Back on topic!
I just picked up the Mantic Undead Warhost set.
First off - very nice miniatures!
Scale is a trifle on the small side, again, closer to 25mm than to 30.
Poses are limited, but very dynamic - with bits for customizing that make up for the lack of poses a bit. The ghouls, as a not random example, have only two torsos and two sets of legs, so you can squeeze four base poses out of the sprue. Arms are integral to the torsos.
But wait! There's more! The sprue also has a bunch of additional hands, with various weapons - cleaver, knife and bagh nakh. My favorite bit is a snack bage - with a hand and a foot nestled inside for a case of the munchies.
Poses are, as I mentioned, dynamic - there is plenty of motion in their stances, these are ghouls on the move, leaping and running. The integral arms are weaponless, and spread - think something along the lines of a fast moving 'Night of the Living Dead' - these are not shamblers.
Revenant's are the armored skeletons - five base poses of legs and lower torsos, two of each on the sprue. Ten upper torsos and arms, with no complete duplication. The fit on these is quite good - while I glued the torso parts together I really think that I could have just snapped them into place.
Lots of extra weapons, lots of extra heads - including a helmet or two that was taken from the Elven figures.
There are plenty of arms for swaps, so you can make a much varied unit, with the exception of the shields - this is a hand weapon and board unit.
And the best piece - a skeletal rat wearing a collar, apparently straining against a leash. He is so cute!
A second box contains the standard, unarmored or lightly armored skeletons. Poses are a bit more static - these are the standard infantry, not the armored elite. Again two of each of the five lower torsos, and ten upper torso. About half are meant to hold spears, while the others hold a mix of hand weapons. The skeletal giant rat makes a second appearance.
The best piece on this sprue? There is a ground tile designed so that the upper torso of the skeltons can plug into it - so that the thing is bursting out of the ground!
A weird thing to say about skeletons - but both the Revnants and the skeletons have excellent facial expressions - these are not mindless constructs, these are malevolent undead.
The set also includes a catapult - onager style. The ammo is a bag of skulls, but the catapult itself is a construct of wood and metal, not bone. I like it better this way, and may take a Dremel to the skull in the catapult, replacing it with a bit of rock. A fairly sturdy model, a trifle ornate, in an evil fashion. (Spiky bits = Evil.)
A note on bases - all the infantry comes with integral round bases, and can stand on their own. Also included are 3/4 inch square bases that the round bases plug right into, for those who want to use the figures with Warhammer or the like.
I have encountered these bases before - they are very similar to those of Metal Magics back in the 1980s and '90s. Of all the standardized bases I have encountered these are my favorite, allowing flexibility, and much easier to fill than the slotta bases. Very nice to see them making a comeback. If you get some of the older figures from MegaMini - they are the old Metal Magics repackaged, and will fit into the Mantic bases with only a minor problem - they are about 1/32 of an inch thicker, so the base will rise a trifle in the center after flocking. (And by some tastes in basing this is not a problem, it is a feature.
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A note on packaging - the sprues come in plastic cases with foam lining - they can be used for transport of the completed miniatures. Again, a nice touch.
My set also included a messenger bag big enough to carry all the boxes.
I also got a set of metal figures with the set, but I spent yesterday afternoon getting dizzy from the fumes of Testor's Liquid plastic glue.... I was having fun with the plastics.
As a side note - for some reason these undead make me want to run Midnight.
The Auld Grump
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