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Hey all,

I've posted this over at Reaper Forums too, as I love a lot of their figures. But I bet y'all have some good ideas too. I've got a few of the new Nightstalker minis from Mantic games, and I love 'em, for the most part, but would also love to add some diversity and fun to the mix.  They're all pretty weird, distinctive minis, some of which I'm not totally in love with. So I'm not sure what other minis might be good to mix in, so I thought I'd turn to the collective dakkadakka knowledge base for help!

(full disclosure: I'm much, much more of a painter, collector and hobbyist than a player, so I love to trick out and change up my warbands. Most of these minis are absolutely great, but a guy can't have too much variety! And hopefully someday they'll get to the table, too)

Here's what the Mantic Nightstalker starter warband looks like: 



I love the shadow-hounds (along the bottom of the pic), but they're the same pose.  Does Reaper, Games Workshop, or anyone else have anything like 'em, that might look good here? They're like the size of a GW chaos hound (which might be a cool place to start?)

I'm not a huge fan of the scarecrow guys (called, wouldn't ya know it, "scarecrows") with the goofy hats.  They're approximately humanoid sized.  Who makes minis that look very spooky and otherworldly, and might fit in as scarecrows without goofy hats? I'm thinking I need to take a close look at GW's new line of undead. There are some cool figures there that might work.

I love the Reapers (the eyeless humanoid sized alien things with spike-arms growing out of their backs - not to be confused with Reaper Minis!), and there's a "boss" version called a Reaper Souldrinker.  Mantic has thus far just painted up a Reaper differently to use as a Souldrinker.  Who makes something creepy to serve as a boss-man Reaper?  I have a few Tyranid bits (claws and such) that I could use to make him all fancy.  What might you recommend?

The Butchers are pretty rad (The two big, three-armed guys at the top there).  Not sure I need another.  Any thoughts?

And I'm not super in love with the horrors (there are two in the picture, big mouths with purple smoke/energy surrounding them, directly above the Shadow-Hounds).  What sort of ghost/ horror/ weirdness is out there?

And I'm also not a huge fan of the Phantom (the eyeless purple ghost-y thing; one is next to a horror, one is at the top of the photo, between the two butchers).  Any good, creepy ghosts?  I bet Games Workshop's line of dead has a lot of new, neat ghost type figures that would fit the bill....  Any recommendations? 

Not shown are spectres (fire-bolt spitting ghosts - the Mantic figure is pretty meh), needlefangs (40mm based swarms of unsubtantial teeth, eyes, and nastiness.  I don't have this figure, I don't think it's out yet, but it looks rad!).  I like the mindscreetch (a big, weird looking floating brain), a Shade (creepy looking humanoid blob that's all mouth-eyes and nasty.  Looks cool!), a banshee (odd female-ish model with a mouth where the head should be.  Not sure I like it...)

Anyway, anyone else playing around with these figures?  What do you think?  What are you swapping in for which figures?  Thanks! 

I'm quite chuffed with the Mantic mini's, possibly in part because I've been meaning to have a mantic army for a while now. Though I'm using a mutalith as a terror and screamers of tzeentch for nightmares.
Keep in mind that the KoW Nightstalker army is set to release in January, so there will be more miniatures and poses soon.

I would always recommend taking a scroll through Reaper's line, even if just for kicks (or to find inspiration for D&D).

Difficult to think of anything with exactly the same style, but maybe this would be about the right vein? It is a displacer beast from Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures Dungeons and Dragons line.

Check out the eyeless Hordes minis from Privateer Press, such as the Nephilim. They might work as a Reaper or to replace the Phantoms. There are also flying monsters and beasts with a similar aesthetic.

I would suggest checking out Malifaux's range and some of the monsters from CMON's The Others to fill some of the other roles.

Some Cthulhu figures
http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,shop.php?group=184

Chaos Beasts ... some are Lovecraft inspired, like the 3 different dhole larvae.
https://fenrisgames.com/shop#!/Chaos-beasts/c/8977040/offset=0&sort=normal

You don't like the hats, but are the pumpkin heads okay? If so scroll to the bottom of this page
http://www.rapierminiatures.co.uk/page/Range/28mm_Fantasy.html

Grymkin from Privateer Press are a thought as well, although you may not be a fan of their grim fairy tale vibe >> https://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/grymkin-the-wicked-harvest

Barghest Fiends from Puppets War continue to be some of the best demonic hound units on the market, if you need Shadow Hounds in bulk >> https://puppetswar.eu/product.php?id_product=259

(Although personally I'd just get a bunch of the proper Hounds from Mantic, that's a sweet design.)

I've got some more thoughts but headed out of the office as we speak