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The DZ terrain has been through several recuts since the first shipment and the fit has improved a lot. It's not up to the standard that the Mars Attacks stuff is, but certainly the more recent batches of sprues go together and come apart fairly easily.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Mars Attacks really is the best product Mantic have ever released.

Just not needing to assemble them is awesome. 12 minutes or so of mould line cleanup per model and they're ready to paint.

I've already got the 40 minis from the boxed game primed and ready to paint which is way more progress than I ever managed with Deadzone or KoW with the masses of restic.

I agree with this in all respects but one. There are exceptions, but I think it's fair to say that Mars Attacks models are generally not as dynamic or 3-dimensional as Deadzone's are, because the majority of its models are sculpted to be one-piece, or cast with the simplest possible assembly in mind. This is also why a few Mars Attacks models have conspicuous undercuts, whereas Deadzone models don't.

This is a typical difference when you contrast boardgame minis with wargame minis, so I'm not leveling it as a damning critique. I still like my Mars Attacks figures, and the ready-to-play-out-of-the-box (man, that's a lot of hyphens) aspect has allowed me to play several games with my son already, whereas I still haven't done much with Deadzone beyond assembly.

But I disagree with the sentiment you sometimes see on Dakka that Mantic has no outstanding PVC models, just passable ones. To my eye, Deadzone has a number of outstanding models (and yes, some average ones, and some "what-were-they-thinking?!" duds). Generally speaking, I prefer Deadzone models to the Mars Attacks minis, many of which look stilted or too static, presumably to make casting / assembly simpler. (Keep in mind that I've only received the MA starter box set so far, though, so my comparative data is a little limited yet.) I don't love the absurd amount of work it takes to make my Deadzone figures look good, but once that work is put in, they look better than my Mars Attacks figures.

Anyway, it's apples and oranges, as both approaches have their benefits. But as much as I've enjoyed playing Mars Attacks, my appetite for more one-piece / simplified pre-assembled figures of this type isn't really any bigger than my appetite for more PVC ones. I see myself moving away from both towards more hard plastic purchases in the near future.

^Which warpath will hopefully provide Or even DZ 2.0 from the sound of it.


Re: truck video; huh. I put the back of the cab, the then front of the cab, *then* the two sides on for all three of mine. I guess I was concerned with assembling the cab portion and seeing it not fit or something. Really simple kit to assemble, a lot easier than a Rhino or something (of course those have interior details and lots of gubbins, but still).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I should have watched the video though Their method for doing the wheels was a little smarter than my own.

Some nice little bundles have gone up on the Mantic website, such as Humanity Resists:

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/pre-order/mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game/product/mars-attacks-humanity-resists.html

But my personal favourite is the 3 saucer bundle, basically 3 saucers for the price of 2 BOGOF!
http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/pre-order/mars-attacks-the-miniatures-game/product/martian-attack-saucer-squadron-3-vehicles.html

Martian Dredd is also available for those of a Mega-City One inclination.

Yeah the 3 pack of saucers is totally the same deal as the kickstarter right? That's pretty fair though I wasn't expecting them to be much more at retail, they're nice but they aren't exactly massive bits of kit.

The bundle is technically even better now since during the kickstarter it saved you 10 dollars and now it's saving you 25

I realize the thing with mantic is to always go for their bundle deals, but I'd kind of find it hard to just buy one truck or saucer for 25 bucks. They're nice kits but you could get a lot bigger of a kit from Tamiya, say, for the same or less, and for 12 more dollars I could just pick up a Rhino. What I couldn't do is get 3 of those for 50, and that is kind of neat.

Hopefully they do some bundles in the future for martian and human army deals just because


Though... I gotta ask... what's the deal with bundling the Martian Dredd with the dead figures? I could see a lot of people wanting either or... Also 5 dollars a piece for those is sketchy, but I'm probably just jaded because I refuse to buy things at RRP/MSRP/regular-price-acronym-of-your-choice.

Yup, near as damn it the same deal. In the KS it was 3 for $50 (and $20 each) so not quite buy 2 get one free but by the time you factor in exchange rates of dollar to pounds there is little in it.

Good to hear your thoughts on the saucer/trukk with regards to details and prices. I think that Mantic cut themselves so close to the bone on the Kickstarter prices, and especially this one which had weird momentum shifts and big declines in pledging, that retail is the place where they can make some actual profit. I assume that Topps charge well enough for the licence too.

If Mantic repeat the Human/Martian attack forces from the KS I think they will do well. One final question for backers out there, has anyone got a picture of the Martian standard bearer?

Blaine, Standard Bearer, Resin Regent, Normal Regent:



Obviously the Standard Bearer will need more hot water de-bending than most!

I need to make my camera do whatever yours is doing there... You've managed to capture much more of the detail on the red figs.

Can't really see myself buying any of those bundle deals, as I don't expect I'll ever need multiple vehicles. Maybe I'll pick up Martian Dredd and the dead figures some day, but only at a good discount from an online retailer.

I'm with Azazelx on this; I value "boardgame plastic" figures less, and am unwilling to pay $5 per fig. prices for them. (Or worse, the $8 per fig. prices they wanted for individual minis during the Mars Attacks kickstarter.)

I won't be buying more of them, but I am curious to see what they'll sell the robots for.

I think those were 30 bucks or 3 for $75? The robot is much more substantial than the other two kits so I could see paying a bit more for one.

Cheers for the pics Bioptic

I can't wait to get my Mars attacks stuff through but I've not even had a dispatch notice yet :(

 Vermonter wrote:


I'm with Azazelx on this; I value "boardgame plastic" figures less, and am unwilling to pay $5 per fig. prices for them. (Or worse, the $8 per fig. prices they wanted for individual minis during the Mars Attacks kickstarter.).

Those prices were really odd, especially when you consider what they were offering the Dungeon Saga stuff for- same prices, but for resin figures instead? That's some Mantic level craziness!

 GrimDork wrote:
I need to make my camera do whatever yours is doing there... You've managed to capture much more of the detail on the red figs.

Was using my phone's LED torch and my camera's macro mode! The resin regent is quite nice, and remarkably non-brittle - feels more like scenery resin, possibly because they didn't have to capture super-fine details. Any brave souls have the banner diorama miniature? I couldn't quite extend to the $500+ level it required...

Sale on Dreadball on CSI, if anyone hasn't mentioned it:
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/main_saleItems.php?p=1&s=5

Just got the KoW: Two Player Battle Set from UK-based Buy 4 Less. Haven't looked closely at all the mini's, but I like what I'm seeing so far!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008OJAOSM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That *is* a pretty good sale, half off a lot of stuff (or maybe all of it?).

I'm still slowly working my way through my Deadzone kickstarter wave 2.

I've got to say, I'm remarkably impressed with the Asterians. Ok, sure, the moldlines are a bit footery compared to the forge fathers. But I really do like the idea of having proper modern sci-fi 'robots.'

The bike is pretty darn neat too.

Yeah the asterians were a lot better than I thought And I kinda dig their fluff.

Also, I finished assembling everything from wave 2! A couple bags went to the trade pile unassemvled though so if they don't trade they may come back to haunt me.

Surrounded by Martians. Send help.


I'm also just realising that the Deadzone decks for the Humans and Martians basically let you play Mars Attacks Advanced.

The tiger corps could be their own faction by the standards of the first 6 dz decks. Falco is... kinda crazy... lots of coil units.

Though having played mars attacks... I think I'd almost be more inclined to try deadzone lite first

Too bad I don't have dz ma stats allowing for that.

 GrimDork wrote:

Though having played mars attacks... I think I'd almost be more inclined to try deadzone lite first

Too bad I don't have dz ma stats allowing for that.

Are you talking about bringing DZ teams into Mars Attacks? That would be interesting., and probably pretty doable using the current figures' stats as a baseline to start from.

I nominate GrimDork to do all the legwork!

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:

 GrimDork wrote:

Though having played mars attacks... I think I'd almost be more inclined to try deadzone lite first

Too bad I don't have dz ma stats allowing for that.

Are you talking about bringing DZ teams into Mars Attacks? That would be interesting., and probably pretty doable using the current figures' stats as a baseline to start from.

I nominate GrimDork to do all the legwork!

Seconded

Good luck Grim

UPS wrote:
Scheduled Delivery: 14-November-2014
Number of Packages: 1
Weight: 5,1 KGS

About damn time!
5,1 KG seems a bit light compared to my DZ shipment, but I suppose that's because I don't have 10 battlezones in it this time.

Mine is due to arrive at my mailing address today. 20kg, apparently. I should have it in hand on Friday but probably won't have a chance to go through it until next Thursday, so hopefully it's all good...

I hope you bought a lot of hard plastic terrain...

...20KG?!?!?

I think he spent the entire, or possibly two of, the bloodshed on the battlefield pledges on battlezones. But my memory fails most days.

I refuse to be nominated for anything! I don't have time to paint my minis let alone make up rules for them that i'll never get to use. /sadface =/

It *should* be done, however

I have a 4.0kg package on the way, currently in Germany. Hopefully it will be here either Friday or Monday, as the weekend would be more than a little inconvenient for me...

I got all the terrain I needed with my ridiculous Deadzone pledge so didn't need more. Though I did go for a fair bit of Mars Attacks terrain too (8kg total) ; p Got my Mars Attacks, really like it. Bodes well for Dungeon Saga and more importantly, Dreadball Extreme as I'm very happy with the quality of the models. Still love my multi-part hard plastic, but this unpack and play stuff in mars attacks is actually getting me to play a game today, whereas I still haven't played Deadzone -_- Played lots of Dreadball though!

Amusingly the first time I cut myself since cleaning Mantic Deadzone restic was cleaning this Mantic Mars Attacks boardgame plastic. Damn you mantic! Was only one cut though... the callouses built up from Deadzone warded off most of them I guess.

 Alpharius wrote:
I hope you bought a lot of hard plastic terrain...

...20KG?!?!?

20kg of quality restic models!

 GrimDork wrote:
I think he spent the entire, or possibly two of, the bloodshed on the battlefield pledges on battlezones. But my memory fails most days.
I refuse to be nominated for anything! I don't have time to paint my minis let alone make up rules for them that i'll never get to use. /sadface =/
It *should* be done, however

Yeah. Something like that. I can't exactly remember at this stage, but it's either 1x or 2x BotB worth of terrain and another BotB of pretty much the "recommended $300 pledge", plus some more terrain on top of that. Got delivered sometime today. My mum said the box is apparently around the same size as my SWM Tablescapes pledge was. So not small. I certainly wasn't expecting it to come to 20kg, though...

I got pretty much just the $300 pledge with some extra resin cars, 6 of the mats and the signed comic books (I think, lost the email), and mine was only 8.8kg

Oh, and the dreadball team. Speaking of, the team turned out quite nicely, bodes well for DBX in the same material.

 Azazelx wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
I hope you bought a lot of hard plastic terrain...

...20KG?!?!?

20kg of quality restic models!

That's a lot of fuel!

Be sure to let us know when you have the burning video up on youtube.