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Hi dakka

I'm just starting a VC army and I've been thinking of using the Mantic models instead of GW due to the price difference but I've no idea what comes in the box like extra arms and stuff or should I just save and go with GW

Can you post a link to the mantic ones?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Mantic+skeletons

Those mantic skeles look sick i would so use those.

Now you need to find your self some ghouls and maybe grave guard and you are set I thing the gw gg are not bad but maybe you can find the ghouls from another company.

But ya use those skeles they look sick I might use those for tk

Do you want to play in tournaments? If so better go GW. If that is not an issue go with Mantic, as the minis are very good and you get a much better bang for the buck.

Maybe these guys as zombies

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Undead/Core-Units-Regiments/Product/Undead-Ghoul-Regiment-with-Ghast.html

And these guys as ghouls

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Undead/Core-Units-Regiments/Product/Undead-Zombie-Regiment-with-Command-30-Figures.html

or

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Undead/Core-Units-Regiments/Product/Undead-Zombies-Regiment-30-Figures.html

Since they look cool and are cheaper by a lot they look sweet

Grave guard possibly?

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Undead/Core-Units-Regiments/Product/Undead-Skeleton-Regiment-20-Figures.html

or

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Undead/Core-Units-Regiments/Product/Undead-Revenant-Regiment-20-Figures.html

Sorry for all the links but that would be sick the models look much cooler and just yea cheaper so its a all around win


Automatically Appended Next Post:
But yes some gw stores only permit gw models and who knows some tournaments it matters some not.

The main issue you'll have is, as said, you won't be able to play in GW stores or GW run events with them. Some may let the odd character from another company slide, but an entire army is going to be a definite no-no.

Also, from what I understand, the boxes don't come with extras. It's not like you get with GW, where a box of 10 skeletons has 10 sword arms, 10 spear arms, 10 shield arms, 20 heads, 15 torsoes, etc. What you see on the front of the box is what you get in the box, just unassembled and unpainted. They're also very static, being one pose with arms scuplted on.

Personally I like the Mantic Undead.
Overall they have a better look imho

To see what you get:
http://www.beastsofwar.com/kings-of-war/unboxing-mantic-revenants/
http://www.beastsofwar.com/kings-of-war/unboxing-mantic-games-skeleton-regiment/
http://www.beastsofwar.com/kings-of-war/we-have-a-look-at-the-mantic-vampire-lord-on-his-undead-pegasus/

there are probably others as well if you do a search on BoW or google BoW What's in the Box
hth

I like their zombies more than GW's, but that might be because the GW zombie kit is old. The mantic skeletons are okay, but I don't think they look as good as the GW vampire counts skeletons. The ghouls on both sides I like for various reasons.

The vampire lord on pegasus is terrible though. Like, worse than the original Vlad and Isabella terrible. And their Wraiths don't look like Wraiths at all, as well as looking terrible. But GW's Wraiths are pretty bad as well.

Vampire Counts is one of those armies that benefits from mixing and matching acoss various lines. Use the Mantic or GW infantry you like. If you're not going special characters, find Vampires from other companies that you like. Wraiths and Ghosts, buy them from Reaper. Bats and Fellbats, look around. Blood Knights... yeah, the models are fantastic, but far too pricey.

The only VC models I would absolutely recommend from GW are the Dire Wolves, new Necromancer, special characters and the Varghulf. Waiting to see how the rumoured Abyssal Terror, Zombie Dragon and new beast turn out. I'm mainly using all GW stuff because I'd like to be able to use them in a GW store if the occasion arose.

I adore the Gameszone Mournful (Revenant) Knights
The Mantic ones I feel are okay but these chaps are very good imho
http://www.artemisblacks.com/gamezone/vampires.shtml

I personally own over 250 mantic undead models.

I cannot recommend them enough, they are absolutely fantastic. The detail is great, they are really, really cheap (especially if you buy the army box, you get 110 models in there for a really low price and it is perfect for vampire counts).

Mantic's metals are subject to taste and a bit pricier, but you absolutely cannot go wrong with their plastic infantry for the bulk of your army, they are both incredibly cheap and very high quality.

Here are some pictures of the sprues:

Skeletons:

Armoured Skeletons:

Zombies:

Gamezone Undead
http://www.artemisblacks.com/gamezone/undead.shtml

There's something a bit... off with the hero. Maybe it's the jester hat. They're nice though, and something I've been considering for my Blood Knights.

I want to like Gamezones Leonore vampire, but I've yet to see a good painted model, and their blank photos of it make it look very rough.

I dig those models totally awesome.

Thank you for for all the in put people.

Im not a tournament player so thats not a problem its just GWs prices. I no that I'll have to buy a few models from GW such as the Varghulf and i dont mind but Blood Knights thats a BIG no no at £60+ for 5

@scarletsquig
Thank you for the pic. Ye the mantic models look very nice and is that a skelly dog in the first pic

@Chibi Bodge-Battle
That pic is awesome

So whats the verdict?

Psycho Bins wrote:
@scarletsquig
Thank you for the pic. Ye the mantic models look very nice and is that a skelly dog in the first pic

Yep, mantic includes pets on their sprues, the dwarfs get a "throwing mastiff" with a handle on it's back and the elves get a "saber-toothed pussy".

I have a whole unit of the skelly dogs.

I have a whole unit of the skelly dogs.

LoL I'd run them as Dire Wolves just to see what people say

Two things about Mantic skeletons: they come with a mix of spears and hand weapons, and you don't get to choose, and they have really goofy expressions. They look like Skeletors, with evil looking cartoony grins. I'd use Mantic ghouls and zombies and stay away from the rest. IMHO the ghouls and zombies are decent, but pretty much everything else from Mantic looks every bit as cheap as it is.

the color purple wrote:Two things about Mantic skeletons: they come with a mix of spears and hand weapons, and you don't get to choose,

Huh?

There are more than enough hand weapons for the 10 skeletons on the sprue, and there are 8 spears on the sprue which is fine as two of the bodies have sculpted hand weapons (though you could always swap them into another unit if it bothered you).

Also, 8th edition warhammer rules state that only the majority of the models in a unit have to be armed with the weapon option that you pick, so having 3 out of 10 skeletons having swords in a unit of spear skeletons is no big deal.

Besides with mantic you inevitably end up with loads more models than you need... it just sorta happens when they are so cheap... they are always at least 50% cheaper than GW, and often up to 80% cheaper.

Units like grave guard really put things into perspective... a unit of 20 costs £51 from GW, or £14 from mantic.

I have just bought the Mantic army set and it is awesome. I think 28mm models are well suited to slightly cartoony proportions but YMMV, the GW skellies are also nice (just too pricey for me).
But the Zombies and Ghouls are great, especially if you mix and match parts. The spear issue isn't that bad, you get enough that your couple of handweapons won't be noticed.
They also do a cheap version of blood knights, though IMO they do look naff and gamezone might be a better option. Also avaiable are cheap skeleton knights, cheap wraiths and some cool necromancer models. (I think Morgoth the Faceless is a really awesome model).

@Necromancer models: apart from the magically flying one being unnecessarily PITA to assemble (though mine's miscast so I need a replacement anyway and haven't assembled it yet).

Dear all model companies: infantry models on the floor on maybe little rocks please, none of this levitating malarky. Thanks.

Mantic. Only buy GW for characters, grave guard and the Varghulf.

I painted some Mantic ghouls like zombies and put them into one of my GW zombie regiments. They fit right in.

I think the revenants look distinct enough to work well as Grave Gaurd, and would save you squillions of pounds.
For £100 you can get:

40 Skeletons
40 Revenants
30 Ghouls
30 Zombies
10 Revenant Knights
5 Wraiths
1 Balefire Catapult
That's 145 infantry, 10 cav and a warmachine for 100 quid. Works out at around 65p a model.

The same models from GW, leaving out the balefire as it has no equivalent:
£358.25
Roughly 2.30 a model. The GW models might be slightly better quality, but are they three times better? And is quality your main concern (as in, are you a master modeller and painter?)
I think mantic wins here, hands down.

Well I'm just waiting for my ebay items to come to an end then I'll be putting my mantic order in (110 models for around £50 not bad) and I'm looking at GW chaos knights for my blood knights.

I'm hoping to post an 1500p army list soon

Thanks again for all your in put

While Mantic is a close competitor with GW for horde armies, Mantic did also increase its prices in line with GW.

AvatarForm wrote:While Mantic is a close competitor with GW for horde armies, Mantic did also increase its prices in line with GW.

You are really going to have to qualify that statement! Mantic did raise prices but nowhere near the scale that GW does on a regular basis, also when Mantic transitioned to resin they actually got cheaper.

I realised I should have put some pictures up for some alternates. For Cairn Wraiths, buy Reapers. They're $40us for 9, which isn't cheap, but it's half what GW asks IIRC. And they look like terrifying grim reapers. They also have plenty of female Ghosts to use as Tomb Banshees.