Mantic Kickstarter Forces of the Abyss Mega-Starter Army

I was very excited to open the box containing the basis my newest army for Kings of War – The Forces of the Abyss.

The Plastics

Inside the box was a large bag full of plastic frames and bases – Lower Abyssals/Flame Bearers and Succubi, with each frame having five torsos and five pairs of legs.

Each frame also has parts for making one musician and one standard bearer – folks making larger units will have plenty of standards and musical instruments to add to their bits box.

A pair of small imps are on each frame – smaller devils which can be used for either decorating the bases of their larger kindred, or combined on a 40mm base to create swarms of the little pests.

Lower Abyssals/ Flame Bearers

Enough parts are on each of the sixteen frame to create five of either Lower Abyssals or Flame Bearers, with the Lower Abyssls armed with melee weapons, while the Flame Bearers cup fireballs in their hands, or hurl them forward.

Detail is slightly soft and rounded, but musculature is well defined. Shading or lining around the loincloths, greaves and vambraces will be needed to make them look distinct.

The torsos and legs are one piece – which limits options, but makes the model easier to assemble.

The legs are digitigrade, ending in cloven hooves or three clawed feet. The hooves are by no means identical, but are solid affairs, with fur around the tops. A thick and heavy looking tail, ending in a spade, twists down, behind, and beside the legs

The melee weapons are an odd mix of miscellaneous iron mongery, a flail, a trident/pitchfork, a small scythe, a simple bone, a strange dual bladed punch weapon, and a sword.

While two handed weapons are an option for the unit, there is only one double handed weapon per frame – a double bladed axe with an ornate head. Sockets on the hands gripping the axe attach to separate arms – making the fit just a little tricky, but not hard.

In the same way, while armored Lower Abyssals are an option, only one torso has anything resembling armor, but there are five identical shields to each frame.

Eight leering, sneering, snarling, and grinning heads on each frame give options for expression – though I favor the leering, sneering, and grinning heads over their snarling brethren. Those expressions are the best feature of these models. These are demons that enjoy their work.

The instrument carried by the musician is a drum – played using the simple bone as a drumstick. Arm and drum are one piece, so it would be difficult to scavenge the drum to use on other models.

The standard is a solid looking affair – a leather covered shield with a demonic blazon, affixed to a pole. The hands gripping the pole use the same separate arms as the two handed axe.

There is one winged imp and one wingless imp, the winged imp is armed only with his fists, while the wingless imp carries a flaming pitchfork – each is less than half the height of the Lower Abyssals.
Overall, there is enough variety to make each model on the frame look distinct, and a unit base varied enough to be interesting.

Succubi

The female Abyssals are on a slightly smaller frame than the Lower Abyssals, though the legs and torsos are separate pieces, allowing a bit more variation among each of the models. Five Succubi per frame, with eight frames in the box. Again, detail is a trifle soft and rounded. (Succubi soft and rounded... go figure....) Shading and/or lining will be needed to make the accouterments stand out.

The poses of the succubi seem a trifle more dynamic than those of their brothers.

Ten horned heads allow for variation within the models on the frame, but are less expressive than the broad features of the Lower Abyssals.

The legs and feet are humanoid, rather than hooved – though a spaded tail depends from the waist. These tails seem thinner and more limber than those of the Lower Abyssals. Some of the legs end in bare feet, while others end in what a friend calls 'stompy boots'.

The torsos each have some variant of battle bikini – they obviously rely on avoiding blows, rather than catching them on their armor.

Weapons favor blades and whips – with each wielding dual weapons, with the exception of the standard bearer and musician. While the weapons are in obvious pairs, there is no reason not to mix them up a bit – so that two of the succubi can be wielding a whip and a bladed weapon, or two different bladed weapons. Several of the weapons are exotic enough that I think that they would serve better in mismatched pairs.

The instrument is a horn, while the standard is a somewhat elaborate affair, with a blazoned shield, a trailing ribbon, and a burning cresset at the top – aside from the cresset the standard has almost an elven appearance.

While the horn and the left arm are one piece, it would be easy to cut the hand off at the wrist if you wished to attach the horn to another model, or even scrape the hand off entirely.

The imps on the frame are a small winged succubus and a rather sullen looking wingless male imp.

I am fairly happy with both sets of plastic models – with the tiny winged succubus being my favorite detail.

They are quite serviceable for their intended purpose, and I can well see putting some extra effort into a few for using in RPGs.

The Restic

Ten female Gargoyles are made from resin plastic – and are quite nice, though they are older models dating back to the first Kings of War Kickstarter, which have seen use in the Abyssal Dwarf and Twilight kin armies.

While some folks dislike restic, for a variety of reasons, I am fond of the material, though it can take some time to trim off flash and mold lines, and these have long been among my favorite Mantic models – dynamic poses, and suitable for using for terrain as well as monsters.

The Metals

The Mega Army has five metal models – three are Large Infantry, while the other two are Heroes of standard size.

The detail on the metal models are much crisper than on the plastics.

Molochs

The three large models are the Molochs – heavy and lumbering humanoid devils, a bit less than two inches tall, so around nine feet or so in scale.

Arms and heads are separate – five different heads, and a selection of weapons.

The heads show a wide array of variation – each has horns, but the number and placement of those horns range from two with horns that resemble insect mandible, to two horns curving upwards like those of an ibis, to a one eyed, three horned fellow – if he had wings, I might paint him purple, to the one with five horns on the top of his head. If I were to describe their expressions... truculent comes to mind.

The neck join is a ball and socket – allowing a wide gluing area, and the ability to adjust the attitude of the head a considerable amount.

One pair of arms are one piece, wielding a great axe. Fit is slightly problematic, but the metal is soft enough that the gap between the arms can be widened, then squeezed up closer once they are over the shoulders of the model.

Another axe may or may not be a great axe – the head is resting on the ground, while the right hand cradles the butt of the haft, lending a more relaxed air to that arm.

A third axe is being wielded left handed, while there is a right handed sword and a left handed falchion

The last weapon is a trident or pitchfork, while the final arm has an empty hand.

The shoulders are thick enough, the join wide enough, and the metal soft enough to make pinning relatively easy.

Two have humanoid legs, while the third has digitigrade legs, ending in cloven hooves.

Each has a noticeable belly, piercings, scarification, and what appear to be metal studs driven into their flesh.

Each also has a toothed metal collar, with scarified flesh growing over the metal, these are not free agents, they are slaves.

Stylistically, the Molochi remind me of the illustrations od devils in the old White Wolf edition of Ars Magica, or even older woodcuts – the Lower Abyssals also fit that style.

There is some fairly heavy flash on two of the bodies – but they look easy enough to clean.

Aside from the two handed axe, fit is easy, with ball sockets at the shoulder to allow some flexibility in posing, which is good, as the stance of the models is a trifle static, with the two more humanoid models standing with legs akimbo, while the hooved model looks to have a bit more of a fighting stance – I will have it standing with the right shoulder forward, as the Unit Leader. One of the more relaxed looking humanoid bodies I will combine with the axe at rest, to create a bored looking demon.

Ifrit

The first of the more standard sized miniatures, legs wreathed in flames, and has a fireball in one hand, while the other hand can either be cupping a second fireball, or hurling it.

The join for the arm is at the shoulder – so pinning is a relatively easy option.

A choice of two horned heads allows some limited customization, their expressions seem disdainful.

Detail on the model is good – musculature is well defined, lines are clean – it looks to be an easy modell to assemble and paint. The Ifrit would work well for an RPG character as well as for wargaming.

Abyssal Champion

The other standard sized miniature is an Abyssal Champion, left hand wreathed in flame, while the other wields either a sword or an axe. The axe has a haft long enough that it can be considered a two handed weapon being carried in one hand.

Again, a choice between two heads allows some customization. One head is snarling, while the other is grinning – I like the grin the best.

The general pose is one of relaxed menace, looking like he is walking forward, slowly, fireball in one hand, sword (or axe) in the other, combined with the grinning head, a fairly intimidating combination.

Perfect for a Tiefling Magus in my Pathfinder game.

The two smaller figures do have some slightly fiddly bits – cleaning the joins carefully before gluing would be recommended – as a mold line crosses the inside of the socket on two of the heads.

Pinning the joins might also be a good idea, though the angle and tiny surface on the Abyssal Champion might make it a bit tricky.

Detail is crisp, the expressions easily read – in some ways the smaller metals are the best models in the army.

Value

The final question is whether I feel that there is good value for the Kickstarter Army. And the answer is a definite yes – even if I were buying at retail, with the basic set costing around $80, with the added characters adding another $20 at list price, and the Gargoyles bringing it up to $125 – for about a 1,100 points force, with no options to pad the points cost. (See below for how I am setting up the basic Starter force - One variable is how many Imps to a base – I am assuming four, so that there is no repetition on any given base. The Kickstarter added another forty Lower Abyssals and twenty Succubi, along with their accompanying Imps, enough to add a Horde of Lower Abyssals and a Regiment of Succubi, bringing the total to a hair under 1,500 Pts.)

As a minor downside, the force does not have a lot of flexibility – no cavalry, and no war machines, but a very good starter force otherwise, and is a fieldable army as is.

Regiment – 20 Lower Abyssals – 120 Pts.

Troop - 10 Flamebearers – 105 Pts.

Troop – 10 Flamebearers – 105 Pts.

Regiment – 20 Succubi – 120 Pts.

Regiment - 20 Succubi - 120 Pts.

Troop – 6 Imps – 105 Pts.

Troop – 10 Gargoyles – 80 Pts.

Regiment – 3 Molochs – 130 Pts.

Horde – 40 Lower Abyssals – 200 Pts.

Hero – Ifrit – 135 Pts.

Hero – Abyssal Champion

Total 1,495 Pts.

I am pretty happy with that setup – I will be adding some cavalry in the near future, and maybe an Abyssal Fiend.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I only have the starter version so far, so no molochs or characters, but it seems pretty decent at first glance.

folks making larger units will have plenty of standards and musical instruments to add to their bits box.