G’day Goonhammer readers! We’re excited to cover what is probably the biggest advancement in miniature wargaming thus far; the first digital release of 3D-printable miniatures by a prominent miniature wargaming company in the form of the Mantic Vault. Find out what it is and why it’s a big deal.
What is the Mantic Vault?
A week ago Mantic Games revealed the Mantic Vault, an online platform providing access to a range of 3D-printable miniatures from Mantic Games offerings and beyond. The Mantic Vault is a subscription-based platform, which at the time of writing the Early-Bird subscription is £3.99 per month (if you’re already subscribed to the Mantic Companion). The full price is set to be £9.99 per month, so for anyone interested, be sure to get on it now.
What do you get?
Subscribers immediately receive the Welcome Pack, a collection of miniatures that will be added over time so even later subscribers feel like they are still getting value when the Early-Bird expires. Of note the Welcome Pack right now contains the Storm Giant upgrade kit (to make the Riftforged Orcs Storm Giant from the standard Mantic Giant kit), as well as a monster that appears to be a cross between a venus flytrap and a hydra. Tokens and fun bonus miniatures are included, too, indicating that all manner of content can be found in future, not just standard Kings of War.
In addition to the Welcome Pack, Monthly Packs will be released, and this is where the true value lies. Subscribers have access to these Monthly Packs as they release, and can put them in their own ‘Vault’. Past Monthly Packs can be purchased for any that miss them, but really the best idea is to subscribe as early as possible and just accumulate the entire Mantic offering like some resin-addicted vacuum.
The May Monthly Pack is incredible for any into Kings of War and Armada. On the Armada side, the starter fleets for the Orcs and Basileans, as well as an extra ship each, are included. For Kings of War it’s all about Riftforged Orcs and Halflings. All three sculpts of the formidable Helstrikers are included, as well as a set of axe wielding arms to upgrade the regular Riftforged Orcs legionaries kit. For Halflings, the infamous Aeronauts are available, and upgrade kits for making Juggers, Poachers and Stalwarts!
Each future Monthly Pack will replace the last, yet the previous packs will all be still available to purchase for those that missed them. Obviously the best value is to subscribe early and accumulate all the releases as they come, but at least there are ways for those new to the Vault to get older packs.
Why is the Mantic Vault so important?
The Mantic Vault announcement video started off with a demonstration of the whole process of resin casting a miniature. It is both time consuming and labour intensive, resulting in a product that’s priced accordingly. The most egregious examples of these are the resin upgrade kits for infantry, such as the Halflings’ Stalwarts infantry. Coming in at £25 for 10, a horde of these (40 models) comes in at the same price as a Halflings Army Box or the Storm in the Shires starter set. The new Mantic Vault platform will progressively make these upgrade sprue issues a thing of the past.
This is also a big step into the future of wargaming. While the Big Boys in the industry don’t really need to worry about the disruption 3D printing has caused, and small companies have an easier time pivoting to, or already starting as, a majority STL-based service, it’s the medium-sized companies like Mantic that could get caught in the switch. The Vault, along with the Companion, are ways to keep monthly revenue coming in, while providing great value and ease of use tools to the customer.
For those not keen on 3D printing, this doesn’t mean Mantic is transitioning, but rather it is a nother means to get their models. All of the aforementioned resin kits will continue to be available. So for those that don’t have access to a 3D printer, enjoy purchasing kits, or want to support their local hobby store, they will still have the means.
What’s next?
June 2023
We already know a little of what is to come in the next few months. June will see the booster sets for the Basilean and Orc Armada fleets, along with War in the Holds Part 1; the Goblins versus Ratkin two player starter set. Presumably, that will be the resin miniatures, of which there are a Goblin Wiz and Ratkin Warlock that are exclusive to this set.
The upgrade parts for the infantry are the most exciting. Shock Troops are an incredibly popular unit in the Ratkin army, yet their resin upgrade sprue is difficult to acquire, typically selling out within a week. Making these available would just help Mantic keep up. On the Goblin side, there is no upgrade kit (we know of) for standard infantry, however Luggits remain resin (and expensive) and fully-sized riderless Mawbeasts would be welcome. We could even see the replacement of the PCV plastic Trolls and Night Terror, yet the extent of the Vault replacing non-resin minis remains to be seen.
July 2023
The Armada releases are set to continue while the rest of the offerings move onto Shadows in the North Part 1; Nightstalkers versus Northern Alliance. The Nightstalkers have just received multiple hard plastic kits to replace their formerly resin Reapers and Butchers, but they do have a plethora of resin monsters and characters that may be included in this release. The Northern Alliance are also just about to have an update to their kits, so what in the range will remain resin, we don’t know.
That said, any of the formerly resin miniatures could still be released as STLs. This gets value out of kits no longer in production, and for those who want to pump out even more of a particular unit, can do so at will.
The Future of the Vault
This is only just the beginning, yet for now the Vault comes in at incredible value. This new way of getting miniatures from Mantic addresses multiple key issues; the resin production bottleneck, the worldwide availability of Mantic products, and the prohibitive cost of some of the units. It also allows Mantic to release some fun stuff, such as the tokens, unreleased sculpts and terrain.
The question is, what do we want?
Cytoplasm’s Mantic Vault Wish
Random pieces of scatter terrain to put on our multibases. Kind of like Terrain Crate stuff, but focussed on multibasing themes. Fallen logs and overgrown ruins for forest basing, or nightmarish trees and bones of beasts for the Void.
Urr’s Mantic Vault Wish
Rapidly fill out Mantic’s incomplete Kings of War ranges. Get all those units in all the Mantic armies that don’t have miniatures and release STLs for them. Units like Depth Horrors, Abyssal Guard, Hunters of the Wild, Beasts of Nature, Reanimated Behemoths and more.
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