Mantic Fantasy Games & General News & Rumour Roundup

[EmperorNorton]

I'm not saying the Mantic version is perfect either, too be honest, the DE sorceress from '98 is far superior to either, elegant but still malevolent.

Do you mean the one that looks like Maleficent? Because I would totally agree to that.

This one? Really?
She suffers from a pretty mean case of manface...

[BobtheInquisitor]

Well, the pose is nice. I didn't remember the face looking so strange, though, but all DE ladies suffer from the DE paint scheme to some extent.

The new GW has a much better face (even if some people still think it looks mannish), and her pose is pretty AoW-inspired, which is very good. The old one, though, looks like Maleficent. I guess nostalgia's a killer. In either case, she certainly looks more natural than the Mantic model and more refined in her cruel disdain than the new SoM model.

[MalusCalibur]

Ah, the Maleficent Sorceress is a great sculpt. Not perfect, but certainly the best one GW have ever produced. I can't understand all the love for the 'Storm in a Teacup' one, as it has the worst, most 'mannish' face I've ever seen on a Dark Elf.
The Mantic one, though, is much better. Not quite up to the AoW standards but I really like it all the same - I'll be picking one up.

[Kairob]

This is why I like that mantic don't mind people using others models. Anyone that wants mantics abyssal twilight elfkin but thinks aow sculpt are better can have aow characters.

[eldargal]

It is the eavy metal paintjob, I believe, they do stupid things to the face shading which makes the Elves look far more mannish than they are. They stopped doing it for Dark Eldar but they still do it for Dark Elves, wish I knew why.

Ah, the Maleficent Sorceress is a great sculpt. Not perfect, but certainly the best one GW have ever produced. I can't understand all the love for the 'Storm in a Teacup' one, as it has the worst, most 'mannish' face I've ever seen on a Dark Elf.
The Mantic one, though, is much better. Not quite up to the AoW standards but I really like it all the same - I'll be picking one up.

[Anarnaxe]

It is the eavy metal paintjob, I believe, they do stupid things to the face shading which makes the Elves look far more mannish than they are. They stopped doing it for Dark Eldar but they still do it for Dark Elves, wish I knew why.

Probably because the head of the 'Eavy Metal department decides the colour scheme, or approves any the people in the department come up with. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a list of what was allowed and not allowed for each army when they're painting it.

Back on topic, I'm really hoping they perhaps pick another name besides Abyssal for these new Elves. The name worked well with Dwarves because it fitted them, from the depths, darkness, etc. By the same token, Twilight Kin sounded to sparkley. I'm just hoping they don't decide that they want to make Abyssal their own version of Dark or Chaos.

[scarletsquig]

They were never called Twilight Elves, they were called Twilight Kin, which was an excellent name.

[Anarnaxe]

Edited and fixed.

[stonehorse]

I'm just hoping they don't decide that they want to make Abyssal their own version of Dark or Chaos.

Why? I personally think that it works quite well, it helps give a feel of a really dark and malevolent influence.

[Anarnaxe]

Why? I personally think that it works quite well, it helps give a feel of a really dark and malevolent influence.

Kinda meant in the way that some of the evil races usually end up getting Dark or Chaos slapped onto their name. Fair enough, it conveys the sense of dread or evil, but if its used too often, I dunno, it loses the impact it once had. But thats probably just me.

[André]

Do it like Rackham, their evil races were called Dirz/Syhar, Devourer, Akkyshan, Ophidian, Living Dead, Drune Celts or Mid-Nor Dwarves. The took some interesting names and slapped them on their minis and they stuck quite good without serving the usual clichees.

[mrtn]

I don't mind when people write down a few reasons why they don't like the miniatures, but "horrible and awful" brings nothing to the table compared to a slightly more detailed post. Doesn't have to mean writing an essay, just a few key words in brackets that describe what you specifically dislike. You want them to improve, but they won't if they can't form an idea about specifically what it is that some people dislike.

Well, I'm probably two years too late, but the biggest reason I dislike the elves are the gnarled sticks they're waving around. Elves should have intricately designed straight spears, not lumpy sticks without clear spearheads.

That said, I haven't seen them IRL, but I've seen enough photos not to want to buy any, so I'm not convinced "you should see them IRL" is a good enough counter.

[Morat]

Well they're not "lumpy sticks" really They're delicately worked and rune inscribed staffs with razor sharp crystal tips (though I ended up painting mine metallic before I realised this detail). If you take a look at these in the masters gallery you can see what can be done if you take the time to pick these out boldly.

http://www.manticgames.com/SiteData/...-Spearman.jpg9

Course, I wouldn't want to paint an army of 'em like that...

[scarletsquig]

They're delicately worked and rune inscribed staffs with razor sharp crystal tips

That design works well in the artwork, but not on the miniatures, where they do indeed look like lumpy sticks.

It's one of the main reasons why I stand by the opinion that the elf range failed during it's transition from 2d to 3d. Good concept art, drawn and displayed at A3 size does not always make for good minis which are a few centimetres tall.

[strewart]

So I just noticed on the Mantic Games home page there is a painted picture of the orc shaman and his fireball. Good to see some of the details of the model! Very nice. I couln't find him anywhere else so far though.

[Caiphas Cain]

Could someone link a pic to that? Mantics homepage takes seven (yes I counted!) minutes to load. It would save me much frustration .

[strewart]

Its on the rotating display thing so can't, however, I have taken a screenshot to upload here.

[André]

Ahem, I am the last to complain, but their photographs are a little bit counterproductive recently....

[DarthSte]

Yeah, I liked it more before I saw it painted. I'm not very interested in it now...

[Comrade Wraith]

Ahem, I am the last to complain, but their photographs are a little bit counterproductive recently....

Agreed, I can't tell for sure whether it's the photography or the paint jobs (I'm leaning towards the former), but I'm always far more impressed by the miniatures when I get them than when I see them on their website.... It's a shame because I think a few people might be put off by their pictures which don't really do the miniatures justice.