"Mantic Samples Review" Topic

I received my Mantic Games Elves sample in the post today. With a discount coupon also—nice touch and kudos to the folks at Mantic!

The sample sprue they sent is a pair of Elves Scouts. The sprue contains 2 torsos, 2 heads, 4 arms and 1 quiver of arrows.

The torsos are both in a pose I would call quickly advancing and at a first glance appear to be identical. Closer examination shows minor difference in the armor and cast on accoutrements, one body has a dagger the other a short sword. The figures are lithe, very lithe--great elves, although they fit perfectly in size with GW's LotR figures.

The heads are both different, I don't know if Mantic has more heads for the scouts or not; however, the idea of different helmets is nice as it gives the armor more of an artisan feel with each a little different. My vision of the Elves of ME has a higher degree of individuality in their armor then Peter Jackson's.

The arms have a bow in each a right and left arm, a short sword with a left arm and a full sized sword with a right arm. I think this makes for some interesting possibilities. Each Elf can have a bow or they can be divided with a bowman (2 bows) and quiver carrier and a swordsman. There are numerous possibilities.

These figures are also cast on flat bases which is huge IMO. I really hate slotta bases—really, I hate them. Slottas make it very difficult to mount multiple figures on a movement bases nicely. With the figure cast on a flat base you have the choice of flat mounting or placing them on slotta bases, it's your choice. With slottas you don't have a choice; did I mention that I hate slottas? I really do.

Finally casting is very nice with these figures. They might be the nicest cast plastics that I have seen to date. Undercuts are defined and the side blur that plastics often suffer from is virtually non-existent on these samples. They do have a bit of flash to clean but nothing overly horrific, they will clean nicely and quickly.

I will be buying many of the Mantic Elves and painting them as the Noldor from the earlier periods of Middle Earth. They will work very well to refight the great battles against Melkor/Morgoth.

I have a request and wish now. If and when Mantic gets around to sculpting men, I would really like to see general feudals in kettles and pots, polearms, bows, spears and crossbows in chain and surcoat, plate reserved for the knights and nobles. Something along the lines of the Airfix Sherriff of Nottingham set. I really like those figures for my generic fantasy humans and I would love to see them in 25/28mm plastics. Don't do spikes or other whacky-ness; just sample the Hundred Years war for ideas.

Overall I think these figures are worth the purchase if you like plastics and fantasy. They are very nice. I'll be buying many of them and looking forward to follow on releases.

Donald~

Concur. Got my free sprue of two today. Very nicely done models. I need to see how they look next to my plastic Zulu War British. Wonder if anyone's done a game facing off those two armies :)

I received mine as well, and like them a lot.
:-)

I also received my sample sprue of 2 today, and while I do like them a lot, they are a bit on the small side. They are just about as tall as my warlord games romans, and much thinner. They feel more like small 25mm or large 20mm figs. Why my 15mm Garn are almost as big as them, and a bit bulker.

I was very surprised at the size to say the least, but it helps me to understand why they are so cheap, as very little material was used in making them.

I like short and small elves! They don't all need to be six feet tall!

Oh don't get me wrong, the size doesn't bother me, I was just surprised having never seen any sort of scale shots of them. I had just assumed that they would fall into the size range of large 25 mm or 28mm minis. If anything the size difference makes them more attractive to me because of how unique they will look on the table top.

Agree with OP. Very nicely sculpted and cast. I didn't really like the idea of both guys having a bow and a melee weapon, so one of them has the larger sword with a small shield and long-knife from my bits box.

Overall, very nice. I'll definitely buy more.

I checked the size versus my Wargames Factory Zulu War Brits. They are skinnier and shorter but look like they would make an interesting opposing force.

My samples just arrived today.

I agree with most DRDHauser said.

Seeing these and the new perry plastics, it appears that a round integral base will be the norm in no time.

Hope that.

Thanks to mantic for these great promo!

Best wishes

DRDHauser said…
"I have a request and wish now. If and when Mantic gets around to sculpting men, I would really like to see general feudals in kettles and pots, polearms, bows, spears and crossbows in chain and surcoat, plate reserved for the knights and nobles. Something along the lines of the Airfix Sherriff of Nottingham set. I really like those figures for my generic fantasy humans and I would love to see them in 25/28mm plastics. Don't do spikes or other whacky-ness; just sample the Hundred Years war for ideas."

But aren't those sort of figure already around, albeit not in plastic, but if a new company is on the block looking to push the frontiers of fantasy gaming why do whats around? why not be brave and really make a name…

Just my thoughts as I am getting really bored with whats out there and these mantic Elves look great in a very 'alien' sort of way…very 'human and unhuman' at the same time, great look.

For me they kinda look 'evil' and thats how I intend to paint them, slender, spider thin and deadly like a black widow…

Rgds
Madan

I'll be watching this company they look very interesting.

Cheers,
Bill