Nice to see some of my work featured there (http://www.manticblog.com/?p=1569)

EDIT: just found out my vignette made it to the master gallery :) http://www.manticgames.com/Hobby/Galleries/Masters.html

Pretty pleased about the end result, especially because I didn't put that much time in. I don't think I spent more than 10 hours on it. Ok, it's not the best paintjob in the world, but I painted it up just for fun.

Assembling and basing for this little diorama has been very fun, but unfortunately the priming didn't go so smoothly. Since a few months I'm using Army Painter primer. Great stuff, but the can sprays a lot more primer than your usual canned varnish or primer. I primed the skeleton first, so he got way too much primer on him. Especially the skull and most of the frontal areas, such as the shield. The base and dead elf came second, they were primed to near perfection, simply because I got used to the Army Painter primer again...

Normally I would go crazy when something like that happened, but not this time, since I already decided I wouldn't paint this one up to a very high standard. I'm going for a quick paintjob on this one... there are some miniatures in the mail I will be reviewing and painting soon. This is still a secret project, can't tell you guys anything more at the moment, sorry :)

Using two figures from the Mantic undead sprue and some bits from the Mantic elves sprues I started working on a new project. At first I wanted to do the skeleton alone, but then I thought it was cool to add the undead dog and the dead elf from the


Everything is mounted on a plastic cup, which will be primed and painted black. I used some cork to make a surface for the base, then used some plaster to create the broken tiles and used some sand to fill everything up. Easy, but looks good. I might do a little picture tutorial on the plaster tiles later... I've taken some pictures of the progress.

Regular readers of my blog will know I got some exclusive preview sprues of the Mantic Games Elves last summer. Well, a while ago the guys at Mantic were so friendly to send me some undead sprues to check out.

And again they did a great job. Not everyone liked the design of the Elves, but I think these skeletons will appeal to a wider public. The figures are filled with bits of armor, chainmail, weaponry and shields. And again the sprues are filled with a huge amount of extra bits and options. Again the casting quality is very good.

There's no real reason not to buy these if you're looking for a cheap or better looking alternative for your favorite wargame's undead troops.

Personally I think I will take one skeleton from the sprue, add some bits to a base and paint it up. They look very tempting to paint :)

I've been working on them way too long, mainly because they got mixed up with some other projects I was painting at the same time, so I'm happy they're finally done.

It's not really the showcase quality paintjob I wanted to give them at first, but I think the painting really does these figures justice. It's a good gaming quality paintjob for a good gaming quality figure.

Talking about Mantic: they will present their new army (probably undead) at Spiel 2009 this week. Since I'm visiting that event Sunday, expect some preview pictures soon!

Anyway here are the finished Elves. Difficult to take decent pictures of such a group... Oh yeah: they're based on GW bases, in case someone wants to know (again :).

Finished the assembly of the Mantic Games Elves, and I'm really surprised by the dynamic poses of the figures. There's a lot you can do with the posable arm: attach the spear vertically, and you'll end up with a figure which seems to be at guard. A horizontal spear turns the figure into a charging fighter.

Three figures on the sprue have more options: these have optional heads and two posable arms.

For those who don't know Mantic Games: it's a new company, based in the UK. Their plan is to release a number of fantasy armies, compatible with every 28mm wargame. The first army is Elves. You can read more on their blog, or check out this video shot at GenCon 2009. I think Mantic Games introduces some very interesting concepts to the hobby, such as the boxes, the round bases which also fit in square bases and of course their fair price. Painters and gamers should keep an eye on this company, because I'm sure they will have a very bright future.

The Elves are to be released mid-September, but I'm one of the lucky people to have received one of their pre-production moldings. Now first of all I want to stress these are test-moldings, so it's possible the final product will have some minor errors fixed and maybe some other little changes.

Molding is done at Renedra Limited, the company which also produces the figures for Warlord Games. I can say the molding is very good, there are a lot of tiny details on the elves and they are very well defined.

The figures themselves are well-proportioned and look very elvish, yet their slender shape is something you haven't seen before. The shape of the helmets, armor and shields make this army look unique. They come on round bases, but if you choose to base them on square ones then Mantic has come up with a very good idea: they provide with square bases in which the round ones can be fit in. Very clever!

The sprue is full of many options, such as optional heads, shields and weapons. There's even some room left for additional details: a dead elf, a broken shield, a skull. Great stuff for dioramas or objectives for your games.

So why don't you take a look for yourself? I have taken some pictures of the sprue earlier today.

I couldn't resist to start working on those Elves, so I'm currently assembling this batch of 10. Check back in a couple of days for work in progress updates on this project.

Thanks again Mantic Games, and best of luck!