Mantic Games Undead Warhost review

Mantic Games are a new company that are releasing whole races one at a time.  Having started with Elves last autumn, they are now in the middle of their skeleton release.  Taking “cheap cannon fodder” literally, these models appear to be good value when compared to replica watches uk most other manufacturers.

With no core rules system of their own, the troops are intended for use with other gaming systems. Now I am not going to be coy about this: they seem to be designed primarily as an alternative to the Games Workshop range of miniatures for use in Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

Undead Warhost contents

The package is presented in two plastic boxes enclosed within an artistic sleeve. The two boxes are split into the ‘Omens of Undeath’ detachment containing 20 skeletons and a catapult with two crew, and the ‘Soultaker’ detachment of 10 ghouls and 20 revenant skeletons.  These characterful names are a nice touch and put that smile on your face that you should always experience when opening a new box of toys.

Inside, the contents are protected by thin layers of foam; I was immediately struck by how densely packed the sprues were – hinting at numerous conversion opportunities.  There is also a paper foldout with background on the undead, information on the company, and some nice artwork (including a poster on the reverse side).

Many of the sprues have a hole and peg system for assembly, which is useful for trying out combinations before committing to gluing.  Not every model has this and a certain amount of “tweaking” looks to be needed if you want to make your models as unique as possible.

Skeletons

There are two highly detailed sprues for the command section and troops.  The skeletons have a Ray Harryhausen aesthetic, which is A VERY GOOD THING.  Removing some of the components is problematic with the sprue attached to a delicate piece of collar, or a joint, etc.

Despite the 5 different leg types, there isn’t much variation to the vaguely erect poses.  Most of the torso’s have the shields attached, which is a problem if you prefer to paint the shields separately or have shields of your own.  Heads pre-attached to torsos are best left where they are as they’re difficult to reposition or swap.

The biggest disappointment is the weapon options: some of the torsos have hand weapons attached, and there are not enough spears for you have a full block of spearmen.  You’re kind of stuck with what they give you unless you have a bitz box, patience, and in some cases, a fair amount of skill.

Catapult

A good looking model, the catapult isn’t a valid option for a Vampire Count army. Nevertheless, it’s generic enough to be suitable for any army, and it’s such a cool piece with its characterful crew that it would make a great diorama.  One minor gripe is that there are no instructions for putting the catapult together, a diagram would be useful.

Ghouls

The well-sculpted ghouls look more like deranged humans than Games Workshops ‘devolution of man’ interpretation.  Of everything in the warhost, the ghouls are the most limited: with only three heads, two torsos and two (pairs of) legs on a sprue, you’ll need to break out the hobby saw and get repositioning for a suitably indisciplined mob.

I liked the way that the torsos and legs use a ball and socket connection, meaning that you can twist and turn the parts around until you have a satisfying pose.  This provides a means of adding much needed variation, with extra hands also adding to the permutations, sans bits box.

Revenants

These figures use exactly the same legs as the normal skeletons, which is somewhat annoying.  This annoyance increases with the realisation that the command section is also shared.  OK, you can only have so much variation on a sprue, but if you’re selling a different unit I’d like it to be, well, different.

The torso’s however, are different, very different; and detailed in a way you don’t normally associate with plastics.  When painted that extra armour on the torso should prove the dissimilarity that sets them apart from the skeletons. The picture shows two revenants on the left and two skeleton troopers on the right.

Summary

On the table, the models neither sit perfectly next to the Games Workshop equivalents nor look completely alien, and would certainly not look out of place with heroes and other models produced by Games Workshop or Avatars of War, for instance. With regard to conversions, the parts are smaller than their Games Workshop counterparts, swapping bits between the two manufacturers doesn’t really work but the Mantic figures look so good that you wouldn’t want to do this anyway.

The options seem limited, but as you put the components together you notice that isn’t the case.  The ease of construction means that you can build the whole warhost in an afternoon, and a bit conversion work leads to a unique force. Special mention must be given to some of the extras, such as the skeletal dog, which go to furthering the character of the content.

Despite the quibbles, the warhost really is one of those rare things: a quality product that is also a bargain – at £22.50 on Big Orbit games that’s well under 50p a model.

In short, they’re putting the Mantic into Necromantic (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Overall score: 9/10