Mantic Games (Video)

Hi guys!

I just stumbled upon this company called Mantic games, who will be launching their game "Kings of War" soon.

From the looks of the website, the few preview miniatures and the brief interview, this seems like a pretty awesome new thing coming up.

I love their idea of regiment boxes being usable as carrying cases (what an awesome concept!!!) and in principle I like the look of their elves (save for a few details, but they may actually look better in real life).

They seem to be aiming at a rather reasonable price too. €19 for 20 miniatures is pretty OK, considering the quality (it seems) and the carrying case included.

I think this is a company to keep one's eye on for further developement. I don't want to start a
hype, but IF (big "IF") their subsequent miniature releases look cool, I might actually seriously consider buying some of these.

Anyway, something to keep an eye out for

Cheers,
AT

Thanks for the link, Tom. Definately something to watch for.

Thanks!

My pleasure Eth. Now of course, I hope that their game system is also somehow original. They are aiming at mass battles, a concept which can be huge fun in my experience (the type of battles where you have at least 4 players and need to set up units behind one another in order to fit them on the table are usually the most fun and memorable ones )

But if it's WHFB all over again: no thanks.

Also, I'm pretty eager to see how their undead will turn out...

I'm really really not a fan of those elven minis, but damn do I need those boxes for lugging about my mordheim gangs!
Hmm.. thick DVD cases should be locally available anyways.. wonder if I can get hold of some foam useful for the occasion. Designing the cover for those boxes could be fun!

Here's a closeup of one of the elves:

Well, of course, the audio portion was lost on moi, but the minis look cool. As far as LARGE SCALE WAR GAMES...been there, done that, &, now, I'd rather eat worms than paint up a BIG army . HOWEVER, for those fols who HAVEN'T been or done, I'd HIGHLY recommend trying a game of this style at least once...it's an experience not to be missed by any serious gamer.

@FKSN: check out the Chessex cases available from http://www.thewarstore.com/chessexfigurecases.html . They're War Band sized, foam filled, HARD cases...from personal experience HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The War Store does International shipping at a reasomable rate.

I agree with FKSN... having a second look at the elves, they do look a little shitty. I hadn't looked at the close-up.

Also, Deaf is right: Mega-battles are certainly not something you can do every second week (not only because usually you paint for a few years before being able to field enough troops), but doing this at least once, is a must.

1. This elf looks totally lame.

2. What's so awesome about a XXL DVD box to keep your minis in? Any more 'regiment box' suitable than a common GW box? Nope.

No innovation in sight from where I am sitting...

What's so awesome about a DVD box? It's the perfect excuse to design DVD covers for your warbands.. and that's a prefect excuse to get some really cinematic photos of said warbands going!

Fitting my warbands for various skirmish games onto the DVD shelves would go a long way towards making this little 1-room appartment look a bit more civilized and less like a grognard basement as well

FKSN wrote:

Fitting my warbands for various skirmish games onto the DVD shelves would go a long way towards making this little 1-room appartment look a bit more civilized and less like a grognard basement as well

Ha ha. Good point!

cianty wrote:

2. What's so awesome about a XXL DVD box to keep your minis in? Any more 'regiment box' suitable than a common GW box? Nope.

There are LOTS of army cases by various manufactures [see 1 example in my post above]; some are MUCH better than GW's & some less so. In this thingy you can find just about exactly what you want & what you want to spent.

Some new releases can be seen here: http://wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?t=8171 . The Point Eared Ones look cooler than I originally thought.

These seem to be the Marmite of the new releases. Some people love them, others hate them. I'm on the fence and will have to see them in person, so to speak. I like the approach the company is taking and the prices are just amazing, so I ordered a regiment to show my support & get a closer look at the models. They're shipping Monday apparently, so I'll post some more thoughts then.

yea.. I like pretty much everything I've seen so far about the company and the release.. except the models. I'll just hold out hope for the next army

Gibius wrote:

These seem to be the Marmite of the new releases

LOL

Gibius wrote:

They're shipping
Monday apparently, so I'll post some more thoughts then.

Please do!

Ok, so these arrived today.

Let me start with the fact that I cannot state enough just how great these look compared to the pictures on the website. I know a lot of people have been disappointed with the images, but the models themselves are awesome! They're true 28mm scale, so until they bring out more races, using them for Warhammer will look a bit silly. However, I like to think they'll do their own game system and fluff. I look forward to painting these guys up.

Can't state enough how poor the pictures are compared to the real life elves. Shame about the paintjob on the site as well...

Thx for the follow-up Gibius.

If it's not too much trouble, maybe you could snap a few pics of the minis? See if those come out better?

I'm intrigued, but other than in Lord of the Rings I'm really not an elf player so this army just didn't grab my attention. I am interested to see what they'll do next, though.

As to the miniatures themselves, I really like the aesthetic, much more than GW's Warhammer elves, but they're just a bit too spindly for me. I know elves are supposed to be lithe and tall and all that, but these guys look a bit "twiggy" for my tastes. If they were slightly more normally proportioned I'd probably consider getting a regiment to convert into a warband.

I do like the extra-thick DVD case idea, how well was it implemented? Can you (Gibius, since he's apparently our go-to guy for info on these) realistically see yourself putting it to good use?

Tom, I'll try my best to get some pics, but I'll have to steal my camera off my mum when I next visit her - she took it on holiday with her, I've yet to get it back.

Myntokk, the case is pretty good but I don't think it'll offer much protection once the models are assembled & painted. Though very nice, the foam slides are just that, foam sheets that slot between the sprues when you open the case.

However, the presentation is great, and I'm very happy with the product - comes with a nice leaflet/poster, full colour with some nice fluff & artwork.

These elves are quite skinny/spindly but I think this will match up well compared to other 28mm games. I'll take a picture of an elf next to a Warlord Games celt to show a sense of scale. Maybe I'll chuck in a random Warhammer figure too. I think the lithe look of them will be effective when the other ranges are out, as they'll have a more in depth sense of scale.

Not sure if that last paragraph made any sense. Sorry.

I saw this website a few nights ago and they do look very good for plastic figures and such. Though not a huge Elf fan...Old grudges you know, It will be something to keep an eye on.

I was thinking about buying a few of their bolt throwers to mount in a glider ship I've been wanting to build (bit of a departure from the fluff there). They've got a neat vertical mount, a bit like the Dark Elf Bolt Thrower, which would conserve space I suppose. They're also cheap enough to experiment with.

The models themselves look decent to me, and I love the prices, but I don't think they'll look quite right next to the chunky Warhammer style models I already have so many of. Plus, I think they'd freeze to death dressed like that in my mountains. :3

Drugart wrote:

I saw this website a few nights ago and they do look very good for plastic figures and such. Though not a huge Elf fan...Old grudges you know, It will be something to keep an eye on.

This DOES portend well for the future...you can't have Elves with out Dwarves to keep them in line.

I recieved a sprue of them with my Mealstrom order (promotion, I guess) and they look great! way more elf-ish then the games workshop ones!
really, they are soo thin and look very agile. oohh the possibilities !
and check this out : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEsnuqxQeI0

Aren't these some of the prettiest Ghouls you've ever seen??

They REALLY are COOL...pretty might be pushing it a bit. I rather like the clothed look better than the naked fiends from GW...of course that's just my take on it.

Yes, they are bautiful. But only two poses, that's just too few. Sadly.