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Bloody Facebook! Why can't mantic be one of those companies that associates an increase in productivity with banning Facebook during work hours. All those errors make sense now!

 scarletsquig wrote:
It's possible that a full 2-week holiday over xmas is too much to get away with, for a company that has so much going on.

They'd never get away with it in America, that's for damn sure! I can't stand you looney Euro liberals and your crazy "let's treat working people like actual human beings" social policies.

 Vermonter wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
It's possible that a full 2-week holiday over xmas is too much to get away with, for a company that has so much going on.

They'd never get away with it in America, that's for damn sure! I can't stand you looney Euro liberals and your crazy "let's treat working people like actual human beings" social policies.

Seriously... we get a 'one-day' holiday here... and if staff want to take off, everyone else is working to cover their stuff. Stopping work for 2 weeks would bankrupt many small businesses.

Most small businesses don't have to endure a year of need rage though.

Two weeks? We take off almost three months.


Of course... we do landscaping... and nobody seems to call when there's snow on the ground. So maybe not the same thing

While we're on the topic of Mantic Digital, has anyone read the Blood stone of uhh... whatsit, or checked out the art book for KoW? Either of them worth getting?

Bloodstone is a good read.

Art book apparently just has the KS sketches + a few unseen bits and pieces like the replacement concept art for the trolls after the original (and much better) concept art was scrapped.

Here's the pic of the ruins pieces that was requested:

Cheers scarletsquig!

I went in for too many RUINS and not enough FORTIFICATIONS.

But then, that is what SURVEY 2 is for, I guess!

Mantic should rethink their hard-sell approach on the mechs (Striders, Stuntbot, Iron Ancestor). $20 apiece is easily matched or beaten at retail or on ebay.

The Mars Attacks robot, which is larger than the Deadzone mechs, costs more at $30 for one, BUT it is also included in a number of pledge / bundle deals that effectively give it a more reasonable pricetag and encourage fence-sitters to buy in now rather than wait for store discounts.

It doesn't seem like the impulse buy / full price approach for special models has worked all that well for Mantic. The only motivation for backers to buy figures like the Helfather was "so cool I just gotta buy it now at full price!", and the result was that Mantic received so few orders for that model that it had to be cast in metal. I'd bet better pricing and / or bundled discounts for the mechs would be a wise and profitable move for them to make on the 2nd survey.

They are selling the same mats for different prices in two surveys (DZ and MA) at the same time. Do you really think they have a clue as to how to price their products correctly?

They are overwhelmed and picking up steam.

 Vermonter wrote:
Mantic should rethink their hard-sell approach on the mechs (Striders, Stuntbot, Iron Ancestor). $20 apiece is easily matched or beaten at retail or on ebay.

The Mars Attacks robot, which is larger than the Deadzone mechs, costs more at $30 for one, BUT it is also included in a number of pledge / bundle deals that effectively give it a more reasonable pricetag and encourage fence-sitters to buy in now rather than wait for store discounts.

It doesn't seem like the impulse buy / full price approach for special models has worked all that well for Mantic. The only motivation for backers to buy figures like the Helfather was "so cool I just gotta buy it now at full price!", and the result was that Mantic received so few orders for that model that it had to be cast in metal. I'd bet better pricing and / or bundled discounts for the mechs would be a wise and profitable move for them to make on the 2nd survey.

I'm in absolute agreement. The boosters all got bundles, why can't the mechs?

As it stands I'm quite likely to just go in for more basic troops for each faction, and possibly just proxy a mech if/ when we get stats for them.

I'm also wondering what those named characters are going to get cast in. Has their been any word? Guys like the Wolverine Enforcer? I had assumed restic to begin with, but after seeing the Hellfather I would assume those guys will be metal now as well.

I would totally cave to a mech booster bundle. Buy 1 get one? Buy 3 get 4?

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I'm also wondering what those named characters are going to get cast in. Has their been any word? Guys like the Wolverine Enforcer? I had assumed restic to begin with, but after seeing the Hellfather I would assume those guys will be metal now as well.

One of the updates did say they would be metal.

 Vermonter wrote:
Mantic should rethink their hard-sell approach on the mechs (Striders, Stuntbot, Iron Ancestor). $20 apiece is easily matched or beaten at retail or on ebay.

The Mars Attacks robot, which is larger than the Deadzone mechs, costs more at $30 for one, BUT it is also included in a number of pledge / bundle deals that effectively give it a more reasonable pricetag and encourage fence-sitters to buy in now rather than wait for store discounts.

It doesn't seem like the impulse buy / full price approach for special models has worked all that well for Mantic. The only motivation for backers to buy figures like the Helfather was "so cool I just gotta buy it now at full price!", and the result was that Mantic received so few orders for that model that it had to be cast in metal. I'd bet better pricing and / or bundled discounts for the mechs would be a wise and profitable move for them to make on the 2nd survey.

If the helfather and chovar had just been freebies in the KS, they'd have been economical to produce in restic. Probably the best way to go about it, have people buy units and then throw in characters as KS freebies on top. Adds a lot of value since each character is worth £5 or so, and means you don't have to wring your hands over the decision to go restic or metal.

The other thing is... they didn't just do the helfather out of their own pocket.. there was $15k of stretch goal money put in to unlock it.

You'd think that would be enough for a restic tool.

The mechs are a totally different thing. They're being done in resin, not restic. $20 is about as low as they can go with that due to having to hand-cast them. There are no mass production benefits with resin cast minis. On the bright side they should be very nice models.

The big robot, truck, and saucer are hard plastic right? So we're paying a bit more as the tooling is likely ten times the cost of comparable restic tools.

Should be hard plastic, I'd imagine. Can't see any other way they'd do it and China can do large hard-line stuff okay.

Probably the biggest production challenge is making sure the clear plastic helmets and screens fit properly.

I'm quite happy with Mars Attacks. Once the retail value of the DZ terrain I selected is taken away ($203 - $140), I'm left with a whole gakload of stuff for the remaining $63 spent (about 100 minis, terrain, 2 vehicles and extras), it has been an absolute steal. "The invaders arrive" pledge level really was brilliant... got an EB 1, which basically meant getting the entire box game and IA level freebies for just $15 or £10. And they added even more stuff right before the survey for the hell of it.

I'm looking forward to the next kickstarter. DBX will be okay (not that bothered about it), KoW will be great if they get to the Nature army, and Warpath will be Mantic's "Reaper Bones" level KS if they do it right.

There is a huge amount of demand for high quality, low priced sci-fi miniatures that just isn't being met currently.

So yeah, anyone able to give me the break down between:

"This is what the manticdigital books can do, which the pdf ebook Compel already has installed on his tablet can't do?"

My instinct for the moment is way and see if there's a 'playbook' bundle coming out in the future of all the actual proper app-ey stuff.

That would be a lovely surprise that since Mars Attacks is getting their big toys cast in hard plastic, maybe Deadzone's big gribblies will as well.

I think I'll message Mantic about the possibility of getting those mechs in some sort of a bundle.

I know they weren't available like that in the first round, but since Mantic doesn't seem adverse to changing things up at the last minute, who knows?

 Compel wrote:
So yeah, anyone able to give me the break down between:

"This is what the manticdigital books can do, which the pdf ebook Compel already has installed on his tablet can't do?"

According to current reviews, "bugger all" is the difference. But its still a work in progress.

You have it all wrong; they're not averse to changing things at the last minute when it saves them money. This wouldn't so they won't.

 agnosto wrote:
You have it all wrong; they're not averse to changing things at the last minute when it saves them money. This wouldn't so they won't.

Right-like the KoW screwup with ogre prices where they offered to give more free if you emailed them. Or when they didn't have hard plastic enforcers ready to send out for deadzone, so they gave extra restic enforcers so people didn't have to wait-people are still getting extra enforcers when the correct ones come. There is another example that's eluding me at the moment...but they have. Multiple times.

Here's the finished Deadzone Ruined Terrain Sprues taken from the Mantic forum

Oooh, so pretty! I may have to pledge for those.

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 agnosto wrote:
You have it all wrong; they're not averse to changing things at the last minute when it saves them money. This wouldn't so they won't.

Right-like the KoW screwup with ogre prices where they offered to give more free if you emailed them. Or when they didn't have hard plastic enforcers ready to send out for deadzone, so they gave extra restic enforcers so people didn't have to wait-people are still getting extra enforcers when the correct ones come. There is another example that's eluding me at the moment...but they have. Multiple times.

I got extra free fleabag and berserker brocks in the second shipment of KoW when they had to delay some other models to the third shipment. they also sent me a full bag of ten mummies when i was missing one or two pieces in the initial set.

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 agnosto wrote:
You have it all wrong; they're not averse to changing things at the last minute when it saves them money. This wouldn't so they won't.

Right-like the KoW screwup with ogre prices where they offered to give more free if you emailed them. Or when they didn't have hard plastic enforcers ready to send out for deadzone, so they gave extra restic enforcers so people didn't have to wait-people are still getting extra enforcers when the correct ones come. There is another example that's eluding me at the moment...but they have. Multiple times.

Still waiting on my free ogres or even for the shooters I paid for. They sent me the melee ogres I paid for but no extras and none of the shooters I paid for. Email back and forth, blah blah blah... nothing. .but that was, what? 3 Kickstarters ago? Who's to expect them to take care if that now? That's not even mentioning the missing freebies (riders with no horses ).

Bah. Sure give me "free" stuff instead of what I paid for.

.
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...
....
....So you're saying there's a chance?

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
.
..
...
....
....So you're saying there's a chance?

LOL. There's always a chance.

I think even though I could get a regular Iron Ancestor online for cheaper than the Deadzone one, I may have to cave and get one simply because for what I am doing with the Forgefathers (counts-as 2nd ed Squats) I want the Iron Ancestor (mechanically) as an allied SM dreadnought- and the new DZ weapon is a really good "counts-as plasma cannon", instead of the existing "twin autocannons", and the former is much better in that edition.

Literally a double proxy, lol. Iron Ancestor counts-as a SM Dreadnought, which then in turn counts-as a Squat walker.

20 bucks is still not bad for a Dreadnought-sized model, in any medium. Kinda balanced by the fact that extra Valkyr bikers from the booster are only $10, which beats the retail GW price for any kind of "bike" model for the last decade, at least.

Hopefully by making an order that is almost as simple as "one of everything from the "Deadzone Forgefather" bin", they can get my order right.

I don't really care for resin much, but the walkers are supposed to be made of it. I think its pricier. Might make for nicer results.

Right now I intend to be in for WTF is my first shipment, if things pan out though I'm mostly looking at the HP kits and maybe terrain.

I didn't realize the mechs would be in resin, which is great by me provided it isn't too fragile. This does mark a change from before, right? What were Warpath Iron Ancestors made of?

I'm excited to see the Goblin Stuntbot, but what I'd most like to see is the Asterians get a mech unit. Currently they're the odd man out.

And the Martian forces are poised to stomp everyone. They have a flier (the saucer), two types of giant insect, and a retro robot with an alternate weapon attachment that looks to be at least twice as tall as the Deadzone mechs.

Humans get a truck with a gun on top and a satellite dish.