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 judgedoug wrote:

 MLaw wrote:
Yeah, the main reason I posted that list was so people could draw the comparisons to what Mantic is showing. I spent a lot of time researching the different sci-fi tanks out there and there's definitely more than I listed. Mantic is steering clear (mostly) of the dieselpunk/ww2 aesthetic so yeah.. I tried to steer the list that direction too. From the go I've thought Mantic has had a more video game look and I like that a lot but if they got in there and put a little more polish on their rules, designs, etc then they would tip over that line they keep toeing. As an example.. I really like the Industria Mechanica stuff, and I see that potential in Mantic but they keep getting so close and then just being like "eh screw it, that's good enough".

I'm intimiately familiar with that list, actually, because I've been collecting near-future/sci-fi minis and vehicles for years. Most of my collection is Antenociti's Workshop, at least 15-20 of their tanks, vehicles, and APC's, to go along with T-80's, Leopard 2A6, and other MBT's that will most assuredly be used for another 20+ years (for near future conflicts). Interestingly I bought Mantic's Enforcers in restic when they came out because they match the AW functional yet sci fi aesthetic quite well... so I was hoping Mantic would just hire AW to design their vehicles. Sadly that is not the case.

If we're being honest, I was hoping for a while now that Warpath would end up being a cheap way to get Studio McVey style infantry with AW style vehicles. Like I said, AW claims they're going to have their old vehicles back up in (I think) November which is well after the Warpath KS as far as I know so by then we'll have the PM open and can make informed decisions about which way to go with vehicles for our games of Warpath.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I own exactly zero space machines of the future.

I will happily partake of this Kickstarter since all these mobile head shaped vehicles will match with the corresponding ground troops.

I'm starting to get excited just over the cheesy one liners this will open up.

"Here comes the face off!"

"Blue Steel"

"My tanks have style. My tanks have grace. Like Rita Hayworth, they give good face."

And so on.

I think Bob and I will need to have a Face/Off.

I don't think there is going to be an Enforcer tank they use the Interceptor and Bomber as their APC and tank

 DaveC wrote:
I don't think there is going to be an Enforcer tank they use the Interceptor and Bomber as their APC and tank

I have in fact just noticed that there is no tank on the Enforcer list, nor a reference to a tank yet to be added, just the Ajax Siege Strider

On the other hand, Forge Father Hammerfist Drop Squad

 DaveC wrote:
I don't think there is going to be an Enforcer tank they use the Interceptor and Bomber as their APC and tank

Wasn't there either something in the fluff (DZ I think) or maybe it was something they said during the DZ KS about Enforcers not really having ground vehicles? For some reason that stuck in my head as they're more of an insertion force or something. I would wager Corporation forces will have a tank though or maybe armoured trucks or similar.

The Ajax is interesting hopefully its more than just the flamer/chainsaw version for the Enforcers it will probably have resin arms

There's some interesting units tucked away in those lists.

Murder Birds, Dropships, Bombers, APCs, Siege Striders, Drop Squads...

I honestly hope some of this stuff ends up with a Deadzone stat block in the new book when Mantic gets around to rolling that out.

Plague Murder Birds sound like fun to have harassing squads that like to get up into higher terrain, and I certainly wouldn't mind having a Forge Father Drop Squad obnoxiously enter the board at the chagrin of the other player.

I'm sure the corporation is gonna have tanks, and APCs, and "urban pacification vehicles" all over the place.

Ajax might be something different again, if it was just a regular Strider with weapon arm swaps I'd have thought it would just be listed as an upgrade under the normal Strider, like all the Iron Ancestors

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I think Bob and I will need to have a Face/Off.

I would choose a Chow Yun Fat glacis plate over a Travolta or Cage model any day of the week. Get on this, Mantic!

On a similar note, my Forgefathers will send their tank on one last mission into a church full of murder birds to earn the money needed to transplant their tank's armorglass viewport panes onto a crippled Asterian tank in the hope of redemption.


You can guess where the Corporate mercenary will shoot the tank.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
On a similar note, my Forgefathers will send their tank on one last mission into a church full of murder birds to earn the money needed to transplant their tank's armorglass viewport panes onto a crippled Asterian tank in the hope of redemption.

I've heard that crippled Asterian tank sing. Such a beautiful voice.

Or, mantic is simply setting up for its inevitable run on Titan sized products- with modular head/tanks!

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Or, mantic is simply setting up for its inevitable run on Titan sized products- with modular head/tanks!

Titan-sized mechs for Warpath would mean I eat bread and water for the rest of the year.

Bake your own bread- it's cheaper, tastier, and means more money for titan sized machinery.

I can't even imagine if they make something that large...

Guess I might be mooching off of Alex by the time this campaign is done then.

I won't be able to spend much initially, so hopefully there's a long pledge manager period (and even a couple of waves of it as with some previous kickstarters). That is, as long as they make all the cool things I hope they're making.

I've really got my fingers crossed that Fire Fight becomes a good way to use 10+ models where Infinity kind of leaves off, and that Warpath ends up being viable for 'throw all the things on the table' type engagements.

Coiled barbed wire on the facetank dozer blade, painted brown. Facefathers for life

The FF tank doesn't really do it for me, on it's own. But put three side by side I could imagine they'd be very disconcerting to face.

 judgedoug wrote:

The problem is that the available "space tanks" are all terrible - 40k tanks... what else?

MiniatureScenery is a good alternative for SciFi tanks

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

Perhaps they can fit in a line about the Corporations hiring graphic designers to design their vehicles for a specific psychological effect, such as branding. "Look out! That's an Enforcer(TM) Dropship!"

That's something already in the background, in Deadzone:Incursion if I recall.. the enforcer helm design is used as propaganda imagery (on giant holo-billboards etc.) throughout the corporation to remind everyone who is in charge.

From that perspective, the design used on the dropship makes sense.

Not sure about the forgefather tank design, it does look a bit "Robot Wars" currently.

The Asterian tank is my favourite, looks great., as do the rest of the Asterian minis.

Have we seen the Asterian tank printed master yet? From the drawings and the renders, it looks sleek and deadly, although I also find it looks a little like an inverted NSEA Protector, a Miranda to the Protector's Constitution, if you will.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Have we seen the Asterian tank printed master yet? From the drawings and the renders, it looks sleek and deadly, although I also find it looks a little like an inverted NSEA Protector, a Miranda to the Protector's Constitution, if you will.

No, just the drawings. I don't think we've even seen a render unless I missed it?

I thought we had..? In my mind's eyes, I see a grey, satin-sheen version of it.

I know we've seen this

but briefly scanning google shows me no renders.

For a minute I thought that signature was a scale infantry and was going to freak out at how huge that would make this thing.
I remember seeing these but it's been a while. I like the design of this a lot more than the Enforcer ship. While I don't think the enforcer one is entirely terrible, the Asterian art is more of something I could see buying to use in other sci-fi games because of the non-terran looking hull.

I don't think infantry would be *much* bigger than that signature, look at the back with the little clampy things, I'm assuming each of those docks a cypher or battle drone.

Kind of like a necron ghost ark but with the troops more safely inside the wings/pontoons/whateveryoucallthosethingsonthesides.

I could be wrong too, those could totally be alien engine cooling apparatus.

The Asterian drone transport is an alien ship built with alien technologies, and it does an acceptable job of looking like one. The Enforcer dropship is a human aerospace craft designed by someone who has no fething clue how aerospace craft work. Not only is it a terrible design, it makes it less likely for Mantic to make another, better design that fills that same niche.

 GrimDork wrote:
I don't think infantry would be *much* bigger than that signature, look at the back with the little clampy things, I'm assuming each of those docks a cypher or battle drone.

A human would probably be about twice the size of the signature, assuming drones are folded up during transport.

 judgedoug wrote:


What military designs it's armored vehicles to _match_ the infantryman's uniform? *barf*

Obviously it's not a direct 'match', nor did I claim it was. There's an aesthetic suggestion of uniformity there, which I think is pretty cool.

Then again - we're dealing with a -fictional race-. You're trying to apply 'real world' aesthetic to it. Maybe in some far off fictional universe, the FF military designers DO want their troops to share common visible aesthetics with the rest of their military assets. The reason is irrelevant.

True, Mantic wants to design stuff people will buy. I'd buy that tank (probably more than one) as-is, and others have said they like it as well. You wouldn't. Nothing wrong with that.

 judgedoug wrote:

The problem is that the available "space tanks" are all terrible - 40k tanks... what else? Antenociti's Workshop has drastically thinned their lines, the few tanks that Khurusan makes are super expensive, crappy manufacturers like Grendel resin are all 40k knock offs. And i's hard to find 1/48 Kitech/Zhengdefu stuff nowadays. We have no good plastic 28mm scale sci fi tanks.

But you're correct, Space Marine vehicles are pretty much gak. (but Sigmarites are awesome)

I know GW sure does sell (or has sold) a ton of those tanks that we don't care for. I own zero human faction vehicles for any game I can think of, while I own lots of alien vehicles. I don't want models that resemble real-world vehicles. I am playing space-fantasy, and 'realism' isn't even close to my top critical elements when I buy stuff.

No single model is going to have 100% 'approval' from the fanbase. No matter what they make, there are going to be people who love it, and people who hate it. And as others have mentioned, it is a WIP, so who knows what the final piece will look like for sure? Maybe it will have a giant metal beard and braids and crap, in which case, my opinion might very well change (or I'll invest in a dozer-blade that covers half the vehicle. LOL).

Forge Father technology should have detachable metal beards as thrown weapons.

Anyone else notice the new (I'm guessing plastic) plague stage 3s in the new mantic newsletter