Mantic has released a video of Kyle telling us about the new nightstalker release.
The new plastic sprues come with unit options.
Butchers get a ranged option, reapers get an option that can jump over other units.
Spectres are out, use the models as doppelgangers.
Planar apparitions are not getting models (in favour of the terrific void lurker model), but are becoming an option in the mindscreetch profile (so that’s the official model).
New rules will be available on Mantic Companion.
Similar release for Northern Alliance later in the year, Twilight Kin are coming with CoK towards the end of the year.
It’s great to see Mantic opening the door to more release windows in the year using Mantic Companion.
Looks like Mantic is growing and becoming more successful.
Big changes to two lists not long after the Big Red Book release though. I’ll probably not be getting books other than new editions going forward, if that.
I’m also happy to see nightstalkers and NA finally get their model lines sorted out.
They were both squeezed out of the Vanguard Kickstarter and availability of some models was awkward.
Looks like Mantic have worked hard to tie up all the loose ends in the nightstalkers model line.
Yeah, I’d certainly agree that it is a good approach.
Slowly swapping out the pvc units for hard plastics is great - the former worked in Vanguard but not when trying to put big units together.
Barring people who have built hordes/troops of spectres no-one is going to miss them!
Giving the terror effectively 20 attacks v infantry means its now a viable alternative to the shadow hulk, while the Mindscreech/planar apparition option seems sensible.
Seen some negative feedback regarding rules releases outside of Clash book, but can completely understand why these are (generally) being tied to model releases.
Good, smart stuff overall. Maybe I’m not 100% in favor of removing options (Specters entirely, Planar Apparitions as a distinct monster) because of what reads like production limitations, but I can appreciate the decision to slim the line rather than continue to not offer Mantic models for all options.
+1 to NA finally getting sorted out, shocking how poorly supported so much of that line is. Curious to see if any units get combined or dropped as a result … but really I just want modular Snow Trolls and more than 1-2 poses for non-human infantry
for all the great things there are 2 problems
one is that the red book is now outdated, which is sad (and they should have taken the chance to split it into 2 books like Deadzone)
the other problem is Spectres had a Horde option and Doppelgängers not, which makes this tricky for everyone with a horde multibase
basically merging 2 units is the best way to do it, that the new unit does not have the same size available not so much
main problem now is that this makes people insecure how valid their armies are if they worked with units that had no models
It is not great regarding the Red Book.
Not sure there’s a better way to go about it, but I’ll probably not be getting printed books from Mantic hoing forward.
How many hordes of spectres do you think there actually are though?
Spectres were not a popular unit.
I wonder how much hobby work it would be to turn enough of a spectre horde into scarecrows.
If they’re not Mantic models then surely they could be a “counts as” for something else?
How much concern Mantic should have for units of non-Mantic models is another discussion that I don’t think has a good answer either way.
I don’t think it’s feasible never to change anything and any change will inconvenience someone.
for non Mantic armies this is something different, but there are older Mantic armies that don’t have all models or were units are based on old model lines
like there are 3 Elves elite units, building now a horde of Palace Guard, how big is the chance that this is the one gone while you can only take regiments of the other
this is a unique situation and something that was not there before
like the changes for Brotherhood and Varangur, no big problem here, units were merged replaced and they did not fit perfectly before anyway
but in this case a unit that had models was removed and the models added to another unit with different options and therefore people fear this happens again with other armies that get a makeover
I get the concern in principle.
Definitely another reason to make two regiments rather than a horde.
Less of an issue if looked at more practically though.
Spectres were quite clearly a unit that needed to be reworked and were not taken much. The advice to new players was often to build scarecrows instead.
I don’t think anyone needs to worry about units for which that kind of thing isn’t the case.
@Cyberactivity and one bloke on discord appear to be the only people who built spectre hordes(!), and I’ve personally never knowingly faced them on the gaming table
Ronnie said this in an FB thread (about Herd models)
“Please please please, be careful when building new armies with minis that Mantic do not make. It means at some point Mantic will likely make that army - and at that point it will get a full make over. Army lists using other companies minis are temporary gap fillers to let you use your existing armies in KoW. If you know this and won’t hate me when we chnge the army, then go ahead. If you gonna hate me and burn the army and all that, pick one that Mantic makes plastic for. ”
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