Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Man, the new Ratkin sure are calling me. I'm sorely tempted to go all in on them. Anyone have experience with them mechanically? Fun army to play?

 Boss Salvage wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Man, the new Ratkin sure are calling me. I'm sorely tempted to go all in on them. Anyone have experience with them mechanically? Fun army to play?

Ratkin are a great army, and I too have been tempted to replace my old WHFB Skaven with all this new Mantic. I'm happy to help shop lists and whatnot if you'd like to make a post down in the Mantic part of this forum / message me, but in the meantime here's where Dash28 reviews the individual units, which will help get a sense for what's avoidable / good / great in 3E: https://dash28.org/2020/08/14/kings-of-war-3rd-edition-ratkin-tier-review/

I have an older WHFB Skaven army too, but I just want to really support Mantic when they make models I like. I gladly bought a mountain of Northern Alliance because they clicked for me, and the new Ratkin are doing it for me as well.

Thanks for the link, and i'll reach out soon.

Those look excellent, and normally I would be itching to preorder, but the wife and I have hobby/painting sorted for Mantic 2021. We pulled the trigger on a LOT of the gorgeous new Ratkin, and still need to paint 160 Clansmen for my Northern Alliance.

 Tamereth wrote:
Glad to see the air elements but no idea how to paint air? Maybe they will do translucent versions.

Contrast Paint Apothecary White should do nicely. It isn't fancy, and might read more "Cloud Elemental", but it would work.

I always use a Krylon Max that is a dead-ringer for the Contrast off-white primer. The Apothecary White always looks excellent over it, and just a touch warmer.

 pancakeonions wrote:
And I'm a big fan of models I can paint in minutes...

Prime white, slop some Space Wolves Gray Contrast Paint on there...

BATTLE WORTHY!

Honestly, getting KoW armies done, rather than forever half-finished has made me really embrace, "good enough" simple schemes, and cheats. From three feet away, even a simply painted mass-battles army looks incredible anyway.

Models that can look great in 1, 2, 3, etc... colors? OK!!!

Mantic's model quality dramatically improving over the last couple years isn't helping my project queue. Like Boss Salvage I am trying to finally retire my WHFB KoW armies, and give Mantic their due... This means I now own three 100% Mantic armies that are each 1/3rd painted...

One more couldn't hurt right...? :-p

Excited for Armada news. Its this close to being a game I can be excited about, but needs just a little extra meat. I'm hoping the addition of flyers and magic will do the trick.

I LOVE the halflings, love that Armada is getting exactly what I hoped it would, and am exciting for that KoW road-map.

I'm cautiously hoping that KoW silhouette is an expansion of Empire of Dust, as it seems to be a Manticore or Chimera of some sort?

 Boss Salvage wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I'm cautiously hoping that KoW silhouette is an expansion of Empire of Dust, as it seems to be a Manticore or Chimera of some sort?

My assumption is it's finally a Varangur model from Mantic Hyped either way, great teaser!

Also dig all the dogs in the Halfling release! Unexpected!

Good call. I forget that even a few kits and a few upgrade sets for Northern Alliance models could make for a wonderful Varangur line.

I was a hair away from buying hard into Armada as it was, but the support for the game looks amazing, the releases have been awesome, and they seem to be making good additions to fleshing the system out.

I feel like I may end up placing a giant order. Any idea what the large/normal game size is? I feel like whatever size expands beyond 4x4 is the right one as maneuverability is the lifeblood of games like this.

I suspect we'll go in hard once Mantic posts preorders for the new book and flyers, so we can get it all in one shot.

Do 250pt games still play on a 4x4 single neoprene mat?

For what it is worth, the tournament pack clarified all my questions. Mantic does indeed consider 250pts on 4x4 the "standard" full game, and the game requires a minimum of five ships at that size (so no taking 3 unkillable big boys).

I didn't want to wait, and my research into Dystopian Wars was an unflattering comparison where even base Armada seems like the more robust game. We ended up getting two of each bundle for Empire of Dust and Orcs, and I figure we'll get some games in before the flyers and such launch.

Exactly. The base wind rules just create a bit of activation fog-of-war which is fluffy and abstract. The full wind rules turn it into a more complex game mechanic that is optional as it mucks with balance a bit (some ships have engines which suddenly make them notably better).

Precisely as I hoped for, the new Magic rules sound absolutely wonderful, and should add a lot of depth to the game!

https://www.manticgames.com/news/how-does-the-magic-deck-work-in-armada/?fbclid=IwAR00yIosrgVfTzMstLwLdCUFhtDKvjDPXPxVs9OGL2vaLU2cK6BFsX6o4nw

I won't begrudge them, especially as some models are clearly mispriced. The now famous over-sized Giant kit is literally a third of GW's similar offering (in terms of volume of plastic, box size, etc...) Them asking for $5 more for it still leaves it as an absolute steal.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, an another preview of the new supplement!

https://www.manticgames.com/news/five-reasons-all-armada-players-need-the-new-seas-aflame-supplement/?fbclid=IwAR3Xe4fCOiOrSQgCEda_bFV0ykQvWPJsY1NM4HvyLOCZXK760f4GflwcPNI

 Boss Salvage wrote:
They look really good painted up, and fittingly these might be some of the only Mantic units that you can easily run at Full Model Count I continue to appreciate the unexpected doggo factor, looking forward to the maniac who does an entire army of dog cav

Challenge accepted!

 pancakeonions wrote:
Has anyone here in the US gotten their Armada Seas Aflame, Deck of Armada Magic cards, and/or any of the first set of fliers?

They (supposedly, per Mantic) shipped quite a while ago, but my FLGS hasn't gotten them, and their distributor (Alliance) hasn't either - with no estimated arrival/ shipping time either.

I am keen to play with my wee fliers, and crazy spells to zap each other with!

I got multiples of all of them from Troll Horde. Arrived within a week or so of release.

Has anyone played Ambush? Is it actually good, thoughtful design, or just KoW played at extremely low points?

Stupid question, but aren't regiments/hordes of Large Cav 3/6 models respectively? I just preordered two boxes, and then realized I might actually need three.

I super love Mantic leaning into preferred model counts. After years in GW hell a company that treats me with respect means a lot more than slightly fancier models.

Void Dragon has big "Warmahordes" Legion of Everblight energy, and I am kinda ok with that.

I'll pick up one for hobby-sake for sure.

I really love these. I refuse to entertain another backlog project right now, but am still sorely tempted.

Mantic's quality legitimately keeps improving at a good clip. Ever since stuff like the Northern Alliance Crow-Cav, they've had a real run of great releases across all their game systems. Some of the new Deadzone/Firefight stuff is similarly dope.

Can only speak to Deadzone, but the Command Dice there are an awesome addition, and introduce subtle chaos, in a way that doesn't disrupt balance. Big fan, so I will hear them out.

I just wanted Mantic's "not-Warmaster" to sit alongside "not-Epic".

10mm KoW is such an obvious slam dunk... this is just comparatively disappointing.

As expected, a game no one needed or asked for, as Ambush already filled that roll. I'm a mega Mantic fanboy, but this still feels like a very rare wholesale miss.

Talk about a game that didn't need a new edition... This and Bloodbowl have me incredibly cynical.

Age of Fantasy Regiments is great fun, and all I need lately, in this genre.