Mars Attacks: Bolt Ack-Acktion

I've been meaning to find some time to paint up the Mars Attacks Kickstarter and over the weekend Beasts of War posted a live blog of an ingenious Mars Attacks/Bolt Action crossover, that was really inspiring, even if it was a shame it had a lot of unpainted figures n a really nice table...

They also produce a free downloadable PDF for the Martians, so if you fancy bringing some inter-planetary invasion to WW2, this is the way to do it!

Mars Attacks: Occupation

Fans of Mantic's Mars Attacks game might be interested some new source material in the form of latest Topps' Kickstarter, Mars Attacks Occupation. This KS will fund the production of a new set of trading cards, but will include other stuff such as a new miniatures game scenario and a digital novella. One of the stretch goals, already broken, is the production of some Dinosaurs Attack v Mars Attacks cards.

Now I don't know why I didn't think of this, but the idea of Martians v Dinosaurs is way beyond cool...

Mars Attacks: Hardback Compendium Lands

It's been a long day today starting with a series of meetings in Paris and just making it back home to see Liverpool score the winner in added time at Bolton! An additional pleasant surprise was a padded envelope from Mantic containing the Mars Attacks Miniatures Game hardback compendium.

I hadn't realised I was getting this but having had a quick flick through I am glad to have it, it is a really nice looking product. I'll have a proper look at it tomorrow, off now to see if the Chinese is still open...

Mars Attacks: Straightening Things Out...

Approximately twenty figures were suffering from some form of plastic bend out of my Mars Attacks Kickstarter, including most of the US infantry, the vast majority of whom were suffering from bent barrels on their M16's.

I was a little disappointed with this, but decided to hold off complaining until I tried the old  trick of immersing the figure in boiling water, then hoisting out (with a spoon!), bending the bent bits back into position, then plunging into some icy water to set the straightened pose.

Luckily, not even that amount of effort was required, as soon as the figures were put in the hot water, the bent parts immediately straightened of their own accord. A quick plunge into the ice cold water and they set back in their correct position.

Presumably the plastic retained some pose memory from after the casting process and I am now happy with the end result for some very minimal effort.

Mars Arrives!

UPS delivered by big Mars Attacks Kickstarter box from Mantic today, and boy it was big - and heavy!

I have only managed to give the contents a quick glance, but overall I am impressed and the quality is a step up from previous Mantic offerings.

The miniatures are cast in various plastics and plastic-resins and some of the figures suffer from bent weapon syndrome. I am hoping a dip in some hot water tomorrow will sort this. That aside, the detail on the figures looks good and I am looking forward to painting them.

I'll run through everything in more detail over the next few weeks but I am impressed with hard plastic saucer and big robot. The giant bugs are great, the deluxe play mats decent and I love that the rulebooks have been printed in standard US comic size. Great stuff.

Mantic Don't Have A Leg To Stand On...

You may remember me getting a tad annoyed with Mantic over the shipping of the Dreadball Kickstarter almost two years ago, especially their decision to supply retailers before the people who had funded the project. Consequently I suppose it is no surprise that they do it again with Mars Attacks...

This time they claim they are shipping any Kickstarter pledger whose parcel weighs under 4kg now, along with the trade orders*.

What about those whose boxes weigh over 4kg? (ie. the ones who pledged the most amount of money).  Well, apparently there is an issue with the Big Robot in that it has been made with two right legs which causes the delay.

How so? Surely some of the under 4kg pledges include said Big Robot?  Yes they do, and Mantic say they will ship those separately at a later date, having sent the rest of the order this week.

So why can't they do this with orders over 4kg? Well, they say these orders will be shipped by courier (as though that is something special) and they need to go all together as one box.

No, I can't think of one good reason why they cannot ship the big box now (by courier) and the robots as one separate parcel when they arrive with the right (and left) leg.

Mantic have offered to send out over 4kg boxes now sans robot(s) but this will cost you an extra $10.

Not impressed, but not at all surprised. At least this isn't a potential Christmas present I planned to paint up this time.

* and yes I guess some of the trade orders weigh over 4kg but somehow they can be sent...

Mars Attacks: How To Paint Martians

After "Dreadballgate", when Mantic supplied retailers with the Dreadball before Kickstarter funders, I swore I was never going to back another Mantic Kickstarter. Then they ran the Mars Attacks one and I fell hook, line and sinker!

It looks like it might ship to funders in the next couple of weeks in preparation I came across this interesting painting guide from Army Painter, using their Strong Tone ink (not dip) on them (the same stuff I have been using on my 6mm armour).

I thought it was a useful to share it as the technique is quite simple and could be used on other miniatures.

I have tried it on my Orc Highlanders and it looks quite good. Progress on them has been a bit slow today as it has been kilt painting time and that is a lengthy process to say the least...