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Absolutely great news, the fact that Remy sculpted the SW phase 1 Strain models has definitely peaked my interest in the upcoming Warpath plague faction.

I also didn't realize that Remy sculpted the Sedition Wars Firebrand models, i always thought they were by Kev white. Im praying that the Warpath Rebel army will be similar in design to these models. (But with a few more aliens.)

Sining wrote:
Sweet. Now I'm looking forward to the warpath KS. Especially if it means resculpts for the forgefathers

I completely agree, im really hoping that we see both the ForgeFathers and Orx get re-sculpts for the Kickstarter. IMO the plastic ForgeFathers and Orx models have served their purpose as cheap filler for when Warpath was a relatively new venture, but when you compare them the latest Warpath releases they're definitely starting to become the weak point within the range.

I continue to maintain that Mantic's weakness, rules aside, is not the actual sculpts but rather their originality (or lack thereof). As far as I can tell literally everything ever produced by Mantic is derivative of GW to the point where they seem primarily intended as GW counts-as models rather than unique concepts of their own.

I would love to see Mantic start producing new and original lines of figures, as they seem to have a good handle on things from the operations side, but frankly I'm not holding my breath.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Oh, btw, something else that will make a lot of people on here very happy which I forgot to mention earlier:

Remy Tremblay is not a freelancer anymore, he is now a full-time Mantic employee.

In addition to this, he is the *only* sculptor who is allowed to work on the Warpath range.

For anyone who doesn't know who that guy is, click this link to his blog and start drooling. Basically if it's from Mantic, was sculpted in the last year and looks amazing there's good odds that it was one of his sculpts.

Sounds like Mantic is finally getting properly serious. If they can show us this by getting rid of things like Hybrid kits and repurposed plastics, I think they'll be in a good place a year from now. If they want a licence to print money, it'd be the Enforcers in multipart hard plastic.




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 Kingsley wrote:
I continue to maintain that Mantic's weakness, rules aside, is not the actual sculpts but rather their originality (or lack thereof). As far as I can tell literally everything ever produced by Mantic is derivative of GW to the point where they seem primarily intended as GW counts-as models rather than unique concepts of their own.

The enforcers aren't original (they're Iron Man, or perhaps, War Machine) but they're not a GW ripoff. They also appear to have been pretty much universally liked. The designs at least, not the hybrid models..

The types of units Mantic produces may follow the same generic tropes that GW uses, the execution and model design is what is completely different and unique.

For example, Mantic Orcs/ Goblins/ Undead have a lot more common with the 80's British dark fantasy aesthetic than anything GW has produced in the last 20 years.

Think the film Labyrinth, Army of Darkness, metal album covers, that sort of thing.

Warpath takes the opposite route, trying to take a more modern "clean and shiny" sci-fi approach rather than 40k's grimdark. It's pretty clear to anyone who has spent 30 seconds with a copy of Dreadball that they're going for something a bit different.

If they wanted to effectively be nothing other than GW rip-offs they would have gone "heroic scale" instead of "true scale" with their designs in the same way that other more blatantly GW-inspired companies do.

Anyone writing them off as cheap GW knock-offs either hasn't bothered to look at the model range much or take one look at the free rules which are in fact taken very seriously and are not just a "tack-on", or "warhammer-lite" as people often like to dismiss them. They're damned good and offer fast and balanced gameplay, as well as having excellent support.

That's not to say that GW compatibility isn't still considered important (it's important for those of us who buy Mantic minis too, if I can't get a KoW game, I can still use the minis to play warhammer), but it's pretty clear that it is no longer the main focus of the company like it was back in 2009, their own rules and their board games especially make them far more money.

This month's releases for goblins are a fire-belching trumpet war machine and furry land-shark creatures. You could call the latter "GW squig rip-offs", but it'd be a bit of a stretch.

Similarly, the "Dreadball = Bloodbowl clone" argument has been posted on the internet quite a lot and debunked pretty thoroughly.

Good observation about the Evil Dead/Metal Album cover art aesthetic. That's exactly what Mantic's undead remind me of.

Having Remy as a full time sculptor is fantastic. Consistency is what they need. Now they need to find themselves a professional model engineer and master mould maker who can keep them from having repeats of how badly the hybrid restic and metal kits go together.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Oh, btw, something else that will make a lot of people on here very happy which I forgot to mention earlier:

Remy Tremblay is not a freelancer anymore, he is now a full-time Mantic employee.

In addition to this, he is the *only* sculptor who is allowed to work on the Warpath range.

For anyone who doesn't know who that guy is, click this link to his blog and start drooling. Basically if it's from Mantic, was sculpted in the last year and looks amazing there's good odds that it was one of his sculpts.

This is amazing news! Far and away my biggest criticism of Mantics efforts has been their inconsistency within their various lines. To have solved the consistency problem (and with a sculptor of the quality of Tremblay) is really great news.

 Kingsley wrote:
As far as I can tell literally everything ever produced by Mantic is derivative of GW to the point where they seem primarily intended as GW counts-as models rather than unique concepts of their own.

Technically Forge Fathers fill a giant hole where demand exists in the market.

But other than that, every Dreadball thing has no GW analog.

Mantic may have started as the GW Proxy manufacturer but left that behind around June of last year. Launching the KS for Kings of War, funding tons of units that have no GW analog, kinda proves my point. Orc Fight Wagons? Goblin Mincers... and War Trombones... and Sharpstick Slashers? Obsidian Golems? The entire Celestian/Basiliean human range? and Berserker Brock Riders? (what GW army has crazed dwarves riding giant badgers?!)


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 scarletsquig wrote:
For example, Mantic Orcs[...]have a lot more common with the 80's British dark fantasy aesthetic than anything GW has produced in the last 20 years.
..."true scale"...

lotta snipping, but _this_ qft. I love their Orcs. Back in the 90's I had a WHFB Orc army that was a mix of old 80's orcs, Kev Adams orcs, and then Brian Nelson orcs (when he redid the boar riders in 1998 or so). It was all over the place, different scales, ranging from scrawny and mean, to goofy and silly, to grim and scarred. Eventually I sold the army and never really liked the 2000's GW aesthetic of big heads, biggers jaws, and ape arms. Mantic's Orcs are basically everything I loved about 80's style Orcs, but done in modern methods. Now I've got over 200 of them, dark green skin with bronze armor. I love their truescale, I love their armor designs (like the embossed faces on some of their armor), I love their jagged bits and weapons. Best orcs available. To me, and their fans, they're not a replacement for GW; they're the only good orcs on the market. GW's orcs are for people with no taste.


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 scarletsquig wrote:
This month's releases for goblins are a fire-belching trumpet war machine and furry land-shark creatures. You could call the latter "GW squig rip-offs", but it'd be a bit of a stretch.

Mawbeasts are interesting, in that you can see that they might have been originally intended as a Squig-analog, but they're like 3 times bigger and look more like, as you said, mutant furry land-sharks. Lol. (I kinda want to use them as cavalry, they're so big)

Remy makes wonderful sculpts, which are subsequently ruined by shoddy molds, detail-ruining mold lines and lazy staff 'twisting' models off sprues to leave pits and damages on the models.

It is sad when Remy is the only sculptor who doesn't make trash int hat company. Almost all the Dreadball models not done by Remy are practically 'throw in the garbage' quality.

I cannot trust concept art from mantic as they lack the sculptors who can faithfully re-create models from it.

I hope if Remy is fulltime Warpath, that this doesn't mean now that they have stolen our money for Dreadball they will pawn the rest of the models off on some bad sculptor. I kinda wish they would finish Dreadball before doing any more warpath since they only have one artist who can make a good sculpt.

Funny, I encountered the opposite. Other than _too much_ sprue on my Dreadball models, they were virtually flash-free. But my money wasn't "stolen", I guess, because I've received product?

 scarletsquig wrote:
Oh, btw, something else that will make a lot of people on here very happy which I forgot to mention earlier:

Remy Tremblay is not a freelancer anymore, he is now a full-time Mantic employee.

In addition to this, he is the *only* sculptor who is allowed to work on the Warpath range.

For anyone who doesn't know who that guy is, click this link to his blog and start drooling. Basically if it's from Mantic, was sculpted in the last year and looks amazing there's good odds that it was one of his sculpts.

Wow, thanks for the update Squig, thats outstanding news Remys an amazing sculptor, looking forward to the warpath KS even more now. I wonder how many new armies we will see during the warpath KS, I know we should have Plauge, John-Doe Race/Nameless, Judwan, Z,zor and Astrainains (urm... spelling?) all coming, but I would'nt be surprised if Mantic have something "extra" hidden up their sleeve for the KS as well.

Exciting stuff.

 judgedoug wrote:

Funny, I encountered the opposite. Other than _too much_ sprue on my Dreadball models, they were virtually flash-free. But my money wasn't "stolen", I guess, because I've received product?

It's a very long con.

 plastictrees wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:

Funny, I encountered the opposite. Other than _too much_ sprue on my Dreadball models, they were virtually flash-free. But my money wasn't "stolen", I guess, because I've received product?

It's a very long con.

I think I see it. I'll be yearning to play Dreadball so much that I won't work some offered overtime chances and I'll lose money in the long run

nkelsch wrote:
Remy makes wonderful sculpts, which are subsequently ruined by shoddy molds, detail-ruining mold lines and lazy staff 'twisting' models off sprues to leave pits and damages on the models.

It is sad when Remy is the only sculptor who doesn't make trash int hat company. Almost all the Dreadball models not done by Remy are practically 'throw in the garbage' quality.

I cannot trust concept art from mantic as they lack the sculptors who can faithfully re-create models from it.

I hope if Remy is fulltime Warpath, that this doesn't mean now that they have stolen our money for Dreadball they will pawn the rest of the models off on some bad sculptor. I kinda wish they would finish Dreadball before doing any more warpath since they only have one artist who can make a good sculpt.

Eek, don't scare me. I was hoping that by getting only a Season 3 team they'd have worked out all the kinks.

Who did Shoeless Joe? I'm going to finally pick up my copy of him at TempleCon this weekend from a friend I believe, and the pics of that model have looked great. I hope they have the same sculptor do the rest of the Nameless team...

During the KS the asked the masses if we liked Tentacle Joe and wanted the sculptor to do the rest of the nameless team

we almost unanimously said yes (one or two dissenters said 'he's not dynamic enough) so we should be OK for him (or her I guess) to do the lot

Okay phew . Thanks!

 scipio.au wrote:

Sounds like Mantic is finally getting properly serious. If they can show us this by getting rid of things like Hybrid kits and repurposed plastics, I think they'll be in a good place a year from now. If they want a licence to print money, it'd be the Enforcers in multipart hard plastic.

I agree that all plastic, all metal, or all restic would be ideal, as opposed to hybrid. Sadly, I bought the 46-figure Strike protocol set, so it wouldn't benefit me much, but it would be good for whoever buys in next...

Forgefather Thorgarim Hero:





Pretty sweet sculpt if you ask me.

For Cygnar!
Beard is a little static, but nice overall.

Same thing stood out to me on first glimpse. Is this one of the new Remy sculpts?

 Kingsley wrote:
I continue to maintain that Mantic's weakness, rules aside, is not the actual sculpts but rather their originality (or lack thereof). As far as I can tell literally everything ever produced by Mantic is derivative of GW to the point where they seem primarily intended as GW counts-as models rather than unique concepts of their own.

I would love to see Mantic start producing new and original lines of figures, as they seem to have a good handle on things from the operations side, but frankly I'm not holding my breath.

Considering how many different armies GW produces to cover so many different archetypes, is this even possible?

The enforcers are great and pretty original, but power armored. Uh oh! The Corporation soldiers look nothing like IG, but they are futuristic human soldiers. Uh oh! The veermyn are the result of a space radiation leak bringing terrible, terrible models to life, but GW has Nagash. Uh oh!

I sure hope Mantic produces something original like space bugs that look nothing like space dinosaurs with exoskeletons, otherwise we'll never hear the end of it. Also, tentacle monsters. GW doesn't do those yet.

And since when has GW ever sold a model of a werewolf with oversized nipples? Never!

Actually, I find Mantic to be one of the more refreshing model companies out there. The other big plastic releases tend to remind me that Star Wars and WWII Germans sell like peanut butter and chocolate...

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Kingsley wrote:
I continue to maintain that Mantic's weakness, rules aside, is not the actual sculpts but rather their originality (or lack thereof). As far as I can tell literally everything ever produced by Mantic is derivative of GW to the point where they seem primarily intended as GW counts-as models rather than unique concepts of their own.

I would love to see Mantic start producing new and original lines of figures, as they seem to have a good handle on things from the operations side, but frankly I'm not holding my breath.

Considering how many different armies GW produces to cover so many different archetypes, is this even possible?

The enforcers are great and pretty original, but power armored. Uh oh! The Corporation soldiers look nothing like IG, but they are futuristic human soldiers. Uh oh! The veermyn are the result of a space radiation leak bringing terrible, terrible models to life, but GW has Nagash. Uh oh!

I sure hope Mantic produces something original like space bugs that look nothing like space dinosaurs with exoskeletons, otherwise we'll never hear the end of it. Also, tentacle monsters. GW doesn't do those yet.

And since when has GW ever sold a model of a werewolf with oversized nipples? Never!

Actually, I find Mantic to be one of the more refreshing model companies out there. The other big plastic releases tend to remind me that Star Wars and WWII Germans sell like peanut butter and chocolate...

I think that mantic are starting to come out from under the 'count as' shadow. The recent KoW kickstarter proves this. And once they start expanding the warpath range further it will definitely prove it. To me it seemed as they were filling holes in GW's range when they first started with warpath with the dwarfs and rats in space. Or offering cheaper alternative models for Orks and guardsmen. But I think they are really only just getting into their stride. Dreadball being the proof of this! Also it's good seeing troops that aren't just nazi's in space. That certainly seems to be a trend at the moment.

 Kingsley wrote:
I continue to maintain that Mantic's weakness, rules aside, is not the actual sculpts but rather their originality (or lack thereof). As far as I can tell literally everything ever produced by Mantic is derivative of GW to the point where they seem primarily intended as GW counts-as models rather than unique concepts of their own.

I would love to see Mantic start producing new and original lines of figures, as they seem to have a good handle on things from the operations side, but frankly I'm not holding my breath.

I disagree. I think that because Mantic was was taking quite a big leap with Warpath (Creating a whole new game with rules and minis is not going to be cheap or easy), they wanted to keep things simple and stick with generic fantasy/sci-fi races. Also GW don't own the rights to or created the concepts of Orcs, Goblins, Elves, Humans ect... so your point about Mantics minis be a derivative of GW is absolutley silly.

Some more pics of all the new releases, they've just gone up for advance order:

Thorgarim:


Drakkarim:


Iron Ancestor Doomstorm:


And yeah, it's all Remy-sculpted as far as I know.

Sorry accidently quoted myself

 scarletsquig wrote:
Forgefather Thorgarim Hero:





Pretty sweet sculpt if you ask me.

I likey the dynamic pose

The new Forge Fathers stuff is looking awesome.

Also worth noting that they have bitz packs for them on the site:

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Warpath/Forge-Fathers/Infantry.html

So, if you decide you don't want anything to do with the plastic steel warriors, you can go ahead and buy a pack of rifles for £3 instead to convert your Drakkarim into Steel warriors.

They do each part separately as a bitz pack, so you can buy a rocket launcher as a bolt-on or if you want them all to have enclosed helmets, you can do that as well.

The metal is killing me

I guess I'm not seeing where the bitz order are?

I do like the Forge Fathers for the most part.

Those Drakkarim look like they have got a couple of new poses and/or weapons in them? Is that correct?