Pretty good although I'm not the most discerning customer
(and for once the KS extra stuff really helped as it was generally stuff released later as individual expansions, I felt the retail offering without it was a bit thin)
but it was developed by Needy Cat Games for Mantic so it's hard to say whether another Mantic game will be comparably good without knowing who's doing it (hopefully we'll find out before it launches)
Both Hellboy and Walking Dead are good games with good miniatures that are a credit to their IP. If only Mantic could do that with their other games...
The titular team of The Umbrella Academy is described as a "dysfunctional family of superheroes".[10] In the mid-20th century, at the instant of the finishing blow in a cosmic wrestling match, 43 superpowered infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy at the start of the day; it is hinted by a character implied to be God that they are collectively a modern-day incarnation of the Messiah.[11] Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a.k.a. The Monocle, an extraterrestrial disguised as a famous entrepreneur, adopts seven of the children, and prepares them to save the world from an unspecified threat as the Umbrella Academy. In Apocalypse Suite, the team disbands and falls out of contact until they meet on the news of Hargreeves' death, and subsequently reunite when one of their own number becomes a supervillain.
I recommend watching Umbrella Academy on Netflix. I'm not an original fan of the comics, but the show was enjoyable. Season 2 is coming out in a few days.
Basically the Doom Patrol/X-Men meets aging child stars.
One fine day exceptional kids are born and a rich dude picks up 7 of them to raise as superheroes. Now they're grown, they've changed (see the dude with the gorilla body), they've grown apart.
The Netflix show is honestly much better than the comic which is kind of ADD. The TV show however is really tightly plotted and just good.
I'm guessing those minis in the RPG kickstarter are from the boardgame? The boardgame KS hit in the awkward period between grad school and employment, so I deliberately avoided following something I wanted but couldn't have at the time.
DaveC wrote: Looks like Mantic have picked up another comic license
Spoiler:
More details soon but it's the Dark Horse comic license not the Netflix show.
For anyone else whose only experience is watching the Netflix show and wondering who is in that pic, it's the original comic book version of Luther #1. His story is apparently very different in the source material. Spoilers sorta.
Luther Hargreeves a.k.a #00.01 and Spaceboy is the leader of the team and twin brother to #00.05, The Boy. He is codenamed Spaceboy due to his accomplishment of being the youngest person ever to become an astronaut. It is unsure as to whether Luther's codename was chosen by himself, Hargreeves or the media, as a poster of "Spaceboy – The first boy in space" is shown in The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite.
Spaceboy was involved in a disastrous mission to Mars. His head was attached to the body of a Martian Ape, giving him all the physical abilities of one, when Hargreeves performed a life saving surgery on him.
I highly recommend the comics as well as the Netflix adaptations...both are telling excellent stories, but the comics has a lot more background information. Much of which is different from the Netflix show, but it takes nothing away from either.
But I should like to see some kind of Hellboy vs The Umbrella Academy cross-over...both series lend themselves to Lovecraftian horror and psuedo-science.
Long time since the Umbrella Academy game was announced new blog post today
First up, we’re pleased to announce we’ve worked with the award-winning River Horse Games to design The Umbrella Academy. We’ve got a long history with Alessio Cavatore – after he created the rules for Kings of War – and we’re delighted to be working with him once again for The Umbrella Academy.
co-operative game for 1-5 players
The Umbrella Academy: The Board Game will be heading to a crowdfunding platform near you in early 2022.
Umbrella Academy has only had three volumes so far with more adventure based stories so doesn’t really fit for a miniature war game like Walking Dead. I suspect it will be a board game like Hellboy instead.
kodos wrote: so this is going to replace Walking Dead I guess or will it be more of a 1 time thing?
Since you did allude to it but didn't directly mention it. Walking Dead is being End of Lifed. Seems like the License is up in March and Mantic isn't renewing it as that's when they're removing all the product from their store (and probably offloading it to Miniature Market).
Despite the fact the game is coming to an end, it’s still a great game to collect and play. It’s a fantastic introduction to miniature gaming, thanks to a compelling campaign that features competitive, co-operative and even solo missions. So if you’ve been on the fence about playing, now’s the time to jump in and snap up everything before it’s gone forever. We’ve discounted ‘getting started’ products like the core set and Here’s Negan by 50%(!), so you can give it a go before picking up the rest of the range at 25% off, using the code TWD2022.
But please note: all of The Walking Dead lines will be removed from the Mantic website on 31st March 2022, so if there’s something you need to close out your collection, now’s the time. We will also look at trying a final restock before the end of March, so if something you want is currently out of stock, add it to your wishlist and you’ll get a notification when it’s available.
I've thought about picking some up for other games, but the prices are a bit to high for me to want to use as proxies. Even with the 25% discount you can get things from the line generally cheaper then direct. But mantic to seem to have everything in stock which I can't say for US stores from a quick look.
kodos wrote: so this is going to replace Walking Dead I guess or will it be more of a 1 time thing?
Since you did allude to it but didn't directly mention it. Walking Dead is being End of Lifed. Seems like the License is up in March and Mantic isn't renewing it as that's when they're removing all the product from their store (and probably offloading it to Miniature Market).
I've thought about picking some up for other games, but the prices are a bit to high for me to want to use as proxies. Even with the 25% discount you can get things from the line generally cheaper then direct. But mantic to seem to have everything in stock which I can't say for US stores from a quick look.
From information shared on blogs and facebooks it does sound like Mantic wished to continue the licence but Skybound declined. It's a shame as with another 2 years worth of releases (1 wave per year) would have seen the line complete.
Unfortunately, most of the recent products are out of stock om the UK store, almost everything from 2020 onwards which includes Wave 6, Whisperers and the Kingdom along with all the card packs and MDF scenery. Mantic are going to try and get another run of the resin models released by March but may not be enough to cover demand especially as supply of character / item cards for the packs is running low. It wont be possible to restock any sold out plastic kits in time.
I only need 3 kits to complete my collection (if my current orders are filled) so hopefully they will be restocked as can't find them for sale anywhere -
Jesus Booster
Whisperers Faction Starter
Kingdom Faction Starter
(and for once the KS extra stuff really helped as it was generally stuff released later as individual expansions, I felt the retail offering without it was a bit thin)
but it was developed by Needy Cat Games for Mantic so it's hard to say whether another Mantic game will be comparably good without knowing who's doing it (hopefully we'll find out before it launches)
I think Needy Cat Games is James Hewitt isn't it? (the ex-GW games designer, not Prince Harry's dad) - think he did Adeptus Titanicus and the new Warhammer Quest?
I'm not sure if this is his game though.
(and for once the KS extra stuff really helped as it was generally stuff released later as individual expansions, I felt the retail offering without it was a bit thin)
but it was developed by Needy Cat Games for Mantic so it's hard to say whether another Mantic game will be comparably good without knowing who's doing it (hopefully we'll find out before it launches)
I think Needy Cat Games is James Hewitt isn't it? (the ex-GW games designer, not Prince Harry's dad) - think he did Adeptus Titanicus and the new Warhammer Quest?
I'm not sure if this is his game though.
Umbrella Academy is developed by River Horse - Alessio Cavatore. Hellboy was Needy Cat (James Hewitt and Sophie Williams)
Credit to Mantic for how their handling the end of the walking dead game. Given three months notice, a 25% off sale and making things to order so everyone has a chance to get whatever they want / need before it disappears.
I don’t get the appeal of the umbrella academy as a board game, I just don’t see how it will translate. The show is a character driven mystery.
Thanks I'll have a look at that might be my only option. They knock the VAT off as it's DDU - I think that's the first time I've seen a UK game store do that.
Monkeysloth wrote:
DaveC wrote: I wouldn't mind picking up the scenery booster but it's out of stock everywhere and I wonder if it will restock before the end of March
None of the Walking Dead scenery booster is in that picture it looks like the HIPS stuff from Mars Attacks including the truck will transfer over but the booster is PVC and I doubt they'll reprint it.
Didn’t back so I don’t know but it was close to funding I wonder if the £50,000 goal was set low expecting to blast through and they’ve realised that even if it funds they won’t cover the actual costs at the rate it was funding?
Might be that the Comic IP is less popular than expected compared to Hellboy and TWD
could also be that they decided to bring it back differently as now is not the best time for such things
DaveC wrote:None of the Walking Dead scenery booster is in that picture it looks like the HIPS stuff from Mars Attacks including the truck will transfer over but the booster is PVC and I doubt they'll reprint it.
kodos wrote: Might be that the Comic IP is less popular than expected compared to Hellboy and TWD
could also be that they decided to bring it back differently as now is not the best time for such things
DaveC wrote:None of the Walking Dead scenery booster is in that picture it looks like the HIPS stuff from Mars Attacks including the truck will transfer over but the booster is PVC and I doubt they'll reprint it.
lord_blackfang wrote: Lol you don't forfeit a production slot in China because of a Kickstarter issue.
But you do forfeit a Kickstarter because of a production slot in China issue.
I think it's more likely that they heard about a new version of Plastic/resin and they want to get pricing on it. How many different materials do they have going now?
The Shieldwolf KS was plagued with technical problems the first week, such as the campaign not coming up on Google searches and the page itself not loading on Safari and possibly other browsers.
We are pleased to announce the creation of a new dedicated board game division. Based at our Nottingham office, this new department will focus on creating family-friendly board games and role-playing experiences.
The first title to be launched under Mantic’s board game division is Umbrella Academy: The Board Game, which is due to launch on the Gamefound crowd funding platform on June 15th. Featuring simple pick-up-and-play rules and co-operative gameplay, Umbrella Academy: The Board Game fits perfectly with the division’s philosophy to develop experiences for the whole family to enjoy.
“At Mantic we’ve become well-known for creating accessible and enjoyable wargames, like Kings of War and the recently released Firefight: Second Edition,” said CEO Ronnie Renton. “With the creation of the board game division, we want to develop more products that can be enjoyed by a wider range of audiences.
“This could be a ready-made RPG adventure to play as part of a wider campaign, a card game that introduces new fans to our fantasy realms, or a kid-friendly dungeon crawler that can be played during a family game night.
“Having these titles published under the Mantic Board Games Division brand, allows them to be produced without detracting from our core fantasy and sci-fi releases. What’s more, it gives us new ways to introduce gamers to the wonderful world of Mantic.”
This focus on board games will also open up new opportunities for Mantic to work with a range of licensing partners on products that wouldn’t translate well to the wargaming space, or turn its own best-selling IPs into more accessible experiences.
Ronnie gave hints about a new Computer Games license some time ago, with the latest newsletter we got some more details
It is Worms: the Boardgame
Mantic:
Yes, that's right! We're partnering with Team17 to bring classic Worms gameplay to tabletops everywhere.
Many of us have been playing the Worms series from the very beginning, so being able to make this game really is a dream come true!
We're having an absolute blast with playtesting, and you'll be able to join in the addictive, laugh-out-loud multiplayer mayhem soon...
WORMS: THE BOARD GAME is coming to Kickstarter in August 2023.
Team17:
“The Worms brand has played a huge part in Team17 Digital’s success for nearly 30 years, and we’re really excited that our wriggly critters will be shortly battling away on tables around the world. We’ve worked closely with Mantic Games for some time to ensure the Worms experience is wholly encapsulated as a tabletop game, and we’re looking forward to the crowdfunding campaign starting in a few months’ time!”
I'm actually quite intrigued to see what they come up with here. Could do some fun little worm miniatures and perhaps different terrain sets and settings - if it was done on quite a small scale it could work well.
There would need to be some sort of risk/reward mechanic for 'guessing' shots and the like and then the capacity to blow up your own worms, which is the mainstay of the computer game!
Ive not played a Worms game in years, last was prob on Xbox 360, im defo interested and hope the OG exploding sheep are in it, they were well amusing lol
Pacific wrote: I'm actually quite intrigued to see what they come up with here. Could do some fun little worm miniatures and perhaps different terrain sets and settings - if it was done on quite a small scale it could work well.
There would need to be some sort of risk/reward mechanic for 'guessing' shots and the like and then the capacity to blow up your own worms, which is the mainstay of the computer game!
If there ever was a game for 90s-GW-style random tables, scatter dice, equipment cards and 666 different, whacky templates, this is it
It honestly has nothing to do with the original video game (there's no 3D battle here, it's just flat). But hey there are worm miniatures, so I guess it means money well invested ! Looks the kind of short game you can play at a club when waiting for your opponents for the real game to show up.
Already funded, easy money grab for Mantic Games as usual.
lord_blackfang wrote: As someone who got some of the best laughs of their life playing Worms hotseat... I think I'd rather just play Worms hotseat again.
That seems to be the concensus in my gaming group. More than a few loved to derp around playing Worms during downtime, so I shared this with them thinking they would have interest in this project. Not a one.
In a way I get it. Didn't back the Heroes 3 board game because no matter the theme, it just won't be the same.
Its a classic case of a company seeing another company make a hit with a video game turned into a board game and rather than asking why it worked, they just set out to get an IP and do it as well.
Like many here I had a lot of fun with the worms franchise as a child, but I have no interest and see no need to turn it into a mini figure board game.
Genuinely surprised this funded so quickly. It looks pretty lame. The worm designs are game accurate but painting them up, you'll need some texture on there surely? I like the dice though!
I'll skip this one and wait patiently for my Dungeon Saga Origins box.
Agreed. Count me as yet another Worms fan who just isn't excited by the idea of playing a 3-D tabletop version.
But given their success so far, I guess Mantic knows something about the property's appeal that we don't.
You never know with Mantic. I was less interested in Mars Attacks than their other sci-fi kickstarters, but did back it, and it turned out to be a great game. A game that apparently is now hard to find and goes for a silly amount of money.
I'll still be passing on this one, but good luck to them.
If it was a cheaper game, I'd be interested just for the nostalgia factor - absolutely loved Worms back in the day. Not enough to paint 45 little worms and shell out £79 though. I'd have been happier if it was cheaper and only had 8 or so in the box. £35-45 would be about right.
Not sure about the gameplay, but then it says 10+ and 45 minutes which means aiming at kids all being about "chaos"
yet I think they missed the opportunity to go full 3D instead of the classic 2D but from a different angle (but nothing a 3D printer or foamcutter could not solve)
than the pledge is a collectors edition or a collectors edition with gaming material, so I expect the retail version to be much cheaper (like 45 worms in the CE vs 16 in the retail box and while the retail pledge does not specify an amount I don'r expect it to be less than 5 boxes, so ~50€ for the retail box)
language packs are there anyway so this one is save to wait for retail unless one of the daily reveals brings something interesting
Honestly, I would have been far, far more interested in a return and update of Mars Attacks than Worms. Oh well, one less Kickstarter to have cycling with my money tied up.
Psychopomp wrote: Honestly, I would have been far, far more interested in a return and update of Mars Attacks than Worms. Oh well, one less Kickstarter to have cycling with my money tied up.
I love the video games, and am interested to see what they have done with the mechanics. So will keep an eye on the updates before I decide whether to pledge.
Agree I don't really like the idea of painting 40+ worms, even with fun and characterful sculpts!
Never underestimate the strength of Mantic Games fan community. They'd buy anything with a "Mantic Games" label.
That and the "gotta collect them all" mindset from Kickstarter boardgame lovers who can't resist a box with "collector edition" put on its cover. It's not even a question to actually play it.
And for the rest...well, it looks like a quick paced game, so can't hurt to have it in your game collection.
That and the "gotta collect them all" mindset from Kickstarter boardgame lovers who can't resist a box with "collector edition" put on its cover. It's not even a question to actually play it.
It's not for me, but it seems to be doing fantastically well and the game mechanics recreate the video game quite faithfully.
Agree on Mars Attacks, it was an improved, simplified version of Deadzone v1 which formed the basis of Deadzone 2nd edition, which (with further refinement into 3rd) is on par with Kings of War in terms of rules quality.
Firefight is getting there after its much-needed rules update this year.
I have Dungeon Saga Origins on the way and that also looks like a much more refined and improved newer version in terms of game mechanics and setup/teardown time.
Getting £1mil+ board game kickstarters down massively helps Mantic's bottom line as a company, so I'm glad to see it doing so well.
Getting £1mil+ board game kickstarters down massively helps Mantic's bottom line as a company, so I'm glad to see it doing so well.
I'd rather say it further convinces them to keep doing "limited kickstarters" like this one, because it's way more lucrative on short term. And then they keep doing it, until the day it doesn't work anymore and they end up the Spartan Games way or so many alike before them.
I guess I'm too old and saw too many of these lies to believe it's actually "a good thing" for the company and its customers. It's not.
Odd to me that the board doesn't show the unique concept of the game -- blowing up terrain, to *hinder* your opponent (eg. trap them in a pit you just made) as well as killing them.
I would have gone with a 3D cardstock / plastic "block" terrain that you'd take apart as you blew it up. You could shoot supporting structures so the terrain -- and enemies -- on them would fall down. Shoot walls so they'd collapse on your opponent. Not to mention crossover this terrain with other miniature games.
I guess you'd just paint the worm bodies flesh. Cartoony and chibi figures are a pain to paint because they have smooth surfaces, and eyes are freehand. I guess go see some Super Dungeon Explore tutorials.
As for KS... one reason to have crowdfunding is to find out if there's really an audience for a product. Worms isn't a popular IP, and if the project didn't reach its (real) funding goal, Mantic could just cancel the project. The alternative is either retail sales or no project at all. I know which choice many of you would take, of course.
^They've abstracted the height element, adding craters to hexes hit by blast weapons, which then hinder movement.
Three craters and the hex is replaced by a water hex.
You could probably use heroscape tiles with the game without any issues and remove a hex instead of adding a crater, with water as the bottom layer.
It's appealing to a different market, ultimately, video gamers who are light/ casual board gamers.
One thing that video game crossovers tend to do is focus on the complex board games and ignore the casual crowd, I've lost count of the amount of "big super serious video game KS with hundreds of hours worth of campaign play over multiple 4-6 hour games with 200 miniatures" I've seen, I have a friend who went all-in on the witcher board game then when it arrived went "I don't know why I bought this".
So, a small casual game based on video game IP which will actually see the table is definitely a market which doesn't get as much attention.
If I do pick up the game, it'll be the retail edition for £30-40, 16 minis and some cardboard is fine for a fun little game about worms blowing each other up with sheep.
scarletsquig wrote: If I do pick up the game, it'll be the retail edition for £30-40, 16 minis and some cardboard is fine for a fun little game about worms blowing each other up with sheep.
If you wait, you'll miss out on the exclusive resin Blaine worm.
Unlikely, but I'm hoping the proportions are more realistic and the characters are sold less piecemeal.
The base game had two main characters, Rick and his kid, and the rest of the figures were no-names from the comics, one guy who lasted less than four panels or something.
Soft plastic, integrated bases, etc. etc.
Anyway, the Walking Dead comic compendiums are the best prices I've seen for comic books, as low as a $1 per issue when on sale. Available Amazon and elsewhere.
They talk about making the line, especially older/rarer items available again, but I worry their new fondness for selling stls means they will go that route, and just sell card-packs? If so, that will be far from a proper return.
That said, I mostly want to throw my 2024 Mantic budget at Epic Warpath so maybe it won't be a bad thing having fewer game distractions. :-p
chaos0xomega wrote: I have oft joked that mantic is Spartan games but more fiscally responsible... didn't realize it was quite so literal.
If mantic goes out of business after this, then we can officially call Halo a cursed ip for miniatures gaming
You beat me to it... I immediately thought of Spartan between Epic Warpath and Halo. I'm not too worried though as Mantic is run by far better minded business people.
Good lord I hope that foolish 40mm decision is incorrect. Please Mantic, do not do a "custom" scale for a very cool IP. That's a Hard Pass for me, if it really is 40mm. If it's a more traditional ~30mm scale, I may go all in... As Halo is fun.
I was thinking about the scale thing, 40mm Spartans - which is the way the article is worded - could still mean a 32mm scaled game as Spartans can be 7 to 8 feet tall in their armour. Something for Mantic to clarify.
Zero interest in this apart from a morbid fascination with why they would launch Spartans to directly compete with their own Enforcers in what was supposed to be a Warpath year.
PS: they write the Spartan model is 40mm tall, not 40mm scale, which means similar sized to a Space Marine in 40k
Where? This is what is in that link posted ITT word for word.
Welcome everyone,
Thank you for following this series of preview blogs – it’s all been building up to this!
Formal announcement incoming in 3…2…1…
MANTIC GAMES PARTNERS WITH 343 INDUSTRIES
TO BRING THE HALO UNIVERSE TO TABLETOP
Today, UK-based tabletop studio Mantic Games announces a partnership with 343 Industries to launch a brand-new Halo miniatures combat game.
Launching directly to retail in September 2024, Halo fans can eagerly look forward to amazing Spartan miniatures that bring Halo multiplayer battles to life in an expertly crafted team combat game experience for tabletop newcomers and veterans alike.
“We are thrilled to team up with Mantic Games to bring a new Halo tabletop game to fans in 2024”, said John Friend, Head of Halo and Xbox Consumer Products. “Mantic is a leader in tabletop gaming, and their quality and experience show through in all their work. I’m most excited in this case about their passion for the Halo franchise and for bringing Halo gameplay to tabletop gaming in an incredibly authentic way.”
“We’re extremely excited to be partnering with 343 Industries on bringing Halo to tabletops everywhere”, said Ronnie Renton, CEO and founder of Mantic Games. “Having a firefight play out on the table while moving Spartans in and out of cover connects players to the action in a new and special way. We have a thrilling and competitive game, from a passionate team of talented sculptors, artists, and designers who have been building an incredible Halo experience.”
Mantic Games and 343 Industries will be pulling back the curtain soon on this exciting new addition to the Halo universe. Halo and miniature gaming fans around the world can expect their first preview of the new game in March 2024.
Well there we go – it’s out in the open now! While we aren’t revealing any more just yet, we are extremely excited to be sharing this simply incredible game with you later in the year.
Best wishes,
Team Mantic
No mention of 40mm any more. Is there another press release elsewhere?
I think that they cut the 40mm wording, because apparently it was referring to the height of a Spartan... who are obviously a fair bit taller than your average dude.
An annoyingly large number of people on FB interpreted this as meaning that it was going to be 40mm scale; cue an unnecessary amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I think that they changed the wording to avoid confusion and to reduce the number of times that Mantic had to reply with the clarification. It was getting tedious reading it, can't imagine how annoying it would have to be to type all of those replies.
don't think that they change the scale, but people not understanding that 40mm model size is not the same as 40mm scale is a good reason to remove that until model previews are out
we already had that with Warpath when it was said that an Enforcer is 12mm tall, people going bonkers because again another scale, when it is 10mm scale.
and 40mm is Primaris sized (who still claim to be 28mm scale)
kodos wrote: don't think that they change the scale, but people not understanding that 40mm model size is not the same as 40mm scale is a good reason to remove that until model previews are out
we already had that with Warpath when it was said that an Enforcer is 12mm tall, people going bonkers because again another scale, when it is 10mm scale.
and 40mm is Primaris sized (who still claim to be 28mm scale)
If it references a 40mm scale, then a marine in this case could the unit of measure which would put a spartan or elites around 53mm
kodos wrote: don't think that they change the scale, but people not understanding that 40mm model size is not the same as 40mm scale is a good reason to remove that until model previews are out
we already had that with Warpath when it was said that an Enforcer is 12mm tall, people going bonkers because again another scale, when it is 10mm scale.
and 40mm is Primaris sized (who still claim to be 28mm scale)
If it references a 40mm scale, then a marine in this case could the unit of measure which would put a spartan or elites around 53mm
Except apparently it wasn't. It was a Spartan that was 40mm.
kodos wrote: they explicit said a Spartan is 40mm tall, I don't know why one should think that this means it is actually 50mm tall
and 40mm tall is very much the same size and scale as a Primaris
I can't remember the exact quote, I don't think it verbatim referenced their height. Iirc it mentioned seeing spartans at 40mm, which is neither a height nor a scale with any clarity.
Edit: Goonhammer, gamesradar, wargamer.com all use language like:
but we do know that it's opting for the unusual 40mm scale.
Which is very disambiguous, or rather, not many people interpreted it as 40mm spartans.
It’s a shame it’s just Spartans, I’d love a little Covenant force. Still this is pretty cool, my non-wargaming brother is a big Halo fan so might be an on ramp for him.
chaos0xomega wrote: How tall are Spartans in halo? I always thought they were 6'6" to 7'?
Depending on the type of Spartan the height of a Spartan II (fully armored) is ≈2.4 meters (≈8 feet tall), a Spartan III (Fully armored) is ≈2.1 meters (≈7 feet tall), and a Spartan IV (Fully armored) stands on average a little shorter at ≈2.05 meters (≈6+ feet tall), all while boasting a reinforced endoskeleton.
Well, we've got frequent news sites saying scale, one person saying specifically mini height is stated and no facts for either.
Automatically Appended Next Post: A bit of digging later:
> Launching directly to retail in September 2024, Halo fans can eagerly look forward to amazing new 40mm Spartan miniatures that bring Halo multiplayer battles to life in an expertly crafted team combat game experience for tabletop newcomers and veterans alike.
It does not explicitly state "scale" nor miniature height/"tall".
That explicitly is height. 40mm miniature. Referring to spartan miniature. So a spartan being 40mm.
Anyway they answered the questions many times since saying it’s ‘normal heroic scale’ and Spartans are a good but taller than regular human height so that’s why they are 40mm.
The edit out of the announcement is to save confusion is all I guess.
Well, according to the bit about height that dude face posted, a 40mm Spartan IV essentially is 40mm scale, whereas if its a 40mm II or III they would be in two entirely different scales.
I'm worried about it being Spartans only and "bringing multiplayer battles to life". Wizkids Haloclix made that mistake, the game was awful. I don't want to replicate a slayer-style matchmaking computer game lobby with respawn-points and weapon upgrade packs on a tiny map.
However, if it's a full co-op where players play different members of a Spartan team against an AI driven enemy like Dungeon Saga Origins, I'm all-in! Spartan Ops in Halo 4 was some of my favorite Halo content besides Reach. I'm REALLY hoping it's Spartan-Ops and not Red vs Blue pvp
Quite interesting to see which direction they take with it.
It's a great IP too, Mantic is almost now the GW of the mid to late 80s of taking popular shows/games and making games for them (except now we have WTD, Worms and Halo rather than Judge Dredd and Doctor Who)
The only good thing about Mantic getting the Halo license is that they didn't try and get the Titanfall license - that would have been really depressing.
I suspect that Mantic has looked at what AMG has done and wants a bite of that. Let's say £30 for two Spartans with optional builds and a bunch of cards would undercut Crisis Protocol, compete to a degree against GW, and have that brand recognition to get it in shops like Game (who interesting, recently started to stock Umbrella Academy...), a significantly less outlay then there offerings in a similar price range. Whether that has legs or not I don't know
Mantic seems to be going through its Warlord Games phase - releasing as many different systems, scales, and products and seeing what sticks regardless of whether it competes against an existing product it sells. I'm also not sure where this fits into their general release schedule without something else feeling abandoned. It sort of feels like Mantic need to keep putting out a whole new 'thing' rather than supporting which can't be a healthy way to run a miniatures business long term.
All that said, my main concern is with the community that sprang up after Spartan Games collapsed that have actively been supporting and making models available for Ground Command for some time... I cant see Mantic letting that carry on...
> Mantic seems to be going through its Warlord Games phase - releasing as many different systems, scales, and products and seeing what sticks regardless of whether it competes against an existing product it sells.
Good point. FFG's also been doing this, with trading card games, and miniature games. Star Wars: X-Wing and Arkham Horror LCG are still around, but Star Wars: Legion, Star Wars: Armada, Star Wars: Destiny, Runewars Miniatures Game, L5R LCG, plus Keystone: LCG, Call of Cthulhu LCG, and Android LCG are gone (or disappearing?). Runewars miniatures was so poorly received that doubts of FFG supporting the game pretty much became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as its potential audience kept waiting for support, but without initial purchases, FFG didn't support it.
I should mention that, towards the end of a CCG glut many years back (who still has their History Channel collectible game?) companies were putting out IP-based card games, rather than non-IP games. Star Wars Shatterpoint, Marvel Crisis Protocol, Game of Thrones, Elder Scrolls, Walking Dead, and now Halo come to mind as IP-tied miniature games, from someone who hasn't even played any of these games...
Tamereth wrote: I'm happy this is happening, bit of a shame its just spartans to start with but hope in builds into the full armies for both UNSC and Covenant.
It would be interesting if it didn't, but likely a potential way to cut ties with the game if it doesn't pick up traction if they only have to sculpt 40mm tall Spartans for both "factions".
If it bombs they are only out the sculpts for what is in the long run the equivalent of a single skirmish scale starter box since everything is shared. Not having to initially invest into multiple factions worth of unique models gives them room to grow if they plan to emulate the multiplayer modes.
Introducing Covenant and Flood minis to be the bad guys in a "Firefight" mode later on, and expanding into a larger ground combat game if it continues to sell is something I could see.
I've got a ton of Halo Action Clix and about 10 copies of the Halo Board game, shich had 28mm miniatures. A new Halo game will finally give me something to use them in.
What's that weird fetish everyone has with wanting all their game systems to have the same scale? No seriously, it's as if you have ever used your 40K stuff with Old World Models or your Age of Sigmar with Historical games.
If you want to play model agnostic games go 3D print some stuff and let companies do any scale they think is best for their game.
Yeah tbh I was excited by a larger scale, especially with a small model count. I like Shatterpoint being a bit bigger too. Easier to paint and for a small model count, add more individual detail to each model, especially for a naff painter like me. Was a bit disappointed that wasn’t the case. Ah well.
ImAGeek wrote: Yeah tbh I was excited by a larger scale, especially with a small model count. I like Shatterpoint being a bit bigger too. Easier to paint and for a small model count, add more individual detail to each model, especially for a naff painter like me. Was a bit disappointed that wasn’t the case. Ah well.
Pretty sure "normal" humans like Captain America and Captain Marvel are in the 40mm to 42mm range. A 40mm tall Spartan wouldn't feel different.
If the Halo game isn't limited to Spartans and adds humans and aliens, yeah, it'll be a bit different.
A bit of fun with numbers based on the Spartan sizes posted above:
A 40mm Spartan II at 2.4m is 1/60 scale. A normal human at 1.8m is 30mm tall.
A 40mm Spartan III/IV at 2.05m to 2.1m is about 1/52 scale. A normal human at 1,8m is about 34.5mm tall
The former is in the range of what you'd expect from a game sold as 28mm, the latter 32mm. Seems pretty much in line with what you would commonly expect these days. On the bright side, the Spartans will be compatible with a lot of miniature ranges out there.
Sasorijap wrote: What's that weird fetish everyone has with wanting all their game systems to have the same scale? No seriously, it's as if you have ever used your 40K stuff with Old World Models or your Age of Sigmar with Historical games.
If you want to play model agnostic games go 3D print some stuff and let companies do any scale they think is best for their game.
My 'wierd fetish' with having the same scale across ranges is compatible terrain. Not everything crosses over, but a lot can.
If memory serves, Haloclix figures were actually quite tall, very possibly 40mm tall. Last I checked (which was a couple years ago) many good Haloclix minis were still available and fairly cheap.
Sculpt-wise, Haloclix was really a much better line than it appeared to be because the miniatures' quality and level of detail was well-camouflaged beneath bad factory paint jobs. Most people won't be willing to bother stripping the paint off old Haloclix minis, of course, and if Mantic uses Archon again, the new figures should look superb and crisp. Still, repainted Haloclix miniatures may hold up better than people might expect, since many Haloclix figures were produced in a harder translucent plastic than most Heroclix miniatures are. It would be interesting to see a comparison after Mantic's Spartans are published.
Depending on their stylistic direction, Mantic's Spartans could end up looking much chunkier than Haloclix models. Haloclix Spartans were very "true scale."
Impressed by their crisp detail, I stripped the paint off of a few Haloclix minis and have had them prepped for repainting for a couple of years now; the main thing holding me back is that they are larger than most other sci-fi miniatures I own, and I suffer from the awful mental illness of wanting everything to be in the same scale.
Sasorijap wrote: What's that weird fetish everyone has with wanting all their game systems to have the same scale?
Trying to pin peoples' desire to use the same terrain and peripherals in one scale for ease and economy on a 'fetish' is a fairly ignorant or just rude.
ImAGeek wrote: Yeah tbh I was excited by a larger scale, especially with a small model count. I like Shatterpoint being a bit bigger too. Easier to paint and for a small model count, add more individual detail to each model, especially for a naff painter like me. Was a bit disappointed that wasn’t the case. Ah well.
Pretty sure "normal" humans like Captain America and Captain Marvel are in the 40mm to 42mm range. A 40mm tall Spartan wouldn't feel different.
If the Halo game isn't limited to Spartans and adds humans and aliens, yeah, it'll be a bit different.
A bit of fun with numbers based on the Spartan sizes posted above:
A 40mm Spartan II at 2.4m is 1/60 scale. A normal human at 1.8m is 30mm tall.
A 40mm Spartan III/IV at 2.05m to 2.1m is about 1/52 scale. A normal human at 1,8m is about 34.5mm tall
The former is in the range of what you'd expect from a game sold as 28mm, the latter 32mm. Seems pretty much in line with what you would commonly expect these days. On the bright side, the Spartans will be compatible with a lot of miniature ranges out there.
honestly, if i was mantic i'd make the core set Spartan II's. it's the type most people are going to want anyway, and it lets you theme your expansion releases around the other types. say, expansion 1 is Spartan III's and Spartan IV's. then one that adds Covenant Elites and Brutes. etc. each time adding additional terrain options for the arena.
if the game catches on, do a release of a supplement with a "firefight" mode adding rules for narrative scenarios and including Marines, ODST, grunts, and jackals.
These are the Halo Reach Actionclix from Wizkids, all are Spartan IIIs except the gatling gunner, who is a Spartan II the same size as master Chief (Jorge 7'4" vs Chief 7'2", in their armor). Ruler is off in the pic, Noble 6 here is 40.3mm boot(basetop) to top of head, the Heroclix Deathstroke is 38mm boot to head and Jorge is 45.8mm. Deathstroke is supposed to be 6'4" and Noble 6 is 6'9", so that puts Noble 6 and Deathgstroke scaled nearly exactly correct to each other and Jorge being a bit too big. I don't have any Mantic Scifi handy, but based this pic I feel like 40mm tall Spartans should scale pretty well with Mantics other scifi minis.
Lt to RT below you have Wizkids Spartan III, GW Incubi, Wizkids Spartan III, GW Primaris Intercessor, Wizkids Heroclix Deathstroke, Wizkids Spartan III, Wizkids Spartan III, GW Marine Firstborn, CMON SciFi Zombicide hero, GW Dire Avenger, GW Marine Heroes, Wizkids Spartan II, Victoria Arcadian.
I know a lot of people will be a bit turned off by them being preassembled, but I am not too fazed by it. With the amount of other projects I currently have in progress it will be nice to be able to open the box and be ready to go like it is with Battletech.
I don't mind pre assembled but hopefully its not that awful pvc type material like the initial Star Wars Legion models. I'll be watching this with interest but I kinda wish they had shown off just a little more, and it was an odd choice to edit out the basing from the image of the spartan minis.
Shadow Walker wrote: If the minis are pre-assembled and PVC then it is not for me. I enjoy building models, and have HIPS only policy for my collection.
And now this just makes me wonder if there is a collection out there that consists entirely of Mick Jagger and Elvis Presley models
I love that the picture of the handsome, in-focus, bearded gentleman...
Completely blurs out the Halo stuff, lol
But yea, if they're opting with some form of Deadzone rules, this is an auto-buy for me. DZ remains the best minis ruleset I've played. (And I've played a few)
(please post more pictures as you find 'em, this social-media-luddite would appreciate it)
Shadow Walker wrote: If the minis are pre-assembled and PVC then it is not for me. I enjoy building models, and have HIPS only policy for my collection.
And now this just makes me wonder if there is a collection out there that consists entirely of Mick Jagger and Elvis Presley models
This definitely could be my own bias but is anyone really excited about a new Halo game? I was a huge Halo fan back during the Actionclix to Spartan Fleet Battles years but my fandom for the IP has significantly waned. The last couple of games just haven't seemed to have energized the community and the show seems to be be doing the opposite. I hope Mantic didn't end up breaking the bank to buy the license.
With the stats on the cards and the grid on the game board, it looks like it's using Deadzone rules.
(Which is a good thing - it's one of the best rule sets out their for skirmish)
I don't like the Halo franchise generally speaking, but this has my interest.
There's a good chance I'll be hoovering up LOTS of that card stock terrain.
Agree with Ggg - looks to be based off Deadzone. Prebuilt minis, decent terrain, small playing space, 'board game' feel - this has PUB GAME written all over it!
Straight up Deadzone statlines makes me happy as this game may help also gateway some players to DZ which really does deserve to just keep going and going.
If this is essentially a glorified baby-DZ starter board-game, attached to a very recognizable IP, then everyone will come out a winner.
I'll take Deadzone-lite with a Halo reskin, sign me up. It's funny seeing this called "Deadzone from Wish", considering Deadzone v1 Enforcers were just cheap Spartan/Iron Man knockoffs. This looks a lot better than I had feared. And I'm perfectly happy with them being PVC, Mantic has imrpved their PVC figures tremendously. The PVC Dungeon Saga Origins figures were excellent, almost as good as CMON figs
I'm certainly not the ravening Halo Fanboi that I was 10 years ago, but it remains one of my favorite settings. Also, I'm SUPER happy that it isn't focused on Master Chief, I'm kind of tired of him at this point. Spartan fireteams vs other Spartan fireteams vs Elites fireteams is perfect
Oh man, that looks brilliant. I'm still very curious about the scale (Can I use Spartans with my Mantic Enforcers, now? Please?) but given that this is a Deadzone type game, that's almost an auto-buy. The BolS article claims they're "similar" to Deadzone scale, so that's encouraging! Hmm, but what is Spartan vs. Recon edition?
I agree that Deadzone is one of the best, if not the best, skirmish out there.
AegisGrimm wrote: I would be tempted to play a Deadzone Halo game, if the entry point was the right size and price.
I love Deadzone, but this, with the flatpack card terrain will make transport for a game round a mate's house much easier. I just hope they keep the price of both boxes well under the £100 mark.
Thanks for posting that. I don't know why it never occurred to me but I really wasn't expecting them to make a skirmish game that mimics the vs multiplayer modes of Halo as opposed to a small scale skirmish from the story mode. My days of playing Halo both on the xbox as well as tabletop are likely over with but I wish them good fortune in the wars to come!
Seems really good value given it's a licensed game. Hoping this will serve as a good gateway game for mates who are in to board gaming but not wargaming, with the deadzone cube measurement and the Halo trappings on top.
Can anyone at Adepticon please tell me if Halo is available for sale there? I'm contemplating getting it and would love to pick it up tomorrow if I can... thanks!
GoodOleBoy wrote: Can anyone at Adepticon please tell me if Halo is available for sale there? I'm contemplating getting it and would love to pick it up tomorrow if I can... thanks!
It's available to play, but is not on sale. It goes on sale later this year.
AegisGrimm wrote: I would be tempted to play a Deadzone Halo game, if the entry point was the right size and price.
I love Deadzone, but this, with the flatpack card terrain will make transport for a game round a mate's house much easier. I just hope they keep the price of both boxes well under the £100 mark.
You're sort of in luck mate -
Recon - £60
Spartan - £100
Deluxe Terrain - £80.00 (just repackaged hard plastic Deadzone tiles)
GoodOleBoy wrote: Can anyone at Adepticon please tell me if Halo is available for sale there? I'm contemplating getting it and would love to pick it up tomorrow if I can... thanks!
It's available to play, but is not on sale. It goes on sale later this year.
Since these are straight up DZ3 stats the crossover potential is significant, even if it's completely unofficial. I do love the idea of a Spartan fireteam taking down a bunch of Veermyn or Marauders.
And I know I said I'm kinda sick of Master Chief at this point, but that promo image for the paint set is amazing!
Since these are straight up DZ3 stats the crossover potential is significant, even if it's completely unofficial. I do love the idea of a Spartan fireteam taking down a bunch of Veermyn or Marauders.
I've been thinking about this a lot, and the sole trick will be figuring out how Matt and Co value shields/respawning as it pertains to point costs. Once it is out, if we can reverse engineer that, you'll be able to properly cross-over both games!
Oh why did it have to be that channel. :-p I know beggars can't be choosers, and that Deadzone only has a few content creators... but I REALLY dislike "Coach" and as a result, half of that channels content.
I'm eagerly awaiting a proper full game played and recorded by Mantic, as their Epic Warpath stuff was awesome during the Kickstarter.
NewTruthNeomaxim wrote: Oh why did it have to be that channel. :-p I know beggars can't be choosers, and that Deadzone only has a few content creators... but I REALLY dislike "Coach" and as a result, half of that channels content.
I'm eagerly awaiting a proper full game played and recorded by Mantic, as their Epic Warpath stuff was awesome during the Kickstarter.
here is another one from Adepticon, the next "official" ones should come on tuesday
Thanks for the link kodos, I will start that video shortly. Tried the first video linked here since it popped up on my YouTube feed... and I couldn't make it more than 20 seconds in.
This game is definitely getting some traction in places beyond the normal board/miniature game circles (features in PC Gamer etc) and looks like a fun set of rules. Lovely looking minis too, hopefully it will do well.
Small heads up, but Mantic just announced that they sold through the 1000 Spartan Editions w/free Master Chief, but will honor the promotion through tomorrow. So if you do want the cool freebies you still have 24-ish hours.
Of course preorders without MC are still guaranteed through April 29th.
Pre-assembled, and pre-stated for WYSIWYG during gameplay, but they did say future sculpts have new/different weapon load-outs too, such as a Grav-Hammer Spartan.
Started with Wave 2 it will also have a proper point-build system, whereas the initial box is a very controlled "pick any four guys" self-contained system.
NewTruthNeomaxim wrote: Pre-assembled, and pre-stated for WYSIWYG during gameplay, but they did say future sculpts have new/different weapon load-outs too, such as a Grav-Hammer Spartan.
Started with Wave 2 it will also have a proper point-build system, whereas the initial box is a very controlled "pick any four guys" self-contained system.
Grot 6 wrote: This game looks pretty cool! I could easily get behind this one, if I didn't have so much on my plate for the year.
I might have to get a couple of them just to paint up. I was iffy on the TV show, but I still have a soft spot for Forward Unto Dawn.
Will this become a full on tabletop game, or is it just a skirmish level one?
Currently the scope is skirmish, with five factions in development...
Buuuut... with Deadzone having a shared DNA with some Firefight rules, and Halo being Deadzone's sibling game, it wouldn't be entirely impossible to see something way down the road.
With Halo getting traction even outside our immediate wargame bubble, I suspect popularity/sales will help inform where things go. Right now Halo is hopefully creating new players and driving them to the better sales margin Deadzone, but if it does absolutely bananas, maybe it becomes Mantics next big focus?
Grot 6 wrote: This game looks pretty cool! I could easily get behind this one, if I didn't have so much on my plate for the year.
I might have to get a couple of them just to paint up. I was iffy on the TV show, but I still have a soft spot for Forward Unto Dawn.
Will this become a full on tabletop game, or is it just a skirmish level one?
Currently the scope is skirmish, with five factions in development...
Buuuut... with Deadzone having a shared DNA with some Firefight rules, and Halo being Deadzone's sibling game, it wouldn't be entirely impossible to see something way down the road.
I think it would depend on what the license actually covers.
For example the disastrous Robotech miniatures game from Palladium a few years back was titled a "tactical rpg" because they didn't have the licensing for a tabletop wargame. Similarly there may be limits on what Mantic can do.
@Matt G: any chance we might be able to see some scale shots of Halo Spartans alongside GCPS, Marauder, and Enforcer figures? I'd love to see how they'll look alongside your older range (hoping they'll match up nicely!)
I thought my son would be interested in the HALO game (He's a HALO enthusiast) and even managed to get Ronnie to tell him about the game when he was walking past my game at Adepticon.
When my son saw the game at the Mantic booth however, he was quite uninterested. The idea of a game based on arena play is of almost no interest to him nor to me. He's far more interested in scenarios and the lore of Halo rather than some tabletop version of multiplayer. A larger battle game or scenario-based squad game would have had much more interest to him I think.
We'll be looking to see if the minis (especially the Elites) are eventually available separately as I like to support Mantic when it intersects with my interests, but we won't be buying into the game itself. As it is now, my son is already looking online at 3d printed options for Halo'ish figs to incorporate into our Grimdark Future games and I'm looking at possibly repainting some Spartans from Halo Clix that I've got lying around.
There are some great 3d printed free/pay what you want options out there in multiple scales. If you search facebook, you should easily find the group in case he hasn't already.
Eilif wrote: I thought my son would be interested in the HALO game (He's a HALO enthusiast) and even managed to get Ronnie to tell him about the game when he was walking past my game at Adepticon.
When my son saw the game at the Mantic booth however, he was quite uninterested. The idea of a game based on arena play is of almost no interest to him nor to me. He's far more interested in scenarios and the lore of Halo rather than some tabletop version of multiplayer. A larger battle game or scenario-based squad game would have had much more interest to him I think.
We'll be looking to see if the minis (especially the Elites) are eventually available separately as I like to support Mantic when it intersects with my interests, but we won't be buying into the game itself. As it is now, my son is already looking online at 3d printed options for Halo'ish figs to incorporate into our Grimdark Future games and I'm looking at possibly repainting some Spartans from Halo Clix that I've got lying around.
A battle game would have been MUCH preferred over the PvP recreation Mantic is going with, Wizkids Haloclix had the same problem where it was trying to be a video game recreation with weapon drops and spawn points, but that may be something mandated by the licene. Hopefully this is successful enough that we get a Firefight clone with mass-ish battles and vehicles. Still, even as a PVP Slayer recreation, the Deadzone base rules are far superior to the Clix rules, and it'll be nice to have proper PVC plastic Spartans rather than 3D printed resin
Speaking of 3D printed, the Facebook group Warboss is talking about is "Valhalla Halo Skirmish scale wargaming". No actual rules, just a hobby group for printing and painting the large library of STLs that Vincent Colborn and others have created for free-to-use personal projects (all of them follow Microsofts rules for making and sharing 3D files/prints). Join the group and check the "featured" posts, top post has all the links to 28mm STLs and also links to 15mm Ground Command scaled figs and Fleet Battles ships, I won't link it here since they've had people take the files and sell them which very much DOES break Microsofts rules. They have pretty much every unit type and armor option modelled, and I love seeing what people do with them even though I don't personally do 3D printing
Thanks folks,
We don't have a 3d printer so we're limited to what's physically for sale, but maybe I'll see if I can get something printed on a friend's machine.
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