Topic: Other Manufacturers

[Shadowlord]

Hopefully they will be the same size and style as GW greatswords, .........and preferably cheaper.

Without Kickstarter I am certain they wouldn't have made it.

The biggest reason for me getting these is not of price, it is that they are plastic puffy n' sleeve, and I do not have to scour ebay for stuff for my greatsword converted state troopers.

[Timbor]

I would imagine them to be the same scale as their metal troopers.  Do the metal pro gloria miniatures match up with the GW greatswords?

[Akbar]

Not to good I´m afraid. GW:s are a slightly higher and much bulkier.

[Mathi Alfblut]

Well, you can still hope cause they look promising!

Shame I have decided to back away from collecting more Empire. Too expensive and too much bulk. Plus I look too sexy in tiara and white dres to ever go back to that uncomfortable cod-piece.

But I am dreaming, wishing and hoping for someone to make late romans. But I guess I have too keep dreaming about plastic late romans.

[Midaski]

But I am dreaming, wishing and hoping for someone to make late romans. But I guess I have too keep dreaming about plastic late romans.

Have you looked at the Gripping Beast "Dark Age Warriors"?

It claims to be a fairly generic set - I suppose the heads are the critical factor, if there are enough with suitable neat haircuts. I bought a box, and planned to use greenstuff to add the sort of British Romano style hats/caps.

 

[Timbor]

I heard somewhere the west wind heads (which are metal) fit ok onto those GB guys:

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=165

Looks like they have 30% off the arthurians currently as well!

[Mathi Alfblut]

I am afraid that the heads and most of all the shields is a problem. While the romans did use round shields, the norm was still large oval shields.

[cjp]

Tercio Creativo is coming out with an Armadillo.

While their infantry is too big to use along side Citadel stuff, that might not be as much of an issue with a rennaissance tank since the size can vary a lot 




From their blog, and dubiously translated by google:

"Here you are the chassis for Armed Wagon, finished, and pieces for Armadillo model. Although we'll add some more additional pieces as lamps, chains, flags or trapdoors, it is those are the basic pieces."

[Darknight]

I am liking those that are the basic pieces, and it is the thinking of me that the more additional pieces such as the lamps and the chains and the opening for the trapdoor closings will increase the superior.

[arjunstc]

Not sure if someone has already posted this:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warploqueminiatures/arcworlde-the-fantasy-skirmish-wargame



The grifflings are useful.

[DariusZero]

new Mantic basileans, suitable for empire. They are metal!





http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Advance-Orders/Advance-Order-Basilea.html?utm_source=Mantic+Games+Newsletter&utm_campaign=962606267c-Mantic_Games_Newsletter_221&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_20fe4cf5a8-962606267c-201374917

[Darknight]

I want to see sprue pics, or them painted by someone else - those don't look as bad as they did (new pictures?) but they really aren't as nice as they could be.

[Silver Wolf]

I've had high hopes for Mantic's human faction, but they've turned out to be so much different than the Empire.
A big disappointment in my opinion.

They remind me of Heroes of Might and Magic way too much.

[Darknight]

They have a kind of "Prince Valliant" look to them; a sort of generic fantasy world of high magic and heroes. Some of them might work as Bretonnians, IF the Bretonnians fielded footknights. The strongly religious overtones are nice, but they are more medieval crusader / King Arthur than Renaissance Germanic.

[Silver Wolf]

Yes, that's it.
HOMM 3 and 5 fit that description too.

What bothers me is that most their models are still bad.
Zombies and werewolves are amazing.
Ghouls, orcs and chaos dwarves are fine even though some of them lack detail.
Basilean paladins look really nice, but they're more suitable for D&D than tabletop games (other than Mantic's Kings of War). The rest of Basileans is just uninspiring.

40k equivalents look much better than their fantasy stuff.
Especially the rats.

But elves, dark elves and dwarves are just bad. The elves are in fact horrible.
Both as concepts and as miniatures.

[Darknight]

I'm also not sure about those angel things - the human faction seems to be exceptionally specific; is there no "just blokes" army?

[Dosiere]

I am also underwhelmed by the human Mantic stuff.  They really should just do new elves or get rid of them - they are that bad.

I must say though having browsed their website just now that their Orc and Goblin stuff is actually pretty good.

[Cal1989]

The Twilight Kin Sorceress is a nice model, well for a dark elf army I did prefer the Raging Heroes kit though. Has anyone got any experience with the Avatars of War range?

[Silver Wolf]

I've seen a few of their heroes.
They have much more detail than most of GW's stuff.

[Shadowlord]

Those Mantic. 

They just stopped my plans to go 100% Warmachine to Kings of War instead.

Basils here I come!

[Von Trinkenessen]

They have a kind of "Prince Valliant" look to them; a sort of generic fantasy world of high magic and heroes. Some of them might work as Bretonnians, IF the Bretonnians fielded footknights. The strongly religious overtones are nice, but they are more medieval crusader / King Arthur than Renaissance Germanic.

Hit the nail right on the head Darknight.
Or I call it american D & D twee, apologies to american gamers ( you know which sculpting styles I mean) not gritty and dark in the slightest .
Reminds me of the early 1980's fantasy humans which is why I used some of the first Chaos warriors as foot knights in my early armies.
One of my sons calls them human high elves 
A great pity now we have to wait and see what the avatars of war humans finally look like.

[Victor]

Yes, that's it.
HOMM 3 and 5 fit that description too.

Nah. Heroes of Might & Magic III is awesome (the sytle was a bit different). This Mantic stuff isn't.

[scarletsquig]

I want to see sprue pics, or them painted by someone else - those don't look as bad as they did (new pictures?) but they really aren't as nice as they could be.

Here you go:



They're bloody terrible and I say that as someone who is a fan of Mantic's stuff.

Which is a shame since the paladins and paladin knights are extremely nice miniatures:



Mantic's main problem is that they have exactly one good sculptor... if it's not sculpted by Remy Tremblay, it's often crap.

[Timbor]

That does look rather bad...  the way the pants sit makes him look like he is a rapper.  Glad I traded out my basileans from my KoW pledge.  Though maybe I should not have pledged for KoW in the first place... 

[DariusZero]

Despite the proven lack of quality of the human mantic stuff, I'm still playing with the idea of getting the grandmaster on lion fig, on the pics it looks decent enough, the priest with long hair as well. I'm not sure about the paladins, even the prepainted plastic Rackham humans look much better, and they are basically free to take, if you can find them....