Various materials for Mantic minis

lowlylowlycook · January 19, 2026, 10:55pm

Some of the new players at my FLGS have jumped right in and bought Mantic armies to play. I guess they are not old enough to have WHFB minis stashed away in a closet. Also the Nightstalker and Twilight Kin minis make quite the impression.

Sadly the store has had no luck ordering from Mantic so they have been getting boxed sets from Ebay or wherever. But there are various materials used and they are not sure what is what. Anyone know of a blog post or video or something that goes over all the materials that I could point them to? I could make something up but I never minded the Restic used for Fleebag Riders or Boar Riders so my opinion is obviously invalid.

screamingaddabs · January 20, 2026, 4:31pm

Basically, the newer the army the better the models.

E.g. xirkaali are outstanding, dwarves are, well, mixed…

The best models material wise (and one could argue design too as they have improved) are probably

Xirkaali, halflings, trident realm and the digital salamanders (all refreshed with the new book)

After that, probably Nightstalkers, Twilight kin, new ogres (look at the legs - thin legs are pvc)

Then, northern alliance, empire of dust, forces of the abyss

Goblins are ok for most but not everything - old models should be obvious though.

Mixed bag for basilea, dwarves, goblins, orcs (rift forged much newer!)

Elves are all very old

Ronnie says don’t do forces of nature just now as they are about to get reworked.

Sorry if I missed any

Sceleris · January 20, 2026, 5:38pm

Materials wise

HIP - hard impact plastic.

The regular stuff on sprues. While the actual plastic and the specific manufacturer has changed over time, these can all be treated the same from the old dwarf/zombies to the new xirkaali warriors & trident realm depth horrors.

Newer sets have simple instructions. Many have lettered/numbered parts that form a single model/options - from a simple pair of arms for a gun/2hw (halflings) to complete multipart torsos etc (TR riverguard). The very old models don’t have anything, so can be a bit trial and error.

Generally no need to wash sprues. Clip/cut off and use polystyrene cement/plastic glue. Can be cleaned up with file, knife or mold line remover. Described as ‘hard plastic’ on the website

20 hard plastic Abyssal Dwarfs

8 x Hard Plastic Xirkaali Warriors/Spearwardens

Resin

Multipart kits - heroes, monsters, war machines etc.

Will be a collection of parts attached to (usually) triangular lumps of the same stuff from when they were cast.

These need to be washed and care taken with clean up (as resin dust isn’t good for you). Use superglue to build.

Rarely come with instructions, some have lettered parts on the sprue. If parts are bent/warped they can be softened with hot water/hairdryer, straightened then dip in cold water.

Show as resin on the website

1x Resin Abyssal Dwarf Overmaster

1 x Resin Xirkaali Gokluu Dragon Dragon

lowlylowlycook · January 20, 2026, 5:40pm

Thanks. So far it’s worked out that the newer models seem to have more attractive esthetics. What I’d really like is a list of materials with a bit on how to identify each and then tips for each (what kind of glue, how to get mold lines off of PVC, which can be boiled to reshape, etc.

As far as the quality goes, with the exception of hard plastic are there any exceptions to “You get what you pay for?” And are there any terrible plastic kits left? They replaced the Basila kits, right?

lowlylowlycook · January 20, 2026, 5:55pm

And PVC would be the same as Resin but are more trouble to build, have to carefully remove mold lines with sharp knife and have softer details?

Also I think I’ve heard the term Master Crafted Resin, is all their poured resin basically the same?

Sceleris · January 20, 2026, 5:58pm

PVC

[This sometiimes gets called Restic in some blogs, but that isn’t really an actual material!]

Multiple separate parts, usually bagged up. May have small chunks of sprue/material attached.

Common material for older mantic cavalry models (halfbreeds, gore riders, sister panther riders etc), large infantry (obsidian golems, orc/goblin trolls & older ‘tiny legged’ ogres) and the basic mantic giant model. Some single piece “boardgame’ models were also done with this sort of material - TR Knucker and halfling Iron Beast

Mold lines & warping can be an issue. Need to cut, rather than file, off the former. Hot water treatment almost mandatory to get the cavalry halves to fit or straighten spears. Use superglue.

How it gets described is a touch inconsistent!

10 Plastic Resin Abyssal Dwarf Halfbreeds

3 plastic Lesser Obsidian Golem miniatures

3x PVC Plastic Trolls

Sceleris · January 20, 2026, 6:00pm

Master Crafted Resin is what they have started doing some models with - so presume that is what they will use going forward.

There will also be the print on demand 3d stuff once the Vault store is fully up to date.

lowlylowlycook · January 20, 2026, 6:10pm

Thanks so much. I’m going to copy and paste all your excellent explanation into one post for easy linking.

lowlylowlycook · January 20, 2026, 6:18pm