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Gah! I hadn't realized just how bad the arms were

Anyway I popped by to show my solution to the problem.

How to fix?

How do you fix anything that has parts you don't like, and when chaos just isn't an option?

FRIGGEN UNDEAD IT THE HECK UP!


Yeah baby!

Probably not the perfect solution for those of you who actually want to use your righteous paladin/knight army as such... Unless you could be swayed to the winning side, who doesn't love a good anti-paladin and a host of religiously EVIL knights Anyway... I'll probably scavenge some zombie, ghoul, and skeleton parts and convert my remaining 15 MaA into the undead variant. Maybe use them as another block of revenants unless I can think of something better.

OK, now that might actually work...

Hah, the best solution!

But seriously, I really don't think these figures are salvageable for Basilean guys, not without a massive amount of work and spare parts.

I think Mantic have learnt from this mistake, and are likely to make big changes to stop it happening again. They can't afford to put out kits like this, it's just too costly. Perry plastics are too price competitive and full of bits, so Mantic will need to lift their game if they are looking to corner the market.

Percy's are crazy good value for money and great quality. Mantic can't make mistakes like this and expect to sell when there are other good alternatives.

Those are really cool Grim, might not be suitable as Men at Arms due to lack of armor, but as elite zombies or some sort of crazy zealous militia they are spot on.

It was a quick tack-job from the bottom of my bits box, used up most of the zombies/ghouls in a corporation conversion. Just wanted to flesh out (puns are always intended, why else would people use a particular word with such a big vocabulary out there) the idea before I lost it.

I think it'll work for me, and people who don't mind playing them as evil/undead.

Your solution to making them still Basi... those guys... is far more elegant and quite nice. Do you sell your bits anywhere or is it more of a hobby?

That looks really nice Rolt, a vast improvement!

You should contact Mantic and ask if they are open to some kind of business arrangement

Thanks Grim and Pacific

I obviously need to improve the details a lot, but in terms of a rough "sketch" the idea is there, if I keep working on this project I would love to eventually create a few sets of arms, 3 different types of shield, spears and swords,
and at least 6 different types of head, I think this would create just enough visual variety for a large block of troops. Someone also mentioned these guys lack a command troop troop right?, I'm assuming that's a banner bearer,
musician and a Sargent of some sort right? I don't own the book, so I don't know the full options.

Maybe I could make the sargent a female knight with alt heads and hair, could be fun. I'm very fond of the helm's so far, mainly because I based them off of this:


In terms in selling this stuff, meh I dunno, Mantic can have this stuff for free for all it matters (a fan submission if you will) I'm not looking to make any money, I just need a practice project to improve my sculpting, can't become a
professional sculptor unless I drastically start improving.

If anyone's got any ideas to add or even stuff they think would be cool, just throw it up.

I wish that we could convince Mantic that spending the money on Rendera frames will be a better choice in the long run - I have not seen the plastics from the new company on any models newer than the MaA, but looking them over again....

My hopes for future models are not high - and I do not trust this new manufacturer. After tracing the images rather than getting the right software... I would have dropped them like a dead skunk. (It may not have been in the contract - but that was just dishonest.)

The Auld Grump

IMO the joke is on both parties there - either the agreement should have specified how production data was to be supplied or they should have checked interoperability before signing.

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
I wish that we could convince Mantic that spending the money on Rendera frames will be a better choice in the long run

This!

Eh they don't look THAT terrible to my eyes. Not great mind you but not complete garbage either. Certainly better than old school GW with their single pose plastics from back in the day.

I don't think I could assemble the models as intended without dying a little inside. The arms are just way too big. The heads don't bother me as much. Mine will the some form of undead (as mentioned earlier) and so I'm fine with what I have, but I don't want more.

Since I do have those and the renedra skeleton sprues in hand, I do heartily agree that the renedra sprues are soooo much better. The MaA plastic feels almost closer to some kind of restic than gw/renedra hard plastic. It's oddly brittle and well.. hard. Kind of like restic is, but it's definitely not that either.

Yeah, I refuse to leave mine as they are-they're all getting serious surgery. Thanks to some of you guys on here, I have a good collection of extra paladin and Elohi heads to attach, and a sharp pair of clippers get the extra amount out of the arms to make them look presentable. All ranked up in a unit with those fixes, they'll look great. I just haven't had time for a mass scale project like that, so it's gone to the wayside.

The best use I have found so far for my MAA was giving them away to 8-12 year old family relations over the holidays. They loved customizing them with weapons and heads, etc. from my bitzbox. Oddly, almost none of them chose to use the stock arms...

Is Mantic planning on retooling these or are they happy having a vastly inferior product as a troop choice?

I was recently looking at getting into KoW and wanted to get a Basilean army but with these guys and the sisters being all wacky I may just have to pass for now.

I was considering a Basilean army when they were first announced too.

Lost intrest after seeing the MAA and sisters.

The probability that the MAA and Sisters get re-tooled is basically nil. Mantic already made the decision that they were going to release these abominations into the world. Their brand has already been damaged, but they figured that the brand dilution was worth saving the cost of another $15k or whatever to start over from scratch on them.

WayneTheGame wrote:
Eh they don't look THAT terrible to my eyes. Not great mind you but not complete garbage either. Certainly better than old school GW with their single pose plastics from back in the day.

Those figures were great, despite their minor flaws. I'll gladly swap my MAA for some of the old WFR Elves, Skaven or Dark Elves....

SO, just finished assembling my MAA from my crazy Xmas Box, and I have to say I'm not seeing why the backlash against them is this bad.

They're definitely not the most detailed models Mantic has to offer, and there are a few small areas that are relatively flat/detailless, but overall I'm not seeing why the opinion on them is quite so negative.

I'd personally give them a 3/5, something I'd buy if they were on a good sale and I had some spare disposable income. Not something I'd buy immediately in bulk (a 5), or buy if I had disposable income (a 4), but better than a grudgingly-accept-if-given-as-a-gift (a 2), or would-return-immediately (a 1).

Were there some aspects to them that I'm missing that are the reasons people hate them so much?

The right arm requires serious cutting to look like anything other than his mom dallied too long with a virulent gorilla. Faces are fine when painted and washed, but without a wash it's impossible for them to look good. I got a lot and I got them cheap. I'm ok with them and agree with your 3 (maybe a 2.5). They look good with work, but you shouldn't have to perform surgery to get them to look decent.

 darkPrince010 wrote:
SO, just finished assembling my MAA from my crazy Xmas Box, and I have to say I'm not seeing why the backlash against them is this bad.

They're definitely not the most detailed models Mantic has to offer, and there are a few small areas that are relatively flat/detailless, but overall I'm not seeing why the opinion on them is quite so negative.

I'd personally give them a 3/5, something I'd buy if they were on a good sale and I had some spare disposable income. Not something I'd buy immediately in bulk (a 5), or buy if I had disposable income (a 4), but better than a grudgingly-accept-if-given-as-a-gift (a 2), or would-return-immediately (a 1).

Were there some aspects to them that I'm missing that are the reasons people hate them so much?

The length of their arms, size of their hands, the awful non flat shoulder joints, the bubble shoulders in general, and the horrible hardness of the plastic. Seriously, the arms are all different lengths and clearly out of proportion to the body. Not just a little out of proportion either. Grossly out of proportion. One of the faces is also laughably bad.

 primalexile wrote:
Is Mantic planning on retooling these or are they happy having a vastly inferior product as a troop choice?

I was recently looking at getting into KoW and wanted to get a Basilean army but with these guys and the sisters being all wacky I may just have to pass for now.

I don't know Mantic's plans but I don't think retooling is anywhere near on the horizon (if at all) due to their frenetic release schedule.
They have Mars Attacks, more Deadzone stuff, a Kickstarter or two coming this year and at least some Dreadball action like the Azure Forest expansion all coming in the near future.

In the meantime, the FireForge guys have some excellent foot soldiers that would great Basileans IMHO.
They run about a buck a foot soldier (YMMV) and are made of hard plastic like Games Workshop models.
They also have matching knight types for a couple of army types (e.g., teutonic knights, Templars, even Monguls if that's how you view your Basileans.)

http://www.fireforge-games.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=1&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=56&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=95
http://www.fireforge-games.com/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&category_id=12&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=57
http://www.fireforge-games.com/webstore.html

 darkPrince010 wrote:
SO, just finished assembling my MAA from my crazy Xmas Box, and I have to say I'm not seeing why the backlash against them is this bad.

They're definitely not the most detailed models Mantic has to offer, and there are a few small areas that are relatively flat/detailless, but overall I'm not seeing why the opinion on them is quite so negative.

I'd personally give them a 3/5, something I'd buy if they were on a good sale and I had some spare disposable income. Not something I'd buy immediately in bulk (a 5), or buy if I had disposable income (a 4), but better than a grudgingly-accept-if-given-as-a-gift (a 2), or would-return-immediately (a 1).

Were there some aspects to them that I'm missing that are the reasons people hate them so much?

Because of these things.

Holy crap! Fireforge has Mongols?

Is it possible to swap my Men at Arms for them?

Don't mean to be a hater but they are positively horrid!, i want to buy into manic but they're not giving me a reason to

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Holy crap! Fireforge has Mongols?

Is it possible to swap my Men at Arms for them?

ooh! Those are new!

 mitch_rifle wrote:
Don't mean to be a hater but they are positively horrid!, i want to buy into manic but they're not giving me a reason to

You aren't being a hater. 95% (or more) of us mantic enthusiasts hate the MaAs. If I couldn't alter/adjust mine, I'd be pissed, and I'm one of the biggest Mantic Fanbois on here. But I can [slowly] take the time to fix mine with alternate heads and cutting the arms, and they look pretty good after doing that. I'd say my front rank of one unit is positively awesome and full of character. But it took a bit of work to get there: work that should have been an option, not a requirement.

I hate to raise the dead here (although those do seem to be the best Basileans), but I finally managed to capture some more of my MaA study models on film, as well as my solution for the Drakon Riders.

My latest attempt to salvage my minis? I went sci fi!

From left to right, I used Dreamforge arms (I would have used the rifle, but lost my directions for which arms go together!), Dreamforge, GW and WGF. I think I like the GW look for chapter serfs or Inquisition. I'll have to try a pure fantasy take on the Dreamforge arms. I left the gaps open to show the terrible fit, but I plan to cover every join with pouches or knives from the Dreamforge accessory set. I love that set.


Welcome to the gun show. Feel free to bring a knife.


Like a Dark Eldar at a pot luck, these guys are bringing the pain.



For my Drakon elves, I found some plastic swans at the dollar store (or big lots?) and some cake toppers at Hobby Lobby. I cut the pillars in half without regard for cleanliness or regularity; I plan to use AuldGrump's putty and superglue sandwich to fix gthe pillar into the swan and will fill the gaps with flock. Nothing says "Mystical transport from some otherworldly Elfin shadow world" like grass growing in your land-cruising swanboat.


This was my test model. The hole in the top of the pillar fits a standard round base. (I just grabbed the first figure I had with such a base. Unfortunately, Mantic round bases don't fit right.)


Ta-da!


This was just done to test the concept. I plan to bling the crap out of the swanboats using GW High Elf bits.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

For my Drakon elves, I found some plastic swans at the dollar store (or big lots?) and some cake toppers at Hobby Lobby. I cut the pillars in half without regard for cleanliness or regularity; I plan to use AuldGrump's putty and superglue sandwich to fix gthe pillar into the swan and will fill the gaps with flock. Nothing says "Mystical transport from some otherworldly Elfin shadow world" like grass growing in your land-cruising swanboat.


This was my test model. The hole in the top of the pillar fits a standard round base. (I just grabbed the first figure I had with such a base. Unfortunately, Mantic round bases don't fit right.)


Ta-da!


This was just done to test the concept. I plan to bling the crap out of the swanboats using GW High Elf bits.

*Bink, blink* Now I have an image of wood elves 'surfing' into battle on the backs of giant swans.....

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* I grew up in Boston, which has swan boats....