Mantic Fanatics

So now we have the first pictures up of the orcs and heroes, a bunch of fuff and an orc army list (check out mantics blog if you missed them). What does everyone think of the new orcs?

Couldn't be happier myself. Love the design. They look far more brutal than GW orcs. The heroes and gores look bad-ass. My only issue is the lack of variety on the sprue.

I'm loving the background and army list. THis is how orcs are meant to be. Brutal bad-asses who can smack the crap out of anyone. I really like the lack of goblins in the list. Just pure orc brutality. I also love having big units of chariots. It could use another unit or two, but I imagine they'll add more in time.

I'm hoping that they can keep the price down on the chariots and fight wagons. If they managed to make them in plastic I would be stoked. The prospect a fielding a couple of dozen orc chariots in a game is just......cool.

I am loving the looks of the new Orcs. It seems that just about everyone is of the opinion that there could have been more variety on the sprues; especially the command sprue. Still they are going to be a cheap way to put together a massive army for whatever Fantasy gaming system you are playing.

Also I figure a lot of players interested in the Orcs will have a GW Orc army or at least some models so mixing and matching some weapons in with the Mantic stuff will give you that extra bit of variety.

Can't wait till I next get paid so I can get the 100 ax deal. I love big armies!

I don't think either the archer option or either of the goblin sneak options are worth it at all.

I'm looking forward to see what a fight wagon looks like though! Hard hitting but brittle for the foot troops. I can see lots of mounted armies (gores, chariots and fight wagons galore!)

I can see what you mean about the archer option. 6+ Ra just doesn't seem worth taking in this game. It's the same with skeleton archers. I think they need to change the cost a little to make them worthwhile.

Goblin sneaks on the other hand.....sure it's not worth the points, but it's a pretty fun little addition. It does make me wonder, where are my rules for orclings damn it!? It looks like they'll be throwing these onto every sprue, so I'd like the option to take them. The only question is wether they should be a unit upgrade or feilded as swarms....

1 - It looks like a fairly brutal list, especially if you go (heavy) cavalry heavy.

2 - Love the fact that they have added the options to mount Heroes, can't wait until they revise the original 3 lists to include this too.  I smell a Revenant King & Army Banner conversion...

3 - Lack of heads really isn't a big deal.  Dwarfs have 3 different seperate heads and I've made do so far.

I like the orcs and the brutal, hard-hitting nature of the list seems good.

I hope to try them out this Sunday with my group.  Given the little bit I've heard, they seem to do pretty well at crushing other units initially but don't handle counter attacks well.  I think the cavalry army would be hard to beat, but I'd like to make the infantry really work. 

For that reason, I'd be tempted to try an oblique formation, and give units toward the slower side the bows.  Pick one flank and push that, maybe with a cav unit or two as your fastest side.  Let the other units trail.  If you deploy right, you should be putting a dead hard unit against one end of their line and hopefully routing it.  Having the trailing units keep advancing and adding nuisance damage with bows lets them weaken foes slightly while they're in position to defend the flank of your lead.  Once you crush the outside flank, you should, in theory, be able to drive that unit down their line while constantly hitting the point of attack with fresh units, meaning that something should get flanked every round.

I really have to give them a go and see if they work like I think, or if I get embarrassingly routed off the table.  ;)

I think I put the option to ride a boar into my original Orc list didn't I? ;)

Still not convinced about the point of archers in the army. I've taken a unit of 15 for tonight's first game with the list so let's see how they do.

Sneeks (odd spelling) are not worth taking at all for the points they are.

I don't have any opinion on the Orc army list yet, but from the very first Orc wip that we were shown a year ago, I really liked Mantics Orc design. I still do, even though there have been some odd decisions made with them as far as sprue layout and variety goes.

With only a month to go before the first preorder army deal being released, I'm hoping to soon see more pics of the Greatax sprues and those metal hero models.

The archers were predictably rubbish (see batrep section). The Orc army really needs to close the gap as soon as it can to maximise its hitting power.

I like the look of the models we have seen so far.  Perhaps a little surprised at the lack of variety compared to the skeletons, dwarfs and elves but we will see as the range develops.

As for the list... it has the potential to hit very hard but also go very wrong as well.  Like the Undead...the archers seem a waste.

Model wise I love the Orc kit, I made a unit of 30 in under an hour and finished my first test mini yesterday and think they will be quick to paint as well. I have seen the two characters in person as well and they are stunning, the choppa on the boar warboss is brutal and excellent. My only hope is that the quality of the casting/strength of the metal holds up for it. My Abyssal Half Breed Lord's axe haft fell off after I barely looked at it and some of the casting was a bit off. I am also excited by the boars (which we have seen a preview of) and chariots to come. The Great Ax test sprue seems nice as well, so all in it could be as good an army as the Undead.

Happened to mine too.


It means I can get another one, and have 1 with great axe, and one with not so great axe hand weapon.

Incidentally, the torso would probably fit on a set of plastic Dwarf legs for a new foot Hero.



Also, OT, I think that the Greatax sprues are almost ready to be unveiled.   ;)

That issue makes me think that restic is the way to go, it is much stronger. So Great Ax Orcs soon, excellent. The lads at Golem should have painted the characters by now as well.

New paintjobs are brilliant.

Also, greatax sprue, looking good:

(http://www.manticgames.com/ImageCache/Products/1221.1.600.600.FFFFFF.0.jpeg)

Gives us 2 new bodies and heads that we can totally mix and match with the regular ax troops. should be quite easy to make all-plastic morax units if we want too, but I think I'll pick some of the proper ones up for the extra heads.

1st July release for the Gore riders and other orc stuff, so it looks like it'll be August before the next release (possibly goblins, with mantic previewing sci-fi stuff for next year).

Me 3  :D

Is anyone else having trouble making head or tail (there is no tail) of the green of the Orc sorcerer?

Like the look of the GreatAX bodies though.

It is a weird sculpt to get your head round alright!

Odin bless Garlak, his monstrous horde will be mine!  (very interested to see that the Moraxs are metal hybrids...)

I think he is firing a fireball, and there is a snotling type thing, but apart from that I have no idea.

Are the Morax's just two hand weapon armed Orcs? That is weird as on the normal Orc sprue you get a left arm where you can arm it with an additional handweapon.

I'd assume it is some metal arms and metal heads...

http://www.manticgames.com/Shop-Home/Orcs/Army-Deals/Product/Garlaks-Monstrous-Horde.html

This gives you additional morax heads for more variation.

Excellent, a real army box! Very tasty too, will definitely get one. I'm not sure whether to go for the Barbarous Horde, or the Monstrous Horde.. 51 GBP extra for 20 cavalry and 1 goblin/mawbeast doesn't really seem like great extra value to me.. I know we can expect 20 cavalry to go for 50GBP based on the undead ones, but still for an army deal its not a lot extra.

I'm liking the idea of the big set (naturally).

The extra £50 is pretty much the cost of 20 cavalry, but I expect that the Gore Riders will be a lot more substantial than the Revenant Knights.  Plus you get the Goblin with Mawbeast.


Plus, it should complement the Orc army I already have on order.   8)

I really hate to arrive late to a conversation to find that EVERYONE has made the observations and comments that I was going to.

Seriously. Everything from trying to get my head around that Orc Shaman sculpt to wondering about the Morax options, to thinking the 20 Orc Gores likely being worth the price of the bigger army deal due to their larger size and how that Orc army deal will compliment my pending Orc Army from my previous preorder.

Just as I finish reading one post and start thinking "oh good, at least he didn't bring up that other point" ... I move on to the next post and there's that other point!

It's like you guys are inside my head! :o I mean actually Inside... My... Head! :o :o :o

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I swear I haven't been drinking or doing any other stuff. :-\

Don't forget you also get the Goblin and Mawbeast... the beastie looks a substantial sculpt....

What would have been smart is if they put that Mage in the larger of the deals only or added another unique sculpt. Still I'll be buying that larger deal as I just bought 20 Revenant Cavalry so will need the 20 Gores to deal with those...

Like painting?   :P


Plus, the Mawbeast will probably be an early release as the Goblins are a long way off.

I'll be waiting until the £50 army box is released to retail... and buying multiple copies of it.

I never buy limited edition figures. They're a sales tactic that I strongly dislike, so I never use my money to support it.

Will happily pick up the shaman if it's included as a mantic points reward, or for sale seperately though.

If it really is just a limited thing for the army deal instead.. meh, screw it, I'll just buy one from GW/ AoW instead. If mantic makes it hard for me to give them money for a particular unit, then they're not getting it. I might be a fan, but I'm still objective when it comes to making smart purchases.

Bear in mind that there may not even be rules for him (re Dwarf Driller) as it was stated that Orcs don't use magic.

I have a feeling that the price of the Gore Riders may be scaled up above that of the Revenant Knights (as is the case with the Orc Ax horde when compared to the Undead, Elves etc), so the bigger army deal will probably still represent better value.

We have also seen this with the metal hero sets where we get 4 non mounted Elves/Undead/Dwarves vs 3 models in the Abyssal/Orc set on account of the Gore lord/Half Breed Champion. The gore riders will probably be restic but I can still see them being a little bit more expensive.

I kindof half agree with ScarletSquig on the limited edition factor but we also have to take into account the way that Mantic will use the slightest excuse to get them on sale for a limited time, and on some occasions full time. We have seen this with Morgoth and the other Mantic Points figures, the only one not available yet is the Elven Mounted Mage and I assume that that will not be the case for long.

I am stoked by this Orc release.

They are definitely restic, the advance order page on Mantic's website confirms it. You're right though, they do look large and could well be a bit more expensive than the revenant knights.

Honestly, they could have advertised the deals without a limited edition mage and they would still be good value and people would still buy them. In this case I don't specifically see it as a sneaky marketing tactic, and have no problem with it.

5 for the Elves.  Don't forget the ****...   :P

How could I forget! The good news is that the odd size of the sprues for the bases (8 on each) means that there are plenty of spare bases for unit fillers/dioramas etc. The standard unit footprint/nerve value just makes such things more appealing to me than in other games systems where individual wounds/models matter more in game terms.

I am still confused by the Morax's though, with each standard Orc sprue you can make a single Morax miniature. Whilst this would make for a very static and identical looking unit those of us want Morax's can have them before their June release date. I just do not see why a couple of axe armed left arms could have been added to the standard orc sprue rather than having the added cost/unadaptability of the metal hybrid arms. The only real benefit seems to be the extra metal heads that are being made.

Call me old fashioned, but I think that single axe might be for the benefit of people putting standards in their units.   ;)


Still, I mocked up a Morax from one of the sprues and itlooks pretty good.

My standard is a coward and has a shield instead. I still need to post you a sprue actually, I will wait until you are in your new lair.

With all those extra attacks though I can see the Morax's being very popular.

I am definitely looking forward to the Morax models. Extra bits are always welcome to me and the extra variety of heads means more variety in all my units. I just hate having to wait so long for stuff to come out... I suck at patience!