First Look: Judging from comments around the web, Mantic's Skeletons are among the best available in terms of quality and variety, and I think they certainly live up to their reputation. As you can see from the pictures above, there is a lot of variety in weapons and poses, and the set comes with spare weapons for further customization. The odd semi-integrated base was strange to work with (the figures come with an integrated round base, which then plugs into a recess in the larger square base).
Painting: I have always been partial to a green and black scheme for undead, which I decided to use for my developing KoW Undead army. In addition to green (VGC Goblin Green) and black (VGC Coal Black), I added purple (VGC Royal Purple) for added variety. I went with grays (VGC Coal Black, Wolf Grey) for the weapons and armor, to keep the scheme simple and as a departure from the typical "rusted" look for undead arms. The skeletons are bone (VGC Bonewhite), and the bases and various other elements were painted dark brown (VGC Charred Brown). The eyes were painted a bright green (VGC Escorpena Green), with a "glow" effect added to the entire eye socket. Several inks were used to finish off the models (TAP Soft Tone, Dark Tone, Green Tone, and Purple Tone Inks).
Conclusion: My goals with the skeletons were 1) get them finished and 2) avoid complicated schemes or details. It's been a while since I painted entire regiments at once, so speed was important. It's worth remembering that when in play, models in wargames are generally viewed from one to two feet away, so most detail work isn't likely to be noticed. My goal is to achieve what I consider "Tabletop+" quality (generally speaking, something better than the basic "base coat, shade, highlight" approach). I'm happy with how the skeletons turn out, and I look forward to completing the other undead figures.
- M:M
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