I dont really expect my minis to be perfect. One or two flat areas on a mini is something I find normal. My approach is: fix it with the paint job. The only minis out there which are “perfect” (some times) are GW.
I hate GW as a company on principle.
I really like Kings of War. Which means I care about Mantic as a principle. So I buy their models as a rule with a few occasional exceptions, and accept small flaws here and there. That’s my view.
If other people find small flaws annoying, then I would claim their standards are too high.
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Come on, dude. Why are you spinning my words? I like building models, I won Best Painted Army for my conversions, but I dont want to spent ages building core troops from dozen pieces. Specially as they are meant for gaming and I need horde or two of them. And I dont want to spent fortune on them either. So I don`t care if some corners are cut. Every company does it and I can live with that. I care when big corners are cut, like old goblins or finecast.
IMHO, those blacksouls look great, don`t understand all the fuss, but each to its own, I guess.
But being complacent with a company is how we get to where we are with GW… because the players were just like “well we can’t change it”… resulted in mass price gouging
Because parts of the model that are openly visible should have suitable detail… me? I enjoy building models, I came from a model background, cars, bikes, tanks, planes etc etc… so half the enjoyment for me is building
Ok, I understand why you want building in miniatures. I, on other hand, like converting and challenge to change monopose mini to fit my vision.
Oh, people complaint. A lot. GW closed its forums because of that. Although much more complaint was abut rules and power creep. But for each customer that said “crap, that is to expensive!”, there were five who said “those details are great, I don`t mind paying extra”.
at the same points, you marked the spots were arms meet shield/weapon, and the shouldes
Oathmark lacks detail on all weapons/arms in the “ready” pose (and with the chainmail hanging downwards, you cannot build spears in attack position without them looking strange)
mold lines are on all parts but specially on the round ones
both kits are great value for the money but it is not about ignoring the lack of detail
lets take a Perry Box, I would never complain about not being able to freely pose the Napoleonic Infantry from them or complain about not having details on spot that are never seen again after building the unit
those are meant for Rank & File and therefore details are not as important as the look as unit and how well the models rank up
their WW2 plastic sets are different, nice details and all but it won’t work placing them on 20mm square bases in a unit (and the unit weill look terrible)
complaining about details on single models for something that is meant to be used in a unit is ok but I would not call out on Mantic Quality as KoW models are designed different than those made for Vanguard
GW does not care about that, people are complaining about model quality and prices for years
And wihle they say that they have the best model quality on the market, most models cost twice as much as they are worth and the only reason why is because people are willing to pay for it (as people are willing to pay more for any famous trademark)
and you get enough people defending them who have never even looked closer at what quality they would get for less
but GW closed their forum and is also deleting FB comments, they only allow positive comments on their products and games
Did I miss something? As far as I can tell your issue is that one bit of armour near the shoulder doesn’t have enough detail? The rest of the model does though, but you really feel THAT PARTICULAR BIT should have more? Sometimes armour plates are not ALL adorned with hellish decor, especially near a joint where things can snag (or, on a model, it can get in the way of posing).
That can’t be it, right? That would make your rant a massive overreaction and a bit silly, to be honest.
I’m not sold on the stuff you say has more detail either, it looks the same or worse. The ornamentation on the abyssal dwarf armour is much more work and detail than chain mail texture, for a start.
It’s becoming obvious that you’ve taken your idea too seriously and you’ve developed a rather bad case of confirmation bias. You’ll focus on the abyssal dwarf’s negatives and basically anything else’s positive to the extent that pretty much anything probably looks better.
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Just a point to note.
If you are buying for pure quality - best in the industry miniatures - you won’t be buying Mantic or GW - plastic kit or not.
And another thing. I’ve never seen a kit that didn’t need mould lines cleaned. Model or miniature.
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Technically GW has great detail. But a lot of the newer stuff is just full of clutter to justify their higher price point.
I get an anxiety attack just thinking about having to paint an entire army of their highly detailed minis.
Less is more still applies even in this hobby imho.
Acknowledging that there is still room for improvement and not brushing off the faults deserves a solid 
.
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I agree, I wouldnt like to paint them either, just saying that if you want obsessive level of high detail you know where to go. I won’t. 
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Personally I think 3d printing is the way to go, currently it’s still fiddly, messy and prone to errors, but all that will be sorted in a couple of years. GW is trying to fight it and as usual they don’t have a proper case, just intimidation tactics.
Once the technology is consumer market ready the miniature manufacturers will have to adapt or die, early adopters will of course have an advantage.
Most of my new miniatures are 3d printed, I buy some stuff, mostly historical, or where I feel the cost to quality versus the hassle of printing is worth it.
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Yeah, already shops like Raging Heroes are adapting with special 3D printing monthly subscriptions, where you receive the files for about 5 to 15 models each month for 10$.They already have over eleven hundred subscribers and this is the second month, so it seems like a decent plan.
All these details look crisp to me, on areas that would “struggle” being cast… I’m sorry, but after inspecting all the minis and arms with just primer on, the whole “we can’t cast this way” lacks credibility when it clearly can… and as I’ve said, the Axe in question appears to vary massively from other weapons thus leading me to the believe this is a special figure in the unit… if it’s supposed to be a plate, design it as a plate! Not like someone has smashed Mash Poatato on his shoulder armour… under the cloaks by the feet? Not too fussed about, but details on the top of a model that ARE visible from 2 feet away? Should be done properly!! If they were intended to be hidden from view, make the models monopose…
Also… would somebody care to explain… why they can undercut the fingers on the arms but not the shoulder pads??
The whole argument of missing out details is slowly losing credibility because the flaws are visible and the evidence that you 'can" cast it a certain way is showing in other models
Oh and what about the pretty much perfectly detailed Decimators arms and shoulders? Almost like the designer prefers guns over swords and shields…
Wow. You really are making this ridiculous fuss over a minor detail.
Not only that either. You’re still on the same rant after people have explained it to you, including someone who was actually involved in designing it.
You’ve responded to us being kind and explaining something that doesn’t actually need defending to you by continuing to whine like a spoiled child.
You’re by far the worst example I’ve seen of expecting budget miniatures to be perfect and exactly to your liking.
That’s not how the world works, if you want better you’ll have to pay better. These are damn good for their price, but you’re expecting even more.
That makes you not the target market then.
I’m not the target market for lots of things too and I manage not to buy them and then complain about them online. What you were getting wasn’t a secret.
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Those last pictures you posted have me thinking the kit is brilliant. I know you are posting the photos to support your complaint about the kit… but honestly, I think it is doing the exact opposite. It makes me want to buy a whole load of them!
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You spent a lot of time explaining that you are a ‘modeller’ and have high standards and so on. These sprues are designed for KoW. And Kings of War is, as it says on the first page of the rulebook, a mass-battle fantasy game. Which means you need a lot of models. Mantic provides models for a reasonable (wouldn’t call it cheap) price. If you want high quality single miniatures or small sets of sprues Mantic isn’t the right manufacturer for you, nor is Kings of War the right game. It would cost a fortune to field a 2000pt army of high quality models.
You are right about some of the details, but please, put it into perspective!
I suppose most people here (and the community as a whole) want to build, paint and field armies, have fun and maybe win a price at a tournament without spending half a month share for it or spending even more precious time building hundreds of toy soldiers which is needed for families, jobs and other freetime activities. Build a regiment and I’m sure it will look great! I had to learn to relax on details when I started KoW and painting a whole army of undead.
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What a nice and thoughtful response… I knew these comments were coming and fully prepared for it, but the excuse above “we can’t design with cut ins” has been refuted with evidence that’s I’ve posted, yes, his is a mass battle game, so was WHFB… yet they still had pretty solid details, to field a 2000 KoW army using FMC count bases would still be in the region of £200-300… 700 points worth of Blacksouls 3 regiments and Decimators 2 regiments at £20 a regiment from Mantic… is still £100… so no, 2000 is is not a fraction of the cost of another fantasy based game… 2000 points unless you buy their army bundles exclusively is still over £300… so yet again, i’ve refuted your argument like a child I guess 
Oh yeah don’t get me wrong, as an army concept they are amazing, but it’s these issues that just leave me feel disappointed, I feel like since the early days, nothing has really improved, it’s just stayed the same… great marketing… mediocre product development… bit like Apple after Steve Jobs…