MANTIC News thread! (Corporation Marines unboxed, p.68)

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**Fenriswulf**

Really really wish that the arms were separate from the guns. That's going to be a hard one to convert, but not out of the realm of possibility.

Looking forward to getting their stock in!

**Black Nexus**

I'm looking forwards to getting my order shipped this week. The rangers have 9 of those special weapons, 3 of each type, which really opens up the conversion possibilities.

**lord_blackfang**

Wow, those guns can shoot around corners.

**nkelsch**

Those photos are terrible, the torsos look like they lost detail and the guns are obscenely gross being all bent. If GW released a kit with warped guns like that, the Internet would probably explode.

Being cheap doesn't excuse looking cheap.

**kenshin620**

nkelsch wrote:If GW released a kit with warped guns like that, the Internet would probably explode.

Incoming finecast comments

Ironic too that both are "resins" eh?

**Bolognesus**

the difference being that warped resin generally takes a little hot water, or judicious use of a lighter to straighten out while bubbles and sandwichmarines make for a hell of a lot of fixing more.

**Polonius**

I'm still not wild about the prospect of paying whats increasingly becoming market price for warped minis.

**Alpharius**

It is a bit odd when companies let their excitement get in front of their ability to showcase good product!

Warped miniatures in a preview pic?

Huh?

**kenshin620**

The bodies themselves are fine (thank goodness), the guns are just bent.

**Pacific**

Alpharius wrote:It is a bit odd when companies let their excitement get in front of their ability to showcase good product!

Warped miniatures in a preview pic?

Huh?

Mantic seem to have made it a running theme of producing poor photos of unassembled/painted minis. To be honest, it doesn't look like its even been put through photoshop to sort out the contrast/colour balance etc.

In their defence, it was just a simply blog post and it's nice to have any preview at all, but it would be nice to have that kind of thing done with a bit more professionalism rather than something that just looks like it has been done on a camera phone.

**scarletsquig**

The guns aren't pictured side-on, they're tilted upwards at an angle.

Makes it hard to judge if they're warped or not. The special weapons are all dead straight and pictured side-on.

All the other pre-release pics I've seen (mantic forum members have gotten their hands on the models early) show straight guns as well.

I'm not making any statement either way, just relaying what I'm seeing.

The models will be hitting the general public next week, so loads more unboxing pics will be available them. Hopefully BoW or someone will do a hi-res video on them.

**kenshin620**

Hmm looks like the first boxes are arriving. Someone has a bit of an overview of the big back on a blog. It did mention the bent guns a bit

http://dwartist.blogspot.com/2012/03/bloody-big-box.html

A bloody big box...
...arrived this morning...
containing this pile of goodies...

...my pre-order Mantic Corporation Marines - seven bags of plastic (?) figures, six sprues of plastic (?)bases, four laser-cut MDF bases and a game rule-book. There are four bags of basic marine components (nine torso/leg combinations in three different poses - with different equipment layout on each - nine sets of arms in three different poses - weapon attached to right hand and three different heads and three additional weapons. There is also a kneeling, squad leader with another head option and a powerfist and pistol); one bag of Rangers (essentially the same body and arm combinations but with a different weapon, heavier armoured shoulder pads, a backpack and a different, helmeted head); a bag with three heavy weapons and kneeling crew with choice of weapon barrel; the final bag has one heavy weapon and crew and eight (I think - I haven't opened this bag yet) basic Marine components.

here are the torsos and heads

These are wonderfully sculpted and cast miniatures with lots of excellent detail and great converion possibilities. Yes, there are mould lines and a little flash here and there and it's not clear which left arm goes with which weapon arm and all my laser rifles barrels are bent upwards (a litle hot water and gentle persuasion should do the trick) but they are fabulous value for money (I think my 67 figures worked out at something like £1.12 each) and an exciting addition to miniature wargaming. If I had a quibble it would be that all the kneeling torsos are the same - kneeling on the right leg.
I will do some comparisons against other minis but on first appearances they do seem very similar in size and stature to Forgeworld's Elysian Drop troopers which they remind me strongly of. They will fit extremely well with all my vehicles.
Oh, almost forgot - the metal officer....

**Kroothawk**

Not considering that one arm is obviously attached the wrong way (kneeing person), the shoulders don't work for me. The anatomy and casting quality looks worse than by this ultra cheap Russian mass product shown below, which is not a good sign. But maybe I am alone with this opinion. The metal general looks cool though.

**plastictrees**

Hmm...that huge russian stuff gives me an idea. I'm not sure I'm willing to build an entire IG army just to screw with people that made "true scale" marines though...

The Mantic stuff is decent enough for the price. Not something I'm interested in, but fine for what it is.

Kroothawk...I think the arm is the right way around, it's just a bit low and disjointed from the blu-tak.

**Eilif**

I've owned the Technog russian figs shown above. From what I can see, the corp marines are better made. The shoulders on some do protrude a bit much, but that's a really easy fix with a hobby knife to take a bit of the shoulder or a bit off the arm for a slimmer profile.

There are flaws (ratio of legs to torso isn't perfect, etc), but the anatomy looks alot closer to real proportions than GW stuff. It's nice to see troopers that don't all look like steroidal body builders.

**agnosto**

Yeah, because everybody that plays a wargame wants to spend additional hours correcting bent weapons and mismatched joints that wouldn't exist if the company would simply use plastic.... No thanks, I'll pass. Was excited and now I'm not.

**AegisGrimm**

I'd rather see them in person than cry DOOM! over the internet. Even if they are bent, you spend 5 seconds over each one with a hairdryer. Lots of times, molded plastic parts that are bent will actually return to straight just by being heated up. If not, you hold them straight and then put them under a steam of cold tap-water and they instantly harden.

It's not exactly the scale of Finecast miscasts. I'll bet that even if they are bent, I can straighten an entire 10-man squad in a little over a minute, tops.

DOOM!!!!

**agnosto**

I don't buy finecast for the same reason. I'm a gamer, not a hobbyist. All my minis are built and painted to the best of my ability but I do not have the time or inclination to fix something that shouldn't be a problem if these companies would just perform a little QC.

**Fenriswulf**

So you're saying that in all your years of gaming, you never scraped down a mold line, fixed a bent sword or had to fill in a gap on any of the miniatures you've ever bought. Mmm-hmm, yeah not buying it.

If you don't like the figures, don't like them, but don't try to make them out as being unusable because of a tiny bend.

Mantic has sent me some and they are excellent. There is very little flashing, and the 'bend' in the guns is so slight a bit of heat from a hair dryer will set them correct in no time. It's on par with the kind of bend you would get in a regular sprue, so I have no idea why you are so up in arms over this.

Edit: Kroothawk: I think the problem with the shoulders is caused by the fact that the person who assembled them used blu-tack to stick them on. On the ones I have they fit in very nicely and look good on the miniatures. The Ranger models shoulders stick out a little more most likely due to even more blu-tack. I will have to wait to see what those are like, but so far the Marines are very very good.

**Chimera_Calvin**

Fenriswulf wrote:So you're saying that in all your years of gaming, you never scraped down a mold line, fixed a bent sword or had to fill in a gap on any of the miniatures you've ever bought. Mmm-hmm, yeah not buying it.

If you don't like the figures, don't like them, but don't try to make them out as being unusable because of a tiny bend.

Mantic has sent me some and they are excellent. There is very little flashing, and the 'bend' in the guns is so slight a bit of heat from a hair dryer will set them correct in no time. It's on par with the kind of bend you would get in a regular sprue, so I have no idea why you are so up in arms over this.

Because Mantic must be like Mary Poppins - 'Practically perfect in every way'. If they aren't multipart plastic with no flash or mold lines at all, cheaper than GW, more original than GW yet being completely usable in GW games and having universal aesthetic appeal that everyone prefers to a GW sculpt, then they are obviously pap

**scarletsquig**

Ugh, here we go again:

A) Those models have been assembled with BLU-TACK at the shoulder joints. Of course they look bulky, they haven't been glued together yet, they're just tacked together to show them off quickly.

B) No warped gun-barrels are visible in that unboxing pic (the final product, delivered to a customer).

Seriously, which of these guns are warped? Not seeing any.

It's possible that there may be slight issues with some of them that get shipped, but that's something that comes with the material. Happened with the Revenant Cavalry (on the thin and long lances), and Privateer Press has even bigger warpage problems with their plastic, too.
Both are still nowhere near as bad as finecast, which has both the warping, and a ton of bubbles/ miscasts/ flash/ mould tears etc. to deal with on top of that, for quadruple the price.

**Cosmic**

Everything seems mighty fine to me!

**Pacific**

Right, I think all in all these look like an excellent product. Will be interesting to see some more detailed pics and reviews though, hopefully those should surface over the next couple of days.

I certainly think it's more than a little unfair to compare them to that Russian product, and I'm frankly amazed that anyone who is obviously so experienced in miniature wargaming as Kroothawk could make such a comparison. If I didn't know him better, and his track-record in this thread, I might think he was deliberately being scurrilous.. hang on.. WAIT JUST A GOD-DAMN MINUTE..

**Max Jet**

scarletsquig wrote:Ugh, here we go again:

A) Those models have been assembled with BLU-TACK at the shoulder joints. Of course they look bulky, they haven't been glued together yet, they're just tacked together to show them off quickly.

B) No warped gun-barrels are visible in that unboxing pic (the final product, delivered to a customer).

Seriously, which of these guns are warped? Not seeing any.

You are pushing it. Normaly I fully agree with you, but now you are pushing it. The weapons >are< bent. At that resolution it is of course almost impossible to see, as the weapons take 6 or 7 pixels in width, but even then you can see a small bending. The weapons were bent on the first resin picture we saw weeks ago, they are bent on the blog and they are slightly bent on this picture. Don't endanger your credibility!

**lord marcus**

Max Jet wrote:
scarletsquig wrote:Ugh, here we go again:

A) Those models have been assembled with BLU-TACK at the shoulder joints. Of course they look bulky, they haven't been glued together yet, they're just tacked together to show them off quickly.

B) No warped gun-barrels are visible in that unboxing pic (the final product, delivered to a customer).

Seriously, which of these guns are warped? Not seeing any.

You are pushing it. Normaly I fully agree with you, but now you are pushing it. The weapons >are< bent. At that resolution it is of course almost impossible to see, as the weapons take 6 or 7 pixels in width, but even then you can see a small bending. The weapons were bent on the first resin picture we saw weeks ago, they are bent on the blog and they are slightly bent on this picture. Don't endanger your credibility!

Credibility, on the internet? You sir are thinking strange.

**The Dwarf Wolf**

Ppl, the thread is deterioring again into discussions beetween fanboys... Or is just looking like that.

Dont feed the kroot... or the squig.

Anyway, the comparation Kroothawk tried to make with those russian toys is just laughably. You are gettint out of arguments mr. chiken lol

Automatically Appended Next Post:

plastictrees wrote:Hmm...that huge russian stuff gives me an idea. I'm not sure I'm willing to build an entire IG army just to screw with people that made "true scale" marines though...

The Mantic stuff is decent enough for the price. Not something I'm interested in, but fine for what it is.

Kroothawk...I think the arm is the right way around, it's just a bit low and disjointed from the blu-tak.

lol, use regular army man. If you search well you will find lots of greatly cast army man around, and they normally are of that side lol

**kenshin620**

I must admit that while the bent guns is a legitimate issue, comparing them to russian toys is a bit...'out there'

It would probably be more reasonable to compare them to mantic's other plastic-resin (I hate that word) or other models that are made with a similar material

**Duncan_Idaho**

To be honest:
They might be bent/they might be not bent. At this angle and with the cloth beneath it it really is hard to tell.

So, please put the guns down or some innocent bystander will get hurt...

**kenshin620**

Duncan_Idaho wrote:To be honest:
They might be bent/they might be not bent. At this angle and with the cloth beneath it it really is hard to tell.

So, please put the guns down or some innocent bystander will get hurt...

Well the reviewer himself said they are bent so I'm taking his word for it. But he does not seem to be too bothered about it

Yes, there are mould lines and a little flash here and there and it's not clear which left arm goes with which weapon arm and all my laser rifles barrels are bent upwards (a litle hot water and gentle persuasion should do the trick) but they are fabulous value for money (I think my 67 figures worked out at something like £1.12 each) and an exciting addition to miniature wargaming. If I had a quibble it would be that all the kneeling torsos are the same - kneeling on the right leg.

**Cosmic**

Painted Pictures of the Veer-myn are up!

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