KoW Model comparison: Salamanders vs. Lizardmen

I like the look of the new fiery salamanders, but I want to know a few things by those who already own them. Primarily, how do they size up compared to Saurus, and how detailed are the miniatures?

EDIT:
I've since made a poll. The only non-GW model I have for my Lizards are the Avatars of War Saurian Warlord, who I use as a Kroxigor, and Reptus Hero, who I use as an Oldblood.

Examples:

Salamander

Saurian

Khthones

Reptus

 

I think that the size is more or less the same, they are both on 25mm square bases and somewhat bulky, but it would be nice to see a picture of a model of each put aside to compare.

 

Thanks @Itepixcauh - the sprues look fairly detailed as is! Those painted examples are superb but far too busy for my liking.

 

Unfortunately I don't have any saurus any more so can't take a side by side. However, I used to have many and they are identical height, but these models are a little chunkier compared to the post 5th ed, wiry saurus.

The models are definitely of a different quality, which I think is borne out of the different ethoi of GW and Mantic. GW, in the words of GW, is a model company that does games; Mantic is a games company that does models. GW models are primarily for display and therefore look fantastic whatever angle you look at them; Mantic models are for gaming and therefore the little details are not necessary. I took some closeups to show examples:




On the first image you can see a mouldline down his back, and the plastic is filled in behind his knee and in front of his tail. On the second you can see the mouldline down the front of his thigh. Once slightly scrubbed up, base coated and painted you'd never really notice the difference on the battlefield, but on display you definitely would.

The main concern I've had is actually assembling them, about which I had a little hissy fit on the Mantic Forums and called whoever designed them a sadist. They only fit together in a small number of ways (one type of body fits one type of weapon in one pose, rather than all bodies fitting all weapons), which has meant lots of trial and error and painstaking testing to make them all work. It would definitely have been able to make them a little better had I had the colour coded image that someone posted in response to my tantrum!

 

Mantic should focus on items from the Salamander list that don't have a direct, obvious Citadel equivalent.

 

haha I'm going completely the other way round. I'm using GW beasties but waiting for the salamanders and ghekkotah.

 

Going with "the painfully obvious" vote here, bias you say? Yes, a little, but probably because I'm aware of some of the pieces that are due to follow.

 

Tease indeed....FINE!
<- *Hint of what's to come*

 

The Saurian models via Avatars of War are my favourite of the bunch in terms of characters. For the poll I chose GW because I like them best for a unit (unless AoW decide to make a Saurus Warrior unit).

The Khthones model looks pretty cool too, but it would odd alongside of GW Lizardmen army because it has a very different style to it, IMHO.

 

I love the Kthones from Mierce and the Saurians from Avatars of War, but I'm really liking the look of Salamanders. I don't own any yet (my wife would divorce me if I bought any more lizardmen to put in storage!) but I like their more muscular build compared to the current models from GW. I'm also not a big fan of the bone crests on GW's Saurus - other than the character on carnosaur they just look flat. It's like they wanted to make their Lizardmen different to the archetype but got bored halfway.

Kthones have a very different aesthetic, which I love but I'd struggle to make them fit in my army. Saurians are amazing and fit in pretty well with the look of current Lizardmen, but aren't they a tad big to be Saurus? I was under the impression they're more Kroxigor size (again, I don't own any... yet), which is really the only reason they don't have my vote (and it would cost a small fortune to have a unit of them. See my "divorce" statement above).

 

So, I like the current models coming out from Mantic (Salamanders), but my entire Lizardmen army (my first in any game!) is made up solely of Old 5th edition models. I think the Salamander models will fit in much better with what I have right now, and that makes me happy

 

i find that the old plastic saurus models from 5th edition (the ones that where in the starter box) make very nice unblooded, as they are slightly smaller.

If you happens to have a large force of the old saurus, then you can also go the other way and use them as normal salamanders, and then use the mantic salamanders as Ancients.