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There is that argument I guess hehe.

 scarletsquig wrote:
I'm hoping that restic being a packing nightmare for them will encourage them to make more hard plastic when they realise that a sprue will not have loads of tiny bags, missing bits in the tiny bags, warped/damaged bits in the tiny bags.

You cast a polystyrene sprue, then you cast 1000 more that are exactly identical in terms of casting quality and don't tend to have bits break off before they hit packing.

That is the most compelling argument. How much money did Mantic "save" by doing restic for a strike team instead of two plastic sprues for the team? But how much money was "spent" on miscasts, customer dissatisfaction, labor to pack all these extra baggies, etc? And in the long run those restic models cost Mantic more to make per unit than the sprues (after the tooling investment sprues cost like pennies)

This is assuming its cost that makes them go towards restic. They have had issues with their hard plastic sprues (as well as some success, i.e. zombies). My point is, it may not be cost, but consistent capablitly that is keeping them from going 100% hard plastic for the time being.

Mantic has responded to mine and everyone's "WTF Enforcers?!"

@Judgedoug - the Zombies were used as the sample for the hard plastic, as a mix of organic and hard edges. If they had been rubbish - and we did rework them once in the process - we would have looked at alternatives for the Enforcers. We did *not* start the Enforcer tooling until we were happy with the Zombie sprue, which looks great. The Enforcers are predominantly hard edges, and the Zombie sprue shows that the hard edges are great, just like on the scenery.
From there, we've signed off the tooling for the Enforcers. Only when the mould is finished can we get a sample sprue and make any necessary changes.
The men-at-arms was a different process. The models were sculpted by hand and scanned in and then posed. The Enforcers are entirely digital, straight from the computer to the steel mould, just like Zombies and the Scenery Sprues.
There are 2 Enforcer Sprues per Faction Starter, 2 per Booster Bundle, 1 per Booster. The medic and defender components are going into resin plastic.
@ Michael Dudek - the Enforcer sprue is referenced in the update in that the tooling has been signed off. It also says that there will be a wait to show the pictures because the moulds aren't finished - naturally until that bit is done, we can't show a sprue off. We showed off all of the renders during the campaign, the Peacekeepers have been more recent, because they've sculpted more recently.
The Enforcers will be in hard plastic - no question about that.
@ everyone - we've got another update coming out this week and are trying to get some previews for the "new" kits we added to the survey. We'll confirm the Enforcers as part of this update. Anything else you want to know, let us know and we'll cover it.

Makes me wonder how many enforcers to a sprue? I'd originally thought 5 plus the weapon options?

If it's just 5 to a sprue the pricing is similar to their restic and the likely retail price which means it might not be best to pick them up via the kickstarter..

5 to a sprue.

Retail won't be the same product, the booster bundles are hard plastic/ restic hybrids to cover defenders and the medic (which won't be on the sprue).

That's 10 enforcers in a starter set, 10 more in a booster bundle, that's 20 enforcers for completists like myself. Combine that with all the WP enforcers I picked up when they were first released, and I won't need any more ever.

Don't forget the peacekeepers if you're aiming for a Warpath army!

Well I figure I'll be getting 30 plastic (1Starter plus 2 booster bundles) plus gone for 20 peacekeepers. Should be enough pkus the restic bits for a starter force to go against my forge father bundles and plague zombies. Not bad from a not-warpath ks

(Tho I'm still tempted to add some mechs at that ptice)

I thought the shields made it onto the sprue so it would only be the medic that you needed the bitz for right? Is that really worth paying more than you'll get 5 models for at retail?

I think the most recent update mentioning shields on the sprue was referring to the Peacekeeper sprue. I can't remember what they said about the regular enforcer sprue.

I may have to pick up 3 sets of the striders just because.

It would be incredibly silly if they had the exact same shield in ABS for the Peacekeepers, and Restic for the regular Enforcers

NTRabbit wrote:
It would be incredibly silly if they had the exact same shield in ABS for the Peacekeepers, and Restic for the regular Enforcers

ABS? Mantic still isn't using HIPS?

You say that as though HIPS is better, when in truth the difference between HIPS and ABS, as far as we're concerned, ends at the recipe table inside the factory - for all practical purposes you'll find just as much difference between spacemans made of HIPS from two different factories as you would between ones made of HIPS and ABS from the same factory.

So, basically - as this ticks towards the final day they still haven't shown us anything else....

 Azazelx wrote:
So, basically - as this ticks towards the final day they still haven't shown us anything else....

Yeah, I would have expected more of a frenzy of updates instead of the slow trickle since the end of January. As is, I'm not buying much more than a set of Zombies (on the basis of that one painted model they've shown) and two or three new terrain sets (that scenery expansion sprue was the only really interesting new thing shown so far).

I don't really care about any of the models in the various faction boosters - and as I'm not really planning to start a Warpath army those big bundles have even less interest for me.

I still want to know what I'm getting in a Forge Father booster pack.

Other than losing the missile launcher guy, was there anything ever confirmed to replace it? Or am I paying 20 bucks for a bike and 3 guys or so?

I'd like to know before the timer ticks down. I messaged Mantic too, and have yet to hear back.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I still want to know what I'm getting in a Forge Father booster pack.

Other than losing the missile launcher guy, was there anything ever confirmed to replace it? Or am I paying 20 bucks for a bike and 3 guys or so?

I'd like to know before the timer ticks down. I messaged Mantic too, and have yet to hear back.

Did you get the Booster (which was three guys and a bike) or the Booster Bundle (which is two of the boosters plus some Forge Guard and a tracked gun thing)? If the former, it looks like you'll lose a model, if the latter, you'll get a few more guys (two sprues of Forge Guard, if I read everything correctly).

^ No, just one sprue of forge guard, two extra minis for the booster bundle if Mantic's rather strange quote of 6 minis per sprue is accurate (if they're planning to attach character minis to sprues as standard in future, that could be pretty cool).

The $20 booster loses one mini and gains nothing.

I think I'm just grabbing a few striders and another 8 battlezones. Both of those are actually discounted enough for stuff I want to not get hosed at retail. And I know the battlezones are sweet.

NTRabbit wrote:
You say that as though HIPS is better, when in truth the difference between HIPS and ABS, as far as we're concerned, ends at the recipe table inside the factory - for all practical purposes you'll find just as much difference between spacemans made of HIPS from two different factories as you would between ones made of HIPS and ABS from the same factory.

Unless you intend to glue them together, you mean

That's what I was afraid. 20 for a bike and an extra couple guys really doesn't seem worth it. Disappointing.

Guess I'll see if I can transfer that credit towards a bundle instead of a booster.

I thought that they promised us one more big, substantial, substantive update before the deadline?

I believe that is the case Alph, but they only have a couple of days and will be cutting it fine for most. Currently my 2nd survey only comprises of things that we have seen final shots of.

I imagine they'll be doing one last big update on Friday.

I filled in my survey, added FF/Asterian booster bundle, expansion battlezone, connector sprue bundle and alt. survivor.

Thought about the sorak swordspawn and metal enforcer with special weapon and then figured I could just convert them if I wanted.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

NTRabbit wrote:
You say that as though HIPS is better, when in truth the difference between HIPS and ABS, as far as we're concerned, ends at the recipe table inside the factory - for all practical purposes you'll find just as much difference between spacemans made of HIPS from two different factories as you would between ones made of HIPS and ABS from the same factory.

Unless you intend to glue them together, you mean

How so? HIPS is just another kind of polystyrene, Tamiya cement works exactly the same on it as it does on ABS.

To reiterate:

@Judgedoug - the Zombies were used as the sample for the hard plastic, as a mix of organic and hard edges. If they had been rubbish - and we did rework them once in the process - we would have looked at alternatives for the Enforcers. We did *not* start the Enforcer tooling until we were happy with the Zombie sprue, which looks great. The Enforcers are predominantly hard edges, and the Zombie sprue shows that the hard edges are great, just like on the scenery.
From there, we've signed off the tooling for the Enforcers. Only when the mould is finished can we get a sample sprue and make any necessary changes.
The men-at-arms was a different process. The models were sculpted by hand and scanned in and then posed. The Enforcers are entirely digital, straight from the computer to the steel mould, just like Zombies and the Scenery Sprues.
There are 2 Enforcer Sprues per Faction Starter, 2 per Booster Bundle, 1 per Booster. The medic and defender components are going into resin plastic.
@ Michael Dudek - the Enforcer sprue is referenced in the update in that the tooling has been signed off. It also says that there will be a wait to show the pictures because the moulds aren't finished - naturally until that bit is done, we can't show a sprue off. We showed off all of the renders during the campaign, the Peacekeepers have been more recent, because they've sculpted more recently.
The Enforcers will be in hard plastic - no question about that.
@ everyone - we've got another update coming out this week and are trying to get some previews for the "new" kits we added to the survey. We'll confirm the Enforcers as part of this update. Anything else you want to know, let us know and we'll cover it.

I would love to know what Asterians I'm getting now, but I guess as Mantic already have all my money for it there's nothing really in it for them to answer my question.

On Enforcers:

"There are 2 Enforcer Sprues per Faction Starter, 2 per Booster Bundle, 1 per Booster. "

Isn't a booster bundle 3 boosters? So by getting a bundle you end up with one less sprue? I suppose there's a monetary saving made there, but at first glance it looks odd.

The booster bundles are two boosters and a 'special figure' booster, not just three boosters.