Starting VC with Mantic Undead

[FatChango]

Greetings, Carpe Noctem & the Council of the Night!

I'm starting a second army and have settled on VC. Before I begin, a quick question- what is the feeling here about the Mantic Undead line? I am considering it for a couple of reasons, foremost my wallet not being as fat as it should be. My plan is to get Mantic for ghouls, zombies, and revenants (as GG) and GW for everything else, such as wolves, cav, characters, etc. Thoughts?

As a side note, I hope to start with the following-

- a vampire & a necromancer model;
- ghouls x40 or so;
- wolves x10;
- grave guard x30;
- vargheists x3;
- varghulf;

Is the above a good start? Any advice appreciated.

 

[Whisky Priest]

Personally, I use mantic for my rAnk and file - skellies, ghouls and zombies - IMO, they are the equal of GW minis, or nicer in the case of zombies & ghouls. The 'prestige' units - grave guard, black knights etc, I use GW as I think they are much nicer and characterful. I use GW blood knights, which are not wonderful, but there really is nothing better (check out gamezone here - I love three of their vampire cavalry and hate the other two - problem is they don't scale well with GW or mantic cavalry.)

For characters, I use other manufacturers - like reaper, CMON, avatars of war (they do a brilliant vampire countess) and enigma (dark vlad is a very nice mini). The only GW character minis I like are the wight king and forge worlds wight lord BSB.

 

[logan054]

basically the zombies are good, the ghouls are ok, the skeletons, revanats and wraiths are complete wank, the revs just look to much like the skeletons.

For vampires I actually like the vampires off the coven, very cool models, easy enough to convert, only problem with the AoV vampire is the head.

 

[FatChango]

For vampires I actually like the vampires off the coven, very cool models, easy enough to convert, only problem with the AoV vampire is the head.

"Off the coven"?

 

[whtdwrf11]

For vampires I actually like the vampires off the coven, very cool models, easy enough to convert, only problem with the AoV vampire is the head.

"Off the coven"?

Logan means the vampire models off the coven throne/mortis engine model

 

[Bounce]

I used a bucketload of Mantic zombies, wraiths and armoured revenants.
Personally i think they all look heaps better than GW and are way cheaper too so it's a win-win situation.

 

[Count Matthewzilla]

I must be one of teh few people who uses all GW mini's for my armies.

 

[Feast4Crows]

My rank and file is mostly Mantic. I prefer their zombies and skeletons, but use GW ghouls. Mantic ghouls get a head swap and become zombies. I also use Mantic's revenants and rev cavalry for GG and BK respectfully. My wraiths are also from Mantic. Mantic's scale is less heroic than GW's so my GW vampires really stand out in the rank and file units. I also use LOTR Morgul Knights for blood knights. They do need a bit of green stuff work to enclose their helms to hide the skeletal faces. My spirit hosts are LOTR Army of the Dead minis. For bat swarms I use Reaper's bat swarms.

Only drawback to using Mantic's minis is you can't use them in a GW store. Not a problem for me, but something to keep in mind.

 

[Whisky Priest]

I take it all back - having now had a chance to fully examine my GW blood knights, I can honestly say that they are superb miniatures.

I can highly recommend them, I'd put them up there with the GW grave guard and black knights (if you are a millionaire). Hope they keep the same mold for the plastic ones.

Still, far prefer my mantic rank and file to GWs.

 

[Lord Elpus]

I love me Mantic Zombies, Revenants, Mounted Revenants, Ghouls and skellies, to me they far surpass the G.W ones. Not only that, you get more of them for your money, which is not a bad thing!!

I also use LOTR minis as my ghost swarms, and they fit in perfectly too.

I use a few official Citadel minis though for my characters and black coach, but apart form that Mantic ALL the way!!

 

[hairyjeff]

There are three factors here. What you like, what you can afford and where you play. Firstly, if you play in a GW store or sponsored event, you have to use their models. Fair 'nuff. Otherwise, don't buy a model you don't like, then choose what you like from what you can afford. I personally despise GW zombie models, and had no zombies in my army for years , but now have about a hundred mantics. I also like the skeleton/revenants, but mix them together all as skeletons. However, mantic character models are'nt too good. Look up DoN's review.

 

[FatChango]

Thanks much for the responses, gentlemen. I've decided to go with Mantic ghouls and zombies, both for the price and the look. GW zombies I do not like at all. I do like the GW Grave Guard though, better than the Revenants. Thinking of using a Mantic Balefire as GG unit filler too.

Again, thanks for the responses. More new-to-VC questions to follow!

 

[Bane]

Mantic rank and file are just superior. They look good and they don't take 18 years of effort to make them rank up properly like the new multipose kits.

I agree with the comment about the more elite units though. GW has the market on that one.

 

[Kassill]

I must be an oddball as I can't stand any mantic models except for the zombies. And that really is only due to the fact that I can't stand the GW zombies. So dated....

Other than that, GW all the way for everything else (except for Lords and Heroes. Other than the named fellows, I'll probably end up going with places like reaper for my vamp's)