Azazelx wrote:

Dunno. I might be a minority, but I'd rather see a not-40k-done-well (aka KoW) than another boring generic doomed-to-fail sci-fi game and setting. (Hi, GoA!) KoW works for me because I can use my existing collection of models, and supplement them with the models that Mantic manage to do well (Undead, Ogres). If I could do the same with my 40k figures and add in the stuff that Mantic manage to do well (Enforcers, um.. maybe 2nd-gen Forgefathers?) then I'll have a reason to give WarPath a go and play. 7th edition of 40k is just making me likely to go back to 1st, 3rd or 5th edition....
.

Thing is, I think they may have already gone as far as they can in terms of making factions that resemble the 40k ones, and the est is going to have to be up to your imagination - so many of the armies have a distinct art style, and in some cases also a provenance that GW can reasonably claim was theirs, that if Mantic were to skirt too close to them, the lawyers would sally forth.

IG/Corp and Orks/Marauders are the most generic, and that's why they're close, but Mantic super soldiers and space elves can't resemble GW super soldiers and space elves except in the most basic terms of troop availability, and even then I can't see them stretching out the rules just to accommodate every new $100 kit that comes out.

I think using your imagination, and accepting that you'll be able to use some-to-most of your GW stuff as proxies, but never all, is the best you're going to be able to do.

Even at the worst end of it, the open ended nature of the Rebs means you could make an army of them out of Tau, Dark Eldar, Chaos Daemons (aliens of all kinds!) and CSM (humans and aliens in gussied up captured Enforcer gear), while SoB can just be female members of the Enforcers.

I think it's asking far too much to expect anything more than that.

They don't need to resemble them directly and visually - though space elves already has a prescedent before Eldar - Vulcans. So Asterians as that trope should be fine, especially since they already have orcs, dwarves, ratmenskaven, etc. Enforcers are fine as is visually. They just need an army list that contains a few(!) more options that would be easily substituted from entries in C:SM/C:BA/CA/C:CSM, etc.

Hell, I'd double down on the Science-Fantasy aspect and get Ogres, Trolls, Basileans, Abyssals, Broo...

40k-friendly is where the money is/will be...

Factions that are mechanically similar (and thus an excuse for the rules to support GW miniatures) are good. Just flat out copying the Science-Fantasy aspect I disagree with, especially when so many of Mantic's fantasy races are so very ugly.

Well, what units in those can't you find spots for?

Enforcers = Marines, Peacekeepers = Terminators, and when they finish turning them into a full army rather than just Corporation elites I imagine they'll have a heavy weapons team = devastators. A bike and recon units were added in Deadzone, so that will cover bikes and scouts, while either Centurions or Dreads should pass for Striders, plus tanks, APCs and flyers are part of the plan for every army. Landspeeders and Assault Marines are the only things without homes that stand out to me right now.

CSM with their chaotic spiky extras aren't really going to find much of a home unless you run them as Rebs and squint, in which case there's options - all Marine types as regular rebs or missile teams or cc or whatever basic infantry as the weapon in their hand suits, Helbrutes and Dreads as striders, Terminators as Teratons, vehicles falling into place, etc

NTRabbit wrote:
Well, what units in those can't you find spots for?

I haven't exactly looked carefully at WP or DZ, but lots of specific units across pretty much all of the 40k armies from Tyranids to Tau.


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 AlexHolker wrote:
Factions that are mechanically similar (and thus an excuse for the rules to support GW miniatures) are good. Just flat out copying the Science-Fantasy aspect I disagree with, especially when so many of Mantic's fantasy races are so very ugly.

There's no need to buy their figures when they're gakky. Just like KoW. I just want to see things covered by their rules. Or someone's decent rules.

NTRabbit wrote:
Well, what units in those can't you find spots for?

Enforcers = Marines, Peacekeepers = Terminators, and when they finish turning them into a full army rather than just Corporation elites I imagine they'll have a heavy weapons team = devastators. A bike and recon units were added in Deadzone, so that will cover bikes and scouts, while either Centurions or Dreads should pass for Striders, plus tanks, APCs and flyers are part of the plan for every army. Landspeeders and Assault Marines are the only things without homes that stand out to me right now.

CSM with their chaotic spiky extras aren't really going to find much of a home unless you run them as Rebs and squint, in which case there's options - all Marine types as regular rebs or missile teams or cc or whatever basic infantry as the weapon in their hand suits, Helbrutes and Dreads as striders, Terminators as Teratons, vehicles falling into place, etc

Devestators = Suppression Team, Assaut Marines = Assault team. It's a very easy proxy situation that is about to get easier.

I'm not sure the DA/BA/SW codexes really need direct translation, though some rules to encapsulate the "spirit" of those "variation" Codexes might be a good way to bulk out the Enforcers to their own full-fledged list representing different ships that conform themselves to various Council member's whims and predilections.

When they add in the Plague adding a few units as "Strains" to encompass the Daemon range would be pretty neat and tidy. Double down with Plagued Enforcers (which DZ has established as extant in the universe) and you could rope in CSM. Hell, at that point the WP rules would allow for a LatD army better than GW's own.

The Tau could fall in as the Rebs (since both are a conglomeration of aliens anyway). Things like the Riptide could be problematic even though the Strider could do a decent job as battlesuits.

The Tyranids as Veer-myn is a bit of a stretch since in WP I don't see the Veer-myn being scary gigantic close-combat monsters. The idea of planet-consuming swams is pretty much a sci-fi trope though so it's not like they have to worry about the lawyers overmuch here. The Nameless could certainly fill in here and would prompt much "squee"-ing among the people who model their 'Nids with tentacles anyway.

As I said earlier, I believe Azazelx is correct that a well-done ruleset that encompasses most of the 40k range will see much better results than not doing so. It won't result in increased model sales initially, which is certainly a concern for Mantic, but if you get a solid playerbase going and then offer quality models at a lower price point then you will likely capture sales of new players and new armies.

 Krinsath wrote:

The Tyranids as Veer-myn is a bit of a stretch since in WP I don't see the Veer-myn being scary gigantic close-combat monsters. The idea of planet-consuming swams is pretty much a sci-fi trope though so it's not like they have to worry about the lawyers overmuch here. The Nameless could certainly fill in here and would prompt much "squee"-ing among the people who model their 'Nids with tentacles anyway.

I'm sorry if I missed something, but I thought the insectoid Z'zor would have been a closer Tyranid analogue? I had the Nameless down as far more civilised than a swarm type race- actually the Kalimarin Ancients team blurb says "The Nameless Confederation is home to many related species living in harmony". I don't know, that gives me the impression they aren't a ravening swarm devouring everything in it's path. Especially as a confederation which suggests a capacity for diplomacy and treaties and suchlike. Could be wrong though.

Zz'or aren't necessarily a planet-consuming swarm, generally Warpath avoids the 40k thing where every race is pimped up as the doom of the galaxy.

The largest threat is humanity, which is described as spreading like a cancer across the galaxy. So far its only permanent border is the Death Arc (filled with long-dead worlds hit by Plague infestation), and places where it can't advance (forgefather star realm).

Zz'or are described as a hornet's nest that the Corporation poked, not as some planet-eating hivemind.

Nameless are extremely friendly, with the exception of some sub-species. They're also extremely deadly and numerous and far away so the Corporation isn't messing with them just yet.

Forgefathers are the tyranids of the Warpath universe, they will reduce a planet to bedrock (including the removal of atmosphere/ water) , then break apart the planet itself and make use of the rubble. There have been instances of a Corporation selling mining rights to a planet to the Forgefathers without fully understanding exactly what that entails.

They can live on their colossal starships in comfort and see habitable planets as resources to be made use of.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Zz'or aren't necessarily a planet-consuming swarm, generally Warpath avoids the 40k thing where every race is pimped up as the doom of the galaxy.

The largest threat is humanity, which is described as spreading like a cancer across the galaxy. So far its only permanent border is the Death Arc (filled with long-dead worlds hit by Plague infestation), and places where it can't advance (forgefather star realm).

Zz'or are described as a hornet's nest that the Corporation poked, not as some planet-eating hivemind.

Nameless are extremely friendly, with the exception of some sub-species. They're also extremely deadly and numerous and far away so the Corporation isn't messing with them just yet.

Forgefathers are the tyranids of the Warpath universe, they will reduce a planet to bedrock (including the removal of atmosphere/ water) , then break apart the planet itself and make use of the rubble. There have been instances of a Corporation selling mining rights to a planet to the Forgefathers without fully understanding exactly what that entails.

They can live on their colossal starships in comfort and see habitable planets as resources to be made use of.

Z'zor only swarm to protect their homeworlds, is that right? I'm sure I read that at some point.

I would love to see the Nameless Confederation fleshed out though. The whole concept of them- from aesthetics to the snippets of background we have so far- is awesome.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Forgefathers are the tyranids of the Warpath universe, they will reduce a planet to bedrock (including the removal of atmosphere/ water) , then break apart the planet itself and make use of the rubble. There have been instances of a Corporation selling mining rights to a planet to the Forgefathers without fully understanding exactly what that entails.

rofl, I like that. There's no such thing as digging too deep when you can just vaporise whatever balrog pops up down there. Mantic do have some great lore in Warpath, I hope to see it continue developing, perhaps a little more realistic and less cheesy than 40k if possible ; p

Z'Zor are a Tyranid analogue in that they have a similar insectoid look, while Veermyn are a Tyranid analogue in that they infest ships and take over colonies after slowly building and then rising up from underground like Genestealers, and Plague are a Tyranid analogue in that they're close combat monsters who consume colonies with seemingly little purpose or reason other than to destroy them, and move onto the next one.

Just portions of the whole concept.

I am a big fan of where the Warpath/DZ/Dreadball background is coming from. Whilst many will be looking for a game of Not40K I think given that most miniature gamers (at least that I know) are now willing to try something different emphasising differences from GW is the way to go.

Also I thought that having a "Social Networking Community Mangager" was a good move by Mantic, but given the amount of stuff they are posting it is grating and getting on my nips. (Paul).

 Yonan wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
Forgefathers are the tyranids of the Warpath universe, they will reduce a planet to bedrock (including the removal of atmosphere/ water) , then break apart the planet itself and make use of the rubble. There have been instances of a Corporation selling mining rights to a planet to the Forgefathers without fully understanding exactly what that entails.

rofl, I like that. There's no such thing as digging too deep when you can just vaporise whatever balrog pops up down there. Mantic do have some great lore in Warpath, I hope to see it continue developing, perhaps a little more realistic and less cheesy than 40k if possible ; p

Forgefather Brokkrs don't necessarily have the ships needed to strip a planet down in that way so they're more content to steal anything they can sell. Of course they won't just steal things that aren't nailed down, they'll steal everything that is nailed down as well as the nails. And then sell the nails back to you.

Friendly Bunny Rabbit wrote:

 Krinsath wrote:

The Tyranids as Veer-myn is a bit of a stretch since in WP I don't see the Veer-myn being scary gigantic close-combat monsters. The idea of planet-consuming swams is pretty much a sci-fi trope though so it's not like they have to worry about the lawyers overmuch here. The Nameless could certainly fill in here and would prompt much "squee"-ing among the people who model their 'Nids with tentacles anyway.

I'm sorry if I missed something, but I thought the insectoid Z'zor would have been a closer Tyranid analogue? I had the Nameless down as far more civilised than a swarm type race- actually the Kalimarin Ancients team blurb says "The Nameless Confederation is home to many related species living in harmony". I don't know, that gives me the impression they aren't a ravening swarm devouring everything in it's path. Especially as a confederation which suggests a capacity for diplomacy and treaties and suchlike. Could be wrong though.

Well, whichever gave the closest thematic/counts-as analog, rules-wise would work. The fluff could be entirely different and it woudn't matter.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
It's The Coneheads.

Calling it now.

There's a long thread on the Mantic foums with people guessing. So far Matt Gilbert has said they're all wrong, but I don't think Coneheads was one of them.

I'm always on the lookout for more 'how to' and/or 'instructions' on how to build all this nice Mantic plastic terrain I've got now...

This thing here though:



seems to have a lot of 'not-Mantic' going on in it!

Good for them for not caring!

I think that was pretty much the point of it, to show how much the mantic terrain fits into other gaming systems terrain.

People may not want to play mantic games or use mantic models for various reasons, but if they can tempt people with the terrain I'm sure they'll be happy enough with that.

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm always on the lookout for more 'how to' and/or 'instructions' on how to build all this nice Mantic plastic terrain I've got now...

This thing here though:



seems to have a lot of 'not-Mantic' going on in it!

Good for them for not caring!

Is that the Pegasus Hobbies bridge in that pic? If so, I may have to invest in one.

It certainly looks like it - The "Technobridge", right?

That is definitely a solid table!

Ah the Pegasus "Technobridge" Decent model and is wide enough for pretty good sized machines to cross it.

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Ah the Pegasus "Technobridge" Decent model and is wide enough for pretty good sized machines to cross it.

A couple of minutes too late, wannabe-Ninja!

It does show how well the terrain can be combined with...just about anything!

I've got a 40k garage game Saturday and plan on using mine to see how it works out.

 .Mikes. wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
It's The Coneheads.

Calling it now.

There's a long thread on the Mantic foums with people guessing. So far Matt Gilbert has said they're all wrong, but I don't think Coneheads was one of them.

If so, the first stretch goal had better be....

Narfle the garthok!

Speaking of Coneheads, I've been painting some classic RT/ 2nd edition Eldar to proxy as Asterians... the metal ones wearing chainmail armour.

The triangle eyes and grille mouths look quite robotic so they'll do nicely for cyphers.

The minis work great without conversion, sorting out the card deck was trickier.

Going to give them a whirl next week, the v3 beta rules for them seem like a lot of fun.. even your basic cypher trooper with flux rifle has construct, vulnerable, 2 armour, 3+ shoot, AP 1 gun and can fart toxic gas (yes, this is actually a rule).

Looking forward to the faction a lot... I'm done with Rebs until they get an update.. Plague and Marauders are definitely the power factions of the game, but I'm not a fan of the minis.

I'm starting to think that Deadzone could do with more factions, rather than having tons of minis in each, there's only so much you can fit in 70 points and inevitably you end up with minis that rarely or never see any tabletop action, especially with the more elite factions where 5-6 minis on the table is standard.

25 teams for Dreadball is probably too many at this point, 6 factions for Deadzone feels like too few. Even just a release of a faction deck for Corp and Veer-myn making use of existing Warpath minis would be awesome.

Edit: Just realised, Deadzone has 8 factions, Mars Attacks is introducing another couple in August. :p

Woogoo!

More factions ftw for sure.

I don't see how well the cone heads would make for a game.. maybe since they deployed the scenery they're doing an escape from new York board game

 Alpharius wrote:

 shasolenzabi wrote:
Ah the Pegasus "Technobridge" Decent model and is wide enough for pretty good sized machines to cross it.

A couple of minutes too late, wannabe-Ninja!

It does show how well the terrain can be combined with...just about anything!

Yes, but I built mine as a gift to the game shop as others had beaten up the cardboard 40k stuff, bunch of us worked to make plastic buildings for the place and I added a guard toll booth check point to the side of the bridge.

*Not* counting any specifically Deadzone minis, my Enforcers currently have:
21 Regular Enforcers with Rifles
10 Assault Enforcers/Sergeants
6 Enforcers with Burst Lasers
2 Enforcers with Missile Launchers
1 Enforcer with Fusion Gun/flamer
And I have a bag of 5 unassembled Enforcers left( inc bust laser and assault arms), plus 3 other burst lasers and 1 other set of assault arms.

((Any suggestions on what to do for my remaining 5 guys? I'm trying to keep it as flexible as possible.))

All in all, I currently have 54 Enforcers...

Plus, if my count is right, in the Deadzone Kickstarter Wave 2, I'll be getting:

30 plastic Enforcers.
4 Medics
2 Engineers
2 Snipers
2 Enforcers with Missile Launchers
15 Peacekeeper Infantry. (Aka Terminators)
Sergeant Howlett
The Infiltrator
2 Striders

Pffft, who needs a Warpath kickstarter?

That's probably a 3k army there already!

Vehicles are most definitely needed though, and they've been teasing them for years!

 GrimDork wrote:
Woogoo!

More factions ftw for sure.

I don't see how well the cone heads would make for a game.. maybe since they deployed the scenery they're doing an escape from new York board game

Maybe if they decide to do a KS for a DZ 2.0 . Though at the moment I'm happy with the stupendous amount of dollies acquired from the first one. I'd consider doing Veer-myn if they update the models, currently though they don't make me want to shell out for em.

If anyone is interested, miniature market has Deadzone on sale for 60$

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/mgdzm02-87.html

Looks like a good price Squall, for a starter set

Almost finished cleaning my 3x strike teams + 1x BOGOF for each faction, just the last few plague units from their BOGOF to go. I work slowly...

Its a pretty solid deal if you are interested in the majority. I may have to keep an eye out and see if they ever get the battlezones products in sale for 40% off... that would be mighty tempting.

Have we got any Dakka posters primed and ready for the Open day this saturday? I am hoping to see some new Deadzone sculpts and news.

Can't make it personally, everyone else bring a half-decent quality camera if you can!

 GrimDork wrote:
Its a pretty solid deal if you are interested in the majority. I may have to keep an eye out and see if they ever get the battlezones products in sale for 40% off... that would be mighty tempting.

It was a deal of the day... and I bet if they had a 40% off deal of the day for Battlezones they'd sell out faster than that Deadzone deal did, haha.

Second shipment scheduled for July.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/deadzone-the-sci-fi-miniatures-board-game/posts/837151

Asterians are looking sweet:



Also, second wave ships in July.

Are those corp guard or whatever?

Corporation Marines, they've been out for years.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Corporation Marines, they've been out for years.

just haven't seen them in the context of DZ, since I haven't been into Warpath.

I'm surprised the Asterian flying sled thing isn't on a larger base.

Wish they'd give us a larger shot or two of the painted Asterians.

I guess that's what this weekend is for, right?

The Asterians are looking damn cool, I'll be picking up a starter when they hit retail for sure.

I've already forgotten - did the Asterians make it to "HARD PLASTIC" or are they still in "HORRIBLE RESTIC"?

Nope still PVC and I'd guess the painted ones are resin so it will be interesting to see how the production versions turn out with all those thin parts.

Only the Enforcers and Forge Guard ended up and Hard Plastic.

At this point I'm thinking of putting the Marauders and Rebs on hold painting wise until the Warpath KS when I can hopefully pick up some HP versions.

Asterians are all Restic.

The (majority of) Enforcers and the Forge Father Forge Guard are in plastic.

Also the DB Xtreme PM goes live over the weekend.

... You can go back into the manager and add (to) it. The new system will remember what you already had, and allow you to add to it as much as you want. We'll map out what the stretch goals are in an update. We intend on adding the backer MVPs to the survey at a later date as well.

you can pay via Credit Card or Paypal, and it's instantaneous, rather than waiting for us to process a survey and then send out a request.

That what I thought...

So you can pretty much count on the Asterians NOT coming out as good as the painted preview pics then, sadly...

Not sure if everyone read the latest email, but Mantic's got those Open Day prices available online as well.

That means Project Pandora for 15 pounds for those of us in the US as well!

Not only that, but it seems they've brought back the crazy box along with a few other pretty snazzy deals.

Will probably pick up Project Pandora and the Green Menace DKH since it's half price as well.

Out of curiosity, what have some of you gotten in those crazy boxes? I might have to sample one if I'm going to make an order as it is.

Seems like the crazy boxes are usually pretty similar to each other from the same wave, but change contents when they get reposted. The two I got at Xmas last year had (each) Anne Marie helder, the big mech, two wp orx, a sprue of elves, 10 men at arms, a Loka piece... two deadzone minis... something like that. They've been known to have raptors and possibly iron ancestors, and the excellent mantic undead. Sounds like you might get clippers this time.

Think I will order one. And PP:GC, maybe DKH too since that would put me three cents away from free shipping.


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Oh and three ogres. I can't remember if it was 10 or 20 elves though.

 Alpharius wrote:
That what I thought...

So you can pretty much count on the Asterians NOT coming out as good as the painted preview pics then, sadly...

QFT. Hopefully the steps they've taken to reign in the rampant "good enough" attitude of their Chinese manufacturer has dones some good.... hope....yeah.

It's worth saying, before any Open Day go-ers get up too much in arms...

Project Pandora is available at the Open Day for £10. - It's £5 more expensive on the store. However, that means it's still a decent deal, especially as it contains a corporation marines section inside it.

I'm going to order a box or two, as I've still been holding onto all those Mantic points I won in the competition which I haven't gotten round to making an order for.

They look awesome, really like the stuff they are giving out for Deadzone cannot wait for more releases

Has this crazy-box deal been available before?

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/Open-Day-Madness/product/open-day-crazy-box.html?utm_source=Mantic+Games+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e1632fcb1b-Mantic_Games_Newsletter_262&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_20fe4cf5a8-e1632fcb1b-201351538

ONLY AVAILABLE DURING THE OPEN DAY WEEKEND - DEAL ENDS MIDNIGHT SUNDAY 18TH MAY 2014!

You know how we like to do things at Mantic - loads of models for your money - and that's just what the Crazy Box is all about! It's a simple enough concept; we take a box and cram it with goodies from across our ranges, then slap a hilariously low price on it! It's a random selection of miniatures and added extras that will give you a little seasonal reminder of what Mantic's all about.
So whether you want to start a few new painting projects, or you just want to have a go at kitbashing or round out your bitz box, the Crazy Box is for you! We do these every year, and they're always insanely popular - so don't miss out!
Number of Miniatures: LOTS!
Product Type: Mixture of plastic and sprueless plastic!
This Set Includes:
Assorted DreadBall, Deadzone, Warpath, LOKA and Kings of War Models!

Expect at least a third of it to be Men at Arms, goblins and cathorses.

Xmas 2013 had 10 MaA, definitely in there but dunno if I'd call it a third.

 AlexHolker wrote:
Expect at least a third of it to be Men at Arms, goblins and cathorses.

Interesting, based on a previous crazy box? What were the contents of the last one you got?

^ Alex is just being facetious.

If there's clippers and paints in there then that's an excellent deal, the mantic clippers are awesome, and the paints will most likely be some army painter warpaints.

That covers a good £5 or so of value before even looking at the minis.

£15 for the crazy box is a great deal too, they've been on sale for £25 and £20 before.

I would strongly recommend picking up one or three and seeing what you get.

I know someone who bought three the first time around and ended up with complete 1500 point undead, elf and dwarf armies for KoW, as well as three mantic bags.

 judgedoug wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:
Expect at least a third of it to be Men at Arms, goblins and cathorses.

Interesting, based on a previous crazy box? What were the contents of the last one you got?

Based on what people said they got in theirs last time. Even if the quality was adequate across the board, there's too many factions that I have no interest in and not enough that I do to make it worth buying for myself.

I'll be watching the extension of the Dreadball: Xtreme kickstarter. If they add a second team that I'd want to play, and add a little more value to the Rage level, I'll be pledging.

Torn on whether to get another box or two. Kind of want grim cargo too... but who knows they may have copies for 10 squiggly lines at gencon as well, or other good deals. Maybe dead zone stuff before retail release...

Can anyone report on what kind of stuff they sold at gencon last year?


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I think the bag version was the 25 pound variety? I think that was a much bigger box.

If it wasn't *only* MAA and goblins, I'd be alright with them.

I bought a few of both those lines, and honestly, they weren't as bad as some of you here made them out to be.

Admittedly, they weren't of the same caliber the undead and dwarves are for example, but that's not anything that hasn't been said before.

Trying to see if Barzam wants to go in on one or split his own box.

Would like to see a run down of what people get in these before I go in for buying some if possible... people at the open day might be able to post the contents before the online sale runs out? They're good value and I'm glad I picked up a couple last time but better safe than sorry!

^this. Anyone who buys one at open day, let us know . I may have to pop over to to the mantic forums tomorrow if nothing shows here. I'd like to get one, but I could do with a different mix than my two Christmas boxen.

I winder why they're doing it for so short of a time this go round. They normally keep it up for a few weeks.

What terrain kit comes with that big honkin' space gun? Is it out yet?

 DaveC wrote:
Also the DB Xtreme PM goes live over the weekend.

... You can go back into the manager and add (to) it. The new system will remember what you already had, and allow you to add to it as much as you want. We'll map out what the stretch goals are in an update. We intend on adding the backer MVPs to the survey at a later date as well.

you can pay via Credit Card or Paypal, and it's instantaneous, rather than waiting for us to process a survey and then send out a request.

That's pretty dumb of them to announce just as the double-whammy bills from DZ and MA drop on us. There's only so much blood you can squeeze from a stone. Instantaneous billing is a bug, not a feature when it comes to Mantic pledge managers.

They did this the last time it was PM time - right when something else was finishing.

I third Yonan and Grimdork on "Kerrrrazy Box" contents please. And second Scarletsquig on asking for decent cameras at the Open Day today (or given the time probably right nowish).

I like the look of the Asterians, but as others have said it depends on whether the manufacture of the restic meets the demands of those spindly parts. That said restic *tends* to be better on straight lines and inorganic shapes.

As for those of you that backed DZ/MA and DE and having your payments at the same time, ouch that hurts. It also seems like a daft move by Mantic given the amount of work it will produce. I just hope the new pledge manager means that mistakes are eliminated or at least minimised.

 squall018 wrote:
I winder why they're doing it for so short of a time this go round. They normally keep it up for a few weeks.

I think it's just for the course of the 'Mantic Weekend' (as they are having the open day in Nottingham this weekend).

 Thraxas Of Turai wrote:
I like the look of the Asterians, but as others have said it depends on whether the manufacture of the restic meets the demands of those spindly parts. That said restic *tends* to be better on straight lines and inorganic shapes.

Lots and lots and lots of hot water bending is going to be involved with the Asterians, it was one of the reasons why I'd have prefered them to be hard plastic, moreso than the forge guard (other reason being that they're basic troopers rather than elites). Hopefully they don't come in 6 parts as well... at least the mould lines will be easier to remove.

Detail is a secondary issue, I have noticed that the detail on my SW restic minis is a bit better than the mantic restic. Organic vs. hard lines doesn't make any difference with restic, only hard plastic.

In any case, the files are all digital and can be adapted for future hard plastic production, deadzone minis are just a release that has to happen until the Warpath KS hits $4m (last I've heard it's back on for the end of this year possibly rather than postponed to 2015, I guess we'll have a clearer picture after today).

I did muddy my explanation a bit there. I meant that cleaning mould lines on hard line restic figures is easier than organic. I would much rather clean an enforcer than a reb or plague miniature.

It does feel like we should be in Nottingham.

Some pics coming through from te open day.

Heroes from the Kings of War skirmish game:



Troll Shaman:



FOrge fathers:



Plague Strider:



Corp Strider (me likey):

All that stuff is pretty cool. The Strider looks awesome in both versions, and even the Fantasy stuff seems neat. More to the points, I NEED those Forge Guard.

Dwarf Kings Hold next kickstarter, KOW skirmish game next year set in a castle.

My crazy box had 3 golems and the forgefather quadgun plus elf and orc sprues, rebs,zzor and clippers and paint.

The Golems are £14.99 rrp so that covers the cost of the crazy box in itself. seems like a good deal though contents will vary.

Undead Troll:

Could be Plaguified



A few more zombies:



Pictures are from the @Fistyglueman account on Twitter.

Damn, that sounds like a pretty nice crazy box SeanDrake, thanks for sharing. Now if we can just get a couple more reports to see how random (if at all) they are...

KoW Skirmish game... in a castle? That sounds epic Is the DKH kickstarter for the KoW skirmish game, or are they releasing DKH4 and then putting out a fantasy skirmish that's separate? Sounds cool either way


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Wow, I'm kind of glad I ordered 80 of those zombies Those are looking sweet.

I like that undead troll.

DKH and KoW are different things.

The Crazy boxes all have code names and I counted 8.

Not strictly Deadzone or Warpath but this looks ripe for conversion potential:



@Grim: Having had 80 zombies on order too, I am gutted at missing out

Indeed... I feel for you Sir.


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At least your model collection and other things and self won't be getting soaked or caved in upon.

Looks promising, I'm especially interested in this KoW skirmish game. Have we heard any details about it?

That looks like the Hobgoblin DBX team in the background of the very first picture. I'd like to see a close up of the helmets as I'm trying to decide on them or Ada Lorena as my free team. While the Ada Lorena look cooler there's only 6 of them and they don't fit my idea of DBX if the Hobgoblin team sculpted up well including the face grill I might get them instead.

 DaveC wrote:
That looks like the Hobgoblin DBX team in the background of the very first picture. I'd like to see a close up of the helmets as I'm trying to decide on them or Ada Lorena as my free team. While the Ada Lorena look cooler there's only 6 of them and they don't fit my idea of DBX if the Hobgoblin team sculpted up well including the face grill I might get them instead.

I'm interested in how they pull off the face grill on those too. No way the concept art translates in to restic decently without modification.

 scarletsquig wrote:

I would strongly recommend picking up one or three and seeing what you get.
I know someone who bought three the first time around and ended up with complete 1500 point undead, elf and dwarf armies for KoW, as well as three mantic bags.

I don't see that happening again anytime soon (or ever again). Mantic have expanded their range to all sorts of random gak at this point, so you're likely to get some MAA, random restic, Loka pieces, DZ players and so forth rather than more restricted/focused product.

Not open day related but they posted this on facebook. Large Radar dish by Titan games - great use of the parts I might try this although I'd do one or two things differentlly using some additional plasticard/rod. I'm waiting on SWM tiles, DZ wave 2 and Maki terrain to all arrive before I build and paint anything so it's all consistent in design and colour (I might be waiting a while yet )

Hm, some greatly improved sculpts in those pictures.

Excellent job with the pic posting guys!

Like the look at some of those nature-humans, and of course the Forge Father look very promising! Hopefully there will be some more close-up pics.

 Azazelx wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:

I would strongly recommend picking up one or three and seeing what you get.
I know someone who bought three the first time around and ended up with complete 1500 point undead, elf and dwarf armies for KoW, as well as three mantic bags.

I don't see that happening again anytime soon (or ever again). Mantic have expanded their range to all sorts of random gak at this point, so you're likely to get some MAA, random restic, Loka pieces, DZ players and so forth rather than more restricted/focused product.

Yes, but you're not paying much (what.. probably the same as a pot of GW paint out in Aus?), and there is obviously the potential for some nice miniatures based on the comments of people who have bought them.

Skirmishes and Dwarf King's Hold?

I'll be in. Hard.

Hopefully this skirmish game will also let us tap into all the Mantic/ other fantasy stuff we've all got laying around too. I smell the potential for terrain with both of these as well...

What exactly is sitting on that lizard? I'm always interested in more reptiles!

Caption on the picture says it is a Goblin.

A couple more pics for the skirmish game:

Dwarf

Zombie/Ghoul?

Hobbit/Halfling

Ok KoW skirmish will be warband based with each being made up of 5 troops a Heavy/ bruiser and a legendary hero leading. It will be played on multilevel terrain representing a castle/fortress.

The new DKH will be based on cardboard tiles but with plastic scenery such as tables, chairs and chests etc. This time the good guys play an adventuring party, which is the sculpts in the pictures dwarf fighter, human barbarian, elf bow woman and a human mage.
The opposition is undead with new skeletons, armoured zombies and zombie troll mentioned.

There will be 2 ways to play the 1st is specific scenarios telling the story during these characters will find upgrade weapons in a set manner and also learn new skills and become legandary as per the script so to speak.

Cheers SeanDrake, great info regarding the skirmish game and the 8 codenames for the crazy boxes.

However thanks to lobbying by stew & other internal parties ronnie has agreed to produce a book/expansion that lets you design/lvl and equip your characters as you see fit using a points system, they are also going to provide points values for every kow miniature/creature in the mantic range so they can also be used.

Also to be sci fi for a moment ronnie had the marsattacks martian robot on his desk and it is nice also production mars attacks martians and soldiers which were very nice

Dammit! That sounds exactly like something I need!

Now if only Mantic would give us some lizard/ dragon men, I'd be in seventh heaven.

Any chance someone can go all Inception up in Ronnie's ears in that regard?

SeanDrake wrote:
However thanks to lobbying by stew & other internal parties ronnie has agreed to produce a book/expansion that lets you design/lvl and equip your characters as you see fit using a points system, they are also going to provide points values for every kow miniature/creature in the mantic range so they can also be used.

Also to be sci fi for a moment ronnie had the marsattacks martian robot on his desk and it is nice also production mars attacks martians and soldiers which were very nice

So, they're going after Descent to some extent....

Dreadball Extreme pics:









Half inched from this site http://descansodelescriba.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fotos-del-mantic-open-day-de-dreadball.html?spref=tw

Going to have money down for fistyglue man as soon as he appears for pre-order!

What are the team in the first pic, and the small, rather evil looking guys in the last one?

First pic are Sphyr - they just went from a maybe to definite yes for me. Rebs look great too they are my free pick I like that the 4 legged one is rearing up on 2 legs solves the 4 leg problem nicely

The last pic is Brokkers in green and Hobgoblins in orange with a Hulk- free agents at the front. Still cant't see the Hobgoblins face grill the Hulks looks good but will it translate well to plastic?

The first team is the hammerhead shark guys The Sphyr. DaveC suggests that the little guys (with a Hulk maybe?) are the Hobgoblin team, which seems right.

I am going to convert my own Fisty Glue Man, it looks like an expensive kit.

Edit: gah Ninjad.

I like those Sphyr poses- they can translate well from a sports game to a street fight from the looks of them.

Fisticuffs on Deadzone street, here we come!

That Soark is just begging to be given a pair of pistols and be throw in a deadzone... In fact, a lot of the DBX stuff looks DZ compatible with a little conversion.

Skirmish game sounds killer, I missed out in mordheim and I've got a buttload of bones minis coming who could fill in as warbands.


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I only backed dbx for deadzone conversion fodder . I may have two serviceable teams left over... maybe... from rampage when I'm done.

Anyone know (or have a guess) as to what they grey blob of parts sticking out is? Or those guys in the clear resin in front of the Brokrs?

My Soraks will be plain old street fighting men.

I was actually hoping those quadrupeds would end up on the bigger bases. I hope they aren't all rearing up.

Few more @FistyGlueMan pictures:

Everything is looking pretty good. Those uhh.... mars attacks militia dudes (can't remember the name now), all look pretty cool. The angle of that one shot is making that strider look pretty beefy and tall.

Those Martians are really coming along nicely.

The Forge Father armor looks quite big and beefy- from the angle they look almost as big as the Survivor!

Those last pics are a prophecy, a vision of terrible things happening to my wallet when the Forge Fathers and Asterians hit the shelves... I can't wait.

I love the Mars attacks science division models with the goggles, they look very scary. The Strider does look massive now.

82 pictures here courtesy of @'FistyGlueMan for you to click through:
http://fistyglueman.imgur.com/

 Thraxas Of Turai wrote:
I love the Mars attacks science division models with the goggles, they look very scary. The Strider does look massive now.

82 pictures here for you to click through:
http://fistyglueman.imgur.com/

Some very cool stuff in there, thanks for posting. Peacekeepers with shields are awesome, and this fantasy stuff has my interest thoroughly piqued.

Thanks for the info guys, those do look like nice miniatures! And now, very glad that I put some money into the Mars Attacks KS, those do look very promising.

 Thraxas Of Turai wrote:


I am going to convert my own Fisty Glue Man, it looks like an expensive kit.

It comes in a nice cardboard box though, and is a limited edition!

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Now if only Mantic would give us some lizard/ dragon men, I'd be in seventh heaven.

Any chance someone can go all Inception up in Ronnie's ears in that regard?

Minion Miniatures is planning to make some.

Some of the new sculpts are looking really good.

I heard the words "armored" and "zombie" used together to describe a new unit for Dwarf King's hold. I'm in. I'm totally in. Like, right now. I don't even need the game, just let me buy those figures.

Some of these sculpts are looking amazing, that lizard in particular is incredibly detailed and the Sphyr team look ripe for a deadzone conversion.

Also I must have that female werewolf/gnoll in the last pic, no clue whats shes from however.

Any more word on the crazy box contents this time around? That first report made it sound good, but it would be great to hear about any variance to know if I wanna get a couple

Just noticed that looks like Eclipse in the background of the Goblin lizard rider picture.

I like to hear more about the crazy boxes as well. I keep on trying to talk myself into one, and if they reliably have clippers and paint I might do it, but I have no use for dreadball figures (too small to fit into my collection), and very limited use for warpath stuff....and limited use for any restic deadzone...and I'm not really into the elves...whelp, I may have just talked myself out of it.

Have found more pictures here http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/mantic-games-open-day.html

 Thraxas Of Turai wrote:
I love the Mars attacks science division models with the goggles, they look very scary. The Strider does look massive now.

82 pictures here courtesy of @'FistyGlueMan for you to click through:
http://fistyglueman.imgur.com/

I spy a Revell Republic Attack Shuttle! It's a great kit that should fit nicely on the landing pad but damn do I wish Revell would stick to a consistent scale.. there are so few SW ships that look right alongside some ~28mm minis. That thing needs to be twice the size :(

Also, the Deadzone terrain looks super great in yellow! I might have to paint mine up like that

That flying saucer is possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen, for any games system, ever! Would love to whack 5-6 of those down on the table as a 'counts as' Necron flyer in 40k

Love some of the civilian miniatures as well, and the gorilla + guy with shotgun. If Mantic are smart, they will have this stuff available separately and at a reasonable cost - sure it will sell well as it has a lot of cross-system appeal.

 Pacific wrote:
sure it will sell well as it has a lot of cross-system appeal.

Agreed! I pledged for one of the giant robots (plus wrecked cars and urban scenery) to use in Pulp City and Supersystem and I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick up more robots and terrain at retail later on.

I think (hope?) the Mars Attack stuff ends up having a lot wider appeal than it seemed to during the campaign.

The gameplay is simpler, the models are going to be made for board gamers primarily, there's all sorts of crossover appeal far beyond only Mantic's games...

I've got high hopes for it.

Bring on DKH and the skirmish game I say!


Edit- looking through that latest blogpost, there's some interesting stuff on those monitor displays. Smoking lizardman thing holding a sword? Bug eyed goggle space man? Martian zombie with axe in head? Abyssals? Fat and skinny guys yelling (DBE fans?) Noticed the shrunken soldiers were in one of the display cabinet shots as well.

I want this:

Maybe Mantic will give me some reptiles after all!

 Barzam wrote:
I heard the words "armored" and "zombie" used together to describe a new unit for Dwarf King's hold. I'm in. I'm totally in. Like, right now. I don't even need the game, just let me buy those figures.

They specifically confirmed a zombified basilian paladin, also not sure if they were joking but zombie dwarfs were mentioned.

As Highlord Tamburlaine says there are plenty of interesting pictures in that blog, 112 pictures in total.

I am very interested in this render

Not my cup of tea with its tongue handing out like that; a bit cartoonish.

It is... a little bit. I think they're kind of intergalactic pranksters though. Well, pranksters like teleport you to the top of a spike filled pit on some long abandoned world with no intent of coming back for you.. rather than making farting noises while you sit down pranksters. Still. I'm probably in for a team of those evil looking cusses.

Bleh, just paid for my DZ and MA surveys... now I'm starting to wonder if I wanna order a crazy box after all

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Smoking lizardman thing holding a sword?

Maybe Mantic will give me some reptiles after all!

Seems to be a updated concept art sketch for the salamanders in the forces of nature army list in KoW

Here's the original concept art.
http://manticblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Salamander.jpg

And I want it too

It has kind of a weird posture... or something... but it is pretty cool.

A few bits I picked up from the day...

Rolt, the werewolf woman is Eclipse.

Tamburlaine, Ronnie said in the seminar that Mars Attacks is currently looking to be their highest selling game, and that's before retail.

Seandreake, the zombified paladin was on show being sculpted.

And the crazy boxes were labeled to contain 2 big bags, 2 small bags, 2 sprues, 1 paint, 1 clippers and 1 Loka.
I got Marauder Raptor and 3 Elohi (big bags), Elf bowmen and Marauder grunt command (sprues), 2 plague and 3 Midgard Delvers (small bags), a tree lady Loka, plus red paint and clippers. Hope that helps.

When you see a sculpt (Eclipse in this case), go "oooo! that's neat! I want that" and then find out you've essentially already ordered it...is it time to admit that maybe you have a problem?

Which one is Eclipse?

So hmm, that's definitely a decent amount of stuff from what Galgaroth says. Not sure I need another command sprue of orx though... More to consider so thanks for posting about it

Is that lizardman meant to be a salamander by any chance, considering the smoke coming out of his mouth.

@Galgaroth
Thanks, didn't expect her to be in such an action orientated pose considering shes a manager, either way
she'll have a place in my deadzone conversions.

 GrimDork wrote:
Which one is Eclipse?

So hmm, that's definitely a decent amount of stuff from what Galgaroth says. Not sure I need another command sprue of orx though... More to consider so thanks for posting about it

Eclipse is the thing that looks like a wereshewolf (tho I gather "fox" is more accurate) that's visible behind the lizard rider:

I totally forgot about her. Huh, I may have to add her to my pledge then.

I think Eclipse kinda passed under everyone's radar TBH Barzam, the concept art for was kinda unimpressive go figure she made such a good sculpt.

In fact I'm really impressed by everything shown so far, I wasn't expecting to see so much new (and worth buying) stuff, thanks for all the pictures guys (and gals)
look forward to more.

Ahh OK now I remember. Looks pretty cool. I hope the new PM is as nice as they say.. otherwise I'm leaving my rampage alone.

Some more pics from the Open Day, courtesy of a pathfinder, including some stuff we haven't seen in other pics, like this production sculpt of a Mars Attacks human:




Keep in mind that's a giant pic and the mini is tiny. Things like facial detail and the kneepad rim are there, it seems to be about the same as restic for detail.

That is pretty damn good, actually - even at RRP.

First soldier's gun is a tad bendy, but not bad at all. I can definitely work with those guys. Either they trimmed the mold lines or those came out way better than the martians.

Strider bits look good. Those, and the other picture, make me glad I splurged for six I'm glad I stuck it out and kept my Cypher order, those look pretty nice too. That peacekeeper with the shield looks like a fugging tank, I love it.

I'm.... not as sure about the pathfinder on the bike. I really liked the concept art they finally divulged, but I need more angles. The walking version looks ok, sometimes it's nice to have snipers repositioning, especially given how strong they are with a pistol in deadzone. The one on the bike though... If it comes to me that way, I'm gonna have to carefully saw off and reposition the head (unless i'm lucky and it's separate). She's aiming from her shoulder and looking like 70-90 degrees away from her supposed target. The single shoulder guard is a nice idea... but you'd think if she was going to have a pad, it would be on the side that's facing the enemy, or her left shoulder given her handedness.

Still, impressed overall, and I would like to thank everyone who has taken, or found, and shared pictures Hopefully I can return the favor come Gencon!

Liking the production sculpts of the Mars Attacks figures. I did not back that but it looks like backers will be getting a nice lot of bang for their buck.

I do not know if it is the resin colour or what but I am not overly keen on the Enforcer (the variety of which she is escapes me) with sniper rifle on unibike thing looks a bit off.

After seeing the Striders I am bit concerned with the game now as I can assume the game may end up like a re-creation of Titanfall..

Can anyone assure me that these could be balanced?

Although I do love the Peacekeeper armour for the enforcers Will get some of them when they are released

I'm getting a very Zombicide feel from the Mars Attacks stuff which is kind of where they are aiming it anyway much more self contained board game they even cross promoted hopefully the soldiers scale well with Zombicide too as I can definitely see myself doing a mod for both games to use both sets of minis.

 DaveC wrote:
I'm getting a very Zombicide feel from the Mars Attacks stuff which is kind of where they are aiming it anyway much more self contained board game they even cross promoted hopefully the soldiers scale well with Zombicide too as I can definitely see myself doing a mod for both games to use both sets of minis.

Same here, I'm planning on picking up a tablescapes city board to use it and the MA! buildings/terrain for 3d Zombicide games.

Man those plastic Peacekeepers are butch as hell.

 happygolucky wrote:
After seeing the Striders I am bit concerned with the game now as I can assume the game may end up like a re-creation of Titanfall..

Can anyone assure me that these could be balanced?

Although I do love the Peacekeeper armour for the enforcers Will get some of them when they are released

Isn't the idea more or less that heavy/anti-tank weaponry is suddenly about to become a lot more interesting to bring along?

 Bolognesus wrote:

 happygolucky wrote:
After seeing the Striders I am bit concerned with the game now as I can assume the game may end up like a re-creation of Titanfall..

Can anyone assure me that these could be balanced?

Although I do love the Peacekeeper armour for the enforcers Will get some of them when they are released

Isn't the idea more or less that heavy/anti-tank weaponry is suddenly about to become a lot more interesting to bring along?

Fair do's just I hope the game does not become "take a strider or you lose" game that's all, I just got the game for my birthday and I don't want a repeat from 40k in terms of balance for big things..

Nice to see the female enforcer printed.

Glad we managed to pull mantic away from the really stupid only male fighters cliche.

Yeah she's a step in the right direction for sure, and virtually zero cheesecake to boot. I just need to fix the angle of her head on the bike...

I have a feeling striders will be tough, but at the same time a rocket or H.E.W. beam to the face is probably gonna put them in a world of hurt. Extra structure (did that even make it in?) might help but I don't think there's a repair mechanic. Walkers are probably like the PK captain and the 1st gen/plague terraton, best left to the code 13 missions or you'll not have room for objective oriented infantry.

Almost sad I only ordered 10 peacekeepers :p

Ok, cools

Think I may get one and convert it to have the chainsaw as a bayonet for the gun

Man... even my my honed eBay sniping skills I'm still 4000something in the queueueue to get my tickets processed for Gencon. Hoping to get into the DZ campaign, there weren't any cool news seminars for mantic so I'll just have to take lots of pictures at their table and see if anything new is mentioned or for sale.

I'd like to echo the thanks expressed here for all the great pictures and links. Generally speaking, this is a very exciting preview of what's coming, but there's so much stuff being put forward it's hard to know what to comment on!

So in no particular order, some random thoughts:

Mars Attacks:

I'm encouraged that the Mars Attacks figures will be worth playing in my Deadzone games, and that my favorite models - the Science Division - will turn out as well as I hoped. I'm quite happy with most of my Deadzone miniatures, and excited by what's to come, but I think there's a decent chance that my Sci Div Deadzone force, augmented by the retro stompy robot, saucer, and giant bugs, will turn out to be my favorite.

If Mars Attacks really does turn into Mantic's top seller, a Mars Attacks expansion Kickstarter will go from "not a chance, Martian Boy!" to a dead certainty.

Furthermore, if Mars Attacks becomes a kind of base model for Mantic's future licensed skirmish games, we could end up with Deadzone cross-over-palooza. Deadzone becoming a kind of tabletop skirmish GURPS, with a full Warpath universe line, and cross-over potential with other properties for those who want it. I doubt they'll ever do a property I'd be dying to see, like Daleks and Cybermen, Dead Space, or Cylons. But I had zero interest in Mars Attacks and they got me in on that one anyway.

Fantasy Skirmish with 3-D castle terrain:

A logical, lucrative idea. I won't be buying in, as fantasy is not really my thing, and the box of Descent I bought to play with the family is more than enough for me. But they're wise to do it.

Dreadball Xtreme:

Eclipse does look a lot better than I imagined. At first, I thought "I can't believe they put that much awesome into a KS exclusive!" Then I realized she's not exclusive. I wonder how she'll end up being packaged for retail? Included in the base set? In the future, I think Mantic should consider using can't miss minis like this, rather than blander minis like Ardia, as their exclusives. Eclipse would have done a better job getting fence sitters in, in my opinion.

I hope all the sponsors are available to purchase individually on the PM, or as a bundle. I'm not planning on buying into DBX - I've got to be very, very careful with my funds in case Warpath or DZ 2 debuts this year - but I would love to get my hands on all the sponsors to use as civilians in Deadzone.

There's been no recent comment by Mantic regarding how or if they'll manage stretch goals on the pledge manager. It's supposed to debut this weekend, and I have no doubt that the promise of additional stretch goals would up their sales. Things like Phantasm and the Spider, which make Rampage a better deal, should be presented as within reach.

Deadzone: I have a good idea of how much of a pain trimming the Asterians is going to be, and it will take forever, but I will do it, and the final result will look excellent. Forge Guard look great, too. And yes, very glad I ordered Striders now.

I have to agree with you guys that the Enforcer sniper on the bike needs to have her head examined, then repositioned so she's aiming that gun of hers. Can't fathom why they posed her this way.

Project Pandora: They were probably just clearing backstock, and the 3-D deadzone Pandora boards at the open day were small and disappointing, but in I think Deadzone 2 should effectively be a re-launched Pandora. Not the original game with two limited factions, but a catch-all, multi-faction, build and play-it-your-way starship dungeon game. This would allow Mantic to sell Deadzone 2 as something self-contained and different from Deadzone 1, with rules tailored for corridor combat. Starships can easily have large rooms rather than tight corridors, for those wanting a "proper" Deadzone experience. I think several of the Battle Systems set ups demonstrate this well:



I see no reason why an entire Deadzone Mat couldn't effectively serve as one room (say, a cargo room) on a large starship, either. As long as you leave out heavy artillery and tanks, it'd be brilliant.

SO looking forward to my BS stuff coming in so I can take pretty pictures with my deadzone minis Just have to work out whether I want to tick off the 3" grids to make it deadzone friendly, or work out a loose conversion for deadzone to work in inches on the grid

 GrimDork wrote:
SO looking forward to my BS stuff coming in so I can take pretty pictures with my deadzone minis Just have to work out whether I want to tick off the 3" grids to make it deadzone friendly, or work out a loose conversion for deadzone to work in inches on the grid

I have the same intention, so I'll be very interested in any solutions you come up with.

Definitely! I think running off and markering the beautiful terrain should be a last resort though. There was a bit of discussion on the Mantic forums too that may prove useful.

Compared to the concept art, they put the heads on the pathfinders backwards. The visor down head looks like the one that is supposed to be on the bike, while the on foot model has their visor up. Not to say that they couldn't have changed from the concept renders, but that would certainly account for the wonkiness.

Concept renders spoilered below for those who don't want to Google to confirm.

Hell maybe that's it, certainly a bit of care and it could be arranged in either case. Cool.

 GrimDork wrote:
SO looking forward to my BS stuff coming in so I can take pretty pictures with my deadzone minis Just have to work out whether I want to tick off the 3" grids to make it deadzone friendly, or work out a loose conversion for deadzone to work in inches on the grid

You and me both mate! Though I now fear I'll have so much scenery I won't know what to do with it all haha!

**Edit- I may have to paint those Asterians in a Cylon paint scheme.. "By your command"

Okay, so updated Kickstarter schedule:

2014
End of July - Deadzone wave 2 ships, DKH KS launches.
August - Mars Attacks ships entirely.
Q4 - DBX ships entirely. Warpath KS (start saving :p).

2015
KoW Skirmish KS
KoW 2.0 KS, Abyssals and Nature.
Possible DZ 2.0 KS?
Possible "new IP" KS? (maybe this one in Q3 2014 too?).

Looks quite crowded, but if they get Deadzone, DBX and Mars Attacks fully shipped before launching Warpath, that will clear things up for them since at the time of Warpath launching, they'll only have DKH to sort out... and even that might ship Dec 2014 if we're lucky since it's a very small, 1-box KS with some bonus resins for the backers.

Assuming there isn't another KS launching Q3 this year, we might be looking at all KS's having shipped by the time Warpath closes.

Hmm, tbh I cannot wait for Mars Attacks skirmish game, as I really like the models (plus Giant robot with a Martian in. That's gonna be a favourite ).

I hope either the next IP to be either Doctor Who or Halo, I know its wish listing but it would be so cool to see those models

See this thread to keep "next IP" guessing/wishlisting in check:

http://forum.manticblog.com/showthread.php?6684-The-%28Second%29-Mantic-IP-Tie-In-Speculation-Thread/page2

There's a huge list of over 100 guesses confirmed to not be accurate. Nobody guessed Mars Attacks correctly, probably highly likely that no-one will guess the next one either.

Some of those have really made me laugh just because how absolutely unlikely they are (and how completely unsuited in a lot of cases - Quantum Leap?! Zardoz?! )

'Spots the Space marine' also me me chuckle.

My guess would be another IP that isn't directly in the limelight at the moment (and therefore is a bit cheaper for licensing) but one that is known quite well... hmm...

Oh, and Ronnie mentioned that they were finalising negotiations for a Deadzone computer game.

I'm going to guess that the work with IDW on MA! might lead to another license with them...

Ghostbusters.

 Daedleh wrote:
Oh, and Ronnie mentioned that they were finalising negotiations for a Deadzone computer game.

Any news if it was going to be turn based xcom type affair, a shooter etc?

I would love a decent rpg set in the warpath universe or mantica.

I'm very impressed. Mantic seem to have produced a lot of decent stuff, and it seems to have a unified comic book style without being whacky for the most part. I'm not sure if they'll come out fantastic in restic, but definitely looking better overall than the recent Deadzone and KoW items.

They don't need another IP.

I've love the enforcers since they were previewed, and bought tons of them - poor casting quality and cut corners making the weapons sprues meant I ditched the lot and waited for plastics. As much as I want to go in and get stacks of enforcers, I don't want to be sat here twiddling my thumbs waiting for them to release the rest of the army because there busy with the new kickstarter for the new IP

I still have hopes that since Mars Attacks sounds like it will do well once released, we will see it's actual successor, Dinosaurs Attack!

Hell, IDW has been publishing a comic of it these days too.

Plastic crazy looking dinosaurs? I'd be all over it!

Dz video game could be cool. Guess I've got to save money for gencon AND wp3.0 now..

Looking forward to my next mantic ks feeling like im getting withdrawal symptoms.

At least I'll soon be getting my pallet of zombies to paint, im hoping a new dz update will show them off better soon.

There's a DBX update coming soon

Mantic kickstarter logo.small
Creator Mantic Games 1 minute ago

- update is inbound, we're sorry for the delay.

EDIT: no PM today

Creator Mantic Games 1 minute ago

Sorry all, but we're going to be pushing it back to tomorrow. There were still some mistakes in there that we caught last night (we intended it to go yesterday) and we've just run out of time.

 Daedleh wrote:
Oh, and Ronnie mentioned that they were finalising negotiations for a Deadzone computer game.

If this is a type of Xcom type game, then colour me excited.

Grimdork recommended I like this magnatising Deadzone terrain video here

Hope its useful

http://youtu.be/9Pctd7m456Y

I wasn't sure if anyone else had come up with anything definitive. Its a somewhat limited method but its really simple and looks like a great aid for walkways and barricades being added to roofs and the like.

That's a useful tutorial, thanks Carlos and Grim.

XCom Warpath, hello beautiful.

Heavy Enforcers with shields look bad-ass!

I do like the uni-wheel concpet

female enforcers, the one thing SM were not to ever see for some reason.

Checked the Mantic forum for info on what's in the (£15, $US25) Mantic box, there were two lists of contents:

1.
Sprue of Dwarf Kings Hold Elves,
a Forgefather tracked gun-thing,
3 trolls,
clippers,
green paint,
some zee's,
some rebs and a
loka air pawn

2.
Sprue of DKH Elves
Marauder Grunt command sprue
10 Corporation Rangers
2 Humans and Yndij for Deadzone
2 Dreadball Z'zor
Loka Ice Rook
10 Basilean sisterhood panther lancers
Clippers
Silver paint

Really hope they're randomised better this time. I may have got more than one box... I was looking at getting some new clippers and SS vouching for the Mantic ones works for me. The DKH elves... anyone seen them? Good quality? Plastic? Multi pose?

Dkh elves=kow elves. Quality is great, style is a matter of taste

Did anyone else catch this Open Day preview image of a Crystallan Guard on the Gmorts Chaotica blog? http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.co.uk/



If I remember correctly, the Crystallan team are being sculpted by the same guy who's done all the Teratons for Mantic. In other words, by a really talented sculptor. The photo of a monitor screen above isn't very clear, but the model seems to have stockier proportions than the concept art (but keep in mind that the Guard has a bigger chunky rock to crystal ratio than the Striker and Jack models), and to feature a much larger "heroic" scale rock claw.

Just thought I'd point this out since the Open Day debut of the first Crystallan sculpt seems to have passed under most people's radar. I was so bamboozled by the tidal wave of new model pictures that I didn't even realize what this was until this morning.

I was partial to the less stocky concept art, and the Crystallen is by far the model I like the least of what we've seen here I think. Shame, I was really looking forward to them. Hopefully it's just the weird paint job it has which doesn't do it for me. That frosting is weird.

That's... really odd looking . I hope it's a very early WIP

Whoot? A KoW Skirmish game? Will it be on Kickstarter? If yes when?

 Yonan wrote:
I was partial to the less stocky concept art, and the Crystallen is by far the model I like the least of what we've seen here I think. Shame, I was really looking forward to them. Hopefully it's just the weird paint job it has which doesn't do it for me. That frosting is weird.

I don't think it is painted. I think the sculptor is using a blend of highly textured greenstuff or milliput (the textured surface reflecting more light in this case, making the "frosting" effect in this photo) and flesh colored fimo.

It doesn't look good, at all.

And if it is supposed to be based off of that concept art?

Ouch.

Yeah, not keen on that sculpt, looks nothing like the concept art.

No hard sharp crystals, it's kinda blobby.

Think I'll make my season 5 pick Rebs based on what we've seen so far.. they even have a pony!

One bonus of the pledge manager being late is that we've now gotten some renders of all of the teams to see before making our free DBX team choices.

Koris for me for season 6, although the Ada-Lorana turned out really well too, so I might change my mind and go for them since they don't need to be painted.

Wow... I thought that thing was a Plague monster, didn't realize it was supposed to be Crystal..

Assuming it's not a very early WIP the fact that it's by somebody who got so close to the art for the Terratons makes it all the worse

unless Mantic have stepped in with 'new unseen' concept art like they did with the Trolls

(which I liked but not many others did)

My first thoughts were some sort of Sphyr or possibly the nameless bloodsucker.

Looks a lot like the BtGoA Boromites.

Oh, and it turns out there is no "new external IP game" being developed or in existence at all, false rumour.

KoW 2.0 KS on hold.. fantasy skirmish thing won't be for a very long time either.

Which just leaves DKH in July and Warpath in Q4 (unless they change their minds again).

Whuh? That's a rather different schedule from what seemed to be the case over the weekend. So you're sayig the KS for all those fantasy sculpts we've just seen is right around the corner? Is there an approx. (wave 1) delivery date scheduled?

DKH KS will be $95 sweet spot pledge, end of July launch, no idea on shipping date, could be this Xmas if we're lucky. There's more info in the fantasy thread, but in short, KS version of the game will include resin versions of the heroes and other stuff.. it is aimed squarely as a new heroquest type game, co-op vs. AI deck confirmed, along with 1 vs 1-4 game mode and a supplement book with rules for every single model in all of the KoW army lists, and software for designing campaigns. Characters can level up between dungeon instances, buy new gear with their loot, etc. It is going to be a very simple basic game with a whole ton of expansion added to make it into a definitive open-ended dungeon crawler.

Thanks. Xmas shipping would be good but mighty close to KS end in that case. Ah well, wait and see

If they do all the resin casting for it in house it'll save months compared to the process of getting them done and shipped from China.

Everything about this new DKH seems to ring true to what Myth was wanting to be.

At least we can count on Mantic to get us our goodies in a reasonable amount of time, without shafting the rest of the world in the process.

Although we can probably count on sub par sculpting, poor miniature quality and an endless array of kickstarters.

Anyway, I'd be interested in anything non grid based, at least for a sampler so I don't get burned.

 scarletsquig wrote:


Oh, and it turns out there is no "new external IP game" being developed or in existence at all, false rumour.

KoW 2.0 KS on hold.. fantasy skirmish thing won't be for a very long time either.

Which just leaves DKH in July and Warpath in Q4 (unless they change their minds again).

Absolutely top-level piece of trolling then by whoever made up the 'new external IP' thing. What the hell is wrong with some people?

Looking forward to the DKH KS in the summer in any case (and of course Mars Attacks in the meantime!)

Remember it's possible Mantic were wooing an external IP holder (or bidding for something) and it may have fallen through/cost too much/have been on too tight a time scale

so there could have been an IP then the leak happened that is now not happening

Nah, it was just plain made-up, Mantic ran with the joke for a while since they found it surprising/amusing that people kept asking about it. There's nothing on the cards other than Mars Attacks currently... although Ronnie is open to doing something with other IPs in future, the focus is on their own games for the moment.

Epic troll ftw? Just as well they're sticking to their own IP imo. DHK sounds promising, hopefully it stays rather small and doesn't threaten my fledgling WP3.0 budget.

On another note, does anyone remember how many hard plastic enforcer sprues we were due to get per strike team/ booster/bundle? Trying to decide how many enforcers I'm gonna have. Guess I'll go dig through the comments and find out that way

Oh, that cyrstallan dude has got to go, or be different... or something.

Yeah, not happy with crystalline. Very excited for DKH remake. A hundred bucks sounds reasonable. Also looking to spend around $3-400 on Warpath...

I'm gonna budget 2-400 based on what I can sell of my existing undesired hobby stuff and penny pinching. I'm gonna front load the entire budget day one (whatever early bird plus the extra) and dare them to make me withdraw it. I mostly want vehicles, but we'll see what they come up with

I wonder if it would be worth communicating people's concerns about the Crystallan to Mantic. I didn't want to comment one way or the other in the original post, but I think they were on to a great thing with the Crystallan concept art, which was very well received, and this sculpt is very different. Past experience suggests that the Crystallan Guard is finished and will not be changed, regardless of pledger feedback.

Since a lot of the disappointment here derives from the difference between concept and final sculpt, I wonder how they'll go down in general release with customers who have no expectations?

I think the main problem with the crystallen there is not so much the model but the paint/effect job. The frosting effect really doesn't work for it... I don't see it working on anything really, it just looks... bad to me. The model is chunkier than the concept art, but that might not be so bad - though if possible yeah, I would like it closer to the concept art. If they already have finished sculpts out though I doubt they'd re-do them at this stage.

I guess it depends on their contract with the sculptor. I know if I wrote it, and enforced it, I would say 'Nice sculpt, hopefully you find a customer for it. Now sculpt something similar to the concept I am paying you to sculpt to.".

True enough. Hopefully Mantic is going to stick to their guns more and push quality over speed.

Ye gods, the gulf between the Crystalline concept art and that mind-blowingly awful sculpt is incredible.

~Tim?

Another dislike for that sculpt here.

Why the hell does the Crystallen have a crab claw?

 Some_Call_Me_Tim? wrote:
Ye gods, the gulf between the Crystalline concept art and that mind-blowingly awful sculpt is incredible.

~Tim?

Incredible maybe, but not unexpected, given Mantic's history.

Many nice sculpts in those photos. The crystalline whatever isn't one.

I've been reliably told that the Crystalline was a WIP that shouldn't have been shown yet. The finished sculpts turned up yesterday and are very much improved.

The heads on the pathfinder biker were swapped by accident, but wasn't noticed until after the open day.

Hope we get to see these new sculpts to wash the aftertaste of that previous one away.

Maybe they'll appear in that ever elusive pledge manager?

 Daedleh wrote:
I've been reliably told that the Crystalline was a WIP that shouldn't have been shown yet. The finished sculpts turned up yesterday and are very much improved.

The heads on the pathfinder biker were swapped by accident, but wasn't noticed until after the open day.

Awesome, as far as I'm concerned the DBX stuff is now mostly looking awesome... still not liking the tsoduchan renders much, but that's about it... they lost a lot of their cool whirlwind style that the concept art had and now look like old men in cloaks with no legs... it can't be due to tooling issues either since the Loka air elemental is a thing.

Looking forward to getting my stuff, I like to play DB aggressively so DBX is the game for me.

 Daedleh wrote:
I've been reliably told that the Crystalline was a WIP that shouldn't have been shown yet. The finished sculpts turned up yesterday and are very much improved.

The heads on the pathfinder biker were swapped by accident, but wasn't noticed until after the open day.

Very much hope to see these finished sculptors soon then.

 Daedleh wrote:
I've been reliably told that the Crystalline was a WIP that shouldn't have been shown yet. The finished sculpts turned up yesterday and are very much improved.

That sounds familiar...

Interested to see whether it will pan out the same as last time.

~Eric

So I messaged Mantic last Friday to ask if I could get an extension on my Deadzone invoice, and I still haven't heard back from them. Do you all think I might have a chance at getting an extension of a few days? I'm at the end of buying a house, and money is a little right right now

 scarletsquig wrote:
still not liking the tsoduchan renders much, but that's about it... they lost a lot of their cool whirlwind style that the concept art had and now look like old men in cloaks with no legs . . .

The Tsudochan took a big quality hit for me when Mantic decided to only produce the Jack concept and dumped the lighter Striker and more heavily armored Guard designs.
Now we're getting the exact same CG model in four different poses. It's the digital equivalent of the "lazy sculpt."











I'm sure we'll be told it's because the Tsudochan use telekinesis rather than brute force so they don't need to have more heavily armored Guards, etc*., but as a person who really liked the Guard concept art in particular, I don't care. For me, it's a downgrade pure and simple, and it makes the team look less diverse and a lot more dull. One Tsudochan Jack pointing mysteriously at nothing would have done me just fine; I didn't need his three twin brothers doing it slightly differently too.

I think the primary reason people haven't noticed or complained is that hardly anyone liked the Tsudochan in the first place. There was me and a couple of other people expressing enthusiasm on the KS thread, and you could have counted us on one hand. I think it says something that when the update with the Tsudochan renders went up on the KS site, no one even bothered to post images of them here. No one even mentioned it. Search through the thread; the images above and the link below are the first mention of them that you'll find here.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/dreadball-xtreme/posts/837152

*Ok, imaginary straw man apologist, why didn't they do the even more lightweight Striker concepts, then?