sub-par plastic goblins from the first wave of the KS.
I'd get in touch with mantic about changing your choice,
the sooner they know the more likely they are to say yes
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: I'd get in touch with mantic about changing your choice, the sooner they know the more likely they are to say yes
Its a bit late but i sent Mantic a message via Kickstarter a week ago asking if it would be possible to alter existing BOGOF choices, and their response to my message was 'Absolutely - you will have the option to do that once the survey is sent out.'
Im pretty happy that Mantic is allowing BOGOF swaps, 10 months is a fairly long time and i can't be the only one who has changed their mind within that period.
I don't need to alter any BOGOFs, but I sure need to add some! Also, just FYI, I did get told by Mantic that the T-shirts and options would be available again (I just haven't seen it mentioned, but it is like the Dreadball one). I only got one t-shirt, and my son has been mad at me ever since
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I wonder how many other people will be changing their BOGOF sets from Werewolves to ...Angels or something else that isn't terrible.
Is that one werewolf trying to drink from a stream? What is that pose supposed to be?
I'll probably still get some, but I think I'm due a "free" stretch goal set, so I might leave it at that, given that in the meantime I've picked up a ton of the Plastic Confrontation ones that look just as good. I don't think they're terrible, but not quite as good as the concept art hinted at.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Depending on the pics, I may increase my pledge of the Celestial humans... especially the hard plastic ones. I believe they also increased the numbers of them since they're to be in hard plastic rather than restic? Doubled or something?
I think these sculpts are looking promising. The Werewolf poses might look a little odd, but the miniatures still look pretty good to me.
And to be honest, faced with the prices GW demand here in NZ, I'd buy the Mantic Werewolves even if the whole unit were licking their nuts. They could count-as Slaaneshi Ogres or something. They'd still be a better deal than paying GW retail down here.
The pre-painted plastic age for Confrontation was an abomination and shouldn't be used as an example of anything other than a tragically misguided business decision.
Yeah, they're not as good as the metals, and the whole mess killed Rackham, but some/many of the sculpts are still quite good regardless, and will work perfectly well as plastic figures to overpaint.
I've yet to see the Rackham pre-paints in person, so I can't comment on their quality vs the original metals. They miss the niche that I was hoping the Mantic werewolves would fill (as I had commented on previously): Bestial, full on raging werewolves. Now I know there are a few out there, but none of them really work for me.
Werewolf on the left in the picture above is ok. Pose is still a little weird, and the nipples, well...
Werewolf on the right:
Everything else looks pretty good from what I can tell.
As an aside, I am familiar with both the metal and plastic Confrontation stuff (as I own both) and I absolutely love the plastic Confrontation models. Most of them were sculpted by their metal sculptors, and some of the plastics are superior to their metal sculpt counterparts - for instance, oh, the entire range of plastic Ram models are an order of magnitude better than the metals. I also prefer the Lion models, and most of the Scorpion monsters over the metal versions.
Azazel, if you get a chance, get the Lion army box. The Chimera in that box is one of the finest models Rackham had ever produced and puts their orginal metal one to shame.
The werewolves appear to have some kind of ball/socket joins on the arms and heads, so I'm sure it will be possible to give them better poses. Though the legs appear to not be pose-able at all.
I'm much more disappointed in those trolls. They look terrible. They really took that tiny legs/gigantic torso and arms thing to a ridiculous extreme. They don't look like they'd be able to stand up without those tiny legs collapsing. Doesn't look like the concept art at all. I really hope I can change my buy one/get one trolls out for something else.
^ Agree with squirrel on the trolls, they don't look good in those pics.
I don't think the heroic scale "tiny legs, massive hands" attempt to clone warmachine-style sculpts has worked out. I raised it as a concern with the concept art, and they seem to have made the arms and hands even bigger and the legs even smaller in the final models. And those are the resin masters, so when they're tooled in restic, the shrinkage will make the legs even thinner.
Mantic should stick to true-scale, it's what they do best.
The person who sculpted the werewolves (and possibly the trolls) also sculpted some trollbloods for privateer press.
Not a fan of those models and not a fan of these, overall.
The size of the legs isn't as much of a problem as their thin-ness.. those calves/ankles are twig-thin.
I will be buying the everliving hell out of the Basilean army, though.