Other Wargames Manufacturers News: Mantic is determined to beat GW at selling something

Being a primarily Warhammer forum, we already have a thread to discuss new releases and plans made by GW (all thanks to @Cristhian MLR), but I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread here to discuss upcoming products from other wargames manufacturers as well, as many of us play games and/or have miniatures from non-GW companies and, if you’re anything like me, you also like to visit your other favourite companies’ websites every so often to see if they’ve brought out any new stuff you think would look great as part of your collection.

I’ll start by discussing the latest wave of Prequels-era miniatures for Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Legion wargame:


Anakin and Darth Maul are both very important characters in the saga, and the two specialist sets give you some officers to add to your Republic and Separatist armies, so some great new releases here. I’ve loved all the Clone Wars releases for Legion so far, and if the Clone Wars starter set wasn’t such an expensive one-purchase investment I’d certainly consider giving it a go, but then the starter set does give you exclusive Obi-Wan and Grievous models plus a hefty saving on 2 units of Clone Troopers, 2 squads of Battle Droids, 1 BARC speeder bike and two Droidekas. Oh, decisions, decisions...

Here also are the beginnings of Clone Wars era ships for their version of Battlefleet Gothic, Star Wars Armada:




I’m so pleased they’ve finally got round to making Prequels-era ships for Armada, because given we’ve got engagements like the battle over Coruscant in Episode III and the Malevolence arc in the Clone Wars series, it would be sacrilege not to feature the Prequel Trilogy in a game of Star Wars warship combat. Each set had three ships, a larger one and two smaller ones (an Acclamator Transport Ship and two Cruisers for the Republic and a Banking Clan Frigate and two smaller armed transports for the Separatists), plus some fighter squadrons to defend them (3 Torrent squadrons for the Republic and four Vulture Droid squadrons for the Separatists). Additionally there are the fighter squadron expansion packs which give you the chance to add even more fighters to escort your ships (Torrents, ARC-170s, Y-Wings and Aethersprite Interceptors for the Republic and Vulture Droids, Hyena Bombers, Droid Tri-Fighters and Belbullab 22s for the Separatists). I was a bit miffed that each of these sets costs the same as the Empire vs Rebellion one, but like that set they each contain the full rules and templates and if you buy them both you get 3 ships on either side, compared to the Empire vs Rebellion one which gives you two small Rebel ships vs one bigger Imperial one, so it’s not as bad as I first thought.

Now I’ve got the ball rolling, I look forward to seeing what the rest of you can find!

 

I never got into Armada (yet) but I really enjoyed playing X-Wing! The dogfighting was so easy and so much fun to do. My brother also made a few of his own tie-fighters and x-wing for me to paint up at some point.

Biggest thing I have been watching is Test of Honour, 2nd Edition over on its new website, completely separate from Warlord Games. They got a bunch of brand new sets, I will get the monks at some point too:






I also like their terrain sets, gives me a lot of inspiration:

 

Frostgrave: Second Edition releases tomorrow. Also, the first Oathmark expansion comes out.

 

Any pictures and/or opinions?

I enjoy playing X-Wing first Edition with my dad, we have quite a few FFG expansion packs and then bought a load of cheap Micromachines (which perhaps uncoincidentally are pretty much the exact same scale) to addin a good lot of extra fighters for each side, though I was a bit miffed that they didn’t release Clone Wars content for that game until the Second Edition came out, and even though I prefer Episodes I-III, I’m not going to get rid of my First Edition OT stuff because I spent a lot of time collecting it and still enjoy playing it.

Why am I not surprised you’ve been monitoring it?

Have you got the Unlikely Allies set then as you’ve said you’re still to get the monks? Any pics?

 

I haven't done anything with Frostgrave in a while, although I enjoyed the couple games I played. Oathmark is a lot of fun. It has a very interesting system for those of us who like rank and file fantasy.

I won't go too deep into the system here, but there is a max of 20 figures per unit, and every roll is a max of 5d10. It plays fast and has more depth than is apparent at first glance. Also, the game has a full campaign system that allows you to mix whatever forces you want in your kingdom. (Dwarves or using Goblin Wolfriders as mercenaries is allowed.) I haven't started the new book yet, but will have it read in the next couple days. If you or anyone else is interested, I'll do a full review of the game in another post.

[Edit.] That's right. I did a fuller review a couple months ago, down on page 2.

 

Some more news from other companies, this time coming from GW's morally superior younger cousin, Mantic Games, who are planning to release a naval wargame akin to Dreadfleet of old, called Kings of War: Armada:
https://www.manticgames.com/news/armada-your-questions-answered/


The Starter Set will contain ships for one of their favourite human factions, the Basileans, and the Orcs, but ships for Dwarfs and Empire of Dust (their take on Tomb Kings) will also be appearing not long afterwards, and unlike Dreadfleet which was a single boxed game, this will be a full-scale wargame with additional kits purchasable beyond the starter set. The rules are based on Warlord's Black Seas ruleset (which I gather @ChapterAquila92 has been getting into recently), which means it'll be intuitive for players of that game to easily get into this one.

The only thing that's pause for a little concern is that the ships will be resin, rather than plastic. While I don't mind putting resin minis together, it's the price that worries me (will it be as expensive as Finecast or worse, Forge World?), but then Mantic have always been decent with their prices so far, so hopefully it shouldn't be anything to worry about.

 

I suppose I'll be keeping a close eye on this. Given that they've mentioned that it'll be both at the heroic-equivalent scale of Black Seas and use its base rule set, I'd be curious to see what how much they're porting over.

My biggest concern on that front is that, unlike Black Seas, there doesn't seem to be any wake markers or other tabletop representation available for sail configuration, which leads me to believe that that aspect is going to be more like Dreadfleet than Black Seas. I get that it's not going to be a 1-for-1 match-up from a historical naval game to a fantasy counterpart, but if you're going to be starting off with the rule set for Black Seas you need a way to keep track of something whose game mechanics will heavily influence your ability to move your fleet around the board.

 

I like the look of the ships. Some almost reminiscent of Man O' War. I'm thinking the Ork Drillakilla, and the big arm smashy thing.
And the dwarf ships look very Man O' War with paddlewheels and armour

 

Not sure if anyone else has gotten into Warmachine/Hordes, but Privateer Press has all there core rules and cards for there entire line on their website now, all for Mark III:

Game Rules
Card Database

I went ahead and downloaded the core rules, and all the cards for my Gatormen and Cryx units. Hoping to start working on my fledgling Cryx force in October!

 

I was hoping for their Salamander corsairs, but I'm sure those will come later. It's too good a fit for the game.

 

As of 6OCT20, Blood and Plunder has a new kickstarter in the works to further grow their franchise!

 

It’s high time I updated this thread, and what an update I’ve got from it!

When visiting the Wargames Atlantic website to look at their Dark Age Irish as part of a pet project I am planning, I noticed a cracking bit of news on their website - they’re making their own Lizardman box set!
https://wargamesatlantic.com/blogs/news/lizardmen-on-pre-release

True, these guys look much more like D&D Lizardfolk than Warhammer Lizardmen (and also resemble my vision of Lizardkin for Escalonia) but it’s still great to see Lizardmen spreading around the Wargames scene. Their set comes with spears and swords, so if for any reason you really dislike GW’s plastic Saurus, they would make a good alternative.

 

Mantic have delivered on their promise to give Empire of Dust, their take on Tomb Kings, a new lease of (un)life with a selection of ships for their fantasy naval warfare game and more successful rip-off of Dreadfleet, Armada.

First, the War Galley:

The Kopeshii:

The Soul Hunter:


The Dust Chaser:

And two Slave Squadron ships:


Some great little ships there that wouldn't look too out of place alongside The Curse of Zandri from Dreadfleet. The only thing is that the ballistas don't have a Warhammer Tomb King equivalent, but a skilled modeller could perhaps replace them with miniature Screaming Skull catapults or something.

Also given Mantic have put some effort into making their version of Tomb Kings one of the first playable factions in Armada, I'm hoping this might inspire them to revisit their Empire of Dust range for Kings of War, because it was such a shame that they only made proxies for a few basic units and didn't go any further, especially with Skeleton models that were merely their Vampire Counts Undead Skeletons with different metal torsos. I'd like to see Mantic reboot the range with a full-plastic kit for the Skeletons, plus something to represent each of the other entries in their army list. If only they'd stop trying to futilely compete with GW at selling Skaven...

 

The Dwarf faction ships for the Armada game are goofy.

Ironclads, shaped vaguely like rowing galleys, with hints of paddle wheels. Goofy.

 

@Warden I like this castle. Is it cardstock or lasercut MDF? Or some other material?

 

All made of MDF, nice it comes with removable roofs. 95 pounds though... yikes!

I bet I could make something like this out of foam though, its just a bunch of geometric shapes when you break it down.

Sarissa-precision has a lot of other MDF stuff on their website, including a whole 28mm Japan line, as well as more for WWII, historical (rome, medieval, wild west), modern, and scifi and fantasy.

 

Neat looking tomb king ships, now bring on my temple ships!

 

I agree they are certainly not as good as the Grimnir's Thunder from Dreadfleet:


The pointed prows of the Mantic Dwarf ships just don't look Dwarfy to me.

 

Sorry for replying to an older post, but I just saw it.

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl have you heard of "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster" for X-Wing? I think it's a very well made and fun cooperative campaign for X-Wing. The players are all Rebels in the same Squadron and the Imperial ships are controlled by a dice rolled AI. I think it should still be free to download if you're interested. They have a new version for the current edition of the game as well.

 

All good stuff here.

Norba Miniatures does some good stuff too. Including a pretty good Hierotitan model.