From the Painting Table 9

I've managed to get a little bit of painting in over the winter break and actually managed to finish off a couple of projects that I present below.

First is the Thranduil from GW's new The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug range.  He wasn't cheap or to be honest good value, but he is very nice.

This is a squad of Mantic Games corporation troopers, these have a dual role in my collection.  They actually come from the project Pandora boardgame I got cheap a while back, but will also be seeing service in my Imperial Guard army for 40K.

And finally this Loka earth rook which came from this years mantic crazy Christmas box.  I like this guy a lot and am quite tempted to get a set of the pieces now.

Mantic Crazy Christmas Box 2013

Another year and another random box of assorted goodies from mantic for a cheap price, a mere £20.  As it's still avaliable as I write this I thought some of you might like to see what the box contains.  Well at least what my box contains as mantic do say contents will very. 

This seems to have been put together as a sort of 'sampler' of mantics range with a bit of everything thrown in, so broken down by game system we have:

Kings of War:
- 10 x elf bowmen
- 10 x human spearmen/swordsmen
- 3 x ogres

Warpath:
- 5 x forgefather stormrage veterans
- 2 x marauders

Dreadball
- dozer, giant
- helder, MVP

Deadzone
- sorak
- yindi

Loka
- earth elemental

And I also got a copy of mantic journal 4 which includes a mantic point. 

The only thing to note is that no bases are included, but I have plenty of spares kicking around so it's no issue to me.

 

That's 35 mins for £20, really not a bad deal.  I don't have much use for the elves, but everything else will be useful, I'm particulary chuffed with the deadzone minis and the ogres.

Why You should Plegde On The Deadzone Kickstarter.......

Essentially because I have and the more of you that do the more freebies I get!  But seriously this is looking like a great deal for what you get with a lot of cool stuff.  Lets have a closer look.

Deadzone is mantic games latest game that is being launched on kickstarter, much like dreadball was, and like dreadball is written by the genius that is Jake Thornton.  Although it shares some basic mechainics with dreadball and is set in the same warpath universe, this is an elite skirmish game.  Something I've been wanting to add to my collection since the winter when it's too cold to play on my large table in the garage.  We tried a home-brew system, but well I'm no rules designer and this looks simple and elagant, but full of possibilities.

If you're going to pledge you should really be looking at the $150 (note thats dollars not pounds) strike team level which gets you the rules, a board, a bunch of scenary, 4 complete factions (plus a 5th one of your choice free!)  and some special chracaters (and hopefully soon some zombies).

Just on the amount of stuff you get it's good value, but I think the real value in this set is the versitily of it and the different ways it can all be used.  The core way of playing is as a standard skirmish battle game one on one trying to kill each other.  Fine.  Great.  But it's much more than that it also has a Mordheim/Necromunda style campaign system, which as we all know are a lot of fun.  It also come with the nexus-psi campaign which is a narritive camapaign using set models and objectives, currently 7 scenarios, although that might rise further yet if more poeple plegde, thats more scenarios than came in dwarf kings hold:dead rising which was a scenario driven game...  And thats not all, solo rules are in the works so you can blow up some.....

you'll get 5 zombies for free but 20 more for an extra $15 is hard to resist

Zombies!  Another great addition to the game is the shambling zombies that will attack all factions even the plague they are 'related' too.  Which means of course you have to fight the 'enviroment' as well as your opponent.  All in all thats a lot of value and gameplay variety from one set.

 

But I'm not finished.. all the models and scenary can also be used for sci-fi wargames!  The scenary will obviously easily translate and you can never have enough scenary  it's rather cool stuff as well thats deisgned to be assembled in many different ways.  The models will all have rules for warpath and I'm going to slot most of them into my 40K armies as well.  I already use enforcers in my imperial guard, the plague are going to make great mutated cultists and the bigger ones chaos spawn.  The rebs will make a fanatastic alt Imperial gaurd squad as well (probaly veterans) and although the marauders are orcs I'm tempted to use thoose ripper suits with guns as obliterators. 



Look at everything you get so far! 5 sci-fi zombies to be added soon as well and a whole week to go!

Pledge now!

40K - Imperial Guard Reinforcements

A whole bunch of new stuff for my 40K Imperial Guard detactment today.  Starting with this chimera APC.  This came second hand off ebay, and needed a bit of work to make it bearable (thats what I get for being a cheapskate), but it's come through in the end I think (even if I still don't like the dozer blade), and will proove very useful.

Next we have a squad of 6 ratling snipers, very useful and very characterful models, this is the third time I've painted this squad and I'm finally happy with it.

Next a catachan captain, this has always been one of my favorite models ever since it first came out.

Next we have a random ebay purchase.  Mantic have never said as much but these enforcers are clearly their take on space marines, jolly nice they are too, in fact when put next to a space marine the enforcers realistic proportions make the space marines look cartoony and a bit silly.  These won't be joining my space marine army but I'm planning to use them as count as storm troopers for the Imperial Guard. I might see if I can pick up another 5 cheap off ebay as well to complete the squad.

The detail on these is really great, they're made from mantic's plastic-resin material, which I'm afraid I'm going off of.  Sticking them together was a giant pain, and they lack the options a hard plastic sprue would provide.

And finally not technically Imperial Guard, but we have this rogue trader era Inquisitor, who I feel would make a nice 'counts as' for a HQ choice.

Warpath - Fate Of The Forge Star

 

A look at a random ebay purchase today, this time the warpath starter set fate of the forgestar by mantic games.  I've been buying stuff from mantic ever since they first appeared, and have generally been happy with what I've bought, this is my first foray into warpath though.

Apart from the models the set includes a rules booklet, which have the basic warpath rules on and some green dice.  The dice are great actually and it was nice to get a few of a different colour rather than just another bunch of white ones.  The rules booklet is less good, it's a bit to basic for a large scale battle game and just doesn't seem to provide that fun a game.  One thing lacking is any instructions for assembling the models, I've been doing this for a long time and had no issuses, but this is supposed to be a starter set and I can imgine a beginner being very confused what they're supposed to do with the giant pile of sprues. 

The main part of the box is of course the plastic models, you get 40 orx marauders and 15 forgefathers (only 10 forgefathers in later versions).  I like the style of the orxs quite a lot and although I've moaned about the plastic forgefathers in the past I like them a bit more now that I've actaully seen them in person.  The only problem really with these is the lack of variety, they come on either 2 or 3 man sprues, which leads to few options for making the guys look different from each other.

The set also contains a few 'premium' models made out of mantics 'restic' material. A squad of 5 forgefather stormrage veterans, a forgefather artillery piece and an orx trike.  The stormrage veterans are the highlight of the set and really rather nice.  The restic doesn't work so well for the two vehicles, the moulding seemed to be slightly warped and sticking them together was a real pain, these really should have been in hard plastic.

 

So now I've got these guys do I have a plan? Well of course I do, the forgefathers will be painted up in the same scheme as my squats and be used as counts as imperial guard to ally with my space marines, the cannon thing will then be used as a counts as thunderfire cannon.  The orx I'm going to paint with normal human flesh tones and use them as mutated chaos cultists for my alpha legion army.  I'm not 100% sure that it's going to come off but I'm going to give it a go.  I haven't thought of anything to do with the trike yet, it might go off to ebay to raise a couple of quid, or possibly get turned into a wreck for a terrain piece... suggestions welcomed.

 

 

Overall a bargin for £20, not so sure if I'd recomend it at full retail price though.  Compared to the Dark Vengeance boxed set this comes off poorly and feels like the budget set it is, still if you can get it at the price I did it's cheaper than a single space marine tactical squad!  I'm not going to start playing warpath though, these are definatly going into my 40K armies.

Mantic Journal 5 - The Last Journal

Iusse 5 of mantic's mini mag is very much the warpath issue, with almost all the space being dedicated to it. Mostly background information too, We get extensive background on the Marauders and the Forgefathers (and interestingly it looks like we have new squat Forgefather bikers on the way, I'm hoping these come out well), a couple of short stories, a scenario and some design notes.  All not bad actually, Kings of War players might feel a bit let down though only getting a single page about orc gore riders.  Of course companies have to promote their new products through their magazines, but it does grate on me when they basically ignore other major systems entirely.   As with the last issuse the highlight for me is the new scenario for Dwarf Kings Hold tucked away at the end, this is a multiplayer scenario based on one run by Jake at the mantic open day pitching dwarves vs undead, I've not had a chance to play it yet, but I like that fact that anywhere between 2 and 5 people can play.

This is also the last issue of the Journal, which I'm not that bothered about to be honest, I was undecided weather to renew my subscription anyway, and at least this has made my mind up for me, in the end all I'm really going to miss are the new dwarf kings hold scenarios.

The Warpath Forge Father Sprue

Mantic have finally posted a pic of the forge father steel warriors sprue, and a squad of ten models painted.  Each sprue contains 2 forge fathers, and a selection of heads and weapons.  The bodies, two of the heads and the hammer are taken from the kings of war dwarfs in the same manner as the marauder sprues.  I'm not against the resuing of parts in principle, but what I don't like is that I think the finished models look naff.

The new models, judge for yourselves

It's such a shame, the concept art was brilliant, as are the heavy weapons dudes and the hero model.  I really hope someone else likes these models as I want Mantic to continue to grow, but I think any thoughts of a forge father army I had have gone out of the window, as much as I like the elite stuff I have no desire to paint the basic grunts that would have to form the core of the army.  Heres hoping the corporation turn out better.

What good forgefathers look like

Images copyright Mantic Games, used without permission.

Warpath - Marauder Pricing

The release of pictures of the plastic orx marauders by Mantic games has caused a bit of a stir this week, and I'm afraid I'm going to add to it with a look at the pricing of the new marauders.

The new plastic Marauders with a Raptor

The smallest box of grunts avaliable comes in at £12.50 for 10 (I'm ignoring the 0.99 or 0.49 in this post as it makes the maths tidier and doesn't effect the point) and contains 2 three orc sprues and 2 two orc sprues including a heavy weapon.  The sprues are based on the sprues for the Kings of War orcs (not an iusse to me, although I can understand why some poeple are disappointed), so you would expect the prices to be similar.  The Kings of War orc ax comes in at £14 for 15 (or the equilent of £2.80 per sprue) and the greatax box comes in at £10 for 10 (or £2 a sprue).  The equilent warpath sprues at the smallest box level therefore should cost (2 x 2.80) + (2 x 2) = £9.60, or to be fair a tenner (like the cost of 10 greatax actually).  £2.50 seems a steep difference for models that are more than half the same and just have different plastic arms.

Marauder Concept Art

Considering that Mantic have reused parts from the Kings of War range to presumably save money, how come the models cost more? Do round bases cost a lot more than square ones maybe?  No and I think its a shame, I'm on the fence about starting Warpath at the moment, and I was never going to get marauders (the Forgefathers do appeal to me though), and this isn't going to encourage me.  One of Mantics biggest selling points to me is the price, and what looks like a 'Warpath surcharge' is very disapointing.

So no marauders for me and maybe no forgefathers either if they share the same pricing structure and reusing of parts.  If you want to sell me Warpaths minis Mantic I suggest you get Jake to write a Dwarf Kings Hold: In Space.

Images copyright Mantic Games, used without permission

Warpath Beta is Out

Mantic Games new Sci-Fi game rules beta is finally out and I've had a quick look over the rules and have decided to share my first thoughts on it.  This isn't intended to be a comprehensive review just a few thoughts on things I thought were interesting.

If I had to describe it in one sentenace I'd say think 40K crossed with Kings of War (KoW), which I reckon was pretty well the intention.

It's squad based much like 40K with minis being on indivivual round bases (i'm guessing for comerical reasons 25mm diameter).

Squad leader models are required and are quite important.  All models in a squad must be within 5" of unit leader, means units have a maximum footprint, this is the same no matter number of troops, so bigger units will potentially be more bunched, although I saw nothing about template weapons so this probaly won't matter.  The game also uses true line of sight based on weather the squad leader can see the target (ignoring own units models).

WS/BS combined into one attack characteristic, although the two types of attacks do have different strengths

Its I go you go, like 40k or warhammer, except that you only ever do things in your turn, this means of course thats it's also designed for chess clock use.  Which I think is a good thing, will most poeple use a chess clock for a normal battle at home? no of course not, but for tournaments or even when time is short ( a problem I often have) its a useful option.

Squad Heavy Weapons can fire at seprate targets.  What a revelation in common sense.

The Game has integral aircraft rules, which pop on and off the board, shooting and zooming off again.

Like in KoW heroes are seperate enities that can't join other units. Not so keen on this, but its not a big deal.

The army lists are also designed like KoW in needing solid units to include heroes/monsters/tanks/ordanace, but other than that giving free reign.

As with any wargame, a key feature in weather warpath will succead or not will depend largely on the model range, so far we have seen concept sketches for the Forge Fathers (space dwarfs) and Marauders (space orks) and I have to say I think the Forge Father ones in particular look rather spiffing, lets hope this game lives up to its potential.