A few more bits of my Mantic Terrain Crate Kickstarter pledge today. Specifically three sets of barrels and three individual barrels alongside some dynamite sticks. You’ll also see another WarZone Undead Legionnaire there for scale. That particular Legionnaire is the one that was missing yesterday that I found after taking all of the photos. I spent a bit of time last night bringing it up to speed – fully repainting the boots and gaiters, most of the weapon and then adding some blood (after varnishing the bits). I’ll be going and editing him into yesterday’s post in just a few…
In a way these are some of the better Terraincrate bits – they’re just fine. Not amazing. Just fine. I’ll probably go in and fix up those bits we can see here where the wash has missed some of the crevasses.
More importantly, these six bring my monthly total up to 29. So I’ve got two more models I need to finish in the next 2 1/2 hours. Luckily, I have a trio that are almost done, so time to knuckle down and get it done.
Thanks mate. They’re really not that special (they’re just barrels) so I put enough work into them to make them look decent, but they’re not worth going all out on.
God I could really do with cracking on with some of my scenery ideas, or even just the unbuild scenery in boxes. These barrels look really cool id love to see some pictures of one of your set up gaming tables, they must look amazing. Any chance your going to be behind on your community round up again as I desperately try to finish a unit of Rubric Marines?
I’ll see if I can dig some out soon(ish). I’ve definitely taken more photos of games than written up Batreps. Plan for the Community Round-Up is to have it done this weekend. I don’t want it to be in the middle of the month again. If you don’t get them finished though, you can always put them up for Mechanical November. Or have a set of 3+ this month and the rest next?
I’m trying to blitz them now, I’m leaving the Khornate knight for a few days and focussing on these. I doubt they will be of a quality I’m happy with, but they are already more finished than any of my other Rubrics. Nah I’ll stick to doing my Admech for next month. I need to finish more models than I am. If I can at least finish all the ones that are built I can start working my way through the shelf of shame.
Saw your tweet last night as well – December will be a centrepiece model of some sort, so it’ll fit right in. But look at it this way – don’t stress too much – You can always have a ton of stuff done for the same month across a couple of different armies.
Check my March and June Round-ups:
Yea, I’ll say it again, you really should be painting some models for promo materials. You seriously make a lot of it look really good. I’ve bough Mantic stuff, which I swore I would never do. Also think about picking up some Reaper Bones all the time, and we know what those are like to work with.
You’re too kind, but they have Angel Giraldez painting stuff for them these days, and they’ve had other very good painters work for them as well. There’s another pro painter bloke who posts on Dakka a bit.. I’ve embarrassingly forgotten his name right now, but he does fine work as well. Just than when they do occasionally have dogs of models painted dog-awfully badly, they’re the ones that stand out.
This one is the new KoW thing – Vanguard. I enjoy KoW and the models in this one seemed a lot better overall, so I went in on it. Quite disappointed to hear that a lot of unit profiles will only be included in the boxed sets of those units. Bullshit X-Wing-style way of doing rules, rather than putting them in the rulebook or even a “Codex” in order to force sales of their own (sometimes good, sometimes shitty) models.
As for their packaging, I dunno. My last one was Terrain Crate and those all came in their little terrain crates. Before that I took a Looooooong break from Mantic’s KS campaigns. Guess I’ll find out soon!
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that those look like barrels you’d want to be VERY careful with open flame around? Especially the ones in the upper of the two individual pics? Seems like that could be a good twist for a GM-run scenario of some sort.
Yea, I noticed the wicks on them. Looks like the tops pop off too….so it might be one of those ‘surprise terrain’ items? I remember Mantic did that with some terrain stuff in Deadzone. But you know that there is no way you can paint ‘loot crates’ exactly the same, so that the players won’t know which one to go for. Especially coupled with all their manufacturing defects. Oh, am I still bitter about those early Kickstarters?! ;P
Nah, they don’t come apart or anything like that. Just the multi-barrel sculpt has one with the lid off and the leaning up against the cluster. I don’t blame you for DeadZone. I never even got around to playing it. From what I’ve read it was actually fun, but the gangs were pretty unbalanced. To be fair, probably not that different to Necro or Kill Team in that instance.
We gave Deadzone a go, can’t say I was impressed. I don’t know if the rules changed later, but we did run into an issue where two minis were left and one could not possibly damage the other one. Maybe on some super-crit roll, but it looked pretty hopeless. Maybe that sort of stuff happens in Necro or Kill team as well though?
I’ve only played the new Necro, and only the intro scenario, but things seem much better in that game. The rules were worded much clearer overall. I always felt like with the Mantic games, that they were written and then translated, as some things just didn’t make sense to me. Which is weird, because they are a British company. Yea, there are some differences between the British/Americans, but I never seem to have trouble reading GW rulebooks.
What it comes down to is that Jake Thornton has some good and even great ideas, but he’s not great when it comes to proofreading his own rules, or working on anything he’s not personally passionate about. Mantic’s problem is (was?) not having a strong editor – either in terms of writing or art. Result was Mantic’s early games being fun but badly needing new editions a cup of coffee after the first.
Obviously DZ needed more playtesting as well as editing, which is where Matt Gilbert and the Rules Committee come in, which is why a lot of their newer games are apparently a lot tigher. DZ2E is supposed to be a lot better. I can’t remember if I have the rules or not. (Definately don’t have a starter box).
Newcromunda actually dealt with that really well: The crates are essentially empty, and the tops just clip on, and there are inserts that can be dropped in for whether they contain ammo, other loot, or booby traps, or are just empty.
Yea, I remember when I first saw those crates. I was kind of excited but also recalled the Mantic issue. I was pretty glad to see them handle it better. Necromunda also has ‘loot charts’ to roll for contents, after you reveal the box. I kind of like the idea of just randomly filling them better, and skip the rules lookup.
That seems a pretty good idea. I need to get more of the new GW terrain painted up. I’ve had a bunch of damaged bulkheads from Necro on the go for so long now that they’re legitimately Neglected models…
6 bits of barrel-scatter don’t really justify a post of their own, and I’d have “saved” these up until I had a bunch more stuff from the Terrain Crates done, but… end of the month and wanting to get everything from the month posted up.
I’ve said it before – there’s something really sweet about the colour you use on your woods. Makes them pop in a way that the standard chocolate brown just wouldn’t.
Thanks mate. It’s just some light tans with (usually) a bit of grey thrown in to give the wood an aged-in-the-sun look. My old go-to was the typical chocolate browns, so doing almost all of them now in the lighter colours means there’ll be more variation when they meet on the tabletop!
A few more bits of my Mantic Terrain Crate Kickstarter pledge today. Specifically three sets of barrels and three individual barrels alongside some dynamite sticks. You’ll also see another WarZone Undead Legionnaire there for scale. That particular Legionnaire is the one that was missing yesterday that I found after taking all of the photos. I spent a bit of time last night bringing it up to speed – fully repainting the boots and gaiters, most of the weapon and then adding some blood (after varnishing the bits). I’ll be going and editing him into yesterday’s post in just a few…
In a way these are some of the better Terraincrate bits – they’re just fine. Not amazing. Just fine. I’ll probably go in and fix up those bits we can see here where the wash has missed some of the crevasses.
More importantly, these six bring my monthly total up to 29. So I’ve got two more models I need to finish in the next 2 1/2 hours. Luckily, I have a trio that are almost done, so time to knuckle down and get it done. 
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Great weathering to the barrels, and nice variation between them, easy to end up with a very uniform looking bunch
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Thanks mate. They’re really not that special (they’re just barrels) so I put enough work into them to make them look decent, but they’re not worth going all out on.
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God I could really do with cracking on with some of my scenery ideas, or even just the unbuild scenery in boxes. These barrels look really cool id love to see some pictures of one of your set up gaming tables, they must look amazing. Any chance your going to be behind on your community round up again as I desperately try to finish a unit of Rubric Marines?
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I’ll see if I can dig some out soon(ish). I’ve definitely taken more photos of games than written up Batreps. Plan for the Community Round-Up is to have it done this weekend. I don’t want it to be in the middle of the month again. If you don’t get them finished though, you can always put them up for Mechanical November. Or have a set of 3+ this month and the rest next?
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I’m trying to blitz them now, I’m leaving the Khornate knight for a few days and focussing on these. I doubt they will be of a quality I’m happy with, but they are already more finished than any of my other Rubrics. Nah I’ll stick to doing my Admech for next month. I need to finish more models than I am. If I can at least finish all the ones that are built I can start working my way through the shelf of shame.
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Saw your tweet last night as well – December will be a centrepiece model of some sort, so it’ll fit right in. But look at it this way – don’t stress too much – You can always have a ton of stuff done for the same month across a couple of different armies.
Check my March and June Round-ups:
Still works, as you can see!
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You must singularly be keeping Mantic going! Agree with Dave, weathering/adding on these is really nice.
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Even though I’m not a Mantic fan overall, I’ve ended up buying a few things after seeing them here on the Bits Box!
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Hear that, Ronnie? Matt? Send me some free shit for review!
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Yea, I’ll say it again, you really should be painting some models for promo materials. You seriously make a lot of it look really good. I’ve bough Mantic stuff, which I swore I would never do. Also think about picking up some Reaper Bones all the time, and we know what those are like to work with.
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You’re too kind, but they have Angel Giraldez painting stuff for them these days, and they’ve had other very good painters work for them as well. There’s another pro painter bloke who posts on Dakka a bit.. I’ve embarrassingly forgotten his name right now, but he does fine work as well. Just than when they do occasionally have dogs of models painted dog-awfully badly, they’re the ones that stand out.
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Graft works!
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Hahah. Can’t see them doing me any review copies of anything given how critical I’ve been of them in the past. 😉
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Just got my latest KS package from them a couple of days ago. Haven’t had time to open it and check the contents yet…
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What was the Kickstarter? And please for f’s sake, tell me that inventorying their crap is way better now!?!
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This one is the new KoW thing – Vanguard. I enjoy KoW and the models in this one seemed a lot better overall, so I went in on it. Quite disappointed to hear that a lot of unit profiles will only be included in the boxed sets of those units. Bullshit X-Wing-style way of doing rules, rather than putting them in the rulebook or even a “Codex” in order to force sales of their own (sometimes good, sometimes shitty) models.
As for their packaging, I dunno. My last one was Terrain Crate and those all came in their little terrain crates. Before that I took a Looooooong break from Mantic’s KS campaigns. Guess I’ll find out soon!
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Will see how many I buy, after you paint them!
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You might be waiting some time, the way my stuff ends up!
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WOW
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Only barrels they may be but very nice they are too.
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Thanks mate. They are only barrels, though. 🙂
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Yes, but nice barrels. 😉
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Great useful items, I do like the idea of the dynamite/gunpowder barrels, great painting as always.
Cheers Roger.
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They really are a nice little touch that really transform any other generic set of barrels. Credit to Mantic for that one, definitely.
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Those are definitely not just barrels! Very nice!
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That’s because there’s a Zombieman in there!
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Is it just me, or does anyone else think that those look like barrels you’d want to be VERY careful with open flame around? Especially the ones in the upper of the two individual pics? Seems like that could be a good twist for a GM-run scenario of some sort.
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Yea, I noticed the wicks on them. Looks like the tops pop off too….so it might be one of those ‘surprise terrain’ items? I remember Mantic did that with some terrain stuff in Deadzone. But you know that there is no way you can paint ‘loot crates’ exactly the same, so that the players won’t know which one to go for. Especially coupled with all their manufacturing defects. Oh, am I still bitter about those early Kickstarters?! ;P
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Nah, they don’t come apart or anything like that. Just the multi-barrel sculpt has one with the lid off and the leaning up against the cluster. I don’t blame you for DeadZone. I never even got around to playing it. From what I’ve read it was actually fun, but the gangs were pretty unbalanced. To be fair, probably not that different to Necro or Kill Team in that instance.
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We gave Deadzone a go, can’t say I was impressed. I don’t know if the rules changed later, but we did run into an issue where two minis were left and one could not possibly damage the other one. Maybe on some super-crit roll, but it looked pretty hopeless. Maybe that sort of stuff happens in Necro or Kill team as well though?
I’ve only played the new Necro, and only the intro scenario, but things seem much better in that game. The rules were worded much clearer overall. I always felt like with the Mantic games, that they were written and then translated, as some things just didn’t make sense to me. Which is weird, because they are a British company. Yea, there are some differences between the British/Americans, but I never seem to have trouble reading GW rulebooks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What it comes down to is that Jake Thornton has some good and even great ideas, but he’s not great when it comes to proofreading his own rules, or working on anything he’s not personally passionate about. Mantic’s problem is (was?) not having a strong editor – either in terms of writing or art. Result was Mantic’s early games being fun but badly needing new editions a cup of coffee after the first.
Obviously DZ needed more playtesting as well as editing, which is where Matt Gilbert and the Rules Committee come in, which is why a lot of their newer games are apparently a lot tigher. DZ2E is supposed to be a lot better. I can’t remember if I have the rules or not. (Definately don’t have a starter box).
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Newcromunda actually dealt with that really well: The crates are essentially empty, and the tops just clip on, and there are inserts that can be dropped in for whether they contain ammo, other loot, or booby traps, or are just empty.
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Yea, I remember when I first saw those crates. I was kind of excited but also recalled the Mantic issue. I was pretty glad to see them handle it better. Necromunda also has ‘loot charts’ to roll for contents, after you reveal the box. I kind of like the idea of just randomly filling them better, and skip the rules lookup.
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That seems a pretty good idea. I need to get more of the new GW terrain painted up. I’ve had a bunch of damaged bulkheads from Necro on the go for so long now that they’re legitimately Neglected models…
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They’d be perfect for some kind of GM-run scenario. Maybe a Vermintide-inspired multiplayer session!
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Man, only you could make a post about some boring old barrels, look good!
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6 bits of barrel-scatter don’t really justify a post of their own, and I’d have “saved” these up until I had a bunch more stuff from the Terrain Crates done, but… end of the month and wanting to get everything from the month posted up.
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Nice little bits- love the sticks of dynamite too.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete. They’re a nice touch put thee by Mantic.
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Bloody good crates
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🤣
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I’ve said it before – there’s something really sweet about the colour you use on your woods. Makes them pop in a way that the standard chocolate brown just wouldn’t.
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Thanks mate. It’s just some light tans with (usually) a bit of grey thrown in to give the wood an aged-in-the-sun look. My old go-to was the typical chocolate browns, so doing almost all of them now in the lighter colours means there’ll be more variation when they meet on the tabletop!
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