Mantic Games Undead Wraiths review

Having recently reviewed Mantic’s Undead Warhost, I was very eager to check out more models in their undead range. As a Vampire Counts player with a number of Games Workshop figures already in my collection, I was pleased to see that the Mantic figures fitted in reasonably well with my collection.

Now, having painted the figures  to match the rest of my army I can report that the models gel even better than I  originally thought. Indeed, having painted the revenants ready for a game last weekend, the gamers in my group  expressed great interest in my “Grave Guard” unit, especially the other VC player present.

So, you can imagine my delight when the postman dropped the Mantic wraiths through my letterbox. I had been eyeing these models greedily since they were first put up on Mantic’s website, and since reviewing the Warhost I was curious as to whether the metal figures were of comparable quality.

On opening the DVD-style box, I found the five wraiths securely padded, not only between foam sheets, but also in bubble wrap; despite this most of the attached weapons were bent to some degree, and with the scythes being so thin, a delicate touch was needed to straighten them. It does raise a slight concern about the figures arriving damaged being a possibility, but as the kit I was sent was fine we can let that slide.

There are three different poses in the set, with scythe, great-sword and morning star-wielders present. Also included with the set were six bases and a sheet of stickers. Mantic figures are very slender, being nearer to true 28mm scale than Games Workshop figures. This could be a problem when it comes to pinning, which is required on the arm of the Morning Star armed wraith, as there is not much shoulder to drill into, so extra care and patience is required for this operation.

After removing the minimal flash that was attached models, I glued them into the bases. The fit isn’t quite as snug as you’d hope, so some green stuff is necessary to fill in the gaps.

Aesthetically,  the wraiths look quite nice, they are somewhat thinner than their GW counterparts, but this isn’t a problem, they are wraiths after all. They do tend to stare downwards though, as if one of them has lost a contact lens and they’ve all been told not to move whilst they look for it. They look a bit small next to the GW banshee, this can probably be rectified by building up their bases, but their heads are still quite a bit smaller than the banshees.

So again a few minor niggles mean I have to stop short of saying they’re perfect, but I’d still have to say that mantic have produced another stunner at a great price.

You’d have to be brain (un)dead to not want these.

Overall score: 9/10