Mantic Games - Sci-fi News & Rumors: Sci-Fi Zombies released.

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.

**lord_blackfang**

scarletsquig wrote:

The plan is to out-compete GW directly, on all fronts, with superior rules systems, and minis of equal quality sold at around a quarter of the price.

If I ever sounded bitter about Mantic, it was because this is what I originally expected from them when they launched and they just keep falling short again and again.

**Taarnak**

Da Boss wrote:
...Warpath is a bit creatively bankrupt...

Da Boss wrote:
...compete with the likes of GW's tyranids...

Does. Not. Compute...

I hope that they start world-building soon. Background and details is the biggest thing they are missing for Warpath in my opinion.

~Eric

**The_0perator**

ok that Warpath news has made my day! I can't wait, I've been looking for an alternative to 40K since 6th dropped.

**Da Boss**

Taarnak wrote:
Da Boss wrote:
...Warpath is a bit creatively bankrupt...

Da Boss wrote:
...compete with the likes of GW's tyranids...

Does. Not. Compute...

I hope that they start world-building soon. Background and details is the biggest thing they are missing for Warpath in my opinion.

~Eric

Hah, well caught. I meant in terms of sculpt quality, because nothing I've seen from them is as good as the big tyranid kits GW are releasing, and that's what I really want to see with the Zz'orr or whatever they are- big scary non humanoid aliens of some description!

The space rats are just a massive disappointment, especially with the way Mantic hyped them up to be something huge and then it turns out they're just mutated vermin on ships. That was really lame.

**edlowe**

Loving the sound of the future of Mantic, if they can get their plastics under control I can really see them as a true alternative to gw. It was cool to talk to the mantic guys at the openday and see how passionate they were about there games and the improvements they were making.

Forgot to mention earlier I pestered mantic about putting up the enforcer sprue as an addon for wave2 mentioning if the price was good id buy a shed load, the response was 'Im sure a lot of people would, you'll have to see' if they did a deal like the zombies or heavy enforcers I can see it going a bit mental.

Anyway back to scenery, this buildings made from 2 half sprues from the core wolds set plus an assesory sprue. Theoretically I could build 10+ of these with strikeforce pledge I think(?). Not too bad a way to fill out a board.

**GamesNGears**

Pictures as promised more to come:

Just note: We did some little pose changes to some of the miniatures. We also used Micro Art Studio bases & forge craft games bases. We did a bit of cut work as the miniatures have a mini base attached to them that gets insert into the main Deadzone bases. We had a bit of fun. Awesome Miniatures.

Will add more to our miniatures hobby album

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.650888208267045.1073741860.475726182449916&type=1

**AlexHolker**

scarletsquig wrote:
It is more interested in going for GW's throat via straight-up competition. Ronnie wants to rely on Mantic's own background, its own IP, own terrain, own mats, own rules, own everything, done on its terms without taking into account GW and only providing 40k compatibility in some models as an afterthought. General idea is that eventually even people who are right now saying "Oh, Mantic sucks, I only play GW, nothing else" will be won over by sheer quantities of hard plastic (fom the sounds of it they're looking to gear up for 4 hard plastic kits/month once they're done validating the new production method), sold at even more aggressive pricing than what they have currently. The plan is to out-compete GW directly, on all fronts, with superior rules systems, and minis of equal quality sold at around a quarter of the price.

It's an appealing idea, but I'll believe it when I see it. They need better faction concepts (space rats), better artistic concepts (tiny leg syndrome), better sculpts (battle nuns), better sprues (integrated bases) and better casting (that terrain panel that was sheared in half along the mould line). Do all that, and apply it to a faction I have any interest in owning, and I'll be interested in buying a Mantic product.

**The_0perator**

@GamesNGears

Wow those pictures are incredible... and the next two days are going to crawl by...

**GrimDork**

Oooh, I especially like your melee Ripper suit GnG! You've managed to turn the wide-out arms to your advantage. It looks like he's just super-backhanded someone with the saw and has swung around to put the fear of the ram into someone else.

That is a sweet mini-building Ed!

And finally, I'm loving how large the mawbeasts are. Kind of like lion-dogs.

**Taarnak**

Da Boss wrote:
Taarnak wrote:
Da Boss wrote:
...Warpath is a bit creatively bankrupt...

Da Boss wrote:
...compete with the likes of GW's tyranids...

Does. Not. Compute...

I hope that they start world-building soon. Background and details is the biggest thing they are missing for Warpath in my opinion.

~Eric

Hah, well caught. I meant in terms of sculpt quality, because nothing I've seen from them is as good as the big tyranid kits GW are releasing, and that's what I really want to see with the Zz'orr or whatever they are- big scary non humanoid aliens of some description!

The space rats are just a massive disappointment, especially with the way Mantic hyped them up to be something huge and then it turns out they're just mutated vermin on ships. That was really lame.

Just having a bit of fun with you. I agree about the Zzorr, they were disappointing. Too blocky for my tastes.

I wish they had been more like this:

Artist's page for more of this character.

I like the idea of the Veermyn, but the execution there needs some fine-tuning as well.

~Eric

**GamesNGears**

@"The_Operator

more Deadzone Miniatures to be posted tomorrow and terrain. Was real fun for us to put them together. Cannot wait to get them painted up

@Grimdork

, thanks! Was good fun, We are looking forward to do the other sets too! Mawbeasts are really sweet.

**Alpharius**

They look even better once you get rid of the silly integrated bases.

I really hope Mantic drops it when they 'go big' for Warpath.

**GrimDork**

Me too please god or mantic or anyone! I've cut off 60 something of them for warpath minis already, and will likely be cutting off 200 before deadzone is done =/

**Commander Cain**

Ooh man these terrain creations are getting me pretty excited! Just got my shipping information, a 16lb package is on its way...

The news about Warpath is interesting too. I always hoped Mantic would do this. GW needs some serious competition and I get the feeling that the blokes at Mantic can pull of some pretty amazing stuff given the time.

**GrimDork**

I don't even care if Warpath shuts down 40k, even if it gains a steady following in the region of what warmahordes and or infinity are pulling off it'll be good times. SOmething like I've heard of it, a friend or two plays it, but I haven't yet... is way easier to get someone into that than 'i've never heard of that and don't want to play it now go die in a fire unbeliever!'...

**timetowaste85**

I'd be quite happy if Mantic went straight for GW's jugular. I think warpath has a serious chance to obliterate 40k, especially as 6th is such a crappy, er, cinematic, game with random (dammit, I mean cinematic again) chance. I want quality rules (Mantic has been great at providing these) and quality models. If the news that Mantic is unhappy with plastics currently being given to them and they're stepping on the necks of those who are making and screwing the models up while doing everything they can to please us...great!

**mightyspacepope**

Have the rules been released yet for the zombies? I vaguely remember hearing that they would function as hazards for all players, but do we know any specifics yet?

**edlowe**

I really do wish Mantic would drop the intergrated bases but kind of think its here to stay :(

Im really looking forward to seeing what the next 12months bring for Mantic. They've got me interested in wargaming again in a way I haven't been for a few years. I've spent most of the day digging through my ks boxes throwing together buildings like it was Lego.

before I head to bed heres one last photo for you. Its the same building as before but with 1/4 of a fortification sprue added. It really makes a difference in my mind. Tho I must say those corner pieces are a pain in the arse to fit at first.

**Compel**

Ok, what I'm needing now is playable army lists for Enforcers and Rebels so I don't need to do more thinking than I have to tonight!

I now have assembled

1 Enforcer Commander
8 normal Enforcers.
1 Enforcer with blade
1 Enforcer Engineer with Bob and Dummy
1 Enforcer Sniper
1 Enforcer with scary laser gun thingy
1 Enforcer with missile launcher

**GrimDork**

May be a pain.. but they toughen the buliding up substantially.

**edlowe**

GrimDork wrote:
May be a pain.. but they toughen the buliding up substantially.

definitely! The front bits are really cool too they add about half an inch to the tiles thickness!

Really need more connectors tho, im going through them at quite a rate. Should be able to save some by glueing them together. I hope mantic make them an addon in the 2nd survey.

**AlexHolker**

timetowaste85 wrote:
I'd be quite happy if Mantic went straight for GW's jugular.

Sure. I'd also be quite happy if GW went straight for Mantic's jugular - good, cheap miniatures are good regardless of whether it's Mantic undercutting GW on price or GW undercutting Mantic on quality. As long as someone's trying to cut the legs out from under the other, we benefit.

**warboss**

Those sound like some pretty ambitious long term goals and I wish Mantic the best of luck as they'll need it to avoid similar magnitude misteps like those of the past year. It's good to see people happy with their terrain purchases and they do look like nice kits.

**BobtheInquisitor**

scarletsquig wrote:
Other stuff I remember from the seminar:

- Warpath, lots of stuff about Warpath.

Mantic is pretty much done with having any interest in riding on GW's coat-tails as far as Warpath goes. Nowhere near as much 40k/ GW fanservice stuff in future.

It is more interested in going for GW's throat via straight-up competition. Ronnie wants to rely on Mantic's own background, its own IP, own terrain, own mats, own rules, own everything, done on its terms without taking into account GW and only providing 40k compatibility in some models as an afterthought. General idea is that eventually even people who are right now saying "Oh, Mantic sucks, I only play GW, nothing else" will be won over by sheer quantities of hard plastic (fom the sounds of it they're looking to gear up for 4 hard plastic kits/month once they're done validating the new production method), sold at even more aggressive pricing than what they have currently. The plan is to out-compete GW directly, on all fronts, with superior rules systems, and minis of equal quality sold at around a quarter of the price.
.

That would be amazing. I really hope they succeed. I also look forward to finding a way to fit in some Dreamforge minis.

Eventually Mantic needs to put out some novels and kill Black Library. I hear Graham McNeil and C.L. Werner are quick to spot new opportunities.

**Compel**

They're testing it out with a Short Story compilation first, aren't they?

**Kroothawk**

scarletsquig wrote:
Mantic is pretty much done with having any interest in riding on GW's coat-tails as far as Warpath goes. Nowhere near as much 40k/ GW fanservice stuff in future.
(...)
They really don't want you to be playing 40k or making it cheaper for you to play 40k, they straight-up want you giving their own games a try.

And they want people to forget about Tolkien and read Mantic novels. And they want people to quit World of Warcraft and play Mantic Online. Yeah, sure. Big words for someone who has lost all German tabletop distributors (only Dreadball boardgame left) because of all those kickstarters.

Warpath 3.0 beta with go up when the kickstarter launches to be picked apart and playtested by backers (by this point a lot of people will have an army's worth of Warpath just in DZ models anyway).

So Mantic still can't afford a single release without people paying them blindly in advance? Maybe they are not yet the giant to crush GW

And a kickstarter to stop retailers worry about Mantic' flood of kickstarters? Sounds like a plan. Not a good one, but a plan

Putting actual SciFi miniatures into the Warpath starter might be a good start.

BTW is it really the third Warpath ruleset in 2 years, as Warpath started end 2011?

**nkelsch**

The terrain does look good, If they can solve their mold-line issues they might be able to regain lost customers.

I also agree integrated bases need to go, especially since they can't stay consistent with them.

**Alpharius**

What the heck took Kroot so long?!?

SS - any word on whether or not Mantic is sticking with integrated bases?

**GrimDork**

I think in the comments or an update they said something about purchasable connector sprues on the cheap, we'll have to see what they say now since they've actually had things made.

Would love to see the short story book spawn some novels. May actually go back to buying new books and reading them instead of reading old stuff.

**Compel**

On the bright side...

I could now do my very own Krooters gotta Kroot image, with my own models!