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Mantic Unpainted Plastics

TheAuldGrump

First Post
I have been busy painting a big pile of Mantic plastics, bought during one of their sales. Bought in an army set they are quite reasonable in price. The plastic figures are intended for wargaming, so individuality is not great, better for nameless opponents than either PCs or major NPCs. The rules for their fantasy wargame are included free, but since they can be downloaded for free on their website anyway.... Very short rules, not really to my taste, a trifle too simple for me. But, hey, free rules. :)

So far, I like the figures, some more than others. The undead in particular look quite nice when finished, with the zombies being very nice indeed. The zombies also paint up stupidly fast, only tatters of clothes, so a quick base coat, maybe even from a spray can, a one or two color paint job on the tatters, and a dip gets most of the painting squared away, just add details.

The zombies have a nice feel - in Pathfinder I would use them for either fast zombies or plague zombies - they do not look like they are lurching along slowly. They look more like they are screaming, leaping, and sprinting after prey. I painted these fellows more for a Fallout tabletop game than fantasy, but since they are dressed only in tatters this makes no never you mind.

The undead range manages to avoid the big hands and heads syndrome that is common to GW plastics, and their skellies look like they might actual fit inside of somebody.

Two general types of skeletons - skeletons (little or no armor) and revenants (armored). Parts are interchangeable, and there are a few spare bits of armor that can be used to upgrade the armor on a skeleton. These also come with what might be either undead dire rats or some sort of undead dog.

I really like the revenant cavalry, but they are a tad pricey for plastics. That said, I feel they are worth the price, and I have had fun chasing the adventurers through the woods with the command group out on a hunt. A lot less expensive than GW undead cav, but expensive.

Only two torsos and two pairs of legs for the ghouls, which is a shame, because they have a fair amount of character - nails have been driven through their flesh, and their expressions look quite mad. A small assortment of weapons, and three choices of head does help, as does the fact that the bits are interchangeable with the zombies. One hand is wearing a Freddy Krueger style clawed gauntlet.

Not enough poses for the dwarfs, but the figures themselves are good - heavy armor, flat topped helmets, the missile troops have rifles and/or crossbows, while melee troops have any weapon you like, as long as it's a hammer. :hmm: They also have a decent bulldog.

I have not done much with their elves yet, but their orcs are looking pretty brutal, I am looking forward to their release. :)

The Auld Grump
 

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Hmmm, looks like the orcs are focused on axes...

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The units are Axe horde - orcs with axes and shields, Moraxes - dual wielding axes, and greataxes, with two handed axes.... Interestingly, not all the Greataxes are wielding those great axes, some have them on their backs, and instead rely on a sword - the Greataxe units are 'hybrid' - a mix of plastic and metal pieces.
Orc-Greatax-Champion-Front-small-Mantic-Games.jpg


Orc-Greatax-Front-Large.jpg


Your standard Orc-About-Town is somewhat taller than a standard human, and much beefier. Like Games Workshop the more dangerous orcs tend to be even bigger.

The cavalry is mounted on dire boars, fairly vicious looking -
Mantic-Krudger1-394x221.jpg

(Image from Beasts of War)

Prices are definitely better on army deals - the standard Axe unit above is $45 for thirty orcs. The cav is $25 for three orcs on dire boars. By contrast, a small boxed army goes for $180, with a mix of 104 metal and plastic minis, including the wizard, the cav, and a decent sized horde of orc grunts.

I don't know how important most folks will find this, but Mantic ships their minis in foam lined plastic boxes, so the means for storing and transporting them is included with the figures.

Characters are metal, I am fond of the orc wizard - he appears to be using a Fly spell.
Wizard-Blog.jpg

Not sure that he put any ranks in the Fly skill though.... :p

The Auld Grump
 

love the orcs, but I can't really tell what the orc wizard is supposed to be - it almost looks like a dancing/off balance orc with a flying broom, and a small upside-down "familiar"

It took me several looks to find the orc's face on the green
 

love the orcs, but I can't really tell what the orc wizard is supposed to be - it almost looks like a dancing/off balance orc with a flying broom, and a small upside-down "familiar"

It took me several looks to find the orc's face on the green
Yeah, there used to be a better picture, but it seems to have vanished. The 'broom' is a staff, with a fireball shooting from the tip. The figure is balanced on the fireball, and the tippy toes of one foot.

If you could see the face, the mouth is open and obviously shouting something, while his familiar is being flung about as the wizard hurls himself about the skies, it is hanging on to the wizard's cloak for dear life. (Thus my comment about not having put any points in the Fly skill. He is flying with speed, but an amazing lack of grace.)

It is actually a very entertaining picture, and I intend to change the image when I can find a better one. :)

I also have their 'Show Special' for elves - the elves are very thin, with their joints in not quite the same places as humans, they look like a very unpleasant bunch. The kind of folks that humans call 'good neighbors' to keep them from showing how very much bad neighbors they can be.

Oddities about the elves abound - one is their 'Bolt Thrower'. I thought that their bolt thrower was a very badly designed ballista, until I saw an illustration of it, and realized that it had a muzzle brake.... It isn't a ballista, it's a freakin' harpoon gun, made to look like a badly designed ballista. :confused:

Not that it is all fun and games though:
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Merry-Go-Round-Wyverns? :hmm:
They are a hefty lump o' pewter, but....

On the flip side, I have had a lot of fun with their undead cavalry, a very atmospheric unit.
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Mantic has just moved their warehouse, and are having a sale as a result on odds and ends that they had misplaced before the move. Not big things - mostly a few elves (Scouts, Bowmen, or Spearmen - 10 for $7.50), and tools (plastic clippers $4.50). I use their clippers a good deal, they make removing figures from their frames so much easier. I never realized how big a difference they made until I owned some that were sent free with a previous order.

The Auld Grump
 

At Gencon 2009 Mantic was giving away a sprue of two Elf Scouts at their booth and they let me snag a couple. Then, throughout the weekend, I stumbled across four more at places where they'd been dumped or dropped or left behind at tables, so I have twelve of the little guys waiting to form a unit or archers in some army or other. I like that they are thin and not proportioned as just slightly smaller humans.
 

At Gencon 2009 Mantic was giving away a sprue of two Elf Scouts at their booth and they let me snag a couple. Then, throughout the weekend, I stumbled across four more at places where they'd been dumped or dropped or left behind at tables, so I have twelve of the little guys waiting to form a unit or archers in some army or other. I like that they are thin and not proportioned as just slightly smaller humans.
None of their nonhuman races have human proportions, which is a good thing - from their spidery elves to the flat headed dwarfs to the hunchbacked orcs.

I got a free sprue of the orcs with my elves, nice. :) I still prefer the Reaper Reven orcs, but these are quite good. This is a good time for folks who like orcs - from GW to Reaper to Mantic to Wargames Factory. Lots of brutal variety.

I also have some of the dwarf berserkers.... Not just fat, like GW dwarfs, but flabby, the fat hanging down in a fairly disgusting manner, there is stretch and sag. I liked them. They look like out of shape weight lifters.

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The Auld Grump
 

Cool. I see [MENTION=1129]JoeGKushner[/MENTION] painted up some Reven Orcs about three months ago (posted them then anyway) for his excellent painting blog here -

52 Weeks, 52 Miniatures: Reaper Orcs and one Grenadier Pig

I used a bunch of prepainted SW Gamorrean Guards for large army combats because of their pig-faced nature. Those Reven Orcs might be just what I need for more specific orc minis in the future. Thanks!

I have perhaps nine different miniatures lines represented in my HotT Dwarf army (I really need to take some pics of that) but no Mantic . . . yet! I very much like the look of those Berserkers. The bulk, pardon the expression, of the rank and file of the HotT army is Old Glory with some Megaminis mixed in for variety, but there are old Grenadier, Ral Partha, Reaper, and some I have yet to identify, picked up from auction lots and such.
 

Cool. I see [MENTION=1129]JoeGKushner[/MENTION] painted up some Reven Orcs about three months ago (posted them then anyway) for his excellent painting blog here -

52 Weeks, 52 Miniatures: Reaper Orcs and one Grenadier Pig

I used a bunch of prepainted SW Gamorrean Guards for large army combats because of their pig-faced nature. Those Reven Orcs might be just what I need for more specific orc minis in the future. Thanks!

I have perhaps nine different miniatures lines represented in my HotT Dwarf army (I really need to take some pics of that) but no Mantic . . . yet! I very much like the look of those Berserkers. The bulk, pardon the expression, of the rank and file of the HotT army is Old Glory with some Megaminis mixed in for variety, but there are old Grenadier, Ral Partha, Reaper, and some I have yet to identify, picked up from auction lots and such.
If you like pig headed orcs then you may want to look at Otherworld Miniatures, who have a line of Pig-Faced Orcs. (Very retro miniatures, I think some are based on 1e AD&D illos.)

The Auld Grump
 

If you like pig headed orcs then you may want to look at Otherworld Miniatures, who have a line of Pig-Faced Orcs. (Very retro miniatures, I think some are based on 1e AD&D illos.)

The Auld Grump

And Otherworld is having a sale right now so it's a good deal.

In terms of Pig-Face though, the Reven Orcs, at least the big ones, kinda are Pig Face. No normal looking faces on those suckers.
 

Wow! Lots of cool figs from Otherworld Miniatures. That Giant Alliance is pretty tempting in particular and the shipping seems very reasonable, too. Thanks again!
 

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