Mantic Games Deadzone special characters unboxing/review

And finally some pics of the three special characters that were made in the last Deadzone Kickstarter.

Blaine finally got himself a jetbike:

The enforcers have a new character:

And also the veer-myns are getting something new: The Piper:

Mantic Games Pathfinders unboxing/review

For some reason the human armies always get more attention that the other factions, maybe they are more popular? Anyway here we go with another kit for deadzone/warpath: the Pathfinders.

• If you remember we saw the first pathfinder years ago (do you remember the dude on the monocylce bike?) now this sub-faction (which technically is another branch of the Corporation) has been expanded with more troops.
• Another great kit, my only concern is the design the of hips/lower torsos... the seem too long for me. But once assembled they don't look bad at all.
• The kit allows to make five pathfinders and one d.o.g. (which looks like a mix of Voltron and the robot form Boston dynamics).
• One of the trooper can be assembled as a leader and there are a couple of arms with different weapons.

Here you go:

Mantic Games Enforcer Jetbike: unboxing/review

One of the most teased kit of the last Kickstarter was the enforcer jetbike, and here it is!
(I personally can't see why it would make sense to have a jetbike in a skirmish game but the model looks pretty good so I'm not complaining much!)

• I'm not sure how the package will change in the retail version but the one I got came in a plastic bag with all the pieces already pre-cut.
• The kit contains the components for two jetbikes, the biggest problem (for me) is that there are no optional bits... you are supposed to build two identical models... (excluding the two weapon options provided)
• ... But one could easily swap some pieces from the enforcers sprue and add some minor changes here and there.
• The kit contains also a couple of transparent pegs of different heights (shown below).

Mantic Games Veer-Myn unboxing/review

Other two pretty cool kits came out from the last Deadzone Kickstarter: the Veer-myn!
These guys probably came out as a spin-off of the WH Skaven but after a couple of years they are getting their own identity and these plastic frames look great!

• The kits are designed to be used in both Deadzone and the upcoming Warpath.
• There are lots of different bits which allow to make pretty much all the units in the new edition of Deadzone (excluding maybe a couple of things)
• They are way more dynamic of the old "restic" veer-myn that were produced right at the beginning.
• Great quality, very few casting defects or moulding lines. It seems that the quality of Mantic's products is finally taking off!

This kit allows to build 5 veer-myn equipped as base troops or specialists:

And this other kit allows to make two nightmares (aka the big rat dudes), the legs for some reason (space?) are not on the sprue:

Mantic Games Steel Warriors: unboxing/review

The Steel Warriors are one of the new kits that Mantic Games produced with the Deadzone Infestation Kickstarter, below you can find a couple of personal comments about them:

• This is probably the best kit they produced so far, crisp details, very clean casting (there were just some minor issues with the shoulder pads) and they finally moved away from the goofy style of the earlier Forgefathers (do you remember the loincloth?).
• I had some minor issues during the assembly, like the two halves of the torso that don't fit perfectly... but this minor defect is invisible in the assembled models since the gaps are covered by the arms.
• I found them a bit difficult to assemble, there are some very tiny bits and some pieces don't match perfectly.
• They are designed to be playable in both Deadzone and Warpath, this kit contains enough pieces to build 5 troopers with rifles (they should be the "standard" Steel Warriors) or give everybody an heavy weapon (I guess in order to make the Stormrage veterans).

The first part of the kit is the frame that you can see below, it contains (from top to bottom): the shoulder pads, some different heads, the two halves of the torsos, the rifles, the arms and at the very bottom some extra bits.

And the second part are these bits in a plastic bag: a couple of torsos (for the leader), six pack packs (for the heavy weapons), five heavy weapons, an alternative rifle pointing forward an five pair of legs.

And someone (I guess from Mantic) posted on facebook an assembly guide:

Deadzone Plastic Sprues

I just got the new sprues from the third Deadzone KS shipment, pictures below!

This is the Enforcer sprue, it will replace the current resin enforcers starter pack. You will still need the resin models to make the engineer, medic, sniper and heavy with missile launcher.

The Forgefathers, they are completely new models not available in the current warpath range. They seems like a smaller version of the Iron Ancestor...

The Enforcer Peacekeepers, they are similar to the existing captain in armour but not exactly the same (different heads, weapon options and also the bodies are a little bit different)

Mars Attacks! Vehicles: the Giant Robot

Third vehicle available in Mars Attacks!: behold the Giant Robot!

• Like the flying saucer it seems more like a toy than a wargame model, some pieces have been already glued together in the factory and there are some mould lines quite visible.
• The design is quite original and embraces perfectly the Mars Attacks! retro/vintage theme.
• I personally hope that future Mantic's models for Warpath will look more like the Truck than The robot or the saucer, I can already think that some people might be upset by the quality of the model.
• I don't think that there are many ways of assembling the model, the legs are quite static and there isn't much you can do with the rest of the body.

	The main body with some sort of reactor/backpack.
	The legs, there is a peg at the bottom that will help to glue them on the base.
	Two set of arms and two upper arms, If you want to swap arms it's probably better to glue just the upper part to the body and leave the lower arms unglued...
	The transparent hull, two pilots and the shrinked marines! I guess they are used to track the effect of the shrinking ray.

Mars Attacks! Vehicles: The flying saucer

Let's talk a little bit about the flying saucer, shall we? This is one of the vehicles available to the Martians in Mars Attacks! I got mine from the kickstarter but I guess that in the upcoming months you will be able to find it in your local store too.

• This is a strange model, it looks more like a toy well done than a proper wargame model. The plastic is quite light and I think this is the first time I see something similar from mantic.
• The giant robot is using  the same material, the plastic is coloured with a grey/metal shade and most of the pieces are not attached to a sprue.
• It seems strange but some pieces have already been assembled, for example the main hull looks like it was casted in two pieces and pre-glued in the factory...
• Some pieces like the pilots and the transparent hull seems to be the same used for the giant robot

Mars Attacks! Vehicles: The Truck

I just got the second shipment of my Mars Attacks! kickstarter and I'm ready to snap some pictures!
I'm going to talk about the Truck (the only vehicle available to humans), I guess this is a good example of what we can expect from other similar products by Mantic in the upcoming future (i.e. next year warpath kickstarter...).

• As you can see from the pictures below some of the pieces are already cut while other stuff (smaller bits) is attached to a sprue
• The details are quite nice, the model itself is not detailed as other companies models but it's a step forward from mantic
• I haven't yet assembled the model, looking at it seems quite easy to put it together (I'll update this post with some pictures of the finished model once it's ready)
• I'm not a big fan of the closed windows, I would have preferred an open model... but it's just my personal opinion!
• It doesn't look sci-fi at all, It would be a great fit for a modern themed wargame

Mars Attacks! the terrain

I finally has some time to glue together the plastic terrain in the Mars Attacks! boxed game and this is the final result

• The MA terrain is compatible with the one for Deadzone
• The boxed set contains just the ruined terrain, the intact tiles were developed as part of the kickstarter but I didn't see them so far
• As said before the boxed game contains 4 bags of terrain, 2 (same content) have the walls, 1 has the accessories and 1 small bag contains the connector.
• Once I finished gluying everything I still had lots of connectors left over.
• The terrain can be assembled without using the glue but just using the connectors, It will be difficult to dissassemble the tiles since the connetors will most likely break when disassembling the terrain. 
• If you missed the kickstarter The Mars Attacks! game can be purchased either from Mantic or by a number of oline retailers like Wayland Games.

	This what you can assemble using the two bags of walls (note that the fence is actually from the accessories bag), as you can see there are no intact walls (just two are almost intact) and no floors.
	The content of the accessories bag (minus the fence displayed in previous picture)
	All the terrain in the boxed set layed out on the gaming mat

Mantic's Deadzone Stunt-Bot

The stunt-bot will be part of second shipment of the Deadzone kickstarter, some stores already have it for sale so if you are looking for more info keep reading!

• The stunt-bot is made of resin, it's probably the first time that I see a Mantic's model casted in this stuff. The details are better than the plastic used for other models and it seems less heavy.
• The model is made of fewer components than the Strider, this would make easier to assemble it but can be a problem if you want to customise the model... I don't see many ways of assembling it even because the box doesn't contain any optional components
• You can choose to glue the hatch either closed or open to show the goblin pilot inside, the pilot itself is a little bit different from other DZ Marauders models
• In the box there is a round mdf base like the one in the Strider's box 

	The main body with the legs, on the right you can see the hatch
	The upper part of the arms and the lower part with the weapon attached

And finally a picture of both models together, as you can see the Strider is taller while the Stunt-bot is wider 

 

Mantic's Deadzone Strider

The second shipment of the Deadzone kickstarter is imminent so you can expect more unboxing reviews in the upcomig months!

In the meantime I was able to put my filthy hands on some models I was waiting for a long time, in the next days I'm showing to you some details about the Corporation/Rebel/Plague Strider and the Marauder Stunt-bot

• The Strider kit is made of the same material of other DZ miniatures and like the other miniatures comes in a trasparent plastic bag with all the pieces pre-cut (so no sprues here)
• The model was quite clean, just the small parts (like the pilot's heads and arms) had some casting problems
• The kit makes possible to build either a corporation or rebel or plague strider, the frame of the model is the same but you can customise it with a different set of weapons, different pilots, different cockpits and some optional bits
• The kit itself is quite complex, it took my a while to figure out how to put it together. The whole model is made of 15-16 pieces plus some optional bits

	The models came in the "classic" plastic box used by other mantic's product. The one for the stunt-bot is bigger.
	The main body and the legs, everything is connected with spherical joints so you can change a little bit the pose of the model
	Three different cockpits: Rebels, Plague and Corporation
	The upper arms and the shoulder pads. All the weapons below are connected to the rest of the models with these upper arms.
	The weapon for the Corporation's Strider
	The weapons for the Rebel and Plague Strider, some sort of flamethrower and a chainsaw.
	The pilots bodies, arms and heads. As you can see the cast is not clean as the rest of the model
	Some optional bits
	Other optional bits
	The round base provided with the model is made of mdf (!). This is the same used for the corporation weapon's team (one of the first releases for Warpath)

 
And finally a picture of both models together, as you can see the Strider is taller while the Stunt-bot is wider 

 

Mantic's Immortal Guard unboxing/review

The new Abyssal Dwarfs Immortal Guard troop is a remake of the plastic/hybrid kit that mantic did some time ago. What I'm reviewing below is the free miniatures received from the kickstarter, for general considerations about materials and package check my previous reviews.

• way easier to assemble compared the old hybrid kit
• there isn't much variety, the only thing that change between one sollier and the others are the heads
• much more easy to put them in rank, with the hybrid kit it was very difficult
• the heads are the only thing not sculpted from scratch (they are the same of the hybrid kit, just the material changes)
• I'm not a huge fan of the torsos, I don't like how the armed weapon and the shield are connected to the body... I think that it might be almost impossible to convert the miniatures (swapping weapons with something else would be a mess)
• I'm not sure when they will be available for purchase at mantic's store

	Upper and lower bodies, the ones I got were all the same. Completely new sculpt from existing hybrid kit
	Lots of heads! Not sure if this heads/models ratio is intentional or it's a packing problem. Also not sure if weapons and shields are supposed to be all the same
	Finished models, much more easier to put in ranks

Mantic's Gargoyles/Harpies unboxing/review

It's time to talk about one of the most interesting kit done by Mantic in the kickstarter, the Gargoyles/Harpies Kit. (For general info about packaging and material just check my previous reviews)

• the same kit is used for both the Abyssal Dwarfs Gargoyles and The Twilight King Harpies, the only thing you can customize are the heads (there are several heads with horns for the gargoyles and several heads with long hair for the harpies)
• the miniatures are provided with a 25mm square base, this can be annoying if you want to use them playing warhammer
• due to the pose of the miniatures is quite difficult to properly arrange them in a unit, so try to arrange them before glue the minis to their base

	there are two kind of body and the kit contains 2X of one type and 3X of the other
	four different head styles, they should be useful to differenciate between harpies and gargoyles
	two different legs styles, both are attached to a column
	two different wings styles, as you can see the tail is attached to the wings
	the assembled miniatures, as you can see it can be difficult to arrange them in ranks