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Squall, that looks like an advert for Dwarf Kings Quest. - You'll probably find out more about it on the mantic fantasy news thread.

That's as good a reason as any. Thanks, grim.

http://manticblog.com/2014/06/23/dkq-abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter-here/

Wasn't that line the title of a newsletter about the new Dwarf King's Hold/Quest kickstarter last week?

Mantic is such a stand up company- this may be the first kickstarter I back. The Orx have really evolved as a range. I'm loving their new material.

In the latest Beasts of War Weekender, upon being asked by Warren what the next franchise collaboration could be, Ronnie says:

"I can tell you that I'm going to America in August, and again in September/October, and I'm going to be visiting L.A. and New York, and we're going to be having some discussions with people..."

Could this franchise be BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT? Please let it be so! I want my dream of 28mm Terran Marines to become a reality!

 sukura636 wrote:
The point I got form it, is that Beta is soon as possible (not sure when), and if it's good, then roll on WP. If not, then it goes back into dev and DZ KS2 comes.

Yes, that's a more accurate summation than I offered. Thank you.

Now, you being a Pathfinder and all (I think? Apologies if I remember incorrectly), would you care to offer any insider's comment on "hard plastic Veer-myn" plans? They seem like a shoe-in, whether the next big KS thing is Warpath or Deadzone.

Inquiring Ratmen in Spaaaace want to know!

I'd imagine Veermyn would be coming in either case - as part of WP or DZ2.

Cosmic wrote:
In the latest Beasts of War Weekender, upon being asked by Warren what the next franchise collaboration could be, Ronnie says:

"I can tell you that I'm going to America in August, and again in September/October, and I'm going to be visiting L.A. and New York, and we're going to be having some discussions with people..."

Could this franchise be BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT? Please let it be so! I want my dream of 28mm Terran Marines to become a reality!

Funny enough reading that all I could think of is 'Escape from...'

august is GEN CON, september/dragon con is Dragon CON.

however I'd love to see mantic set itself up as the go to for limited run 28 mm gaming figures. I've been wanting a company to do this for a while now. =/


on topic:
Loving the stunt bots.

 edlowe wrote:
Funny enough reading that all I could think of is 'Escape from...'

Sorry edlowe, I don't quite follow

Anyhow, the Strider is looking really nice, my new favourite Mantic mini so far.

Also, I just noticed, it is my 5th anniversary on Dakka. Hooray!

Edit: Grammar mistake and a miss-use of a Dakka emote that might imply that I was intending to offend towards edlowe.

Lol, When Ronnie says he was visiting New York and LA, allwhat popped into my head was the escape from new york and escape from La films.Would be a pretty good fit for the deadzone play style with the city streets. But highly unlikely :(

Ex-Pathfinder.

I know as much about it as you do. I do know that because of the Enforcer/zombie success, wheels are in motion for HP troops for major factions. I had a joking conversation about a Veermyn sprue (what would it contain) with one of the staff - was sort of obvious they were one step ahead.

That's all I know, really.

Oh, I see!

Cosmic wrote:
In the latest Beasts of War Weekender, upon being asked by Warren what the next franchise collaboration could be, Ronnie says:

"I can tell you that I'm going to America in August, and again in September/October, and I'm going to be visiting L.A. and New York, and we're going to be having some discussions with people..."

Could this franchise be BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT? Please let it be so! I want my dream of 28mm Terran Marines to become a reality!

Remember when people were guessing what the next license would be, and then Mantic revealed that there actually wasn't a new license on the docket?

Can't say I'm surprised that Ronnie's visiting the States for talks now. As a businessman he'd be crazy not to, after the retail order success of Mars Attacks. Unless it bombs with customers, necessitating the possible "re-think" he mentioned, which he's not expecting (and neither am I.) My hope is that Mantic will be smart and continue to offer some cross-compatibility between their house owned and licensed lines. I'm only in Mars Attacks for new Deadzone forces.

I think we're lucky Mantic didn't hit on pre-assembled "boardgame plastic" miniature games earlier. As a modeller, I'd rather assemble my own figures, and the Deadzone / Warpath line suits me to a tee (yes, even with PVC to work with.* At least I get to work with it to my own satisfaction.) I don't have anything against pre-assembled games like Mars Attacks and Dreadball Xtreme - I backed both of them - but I wouldn't want Warpath or Deadzone to switch over to that format (like Dreadball has with Xtreme), and I don't think they will. "Hard plastic Veer-myn" is not exactly a step towards the casual boardgaming market.

Aside from gripes about PVC, I think Mantic's evolution as a company has given us the best of both worlds. Had they hit on the pre-assembled / boardgame plastic recipe for broader market success five or so years ago, Mantic might have become another FFG, and maybe we wouldn't have Deadzone and Warpath as we know them today. As it is, they're going to have a tiered line of products that build from easy, entry-level games requiring no modeling skill (Mars Attacks, DBX) to games requiring more skill and commitment (DB, DZ, WP, etc.)

*I've now cleaned and assembled over half of my 1st wave Deadzone batch, so I'm well aware of the problems of working with PVC and the insane time it takes to do it to a high standard. Having been willing to put in that time and effort, though, I've gotten good results, and I happen to like the sculpts well enough that the extra trouble is worth it for me. There really aren't any other power armor soldiers on the market that I like quite as much as the Enforcers, for example, or space Beastmen that I find sculpted with as much animation as Mantic's Yndij, or reptilian aliens I find as just plain cool as the Teratons in the entire GW line, or anyone else's. (But McVey's Strain are hands down the best Space Zombies out there. Of course, they're cast in PVC too, and require the same work to look good.) I don't make any Pollyanna claims that PVC is an ideal material, and particularly for those looking to get gaming quickly, I recognize the material's drawbacks. I will say that as someone with young children and perfectionist but klutzy tendencies, I do like the fact that reasonably thick PVC is fairly resilient, and won't break when it falls off a shelf. I've even had breakage with HIPS that way. As for high quality resin miniatures, they are wonderful, but they also make me quite nervous. Except for larger pieces like the Stuntbot, I can't see gaming with resin minis in my house until the kiddies are older. And now I've written a PVC disclaimer that's about as long as the post itself.

A line of multipose hard plastic Starcraft minis for use with the Deadzone ruleset... I man can dream. Three unique factions, cross compatible with Deadzone and Mars Attacks factions, possible large scale version using Warpath rules. I think my life would be complete!

I think I'm with you on what you have to say, Vermonter. Interesting thoughts on the entry level/experienced game choices. Yes, I too really don't mind PVC, and I also really like Enforcers, too. I think that I would take PVC over metal any day.

Edit: @Yonan: Agreed!

I was a bit dissapointed when Ronnie said he'd be in the US in Oct. He'd floated the idea once on the KoW Australia FB group of coming to PAXAUS in Oct. but business is business.

 .Mikes. wrote:
I was a bit dissapointed when Ronnie said he'd be in the US in Oct. He'd floated the idea once on the KoW Australia FB group of coming to PAXAUS in Oct. but business is business.

Come to he US for gaming con and avoid crazed fans okay.
Go to Australlia for gaming con and try to avoid the plethora of biting things that have the taste for human flesh , we want Ronnie to live to finalize game systems and put out great things. You can have all the GW executives, we have no further use for them. I think we'd each chip in a little for their air fair too

I rember seeing an advert from Mantic and it was in relation to a fantasy product and it mentioned that a dark shadow was brewing in the east and for some reason that got me thinking of Lord of the Rings! Though I can't remember where I saw it!

overtyrant wrote:
I rember seeing an advert from Mantic and it was in relation to a fantasy product and it mentioned that a dark shadow was brewing in the east and for some reason that got me thinking of Lord of the Rings! Though I can't remember where I saw it!

It's an advertisement for their upcoming Dwarf King's Quest kickstarter.

 Theophony wrote:

Go to Australlia for gaming con and try to avoid the plethora of biting things that have the taste for human flesh , we want Ronnie to live to finalize game systems and put out great things.

But how can Ronnie produce realist war games if he doesn't know what it's like to risk death before you've even brushed your teeth?

He'll be fine. We'll protect him from all the drop bears and spring snakes.

Posted when I meant to preview. Ignore.

 Yonan wrote:
A line of multipose hard plastic Starcraft minis for use with the Deadzone ruleset... I man can dream. Three unique factions, cross compatible with Deadzone and Mars Attacks factions, possible large scale version using Warpath rules. I think my life would be complete!

My life for Aiur!

Right there with you that a man can dream.
WOTC had miniatures being worked up, I believe, for their Alternity: StarCraft tabletop RPG of about 15 years ago.
Some prototypes used to show up on ebay from time to time.
Would be cool to see SC minis

 Compel wrote:
It could be a typo - They've done it before. It might be worth emailing them to check.

For what it's worth, there's no price change in the UK prices.

Now if only they'd grow up and let ROW people purchase in UKP if they prefer instead of USD. The exchange rate that they use between the currencies is pretty bad, and prevents me from ordering anything direct from them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Cosmic wrote:
In the latest Beasts of War Weekender, upon being asked by Warren what the next franchise collaboration could be, Ronnie says:

"I can tell you that I'm going to America in August, and again in September/October, and I'm going to be visiting L.A. and New York, and we're going to be having some discussions with people..."

Could this franchise be BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT? Please let it be so! I want my dream of 28mm Terran Marines to become a reality!

My word. Could that leap be any larger?

Hush you, let us have our fever dreams ; p

I just wish someone made fantasy Orcs that look at least a little like Blizzard's ones...

The sci-fi Mantic Orks do a decent job of that thought right? Sure, a little more "militaristic" rather than savage, but I like that aspect. As for fantasy... yeah, GW only there I think. I loved the feth out of my Black Ork in Warhammer Online but the blocky tabletop models are bleh sadly. Would love some more dynammicaly poseable multi part ones just for funsies.

 Yonan wrote:
A line of multipose hard plastic Starcraft minis for use with the Deadzone ruleset... I man can dream. Three unique factions, cross compatible with Deadzone and Mars Attacks factions, possible large scale version using Warpath rules. I think my life would be complete!

Even if Mantic did team up with Blizzard, this would never happen. Any Starcraft game Mantic produced would be pre-assembled, boardgame plastic. The mass-market board game money would be too good to cater to modelers / wargamers. With pre-orders for Mars Attacks through roof, I doubt we'll see them make any license tie-in that won't follow the same production recipe.

I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to try to out-do GW on their home ground after the rocky start they had together with Warcraft 1. I know that would be enough reason for me to do it ; p Surely a board game release wouldn't have the long term profitability of a full featured wargame either though?