You will get both for one price... but that one price will be very high! If you like the aesthetics of Mantic minis then they are definitely a good deal. I still feel that they are long way off GW's quality (though I haven't been all that impressed with the AoS stuff for the most part). But as you say, they suffice for gaming purposes. I agree. There stuff seems to be moving in two directions... bigger models more detailed fragile models Sometimes it feels that GW is just trying to cram in detail for detail's sake. I haven't bought a new GW mini for quite some time.
I look forward to the pictures. I see that GW has really fallen from grace... not that I blame you, it is deserved.
In time other miniature companies will have several full armies and GW will no longer be as relevant. Mantic Games are just one of many and these "smaller" companies smell blood. Shieldwolf miniatures makes some great Orcs and they're very interested in helping out T9A. Personally I'm excited to see what the future brings. Looking at the new GW Orcs I can only be happy that lm or seraphon have recieved their AoS update, but we all know that the next time it's going to be unrecognizable from what we're used to. Some will be happy about this, but I'm certain it's nothing near as to what pulled me in in the first place.
I really like the look of their models. In terms of sculpt quality I would put them on par with GW. Just be wary of shipping times if you are ordering directly from them. However you can find their models at gaming stores and on Ebay to circumvent that problem. That's true. The disparity in quality is ever diminishing. In the future it will come down to purely stylistic preferences. It's funny because GW have brought this upon themselves with their pricing scheme. With the amount of models they sold, they easily could have priced their product in such away that would have been cheaper than it's competitors (selling large quantities for instance allows Walmart to undercut its competition). In that way they could have effectively killed their competition before they became a major threat. As a consumer though, I'm glad they didn't. We're no longer "stuck" with GW's vision and can find unique models that better serve our needs.
the new gw orcs are discusting for me, they look more like space marines, than orcs on 40k look like space marines. the new aos dwarf models have no fluff wise appeal at all... i fear what will the new lizzard models look like (lizards with lasers perhaps?) i honestly hope other companies fill their space with quality odels asap...
I couldnt help myself, I had to look... now personally, I have no problem with the sigmarians or the new orruks. What really rankles me, is that GW had a good few months to gauge the reaction to the sigmarians, and instead of thinking "Hmm, our loyal fanbases really don't like their 'space-mariney' look, quick, change the design!" they thought "Well, screw it. If they don't like it they can f**k off to Kings of War, or just keep their army the same size and play 8th ed." And you guys dont deserve that and it really, really makes me angry. They don't care a jot about all the effort and money you have put in your army, they dont care about our opinions, and even though dislike (sometimes even bordering on hatred) has been voiced numerous times about their 40k-like designs (to the point where googling age of Sigmar turns up bad review after bad review, sigmarine criticism after sigmarine criticism) they. Still. Did. It. I can say with brutal honesty, that GW is bordering on the edge of an abusive, cuss-filled letter from me.. I am scared about the future for Seraphon, I really am, and GW don't deserve customers like you. Whew, that was a long time in the making. I feel a lot better now.