Mantic, Avatars of War Undead Deal

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Look what just appeared in my inbox ! A superb miniature deal by Mantic Games in association with - one of the all time best miniature makers - Avatars of War.

Ok, you only get one Avatar Vampiress but nonetheless, look at the price (£75 GBP) for all those miniatures (121 including 10 Knights !)

There are 110 troopers (or should I say "shamblers") plus 10 mounted Knights (or is that "rusty buckets") ;-) Anyway, as I've reported before, the Mantic miniatures are of a very good standard and they represent great value for money (although I wish they would improve some of the photos on their site to show them off in a better light - literally!)

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Kings-of-War/Special-Army-Deals/Product/Court-of-the-Vampire-Countess-Army-Deal-121-Figures.html

(please paste the above link into your browser, so I don't have to come back and sort out the broken link if Mantic take their special army deal down one day)

BTW, the Vampire Countess alone usually costs about £10 GBP, they also ship for free a you get a Kings of War rulebook - an outstanding bargain that is to be applauded (hence this post).

Well done to Mantic Games.

The Vampiress is a real work of art and comes with 4 excellent variations for her (or should that be "it's") left army either holding out a staff, extending a sword, extending her arm or retracting her hand.

Images are © Avatars of War. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

A bit of an after thought but here's a decent YouTube of the Skeleton Regiment sprues...

Great new Chaos Dwarf models by Warhammer Forge

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Forgeworld... Games Workshop... Warhammer Forge - however they're related (who knows, do we care !?) their off-spring looks good :)

Check out these these new minis from the Warhammer Forge section of the Forgeworld website (which looks like it's just Games Workshop in disguise - with slightly more daring miniatures)

First off we have the stunties gone wrong (ie Chaos Dwarfs) This army is now looking well worth collecting for a number of good reasons:-

• First and foremost they are something a bit less common and therefore have that mystique and show-off factor that can be quite appealing (or at least it is to me - see my Nauticans !)
• Next up, they have a very well supported community and unofficial Chaos Dwarf pdf army book that is widely accepted to be balanced and is permitted in quite a few tournaments.
• Importantly for many people, the army sports some excellent new miniatures from both Warhammer Forge and Mantic Games and you can still find the old Dwarves of Chaos minis on eBay too!
• The army now has some truly unique war machines that give it a completely different feel to anything else out there in the Warhamer World.
• People will be less used to playing against Chaos Dwarfs so, in theory (my theory), you should have a better chance of winning with them :)

Images from http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/CHAOS_DWARFS click to enlarge them.

Magma Cannon

Iron Demon towing the Magma Cannon

Death Shrieker Rocket

And, while I was visting the Forgeworld site I noticed some amazing new Empire-like / mercenary miniatures that I hadn't seen before (so maybe you haven't either)....

Check out the bell ringer for an interesting and original alternative to your usual musician. What with the standard bearer with the ship's tiller (or steering wheel if you like) and the ship's bell, these guys are clearly straight off an Empire galleon (or pirate / mercenary ship maybe ?) Either way, I love 'em :)

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/THE-EMPIRE

The banner looks a bit scary though - definitely not my kind of mermaid !

Images are © Games Workshop / Forge World. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

Vampire Wraith Models from Mantic Games

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These superbly modeled miniatures could definitely be used as Vampire Counts Cairn Wraiths.

It's been great to see Mantic Games produce some excellent sculpts that can be used with their free Kings of War game or indeed in our beloved Warhammer Fantasy Battle (the minis are the same 28mm scale).

I really like these wraiths, their cloaks have been clevery arranged so that they look like they're floating above the ground, they have a nice assortment of weapons and poses and wait for it....

You can buy 10 of them for £13.99 GBP !

They are plastic-resin models which Mantic says are cheaper for them to produce than metal. Mantic used to sell 5 of these for £13.99 when they were metal, now they have moved to plastic-resin they are going to be selling 10 of them for the same price !

Here's the lowdown from Mantic Games...

"Plastic-resin is a superior material to metal, in that it holds detail like resin, but with all the benefits of plastic. That's not the best bit, however - oh no. We've managed to double the number of figures into the box at the same price as the previous metal set. As we all know, the price of metal is getting expensive, and so by switching the popular Wraiths to this more affordable material, we've passed on the cost savings to you guys! How's that for value for money?"


The new resin-plastic Undead Wraiths are now available to pre-order alongside the new Vampire Lord and Soul Reavers, and also feature in our Undead Elites Army Set - check back later for more details on that!

The only bad news... you will have to wait until 27th June 2011 before you can get your hands on them, although you can pre-order them here:-

www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Undead/Elite-Units/Product/Undead-Wraiths-10-Figures.html

Images are © Mantic Games. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

New Chaos Dwarf Miniatures from Mantic Games

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Some very neat new Chaos Dwarves from Mantic Games - they call them Abyssal Dwarfs but let's face it, if you play Warhammer Fantasy then they're Chaos Dwarfs.

Mantic have done a nice job with these Dwarfs and they retain quite a unique feel to them. They feel a bit like a cross (75/25%) between citadel's very old original dwarfs (some of which were quite exceptional) and their somewhat newer, weirder, esoteric cousins - yep those fellas with the long top hats.

In case you didn't know, even though GW no longer officially support Chas Dwarfs as an army, there is a very professionally produced army book that is allowed in some tournaments and played by quite a lot of Chaos Dwarf players. They even have a dedicated forum here:-

http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/

There are also quite a few very old official and some alternative Chaos Dwarf miniatures on sale on eBay such as the Chaos Dwarf from Hasslefree Miniatures below (painted by Scott Radom) :-

Chaos Dwarf miniatures for sale

Anyway, I thought I'd take a look at some of the new Mantic miniatures and share with you. BTW, Warhammer Forge have also just released some new miniatures - I'll post about them soon.

Here's Mantic's take on Abyssal Dwarfs...

"When a Dwarf takes another Dwarf’s life to satisfy their ultimate greed, there is much rejoicing in the Abyss, as another Dwarf has lost his soul forever – another Abyssal Dwarf is born.”

---

Ok, here's a summary of what Mantic have on offer...

3 Lords & Hero level characters
Abyssal Dwarf Black Souls (standard rank & file)
Abyssal Dwarf Decimators (blunderbussiers)
Abyssal Dwarf Immortal Guard (elite rank and file)
Abyssal Dwarf Beserkers (elite specialized)
Katsuchan Rocket Launcher

Half-breed Centaurs - available in the Gorgoth's Storm of Steel army expansion set.

The miniatures are a combination of metal and plastics (all of the characters are metal for instance, some others are hybrid which, I guess, means a bit of both ?) check the individual listings to find out.  The miniatures are, as usual, much cheaper than the alternatives out there and a LOT cheaper than trying to find loads of old out of production miniatures on eBay.

In terms of quality they are excellent, some are better than others but it all depends on the style of miniature that you like.  The Abyssal Dwarfs all look quite different from one another, in an almost unruly way. It seems like the designer has been given free reign over his creations and asked to make them as weird and wonderful as he can.

These dwarfs like metal... a lot !

...and they sport a great selection of unusual helmets, weapons, armour and shields.  I love their unique feel, it's something you see less of now days with the predominance of plastics. Despite plastics having lots of inter-changeable parts models often end up looking the same as one another, this can be a plus for some armies but not for others (esp the more unruly or individualistic).

The Abyssal Dwarfs look like an organised group of dangerous personalities. Check these two out (from the Black Souls regiment)...

and these from the Immortal Guard elite regiment....

And the beserkers, which you could actually use as Slayers in a Norse-Dwarf army....

Mantic Game miniatures are really coming along nicely. They seem to be releasing them at an ever faster pace too. They won't appeal to everyone, they have their own slightly quirky feel to them but they are good quality and their real selling point is the price which is a lot less than their competitors (especially if you go with one of their army deals). It's nice to have an alternative source for massed produced fantasy models and, hopefully, more competition in the fantasy minis market will lead to better models at cheaper prices - maybe !

I'm afraid I still have one big criticism of Mantic's website, they need to improve their miniature pics. Check out the difference between the Hasslefree eBay pic (which an individual person took with their home camera) and the miniature pics available on the Mantic site which are too dark and look slightly blurry.

Images (except Hasslefree miniature) are © Mantic Games. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

Ghouls or Zombies - dual purpose miniatures ?

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I spotted these undead models from Mantic Games and saw a very sweet money saving opportunity :)

Mantic sell both Zombies and Ghoul minis for their Kings of War Fantasy tabletop game but their appearance (esp when painted a fleshy colour) probably fits more comfortably into the traditional (and of course GW) idea of what a Zombie looks like. Games Workshop clearly made a very conscious effort to differentiate their Crypt Ghouls and Zombies but I reckon these miniatures could fit the bill for both.

A few weapons from your bitz and pieces bin for the zombies (the green guys below) and a different shade of "dead" paint for the ghouls (the guys clothed with more rags - the 2nd pic) and I reckon you have an all-purpose ghoul or zombie unit which you could mix up to deploy larger units and save yourself a few quid.

I'm probably stretching things but if money is short it might be worth considering. Just thought I'd share.

Mantic released some other undead recently (check out their Skeleton Catapult below), they actually have quite a few army deals which work out very good value for money if you do the maths.

Mantic Home page:- http://www.manticgames.com/home.html
Mantic Fantasy blog:- http://www.manticblog.com/

Images are © Mantic Games. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

New Undead Cavalry Miniatures

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The first set of new resin / plastic miniatures from Mantic Games are called Revenants, they're Undead Army Cavalry and they are extremely good value - less plastic used for undead models ;-)

These are fairly neat 28mm scale models. There is a superb and very detailed review of them on Total Wargamer below (apparently, from the parts provided it's possible to build 4 different mounts and 7 different horsemen (of the apocalypse I presume !) plus a 3 model command:-

http://www.totalwargamer.co.uk/blog/?p=1027

I've trawled around a bit it and it sounds like the models are going down very well. They are certainly good value for money at £25 for 10 (that's about $39 USD). If you visit Total Wargamer above they are actually running a 25% discount on the minis at the moment so they work out as £18.74 (see above link above).

The Mantic photos aren't great, they need to get higher definition shots with better lighting but they should give you a good idea of what to expect.

Images are © Mantic Games. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

Kings of War Rules - Free PDF

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Mantic Games offer their Fantasy gaming rulebook as a free PDF download

I spotted Mantic Games a few months back and have been keeping an eye on their progress. They produce some pretty neat miniatures (the same scale as WFB models), some of which you cannot actually find in Games Workshop, a Vampire on a winged Hellsteed for instance.

Their Fantasy World is not as rich as the Warhammer World but it's early days and they're doing a great job of expanding on their range of miniatures and adding their own fantasy feel to their product line. Importantly, their range of models are very good value and they represent a cheap entry point into Fantasy gaming.

The rules are very simple, with 3 phases (move, shoot & melee, there is no magic) and 6 unit profile stats (speed, melee, ranged, defence, attacks and nerve, plus some special unit attributes) and are pleasingly easy to follow. There is a notable absence of a general magical ruleset, although individuals do have some magical abilities which will disappoint some but I suspect they might think more about that in future. Kings of War also has a couple of neat twists not seen in Warhammer, such as timed turns (?!)

Allesio Cavatore created this ruleset for Mantic Games, some of you may recognize his name because he also designed the Vampire Counts Warhammer Fantasy Battle army book.

The rules (12 pages, 1.34meg):-
http://www.manticgames.com/SiteData/Root/File/KoW%20dowload.pdf

The army lists (currently Elves, Dwarfs and Undead, 2pages, 0.13meg):-
http://www.manticgames.com/SiteData/Root/File/KoW%202010%20Armies.pdf

Mantic are keen to recieve your feedback and you can contribute directly to future rules development on their forum here:- www.manticgames.com/Forum.html

I haven't tried the rules out yet but am quite keen to give them a shot. I think, at this stage, they are probably a bit light on detail so I suspect there will be plenty of questions to be asked but they look like a great entry point for newcomers to fantasy wargaming. The rulebook is only 12 pages long ! It just goes to show what can be achieved by taking a pragmatic no-nonsense design approach.

They have a strong presence on eBay too:- Mantic Miniatures on eBay

Well done so far to Mantic and even more well done for getting those rules online at no cost to encourage participation and feedback from, I have little doubt, their quickly growing fan base.

Kings of War Rules Image is © Mantic Games. All rights reserved. Used without permission.

A Winged Hellsteed mount and Lord for a Vampire Counts Army

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Flying Hellsteed miniature from ManticGames.com.

I don't believe a winged hellsteed currently exists at Games Workshop (let me know if I'm wrong !). If you want one you would have to buy some wings from the bitz sections and make your own, or I guess you could buy Morathi and use her Dark Elf Pegasus.

So, I was pleased to stumble across a Vampire Lord on a hellsteed on the  ManticGames website. I've never seen this company before but it looks like they produce Elf and Undead armies, amongst other things. The site itself is quite tidy looking and the miniatures are pretty decent quality.

Anyway, here's the blood sucking brute. Not bad at all and he should save me quite a bit of conversion time. The model isn't cheap but it's not too expensive either - it's £18 so it's roughly comparably to GW prices. The wingspan is actually a bit wider than it looks from this angle and the sword is pointing forward (as opposed to being broken !)

Their undead models are fairly good, esp the Reapers and Ghouls (which I guess look more like Zombies).

Image is © Mantic Games. All rights reserved. Used without permission.