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The more I see of the Asterians, the more I like them. Picking a colour scheme might be interesting - don't see them suiting an elder scheme. Something to think about.

I think I will paint them largely ceramic white kind of colour, or metallic.

Literally the only complaint I have about the Forgefathers being restic (and this in one of the first times in 20 years I am saying this) is that the rendered image of them had wayyyyy to much detail packed onto the figure, in my opinion. Maybe after painting will be a difference, or having them in hand versus the render, but they are almost to baroque for my tastes.

As for waiting even longer for hard plastic versus restic, I'm sorry, but no. At this point I will have already waited until this summer to even have them in-hand, now I would have to wait even longer? I may be the oddball, but I only want a single squad of these guys, not ten. Needing to clean 6 restic figures for an elite unit that you won't have many of is not that bad.

I want to play with them this summer, not next Christmas.

Really like the New faction, and I'm not even a fan of Elves haha

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Literally the only complaint I have about the Forgefathers being restic (and this in one of the first times in 20 years I am saying this) is that the rendered image of them had wayyyyy to much detail packed onto the figure, in my opinion. Maybe after painting will be a difference, or having them in hand versus the render, but they are almost to baroque for my tastes.

As for waiting even longer for hard plastic versus restic, I'm sorry, but no. At this point I will have already waited until this summer to even have them in-hand, now I would have to wait even longer? I may be the oddball, but I only want a single squad of these guys, not ten. Needing to clean 6 restic figures for an elite unit that you won't have many of is not that bad.

I want to play with them this summer, not next Christmas.

It's a fair point. There's a stronger case for the Asterian Cyphers in hard plastic than the Forge Guard, mainly because the Forge Guard are elites, whereas the Cyphers are the core troops of the Asterians.

While Peacekeepers did get a sprue, it's pretty clear there's going to be an effort to sell them as not-terminators for 40k just by looking at the parts on the sprue.

While I'm not KS-backer, only retail, I would say that I don't mind not having the FF and Asterians in HP. Having built and painted well over 100 restic models, I've never really had a problem with the material. They take paint fine, clean up pretty easily on the whole, and the finished result is not really that different from HP models. I can see why people are annoyed with the change of policy on them, but had they said that they would be restic in the first place, I doubt as many people would be complaining. Remember all of the first-wave sculpts were in restic and were generally well-received, so I think a lot of the backlash is more about the reversal of the decision rather than the material itself. In fairness, Mantic have I believe offered refunds for those not happy, what more can they do?

The renders themselves still look awesome, and I can't wait for these to hit retail.

Saxon wrote:
The more I see of the Asterians, the more I like them. Picking a colour scheme might be interesting - don't see them suiting an elder scheme. Something to think about.

I'm thinking they are just crying out for something metallic, maybe even chrome. Other than that, some kind of muted ceramic grey might work.

These guys look pretty close, I think the scheme would work with some modification:


I'm kind of torn right now. I want the Iron ancestor and the Jotunn. I don't necessarily care if they're the urban versions or not. The 1 player battle set in it's current sale-enhanced (until midnight today, which is probably 6 hours before midnight for me ) form includes both the IA and Jotunn cannon. It also has 10 more steel warriors and a whopping 20 stormrage veterans. I'm not sure what you even do with 20 stormrage veterans (especially when you've already got 15!!), but basically I'm looking at spending $35 to get the two vehicles from the KS and waiting some time (not really an issue) or spending $15 more dollars to get 20 more dwarfs. But do I need those dwarfs? Maybe the third option is best, wait for the kickstarter?

what models are they?

Infinity Garuda tactbot. Guess I could have linked thhe actual page lol.

Infinity Aleph models.

They should be painted like the old Z-Bot robots: there was one with a shadow grey/orange scheme, one with a dark red and one with a grey and red design. Hmm, that's how mine will be.

Oh man I remember those. I had the big one with missiles and seats and everything.

Paint em Orange, like Cogs from AT-43. Those are also models who it looks like the Cyphers heavily drew from (Other than Cogs are deceptively huge, those are 40mm bases!).



I'm seriously thinking of doing it to any Forgefathers I get, just to be different.


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While Peacekeepers did get a sprue, it's pretty clear there's going to be an effort to sell them as not-terminators for 40k just by looking at the parts on the sprue.

I echo this. It's pretty obvious that Peacekeepers were designed to get people to buy 100 of, but that's not the same with Forgefathers. I mean, they are also obviously direct- tactical Terminator analogs, but without all the options that Peacekeepers get. There's a reason that Forfathers don't get any kind of weapons options, but Peacekeepers get an absolute ton (that are analogs to every single Terminator option) for the same price.

The attention lavished on the Peacekeepers was an obvious cry to get people to make the gut reaction to throw their money at them. Forgefather exo-suits are simply part of a faction, no more than Ripper Suits are to Marauders, and frankly so far have gotten less attention than even those.

I genuinely like the Forge Fathers now, but ever since I realized the Iron Ancestor was bearded and smiling I've lost all interest in getting one.

I wanted to keep my second Deadzone survey investment low, but with the high quality resin mechs, bargain priced restic Striders, and my born-again joy-joy-joy in the Asterians that's clearly not happening. I was never going to buy multiple duplicates of anything for Warpath, and while I would prefer to wait for hard plastic (I have plenty of Deadzone figures and terrain to work on as it is), if Mantic issues the Forge Fathers and Asterians sooner in restic I'm fine with that too.

For me Deadzone has been an outstanding deal from an outstanding company; a company that is understaffed in certain areas and needs to grow their workforce in proportion to their success, but a company whose current staff politely, enthusiastically, and determinedly work their butts off for us. I don't discount anyone's legitimate concerns or problems; they should speak up and have them addressed. And it's pretty clear from studying the internet history of Mantic's previous KS campaigns that Mantic has flopped a few times, not on entire projects, but on fulfilling aspects of them. It's always good to be an informed customer, and thanks mostly to the education I've received on these forums from you guys, I entered the Deadzone KS with my eyes wide open. But it also seemed clear that Mantic was on an upward curve, and that Deadzone would mark a turning point for the better. I respect that we all have different opinions on how well Deadzone has done so far, but for me it is has fulfilled expectations to a ridiculous degree. The few areas where the product has come up short (building connector issues, I find a small percentage of the figures unusable) haven't been anything I couldn't work around.

I get a little melancholy thinking about how Mantic will be in 20 years, when Ronnie sells the company and retires to Bermuda, the Warpath / Kings of War universes become repetitive and stagnant, and Hewitt Games is eating them alive. But right now I'm excited about them and for them, and I haven't felt that way about a company since the only way for a kid in Missouri to get a snotling pumpwagon was to have Dad make an international call to GW headquarters in England.

(I still crack up when I remember him saying "I'd like one Snotling pumpwagon" into the phone.)

For what it's worth, by all accounts, Bermuda isn't what it used to be anymore, and seems to be declining more... :p

 GrimDork wrote:
Infinity Garuda tactbot. Guess I could have linked thhe actual page lol.

And yet you didn't again, even after mentioning it

http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/2011/miniatures/garuda-tactbots/

I also agree the peacekeepers have been built and designed to replace terminators. I'm okay with this though. The renders have been far superior to GW's terminators. Renders, mind you, as that's all we've seen. If the hard plastics are as good as the renders, I'll be ordering a lot more than 10. Maybe 30 or 40.

Meh, by that time I was on the tablet and it was more work.

I like the dwarf face on the IA

Shouldn't the Cyphers have backpacks with fins and nozzles and junk? I think that's what's missing.

 Vermonter wrote:

 MkultraStudios wrote:
Thanks for your praises , but, what were your critics for? I think that there's only three samples of our work in this forum... and I didn't see any comments from you (or any other negative comments) about it

Hi MkultraStudios,

It's not worth searching for my first response. I have an unfortunate tendency to descend into stupid snark, and I rescind my earlier comments. I have one remaining constructive criticism - all my other critique has since been rethought and has mutated into praise.

Critique:

1. The Prime Asterian with the sword should guard himself with his shield as he readies his sword to strike; as it is, he's carelessly leaving himself open to attack. Solving this issue is just a matter of changing the pose. I do hope you'll consider this one, as that figure has a lot of potential.

Hehehe... well, my studio is a freelancing studio... Mantic send us the concept, and sometimes we can't get a bit out of there I think that the critics about fence would go to them hehehehe...

 Vermonter wrote:

Praise:

2. I had a critique about the integrated scenery with the flying Asterian, but I've completely rethought it. I really like the figure's composition with the rubble so much that I'd actually be happy if it stayed just as it is. Very nice work - I can tell you really spent time on that one.

Thanks! Well, in the other part, that was an idea of mine... We didn't (and neither Mantic) know how to solve the issue of having a big figure landing in a micro-inch... so I decided to add some ruins to make some support and Mantic liked the idea... In fact, originally, the ruins were bigger

 Vermonter wrote:

3. Had a critique about figures aiming their guns, and rethought that too. You accomplished that handily - it's evident that most of the units are clearly aiming at specific targets. Good job.

That was a work of us and Mantic... Our sculpter decided to give a really robotic poses to some of the miniatures, that mantic didn't see it to work (for example, feet facing north, while torso, head and weapon aiming east, and things like that)... this was a coop work between mantic and us...

 Vermonter wrote:

4. The Gravbike is excellent!

5. Love the dynamism of the running Asterian. It gives the faction a shot of energy and is a nice contrast with the other figures. In fact, you might consider giving one or two of the other units more dynamic, action-oriented poses. The Asterians already look alike, so a few more varied poses helps enhance the group's visual interest. The majority should stay as they are, in my opinion.

Thanks... but Again, that's in hands of Mantic, not us

 Vermonter wrote:

Overall I like what you've done and look forward to seeing what you do with the remaining drone units. I worry a little bit about Mantic's intention to cast the figures you rendered in resin plastic, as the figures are on the thin side (as per the concept drawings you were given), which doesn't always turn out well when cast in that material. That production concern has nothing to do with you, and is not a criticism of your work.

Well, first, we've done with Dead Zone for now (We've done the last plague zombies released and the Asterians) ... we are in another games now, so no drones are out from our hands About the "thin" side... Mantic specifically ask us to increase the thickness of the Asterians' wings precisely to avoid problems...

 Vermonter wrote:

Speaking of old age, I have many good memories of playing Archon on the C64 back in the day. Is the troll doing what I think it's doing?

You are not the first one that ask me that question.... NO, he's not taking a gold-gak hahahahaha... It's simple an ingot from Pitfall II that suddenly appeared in the scene... each adventure need to have a hero, a monster and a treasure


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 scarletsquig wrote:

 MkultraStudios wrote:
Besides the fantastic pics posted in KS by Mantic, here's a little video I made about our work with the Asterians... I hope you'll enjoy it...

Welcome to the forums, your digital sculpting is amazing, especially the work on Mars Attacks, it is brilliant.

Thanks!!!

I've posted another video from Mars Attack in another thread (I think it was the Heroquest one or something...) Now I'm working in the second part of that video


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 carlos13th wrote:
I think I will paint them largely ceramic white kind of colour, or metallic.

Ceramic would be my choice too...


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 timetowaste85 wrote:
I also agree the peacekeepers have been built and designed to replace terminators. I'm okay with this though. The renders have been far superior to GW's terminators. Renders, mind you, as that's all we've seen. If the hard plastics are as good as the renders, I'll be ordering a lot more than 10. Maybe 30 or 40.

Oh! Thanks! I forgot to mention that the last Peace Keepers also are our work

Its good work!

Looks like Mantic pulled the Kindle and Epub versions of the dreadball stuff from Mantic Digital - i guess because like i reported earlier, they were kinda broken and the links didn't work. Instead they've got PDF versions - a low-res version and a high-res version. I'm downloading them right now to check them out.


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Alright, looks like the PDFs arent that great. They're just the PDF versions of the rulebooks with a table of contents, but no interactive links or rule tooltips or anything. So at this stage, the web versions are gonna be the ones you'll want to stick with.

If these can somehow be released with an 'offline' version or web app version, that would be pretty cool.

I submitted my Deadzone Survey 2 the day it was released, but haven't heard anything back yet - no automated "Got it!" like we usually get.

Has anyone who submitted their survey heard back yet?

Did, nothing so far.

I haven't heard anything back on my Mars Attacks survey yet (which I filled out first).

I did get a confirmation on Deadzone, but have since revised and resubmitted my survey.

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, here the latest bit of news regarding delays and mispacks from the Mantic blog

In short, we’re a bit busier than normal.

However, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Sarah and Chris are ploughing through the large piles of emails in the customer service inbox at a very impressive rate, and the warehouse team are working flat-out to sort out those few mispacked deliveries, send out big piles of web orders and dispatch huge boxes of lovely stock to retailers and distributors. However, there’s still a bit of a delay, so please bear with us. We really appreciate your patience!

Here’s a quick FAQ that might answer a few questions and save you waiting for an answer:

Q) I’ve received a delivery but it’s missing some pieces! What do I do?

A) Please follow this link to complete an Order Query Form so we know all the details. Our warehouse will be sorting through these forms on a regular basis and will sort out your missing parts as soon as possible.

Q) I’m waiting on an order I made through www.manticgames.com. When can I expect it?

A) You can check the status of your order by going to “My Orders” in the “My Account” section of the website. (You will need to be logged in to see this.) Due to the large volume of orders being made through our website, there is currently a delay of 5-10 working days between orders being received and being dispatched. If it has been longer than this and your order is not yet marked as “dispatched”, please contact us using the form on our Contact Page.

Q) I sent you an email / filled in an Order Query form / messaged you on Facebook / sent a message by flying monkey / etc. but I haven’t had a response. What gives?

A) As we said above, wow, we’re really busy at the moment. We’re getting through our messages as quickly as we can, though! Although there are many ways of contacting Mantic, the only way to guarantee a response is to contact us using the Contact Us form. This will go straight to our customer services team, who will respond to all messages in the order they are received (unless some investigation is required, in which case they will be sent as soon as we’ve found the answer). If you have already filled in the form, we will respond to you – please don’t send us another message to chase up a response, as it won’t be answered until after we’ve already answered the first one!

Again, we really, really appreciate your patience in this busy period.

Thanks for reading! 

Additionally, the contact form destroys any email that has a link in it.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Additionally, the contact form destroys any email that has a link in it.

Eh? What do you mean by that?

I love how "those few mispacked deliveries" are generating "large piles of emails in the customer service inbox " which are causing a backlog two folks can't keep up with.

 CptJake wrote:
I love how "those few mispacked deliveries" are generating "large piles of emails in the customer service inbox " which are causing a backlog two folks can't keep up with.

Shhhh. Quiet you, we're not going to have any of your reality crashing down in here.