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I've been looking for alternative models for my WHFB Night Goblin army, and I came across Mantic's Goblin range, which seems to have more affordable minis than GW.
What have your experiences been with Mantic? How is their quality? Are their miniatures finicky to assemble/paint? Is Mantic a good place to look at all, or should I look into Reaper, etc.?

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/kings-of-war/goblins/product/goblin-sharpsticks-20-figures.html
http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/kings-of-war/goblins.html

I rather enjoy Mantic miniatures.

Sure there are better sculpts out there, but for the price, they are excellent. The boxes they come in also double as carry cases as well.

With the unit you have linked be aware that's a mix of metal and plastic. It's not a major concern, will just require a drop of superglue instead of poly cement.

( I am also a fan of the Kings of War game. I've not looked back at Fantasy since playing it, but that's a different story ;-) )

Very poor from their early stuff, but apparently it has improved.

The plastic is very hard to work with, and I really struggled to get rid of the numerous mould lines and other defects.

Mantic is a very inconsistent company when it comes to miniatures. While I willprobably buy most of their undead range and some of the Orc range, I'll never touch their Basilean and Elf models with a 100-foot pole.

With their goblins I have never bought one. From what I hear most of them are okay except for the archers.

nuttersuclan wrote:The plastic is very hard to work with, and I really struggled to get rid of the numerous mould lines and other defects.

I would imagine you're talking about restic/sprueless plastic. That stuff is a paint to work with, but most of the KoW models are styrene on sprues, same as GW.

heartserenade wrote:From what I hear most of them [goblins] are okay except for the archers.

You heard the truth. The archers were a failed experiment with cheaper Chinese manufacturing. I have two sprues of spitters (that came in a grab bag) with the "made in China" stamp and they don't even compare to the usual Renendra-produced stuff - soft detail, heavy flash, stiffer, more brittle styrene. Anything made in the UK I would consider safe.

Speaking more generally, I've been a fan of Mantic from the start. They've stretched themselves too thin, of late, and their shipping time/packing accuracy and once stellar customer service have suffered. They've communicated that they've realized this and are taking steps to rectify it, so hopefully they emerge all the better for it. They definitely have improved in many of their sculpts, while still producing the odd dud, but I don't think that much of their older stuff is all that bad (some definitely is). One of the things I like about Mantic is their willingness to provide meaningfully alternative models, not just cheaper clones of existing fare. The different aesthetics of their fantasy races are pretty divisive, but I generally like them (yes, even the elves... except for those impossbly goofy Drakon Riders - what were they thinking?). If you like the goblins, based on the pictures, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just be wary of the archers and know that anything that isn't styrene or metal will be hard PVC.

Thanks, guys. Once I've got the rest of my army painted up and have set aside some dough, I'll order a pack and try them out.

The one thing that I'm wondering about is how you said there are problems with the archers. Aren't all of the goblin infantry minis just archers with an extra pack of pewter weapons?

I have the Mantic Dwarves and actually found them easier to clean up than the average GW mini. Of course, that might be because the Mantic Dwarves have less detail than most GW minis.

One important thing I discovered. No matter how similar the parts from two different kits look, they are not quite the same, so exchanging (for example) legs and torsos between kits will cause quite a few annoying issues fitting them together.

This is why I love the Mantic zombies: you can convert them more by mixing and matching other kits and it won't look weird because, hey, zombies.

One problem with Mantic models as well is they have less customisation, Again, why I favor their undead range: you can just cut them up and mix it with, say a Perry plastic kit to make moar zombies.