Company: Mantic
Part #: --
Sculptor: Bob Naismith??
Released: 2010
Here is my crack at this skeleton regiment from a new company on the scene, Mantic. Mantic produces a number of sets of plastic undead, including zombies and ghouls. But of course, that need not concern us. For my purposes, Mantic produces boxed sets of “revenants” (armored skeleton infantry), archers, skeletal cavalry (epic), skeleton war machines and this set of ordinary infantry.
Mantic is taking a shot at eating into GW’s market share by producing high-quality plastic regimental boxed sets for a fraction of the price.
You get several plastic sprues with enough body parts and weapons to make 20 infantry models. The bodies are split into several different leg and torso designs. Some of the torsos have arms with (hand) weapons already mounted, but most of them have open hands to mount any of the available weaponry. Several different skull designs are also available. Given the amount of variety, it is easy to customize figures so that no two look the same.
The figures come with an innovative basing system. The models have a textured, round base that looks like a normal (non-slottabase) miniature that is uniform in size. Also included in the box are 20 individual 20mm square bases with divots in them to hold the miniature base. This system I’ve only seen in miniatures by Metal Magic, but it’s extremely useful as it allows you to simply use the miniatures as sculpted or mount them for war-gaming. It also allows you to position the figure so you can better arrange your forces.
I painted these figs using the brown wash method that I've been experimenting with. I based all the bone parts using Aged Bone while basing all the clothes and armor with black primer (as my usual standard). When the bone was dry I covered it in a wash made from Shield Brown which turned out pretty good. I was originally intending to dry brush the clothing, but it's fine detail made that difficult. I ended up applying the dark reds and greys directly, and applying the brown wash. I also painted the armor pieces directly with Aged Pewter and, again, used the brown wash.
The problem was, although I liked the brown wash on the bone and metal (it gave the metal a sort of rusted feel), I didn't like how it looked on the clothes. It made them look dusty more than anything and rather washed out. So I later applied a wash of black ink to the clothing. That had the effect of diluting the brown and providing for more contrast in the folds of the clothes. It came out OK. I still have some touch up work to do on these like painting the bird and the gore on the standard bearer's head - but it's pretty much a done set now.
General command rank
I love this guy! I figure we can presume to know how he met his end.
Standard bearer. Although there is a musician in the ranks, I gave him a bell to wield rather than a sword. Note the raven picking out some of his brains. The standard is also customizable. You can put anything you want at the top.
I still have to do the feathers on his helmet. And the eyes. These skeletons uncharacteristically have eyes, instead of empty sockets. I have to go in there with some glowing red.
Musician with a big-ass horn. Note the skull spirit flowing out of it.
More ranks.
Even more ranks.
More ranks. With a new recruit, just for fun...
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