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Post by Jason on Jul 4, 2014 19:48:29 GMT
When it comes undead skeletons are my favorite, and I need 4 of them for the low level dungeon I am designing. I have been putting it off, because I have been working on furniture and other dungeon bling like a fiend. So it looks like crypts and graveyards will probably end up being the Craftwar subject for July. Since I am planning on creating an entry, I traveled to my local hobby shop to see what skeleton minis they had to butcher for part of the set. Some of you who might be older will remember the skeleton box set put out by GW back in the day. I loved those Skellies. They not only made some really awesome Ray Harryhausen style skeletons, but they were easily cut up and used for bases or other terrain. They were relatively inexpensive too. If I remember correctly, you could buy 30 minis for 20 dollars. I asked the guy at the shop for help and he lead me to the current Warhammer fantasy minis. Now, I am out of the Warhammer Fantasy loop, and I didn't realize that they had changed up the models so much. The skeletons now look more like skeletal warriors or come with silly helmets (my opinion). I just wanted some skeletons to make a few minis and cut up the rest for props. I lurked around the store for a while and ended up finding a box of minis produced by Wargames factory. There were 30 minis in it, and it was only 20 dollars. The other nice thing is that they looked like they could be easily converted to a pile of bones if I wanted to. I bought them immediately. I have built one mini to see how the build went. They are a little weak in the ankles. That is primarily because the feet are glued to the legs. While this is great for making a dead body laying on the ground, it is not so good for a animated corpse. Regardless, in the spirit of sharing, I wanted to show what I found. Maybe some of you who are working on your crypts, will be able to use some of these minis. Below there are some pics of the sprues. If any of you know of other places to find good looking skulls and skeletons, please post a link. I would love to see them.
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Post by Jason on Jul 4, 2014 20:18:33 GMT
I also forgot to state that during the build, the arms and head did not fit correctly on the torso without modification. Another reason to use these as good looking dungeon dressing.
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Post by darkslayer on Jul 4, 2014 20:25:00 GMT
Man i need me some of those! i will try amazon since i have no nearby hobby stores unfortunately
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 20:39:42 GMT
I have a box of wargames factory skeletons (and a few of their other products as well). I think they make acceptable skeletons. Overall I think you get what you pay for with their models. I also have some of their vikings that are a bit static and a box of their british colonials that are so horrendous I won't even touch them for bits. It's a love hate relationship I have with them. Love the price, hate the models lol
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Post by Jason on Jul 4, 2014 20:47:55 GMT
I have a box of wargames factory skeletons (and a few of their other products as well). I think they make acceptable skeletons. Overall I think you get what you pay for with their models. I also have some of their vikings that are a bit static and a box of their british colonials that are so horrendous I won't even touch them for bits. It's a love hate relationship I have with them. Love the price, hate the models lol Yeah. Their orcs that I saw at the store were awful. As for the skeletons, they are terrible as actual minis. If you are looking for a skeleton in scale to lay in a crypt, or a pile of bones for the player's to investigate, or weapons for a weapons rack. I don't think that it is too bad. I am actually stealing a few skulls to replace some of the Mantic Skeleton's heads. I hate the Mantic skulls. It looks like they have eyes.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 21:00:52 GMT
I also have some mantic skeletons lol. I ordered the dwarves vs undead KoW starter set back in January. I waited 2 months for an incomplete set to arrive. Anyway, I immediately hated both their undead and dwarves! There have a lot of flash/mold lines and are problematic to assemble. All but a handful of the dwarves (my mordheim treasure hunter war band) and all of the skeletons are still sitting in the box. I was very disappointed as I had heard many good things about their company and was really looking for someone to dethrone Games Workshop.
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Post by Jason on Jul 4, 2014 21:14:03 GMT
I also have some mantic skeletons lol. I ordered the dwarves vs undead KoW starter set back in January. I waited 2 months for an incomplete set to arrive. Anyway, I immediately hated both their undead and dwarves! There have a lot of flash/mold lines and are problematic to assemble. All but a handful of the dwarves (my mordheim treasure hunter war band) and all of the skeletons are still sitting in the box. I was very disappointed as I had heard many good things about their company and was really looking for someone to dethrone Games Workshop. I was hoping the same thing, but I was really let down by their minis. Do you have a favorite company, other than GW, for skeletons?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 21:18:15 GMT
[/quote]I was hoping the same thing, but I was really let down by their minis. Do you have a favorite company, other than GW, for skeletons?[/quote]
I just use the wargames factory ones lol. Are their Orcs really that bad? I thought about getting a box.
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Post by Jason on Jul 4, 2014 22:01:12 GMT
I have very particular tastes for orcs. I like the artist concepts from 3rd edition and 4th edition D&D the best, so my opinion is strongly tainted. It could have been the paint jobs on the package that turned me off, but I was turned off nonetheless. Maybe a good paint job would help them, but I didn't care for them.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 22:06:23 GMT
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Post by Jason on Jul 4, 2014 22:15:57 GMT
Those aren't half bad for 100 cheap little minis.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 22:18:34 GMT
Man i need me some of those! i will try amazon since i have no nearby hobby stores unfortunately You can also find them on ebay as bitz. Usually not in a complete set, but you can get what you need.
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Post by darkslayer on Jul 4, 2014 22:46:38 GMT
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Post by dragon722 on Jul 5, 2014 3:04:56 GMT
I also have some mantic skeletons lol. I ordered the dwarves vs undead KoW starter set back in January. I waited 2 months for an incomplete set to arrive. Anyway, I immediately hated both their undead and dwarves! There have a lot of flash/mold lines and are problematic to assemble. All but a handful of the dwarves (my mordheim treasure hunter war band) and all of the skeletons are still sitting in the box. I was very disappointed as I had heard many good things about their company and was really looking for someone to dethrone Games Workshop. I was hoping the same thing, but I was really let down by their minis. Do you have a favorite company, other than GW, for skeletons? Jason u and DancesWithHippos can send ur skellies to me if they suck lol......Joking.....Maybe
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Post by wildagreenbough on Jul 5, 2014 5:21:59 GMT
Mantic uses Restic, a type of resin plastic, to mould their minis. If parts don't fit together properly what you do is dip them in hot water until they become malleable and then it's possible to straighten them out so they will fit. Some folk warm the restic parts just by holding them under the bulb of a desk lamp which is less messy than using hot water. I'm slowly assembling a Mantic Sisterhood Chariot drawn by two panthers as well as a regiment of Sisterhood Panther Riders. Using the hot water technique I've had few problems with assembling the Panthers and the Sisters themselves can be easily reposed for a little more variety by the same method. I don't own any Mantic Skeletons or Dwarves so I can't really comment about them. Cleaning off mould lines and flash can be a wee bit of a task, though I find that keeping my craft knife blade sharp with a small diamond lap stone goes a long way towards making the job easier.
I refuse to buy the latest GW figures (a) because they aren't a patch on the old sculpts from 3rd/4th/5th Edition and (b) because they are insanely expensive. Most of the UnDead skellies I own are old ones by Grenadier which I really like. (Grenadier closed its doors long ago btw). I do have a very small number of the old GW plastic skellies which arrived in various figure job lots I've purchased second hand from time to time. They are nice, but I much prefer vintage Grenadier minis when it comes to putting together a Skeleton army.
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Post by Jason on Jul 5, 2014 12:42:13 GMT
Mantic uses Restic, a type of resin plastic, to mould their minis. If parts don't fit together properly what you do is dip them in hot water until they become malleable and then it's possible to straighten them out so they will fit. Some folk warm the restic parts just by holding them under the bulb of a desk lamp which is less messy than using hot water. I'm slowly assembling a Mantic Sisterhood Chariot drawn by two panthers as well as a regiment of Sisterhood Panther Riders. Using the hot water technique I've had few problems with assembling the Panthers and the Sisters themselves can be easily reposed for a little more variety by the same method. I don't own any Mantic Skeletons or Dwarves so I can't really comment about them. Cleaning off mould lines and flash can be a wee bit of a task, though I find that keeping my craft knife blade sharp with a small diamond lap stone goes a long way towards making the job easier. I refuse to buy the latest GW figures (a) because they aren't a patch on the old sculpts from 3rd/4th/5th Edition and (b) because they are insanely expensive. Most of the UnDead skellies I own are old ones by Grenadier which I really like. (Grenadier closed its doors long ago btw). I do have a very small number of the old GW plastic skellies which arrived in various figure job lots I've purchased second hand from time to time. They are nice, but I much prefer vintage Grenadier minis when it comes to putting together a Skeleton army. I think what the issue with Hippo and I are the gaps between the unit minis on the Mantic minis that we have put together. When I have to break out green stuff or tamiya modeling paste to fill enormous gaps, I get grumpy. It really isn't about straightening the parts, it is more about how these minis fit together. On the Mantic skeletons, their heads are aweful. They almost don't look like skulls. I would really like to see that completed chariot. Please post it when you complete it. On GW, I don't buy many fantasy GW figures. For me it is because of aesthetics. I am old. I remember buying Grenadier models new, in the store, when they were lead. They put out some really great figures.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2014 18:52:13 GMT
Yeah, the gaps kill me. My dwarfs for instance have big gaps at the waist on the front or at the top of the back where they fit together. They are large enough that I really don't want to have to green stuff it. I love to convert models and I don't mind doing the work that that requires but if I'm going to buy models I don't expect to have to put in extra work to get them to a state they should have been in out of the box. As far as GW goes, I love their models, I hate their prices lol. I rarely buy new GW models from the store. A box of 10 Empire greatswords will run you roughly $40, that is insane.
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Post by wildagreenbough on Jul 6, 2014 1:24:50 GMT
Yeah, the gaps kill me. My dwarfs for instance have big gaps at the waist on the front or at the top of the back where they fit together. They are large enough that I really don't want to have to green stuff it. I love to convert models and I don't mind doing the work that that requires but if I'm going to buy models I don't expect to have to put in extra work to get them to a state they should have been in out of the box. As far as GW goes, I love their models, I hate their prices lol. I rarely buy new GW models from the store. A box of 10 Empire greatswords will run you roughly $40, that is insane. I didn't realise that the Mantic Dwarves were that bad. Being an Elf player and collector from way back I think I only own one Dwarf and that's the one from the old Heroquest set. Mind you the Mantic Elves aren't without their faults either, but at least they are slender unlike GW's linebacker Elves which means that the faults such as they are can be worked around. It looks like I was lucky with my Sisterhood minis then as all I've had to do is a little straightening on the panthers to get them to fit together. I won't hi-jack this thread by showing the WIP on the chariot and the two crew as it would be best if I open my own thread on the subject; - that's if chariots are considered to be suitable for a forum that is mostly about terrain for Dungeon Crawling.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 1:36:10 GMT
It looks like I was lucky with my Sisterhood minis then as all I've had to do is a little straightening on the panthers to get them to fit together. I won't hi-jack this thread by showing the WIP on the chariot and the two crew as it would be best if I open my own thread on the subject; - that's if chariots are considered to be suitable for a forum that is mostly about terrain for Dungeon Crawling. I would start the thread and post it. Most of the things in my painting thread are not necessarily for dungeon crawling. That is one of the good things about this forum, anything and everything can be used even if only as an inspiration to others.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 3:29:41 GMT
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