Mantic SciFi Games News and Rumours Roundup

[Darsc Zacal]

This is a News and Rumours Roundup for Warpath and Mantics other Science Fiction Tabletop Miniature games.

Fantasy and General Mantic News and Rumour Roundup thread, can be found here.

These SciFi rumours have been updated as of March 12th, 2012.

Recent updates are in Green. Sources are from a combination of contacts within Mantic, hobby industry insiders, video and online interviews, with the odd tidbit picked up from this and other forums, and Mantics own Newsletter and Website.


PROJECT PANDORA

-Release expected for April 2012.
-A "Dwarf Kings Hold in Space" style of boardgame.
-10 models each of the Corporation and the Veer-myn
-Full colour tiles like Dwarf Kings hold – as many floor tiles as in Dead Rising (although a couple are used as room features rather than tiles (e.g. blocking LOS))
-Dice, counters, rulebook etc.


WARPATH MINIATURES


MARAUDERS (Space Orcs)
- The best shock troops (and mercenaries) in the galaxy. Trained from barbarians by the Corporation, but broke away (violently) and now work for themselves. *The A-team of Warpath.


FORGEFATHERS (Space Dwarfs)
- Elite space Dwarfs based on Norse mythology. Only race powerful enough to stand up to the Corporation.


Iron Ancestor Concept Art


THE CORPORATION (Humans)
- Oppressors, intrigue, bribery, assasination, think East India Trading Company, expansion of the British Empire.


Corporation Ranger


Rangers on Patrol


Corporation Marines


Major General and Heavy Weapons Teams.

- The first Corporation vehicle will like be something "Hummer" like.
- Ronnie has said that any tank kits Mantic might do will likely be straight resin and that they would not be cheap, but that they just might have something out in 2012.


THE 8TH RACE (Vermynn)

Concept art for the upcoming Night Spawn.


Veer-Myn Nightcrawler Champion


Veer-Myn Nightcrawler

- The full army release for Veer-myn is planned for May.
- A Veer-Myn Dossier will be featured in one of Mantics Newsletters in late March.


REBS (Mixed Races)
- Breakaway from the Corporation, plus a variety of non-human races. *A rebel alliance, which may or may not involve psychic trickery and glow-in-the-dark swords. *The entire cast of the Cantina bar. *List will start mostly human (70%) but will look towards encompassing lots of aliens. *Also, could be a testing ground for new unit types.
- Order and date of release unkown.


ZZ'OR (Bugs)
- The hivelike alien menace - think Aliens, Nids, Zerg. But more buglike. Not approachable.
- Order and date of release unknown.


THE PLAGUE (Space Zombies)
- Alessio is more of a fan of slow zombies. Think Resident Evil's genetic experiments, Dawn of the Dead. Plague causes nervous system damage most of the time, creating Zombie Hordes, although in rare cases it causes random mutations.
- Order and date of release unknown.


ASTERIANS (Space Elves)
- Based very much on the concept of Grey Aliens. Superfast ships, turn up, take specimen, vanish. They have pointy ears.
- May have an ingame teleportation ability.
- Order and date of release unknown.



-Below are examples of concept art for some of the possible upcoming Warpath vehicles. Just click on the links below.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...TY/beasts1.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...TY/beasts3.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...TY/beasts2.jpg


That's all I have for now, but expect more updates shortly. Thanks to Mantic and all those who contributed.

[mattjgilbert]

Good work Darsc

I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops. Hopefully we'll also get some titbits at the Mantic open day.

[strewart]

They look very interesting. I can't really say too much since it is just a few sketches, but very promising.

Details in the video pretty much said nothing, they didn't even confirm that this was definitely the start of the Mantic sci-fi line. Of course, chances are it is, but still. No information except that it is coming, and these sketches now.

[AlexHolker]

Reposted from the other thread:

Dog-thing
This is silly. It looks like a dog mecha that's had its rear half disabled and now is rolling around on a mecha-sized dog wheelchair. If you want to use this sort of aesthetic for one of the units, I'd suggest a centauroid design: a mecha with a more conventional humanoid torso mounted on a tracked chassis.

Walking glass bubble
Er... very sci-fi, but not something I have any inclination to buy.

HUM-VEE
My favourite of the vehicles, because it doesn't add anything silly for its own sake. If it's a plastic vehicle scaled for human use and not dwarves, I would definitely buy these. My preference would be for something that can be built as a wheeled vehicle or a half-track with an extended cabin to carry 10 men. Basically, if I have an excuse to use it as an Immolator or a Repressor, I'm happy.

Mobility scooter and trike
I think the scooter looks ridiculous - the closest I'd use is a lightweight, disposable grav-vehicle for the rapid deployment of power armour. The trike is better - it looks like it has a purpose by providing a fast, lightweight chassis for the cupola-mounted guns. But like MalusCalibur said, lose the helmets, or at least put in enough heads that they're optional.

[Darsc Zacal]

I agree with you on the dog thing. I just don't get it.

I find the bubble walker interesting. That's something I'd like to see taken beyond the concept stage.

The variations on the humvee and the dwarf vehicles... Are okay, they just don't strike me as being very futuristic in their design. And I'm hoping those dwarves were drawn in a fantasy style simply because no scifi design for them had been settled on yet, and they just used them for purposes of scale and positioning within the vehicles.

[Darkover]

I must say I like some bits of it but I'm not too sure about some other parts.

Overall the concepts look a bit like a weird mix between High-Sci-Fi (if there is something like that) and Low-Sci-Fi. I'm pretty sure we won't be seeing all of those things in the final design.

I like the front of the dog, but the track-end looks a bit strange and seems like it would leave the front legs rather useless.

And please, Mantic, give the dwarves themselves a look that is a little bit more different from the KoW-dwarves. The heads look too similar for me at the moment.

Cya!

[bert n ernie]

I don't see a huge problem with there being space-dwarves. I can understand why Mantic would want to fill a gap in such a market, considering there are a fair few people who would like to own a Squats army. I think that if they go on to emulate each of the 40k races (space Orks especially) they could loose any semblance of originality, and harm their space line for the chance at leeching off another space line.
Too much fantasy in the line and people will have no reason to play their sci-fi game, and will only buy the models as 40k replacements(not a good thing IMO).

It's a tough line to toe, and I hope they do it well.

As to the concept sketches:
I can see why non-thundercats fans don't like the dog vehicle. It is a bit odd, but as a concept sketch I really like where they are going with it. Keep in mind that in 40k(epic at least) you can have walking castles, and walking giant wolves.
I think Darkover has it right though. The front and back really do not match.

The bubble vehicle looks fine to me, and looks like it could be a stand in for a sentinel, or some similar vehicle. I actually prefer it to the humvee.

I think the space Dwarf fast vehicles are good. I am not sure they're quite there yet (why would a bike have tracks instead of wheels for instance? That seems too like GorkaMorka to me). However they look great.

Overall I think the walking bubble would be a definite buy for me, while the others I'd have to wait and see how they develop.

Sorry for going on with my own opinion there. I just wanted to say they're nice. I think this could be very interesting, and if they have a simple sci-fi rule set I may actually play some sci-fi games instead of just owning models like I do now.

[André]

Dog-thing
Erm... NO! This looks more like one of the worse Transformers-designs and I really would have a problem fielding it without getting strange comments whether I have stolen it from my nephews toy box...

Walking glass bubble
Interesting idea but there are better designs out there (AT-43, Dust Tactics, GW, etc.

HUM-VEE
Nice idea, but too nowadays. I would stay away from designs that look to contemporary or at least would go for the STRYKER or BOXER designs.

Mobility scooter and trike

Now we are heading somewhere, but the trike is a little bit unprotected. The scooter looks really nice.


Suggestion

Nearly all good designs that are accepted by gamers are rooted in believability, i.e. they should make sense in their respective sourrounding. The dog thing is just too way off and nobody would sit in a glas bubble walker on a battlefield, even with advanced techology, also the drive-system does not really work the way it is drawn. There is also a reason todays military consider the HumVee one of the worse designs and over 16.000 of them had to be recalled from Iraq and be replaced with STRYKER etc.
Just have a look at GWs Chibihawk. They went slightly beyond believability and got quite some comments about it. Their tank designs are WWI with some WWII elements and though not everyone might love them by heart their are still believable.

[Darkover]

Interesting idea but there are better designs out there (AT-43, Dust Tactics, GW, etc.

At-43, seriously? Their stuff was ok, but It might be a bit early to say its design is better than this, relying only on a loose concept. And putting a sherman tank on legs is not quite a great step in creativity imho...

Believability is a good point though. Once things start to look odd even for a sci-fi setting, you usually have a problem. But I would definitely not see the WW 1 and WW 2 design of GW's tanks as a plus. 40.000 years and almost no technological improvements? This might be acceptable if one takes the background of 40k into account, but for a "normal" sci-fi setting I could easily live with a little more high-tech!

I'm definitely curious, can't wait to see some greens.

Word is that the races will use the current bodies and heads from KoW sprues and then just have new amr variants and backpacks.

Not a wise decision... The dwarven heads definitely don't fit into a sci-fi setting, this would look plain stupid. Please Mantic, do yourself a favour and drop this idea asap!

[AlexHolker]

why would a bike have tracks instead of wheels for instance? That seems too like GorkaMorka to me

It's easier to steer a wheeled vehicle than a tracked vehicle, and it's harder to bog a tracked vehicle than a wheeled vehicle. A half-track combines the advantages of both.

[bert n ernie]

It's easier to steer a wheeled vehicle than a tracked vehicle, and it's harder to bog a tracked vehicle than a wheeled vehicle. A half-track combines the advantages of both.

I wasn't thinking of that. I assumed that they would be too slow for recon(and it looked like a recon bike to me). However if it's purpose is not solely recon, then it sounds like you and Andre know of other uses for such a vehicle.

I honestly think that these vehicles do look like they are supposed to be for separate reaces. The Humvee certainly doesn't mix with the others, nor does the bubble walker. The trike with tracks could, feasibly be from the same army as the Thundercats moving base, but the base would need some adjustment.

I personally think these sketches aren't too bad, but could produce some very nice vehicles. I'm just worried that they will be manned by Space Orks and Space Elves. I kind of like the idea of the Space Dwarves, and since they aren't technically a GW range anymore I see no problem with them being made.

[Darkover]

About the "dog-tank": Considering the fact that we all don't know the real size of this thing: maybe it is an infantry-sized robot?

This thing doesn't necessarily have to be a huge tank, it would also work as a small hunter-robot (anybody remember the Doom movie and the demon with the wheelchair?).

In that case I would however reduce the size of the track-section significantly.

[lord marcus]

About the "dog-tank": Considering the fact that we all don't know the real size of this thing: maybe it is an infantry-sized robot?

This thing doesn't necessarily have to be a huge tank, it would also work as a small hunter-robot (anybody remember the Doom movie and the demon with the wheelchair?).

In that case I would however reduce the size of the track-section significantly.

It could also be the sci-fi dwarven pet

[DarthSte]

The dog thing reminds me of the base/thing from Thundercats.

[canadasteve]

Word is that the races will use the current bodies and heads from KoW sprues and then just have new amr variants and backpacks. So Orcs will look the same as will Dwarves. This came from someone who has seen some of the three-ups apparently.

[strewart]

Word is that the races will use the current bodies and heads from KoW sprues and then just have new amr variants and backpacks. So Orcs will look the same as will Dwarves. This came from someone who has seen some of the three-ups apparently.

I hope not. I know Mantic have a lot of projects going at once, and fairly limited resources, so they need to cut some corners, but really if you are going to enter the rather strong and demanding sci-fi market, you have to do it properly and very well. If they can't do that yet, its probably better to just wait a year or two rather than releasing some KoW conversion kits and calling it a system.

[André]

Their design was believable, and that is what counts, noone said that they should just copy their stuff. And it is best to point out weak design concepts when they are in anearly stage so they still can be altered. In the end the minis have to suit the gamers and not the company.

BTW, it is not a sherman but a fusion of a Sherman turret and elements from a Stuart tank, with elements found on other tanks. They did not just put stuff together but made sure that it works believable and looks good. The walker here has its legs right in the cockpit, and instantly I ask myself where the drive-system connects to those legs, also noone would connect the energy system of a walker in a wasp-tail compartment to the rest of the walker.

Also, there are some design elements that never change, even after thousands of years because you can`t get away from physics. Angled armor, minimized shilouhette etc. Sure GW strays of the path, but all in all most of their designs stay with what has turned out good during those wars.

@tracked
Check out the German tracked motorbikes from WWII, they came in quite handy when transporting stuff, but on the other hand were not as fast as normal bikes.

[Darkover]

BTW, it is not a sherman but a fusion of a Sherman turret and elements from a Stuart tank, with elements found on other tanks.

Which of course makes all the difference.

Also, there are some design elements that never change, even after thousands of years because you can`t get away from physics.

Fully agree, but even by today's standards some of GW's tanks look outdated... A little bit more sci-fi would definitely mean no harm to the game's credibility. The Command & Conquer series had some pretty good examples for nice futuristic designs, that combined classic shapes and modern aspects perfectly.

[AlexHolker]

The Command & Conquer series had some pretty good examples for nice futuristic designs, that combined classic shapes and modern aspects perfectly.

Speaking of which, if Mantic does decide to make their own equivalent to the Rhino chassis, the four track design used on tanks like the Mammoth and Overlord would be how I'd justify the side doors or sponsons, as well as providing a useful basis to create a wheeled version

[André]

The trick is not to create something completely new, but to fuse existing designs and give them your extra bit of madness. And the DUst Tactics Walker are a very good example when it come s to this.