Mantic Games Kings of War Dwarfs IronWatch Boxed Set Review

[WarGameGuru]

Today I posted a review of Mantic Games Kings of War Dwarfs IronWatch Troop Boxed Set Review...

Here's a little preview of it...

Like all of the Mantic Games releases, this set also comes in a VHS-like clam-shell plastic box. Inside you will find two thin sheets of foam, five models sprues, a single sprue with 10x 20mm square bases, a Mantic Point sticker and a fold out poster with dwarf stuff on it. A Troop boxed set is also 10x models.

The models come on sprues with 2x models per sprue, and like the Undead models I reviewed a while back, these too are by design made so that assembly requires minimal effort. They accomplish this with the dwarf models by having a lower torso with the back half of the upper torso pre-made, and the upper torso front snaps into place.



http://wargameguru.weebly.com/review---mantic-games-dwarfs-ironwatch-troop.html

[Viper]

Another very detailed review Guru.
 

Being from mantics "2 to a sprue" range, which also includes the Elf scouts and the ghouls I'm not surprised there isn't much in the way of extra bits and pieces except for that hammer which I guess is to put on the base, back or in the bits box. What it does do is create a very regimented unit which I find rather nice and certainly suits them for mantics purpose of big armies.

You're totally right about the pretty unique style Mantic have created, and having seen them next to the Evil Empires Dwarf miniatures they look a lot more dangerous. They have been designed to be very top heavy, wearing lots of extra armour on their head/shoulders as most opponents will be striking downwards towards them. A small detail I was really impressed with.

[WarGameGuru]

Another very detailed review Guru.
 

Being from mantics "2 to a sprue" range, which also includes the Elf scouts and the ghouls I'm not surprised there isn't much in the way of extra bits and pieces except for that hammer which I guess is to put on the base, back or in the bits box. What it does do is create a very regimented unit which I find rather nice and certainly suits them for mantics purpose of big armies.

You're totally right about the pretty unique style Mantic have created, and having seen them next to the Evil Empires Dwarf miniatures they look a lot more dangerous. They have been designed to be very top heavy, wearing lots of extra armour on their head/shoulders as most opponents will be striking downwards towards them. A small detail I was really impressed with.

Thank you sir for your kind words.

I really like the look too, they look comic-book-like to me, with squared jaws, almost heroic. I'm really impressed they could come up with a look that hasn't been used yet in minis. Up until now, I always felt the GW Lord of the Rings dwarf models were the best representation of dwarfs. Now I have two favorites.

[LeadAsbestos]

The shine! It blinds!

You should review some flat varnish next!

[Viper]

I really like the look too, they look comic-book-like to me, with squared jaws, almost heroic. I'm really impressed they could come up with a look that hasn't been used yet in minis. Up until now, I always felt the GW Lord of the Rings dwarf models were the best representation of dwarfs. Now I have two favorites.

A lot of the LotR models are/were really nice (if expensive naturally being EE products), great sculpts but also true scale which worked great. After so many years of seeing Warhammer Fantasy Dwarf models having dwarf models with KNEES was a really big change.

Actually thinking about it I see what you mean by the comic-book style. First thing that comes to mind would be "what would a dwarf warrior look like if done in the style of Astrix and Obelix" and yep pretty much looks like the mantic models.
 

The shine! It blinds!

Anyone would think you were trying to imply that Dwarf beards and leather weren't actually made of metalic substances.
 

[Sangennaru]

really good review, but i don't like those models.

are really old style, and the worst thing is that, even if they are made of plastic, they have mainly 2 poses.

1 euro per miniature is almost like the fantastic Dwarf Wars from WestWind, all in metal, with nice poses and loads of details.


perry and WG plastic are much more cheaper, around 0,50$ for one miniature.
and the pose are many more.


dunno, i agree that it is half cheaper than gw sprues, but the quality is really lower. if you want this, you can use old style milrinton models or other simliar, with same prices and better result.

[Argonor]

I think the style is a matter of taste. I like how these somehow mix the cartoony GW-style with the LotR

I agree that you can get metals with more variation at about the same price, which is nice for warbands, and the likes - for making armies, though, I'd prefer plastics with a limited number of poses, anyway, for the following reasons:

• Faster to clean up mold lines - you just scrape most of them instead of filing
• They are light-weight, thus easier to both store and transport
• Uniformity - easier to paint quickly and still look OK in masses

I know, some here would argue that it takes away the 'joy of painting' having to paint a lot of almost identical models, but that is what most army-building is about. I can think of few things more un-interesting than painting a Space Marine squad, for instance, even with great variation in poses, only real variation is in all the 'extra' details - which only really slows down painting, anyway.

I like painting single models and small groups where you can give extra attention to each individual - but when it comes to painting units for a massed battle game, the only thing that really matters is speed - to me, anyway. And units of uniform models can be painted much faster than units of characterful individuals.

In KoW the individual model in a unit does not matter - only the unit size is important (and thus I really think the game would be better played with 10- or 6 mm models on stands (like warmaster) than with 28 mm models) - and so it does not make much sense to have a high level of individuality among the rank-and-file, as they are just small parts of one big gaming piece - the unit.

And even though the individual model does somewhat matter in Warhammer, I think the same holds more or less true for that game. I'd much prefer to see armies made up of uniform units actually painted (even if only blocked out and washed/dipped), than of units comprised of higly detailed, individual - but not or only partially painted - models.