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I think yours look more dynamic with the arms crossing the body. Though I think it’s the hats I have the most trouble with! I’m okay with Salamanders wearing helmets but not hats!

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i’m wondering how we’ll get the Hafling army list…
2nd uncharted kingdoms type book with a bunch of armies
or a “campaign” book like halpi’s rift, but focused on the human kingdoms? (perhaps even the Shires leaving the League of Rhodia, and a resulting civil war?)

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Via Clash of Kings 2022? I doubt many people have had a chance to play Halpi’s Rift yet. And the CoK '21 update was not a full update (understandably).

I’d also be surprised if a campaign heavily featured an army Mantic doesn’t make minis for.

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The CoK updates usually follow on from game feedback, which has been understandably limited IRL, and Halpi’s wasn’t that long ago.

As part of a campaign supplement/release I could understand (there was reference to an online supported campaign looking at moving the background on) - but agree that barring any resulting background/back story involvement from the halfling/LoR split, KoM probably isn’t getting covered.

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I have a little of everything from 5th and 6th ed. So plenty of kroot and firewarriors, battlesuits and stealth suits, and the devilfish based vehicles. Got out right before the edition change that added all the extra suit variants and such. Been meaning to sell off much of it, since it just sits in a box. Just run into the nostalgia hurdle when I sit down to try and sort out what to sell and what to keep. Until lately mainly focused on just retaining a display force.

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Sell it all and buy new minis. I did that a few month ago with my old Tau army. People pay good money for GW stuff. It helped pushing my Undead army a lot👍

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I’m really excited about literally all of this. I’ve been saying forever that I’d like to make a Salamander army and the halflings are delightful! Also I know I’m in the minority, but I like the Air Elementals.

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I doubt this is anything significant, but that’s a Clan Lord on Slasher, not Fire Drake. Probably just a name change (and a good one at that, since the Fire Drake titan doesn’t fly) but I suppose a stat tweak isn’t out of the question.

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More likely we see a generic humans box set to go with these so all the human factions without angels backing them up become mantic possible. A box set of men at arms and mounted men at arms each containing 1 additional character sprue and you flesh out all the humans immediately. 4 guys with 4 bows, sword+board or a spear/halberd and you get so much mileage.

I’m not ragging on Mantic for this but I’ve noticed a trend with them chasing what 3D printing groups do. Lizardmen and Chaos Dwarves have been really big for a while, halflings are just starting to pick up and the odd spattering of tomb kings here and there. Mantic did the Chaos Dwarves (despite having an old range) and now we’re seeing their lizardmen and halflings come along. Depending on the work pipe line it’s possible they’re trend chasing. Would be nice to see some support for armies like Herd which lack model ranges, aren’t well supported by 3D printing or third parties outside of ancient metal minis (which I love, but most don’t).

I’m disappointed with the salamanders sudden design change, which is a shame because I’ve been waiting years for their release. The new weapons and shields looks nothing like their salamander regiment. Also not a fan of the armor. They already have natural armor and it doesn’t look like the salamanders were originally designed to wear crafted ones. They do look great with mantles though.

I think you’re seeing correlation not cause there.

I also think that Herd have been avoided up to now because they are very well supported by a certain 3rd party.

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Less of a design change, more of a…design. Salamanders didn’t really have much of an aesthetic to begin with, or at least not one with breadth enough for a whole range. The new weapons and shields have all been based on the existing models (such as the ceremonial guard’s shields being the same shape as the ones on the sprue, but with a more ornate design). This is building on the earlier designs, rather than changing them.

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I very well could be. There’s obviously market research gone into it and different groups have come to the same conclusions. It’s hard not to notice Warlord do Halflings, then Atlantic and now Mantic all so close together after years of neglect on all fronts. Lizardmen are seeing a similar thing happen with GW doing it at the same time too. Would be interesting to know how each does their research and who’s been polled for it.

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I actually really like the halflings! They haven’t gone too comical, which is always the risk with small races. Air elementals are OK, though I can’t think of a better way to have gone about them - I guess I’m just not a fan of air elementals in general!

Salamanders I don’t have a strong opion on. Ever since the original lizardmen release by GW back in the late 90s (or early 00s) I have never fallen for lizardmen/salamander types.

As a vanguard player my main question would be around how they support vanguard warbands. I guess most of them are covered in the standard warband listings. I’d be interested to know if the halflings on dogs would just be halflings with a common mount or if they will get their own set of rules. It feels like being on a dog should have more advantage than height and movement, though I think the same for goblins on mawbeasts!

Can’t really see generic humans to be honest - the halfling army (appears to be) a standalone one, rather than for rhordia (although obviously the models can get used that way).

They have basileans and the barbarian style NA ones, don’t see them doing a third, neutral, style.

Sallies releases are interesting, and some are really nice sculpts, but for some will take quite a lot to shift over from the gw vibe

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Unblooded

Skylord on Scorchwing

Ghekkotahslasher

Halflings with rifles

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I’ve been struggling to source scorchwings for years now - I want burning, flying bird things not pterodactyls or gigantic phoenixes - so color me thrilled that Mantic has answered my prayers :sweat_smile: Skylord looks great, pumped for the unit.

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The 10 infantry & 5 cavalry halfling set seems to have some fun stuff in it - hopefully scales with other makers stuff.

I’m really excited about the halflings the more I look at them. All the Salamander stuff is incredible.

I think there’s definitely space for a third human faction, maybe not generic though. Generic is covered by other manufacturers - Perry etc.

Rackham had many human factions, GW - Empire, chaos warriors, Brets .

Due to it’s exclusion from the main book and the range of alternatives, I reckon Kingdom of Men is on iffy ground. I think making Rhordia a full Mantic faction would be the way to go. Not generic but more arcane science/alchemy and coin over piety. Hopefully it would contain new Mantic specific units while also accommodating most KoM players.

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