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the Pathfinder box is unexpected but I really like it
the Combat Drones fit that theme better than the Accuser and it was something the Scouts were missing

the vehicle boxes are all good value, as all of them come with additional resin parts that are not part of the regular kits (also the Wolverine tanks get resin APC turrets)

PS: and can we appreciate the D8 dice box for 12€ with 27 dice in 3 colours, that is like the cheapest source for different coloured D8 I have seen in a while

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Have we seen the Wolverine before? Quite imoressed

Yes, many times, it's an old Archon model

 lord_blackfang wrote:

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Have we seen the Wolverine before? Quite imoressed

Yes, many times, it's an old Archon model

I don't ever remember seeing it before... But think it looks fantastic. Might have to pick up a set just to paint.

I sure wish the preorder page had just a little more details. Is there enough plastic to build just what's shown, or could we field 3 tanks? 3 APCs? Or only the one tank, two APCs shown?

Edit: or rather, I wish I read the internets more carefully. Seems each vehicle can be built as either a tank or APC, so looks like perhaps we can field 3 tanks or 3 APCs or some mix. Nice!

And they are using GoA drones, when and how did this collaboration come about?

Pancakeonions, thanks for quoting that I have LB blocked 👍. Must admit that I have never knowingly seen it from Archon before.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
And they are using GoA drones, when and how did this collaboration come about?

Pancakeonions, thanks for quoting that I have LB blocked 👍. Must admit that I have never knowingly seen it from Archon before.

lol. Aw, poor LB. He's sometimes quite helpful!

PS what's Archon? A manufacturer? A model/kit? A faction of some other game?

I want to know what the mini turrets on the APC Wolverines is made of

because they aren't in the box as plastic from the Archon kickstarters

so have they made a new sprue for Mantic (and if so does it have any other stuff on it as the wolverine was originally a resin model from their empires of man KS and had a bunch of alternate weapons and sponsons)

or is it just a cast (or 3D printed) resin lump which would be a lot less interesting

pancakeonions wrote:I don't ever remember seeing it before... But think it looks fantastic. Might have to pick up a set just to paint.

it was part of the Rampart Kickstarter, which is mostly terrain and not really something that is easy to find on the Archon page unless you know what you are locking for
also most stores that stock Archon have it, but under the terrain section

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:And they are using GoA drones, when and how did this collaboration come about?

well the one with Warlord started by doing Armada based on their Black Seas ruleset, so using one of their plastic vehicles is unexpected but welcome
and GoA had not many plastic models, mostly single troop boxes and outside the Ghar nothing really that could be useful

 pancakeonions wrote:
PS what's Archon? A manufacturer? A model/kit? A faction of some other game?

Archon Studios, a plastic model manufacturer in Poland
they have their own game with Masters of the Universe, but make mostly models and terrain for Fantasy RPG (Dungeon & Lasers) and SciFi/Post Apocalypse settings (Rampart)
https://shop.archon-studio.com/

they are the new manufacturer for Mantic plastic models after they stopped doing things in China



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 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
I want to know what the mini turrets on the APC Wolverines is made of
because they aren't in the box as plastic from the Archon kickstarters

mantic website says Resin, so I guess the parts are casted by Mantic and added to the plastic kit for the battlegroup boxes

3 x Hard Plastic Wolverine Tanks
3 x Resin APC Turrets

Ahh, drat

thanks for finding the info though

Having Mantic Resin parts here it is nothing to worry about, specially for solid blocks (not to be compared with Finecast or Forgeworld resin)

and you can be sure Mantic has made them so you can easy switch between options (like they have done with their other vehicles)

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
And they are using GoA drones, when and how did this collaboration come about?

I would assume it came about through GoA being dead in the water, and Mantic approaching them to buy useful kits from the range for their own use.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Have we seen the Wolverine before? Quite imoressed

it's a nice kit.. but it is a terrible choice for the GCPS. doesn't fit their aesthetic at all.

it would have worked better as just marauder vehicle, since that faction's home grown vehicles have the same dieselpunk slab sided with rivets style. just look at the gruntbots and stuntbots. the Wolverine just looks way too primitive and slapdash to fit the high tech cyberpunky style of the GCPS. then you could double up later with it as part of the Rebels

scarletsquig wrote:


Overall, I'm fairly happy with it, hopefully there's some completely new releases for the game soon though. Rebs, Nameless, Sci-fi goblins etc. and of course, the long-awaited Lancer tank!

Not this year in the factions anyway. Just the vehicles for most faction August (September for Asterians and FF/VM), then onto terrain followed by the Enforcers new unit models.

Maybe 2024 will bring more news!

mithril2098 wrote:
it's a nice kit.. but it is a terrible choice for the GCPS. doesn't fit their aesthetic at all.

this is one thing most people agree on
though there is the possibility of low level corporations taking the cheap mass produced stuff intended for Marauders or have the outdated leftovers
but one problem of the Warpath Universe is that there are company that want to sell and Orcs are mercenaries, so that everything Orcs get must somehow also be available for the GCPS

but I have to say, somehow I am thinking about taking the challenge to convert that one into something that fits the GCPS better
given that I still need a tank for my Iron Empire force


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overall that sound very good for the changes and why they are doing them, also in there that Mazon Labs won't get the Wolverine as they don't use low tech stuff

still need to get thru the video a 3rd time as it is somehow hard for me to grab all the changes:

If you go first you can’t double activate
-1 hit assaulting a unit you can’t see
can’t assault out of a sprinted vehicle
only 1 faction order per type per round, but increased them from 3 to 6 per faction
add steady aim as new short action
smoke launchers are now just target a unit instead of using the template

More tanks/upgrades coming next week

Hmmm I hope they add some GW tanks

Top Left looks familiar:


bottom left was already shown in the video (Forgefather tank turret), bottom right is a Mule and top right something Veer-Myn

I was happy with the armored company potential of the wolverine battlegroup. Even more vehicle packs has me excited for all the sci fi gamers out there.

That quad missle launcher looks excellent, and most kitbashable with other options out there.

Are those Vyrmyn hands, meaning a potential transport option?

The Veer-Myn Tunneler already has a transport option, that can be expanded
But this cage shows rat hands and the rat colours so might be a smaller version of the Tunneler or not a transporter at all

So the marauder models received pretty bad reviews... do we know if they get transferred to Archon for better results? (Don't know if that's even possible with how plastic production works.)

From what I recall, the problem most had with the marauders was just the lack of detail on the sides of the models, which was a design choice to allow the bodies to be cast in plastic as a single piece. That's not something that could be fixed by just handing them to someone else... They would need to be resculpted.

Looked like somebody didn't know how to sculpt to accommodate for injection molding and someone else went in after him and just smooshed the undercuts

In any case not salvageable unless they fix the sculpts and recut the mold

Archon definitely has the skill to cast models like that with no problems

Well, comparing the Ogre models from Archon with the Marauders from China and the Halflings from China, this is a casting problem and not the sculpting

All of those have their bodies in one piece and for 2 of them it worked
And all were made by the same person
Mantic hires the same sculptor since a long time and just changed the casting company and that person knows how to adjust for different processes

That it looks like another person changed the sculpts, this would be the casting company making the moulds by arranging the models for the frame
And for the Marauders it looks more like the casting process was speed up to get them done quicker which causes the soft details on the side

Giving the sculpts to Archon will result in better models, but they would need to make new moulds fitting their machinery

Thanks guys! Since Mantic hasn't stated that anything is in the works for these marauders they probably won't change in the near future.
Maybe they're good enough for what I want to use them.

Mantic isn't likely to re-do all their old kits with Archon any time soon; that's not how they've ever operated, presumably for financial reasons. I think Archon's newer, better kits are likely to be incremental and mostly aimed at brand new models. When they re-do old kits with Archon, like the recent Nightstalkers Ambush box, it's previous PVC models, not Chinese hard plastic kits, that they'll be looking to replace.

I'm done with buying any further Chinese plastic kits from Mantic; the quality just isn't high or consistent enough for me. But whenever a new Mantic / Archon kit targets a faction I like, that will have my serious attention.

It's going to be a wonderful day - one I don't expect to see for years - when Mantic finally start releasing new sci-fi troop kits for Deadzone / Firefight / Warpath in Archon's hard plastic.

Hey, here's a thought. There's one sci-fi faction that's already ripe for an Archon hard plastic troop release: the Nameless. Mantic are actively phasing out their PVC stuff already, and the Nameless have never been cast in anything but resin and PVC, much of that PVC being closer to boardgame than War-game standard. And before anyone says that the Nameless are too obscure to do in hard plastic, come on. The Nameless aren't any more niche or than hard plastic Nightmare Reapers, surely. And if Mantic did them to the Archon standard of the Reapers, it would be one awesome kit.

While you're at it, Mantic, give the Zz'or a majorly cool insectile redesign (IMHO they need an update, and could be awesome if it's done right) and have Archon release hard plastic kit(s) of those troops for the first time, too.

You know what? I'm going to go so far as to write a personal imperial email to Mantic right now, commanding them to do this. I've backed several of their kickstarters in the past, so I have incredible sway there. You're welcome.

Mantic usually replaces existing kits when they run out of stock and the old manufacturer is gone

So only if Marauders sell out or Mantic decide to put them on sale to clear stock, we get new ones

But plastic Rebs were hinted last year and with existing Nameless models being on clearance sale I expect those 2 coming from Archon next year

And yes, making them know either by writing them or posting on Facebook that Z'zor or other Dreadball races must come to Firefight/Deadzone is a good way

So, just to be clear-

The ogres were cast by Archon, as well as the Nightstalkers?

May as well go get some. I was seriously put off by the Rift Forged and Marauders, to the point I wrote a lot of Mantic's releases off afterwards.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
So, just to be clear-

The ogres were cast by Archon, as well as the Nightstalkers?

May as well go get some. I was seriously put off by the Rift Forged and Marauders, to the point I wrote a lot of Mantic's releases off afterwards.

While not stated outwardly, it looks like the new ogres, nightstalkers, and Northern Alliance were tooled by archon in Poland.

Ronnie put up a video on Facebook standing next to the Machine that put out the Ogre sprues in Poland, so this is pretty much confirmed

started with Ogres and everything coming after that

and adding to the above, Enforcer get their release in December and they have still a lot of Metal/PVC stuff so I expect the new models to replace those but also Asterian still have a lot of PVC and a box of Cyphers from Archon would be an option as well

So the sneak peak was a Tangle Tunneller, there’s also a shield and “Saturation” version basically swapping the side panel insert for shields, missiles or a cage presumably in resin.

Shield tunneler looks very awkward... can't really tunnel with those panels sticking out, can it?