Monday 19 November 2018

Mantic Kings Of War Vanguard: Northern Alliance Warband Review

The Northern Alliance for Kings of War Vanguard was the set I first looked at and went yep I like those they look awesome!
So lets have a little unboxing and review of what you get in this warband set.




First you are greeted with this new box design from Mantic which looks really eye catching.
On the back of the box it shows you what to expect inside plus pictures of alternate options for some of the miniatures.
In this set we get 15 plastic miniatures as well as the faction cards.


The new box design has a sliding inner box which houses all of the new miniatures and a Mantic box would not be complete with out some Mantic points.


There are two identical bags filled with the same miniatures inside. Each bag include one Snow troll, one Half Elf Berserker, one Ice Naiad, one Ice Kin Hunter and one Huscarl in each bag along with a smaller bag with extra weapons etc..


You also receive a plastic sprue of Mantic Dwarfs which I am very familiar with..


and of course you have some bases..


All the cards are also here. I was surprised that you only got one Snow Troll card as you do get two of the models in the box. It also includes cards for  Elf clansman and Human clansman which you can add later.
There are a few extra cards for some of the models in this box also and not forgetting a card for the Snow Troll Prime..


So lets open up one of the bags and have a look at the miniatures.

All the bodies of the miniatures are pre cut with some of the extra heads and weapons still on a sprue. As mentioned before the small bag has extra weapons and hands as well




There some slight bends which hot water will take care of no problem and a some clean up is need here and there..


These are the 4 main miniatures you get in the bag.



and of course the Snow Troll..


There are no instructions with this kit which may or may not bother you and to be honest its not that hard to follow the box art or your own imagination to put theses together..

I followed the box art so the miniatures that have two of the same design I made the alternate assembly as well,














In this review I did not make the Dwarfs as I have so many from Mantic already painted and ready to go for now..If you want to see what they look like made and painted here are a few pics.








So My thoughts..

Overall this is a nice set with plenty of miniatures to get you started in Vanguard.
 The new sculpts are very nice and full of detail and the Snow Troll is awesome.
There is a bit of clean up here and there which is not that hard to deal with with but there are some little chunks of plastic where they have been pre cut from a sprue that will need more attention.

This kit has options to created different accessorised miniatures which helps when you have 2 of the same posed figures and helps identify the miniatures on the table top a lot easier.

I really like the look and design of these new sculpts as they do have a lot of character to them and Mantic have captured the hardened warriors look really well.

With the Vanguard cards I personally would have liked 2 Snow Troll cards as the special ability for the war band allows you to take two large models. Having two cards would mean I can track the stats on separate cards.

The cards art work and design are very clear and easy to read and really do help with the ease of playing this game.

I really like this set and look forward to putting some paint on them...
Next up I will be looking at the resin booster set for the Northern Alliance.

From more Vanguard related products visit Mantic's Web Store here.


5 comments:

Mike Carter said...

Nice to see someone else taking the time to actually write about things instead of just rambling on with an unfocused video camera! Great job!

Oscar said...

Hi, a questión, It appear to me the material of part of the new escult is the old resin of mantic, I am wrong?
If I am correct I think it is a step back.

vonjunk said...

Good question, Oscar. Actually the resin/plastic is a new blend for Mantic. It's much softer and has better details and is much easier to work with then their older resin models (have a load of Basilean Sisters sitting around because getting them prepared is such a pain).

These new resins will make you happy. Not to the extent of hard plastic, but quite nice and a HUGE improvement.

Oscar said...

Thx for the answer.

Shaggy said...

@Mike Carter Thank you!

@Oscar Calle this kit is plastic and seem to be fine and have lots of detail. As @ Vonjunk says the new resins are nice and I will be putting my review of the resin booster set up later today.