Mantic Games Explained

Mantic Entertainment Ltd
Type:Private Limited Company
Industry:Miniature wargaming
Foundation:2008, Nottingham, England
Location City:Bulwell, Nottingham
Location Country:UK
Key People:Ronnie Renton, Matt Gilbert
Products:Kings Of War, Deadzone, Firefight
Homepage:Mantic Games

Mantic Games is a British miniatures and board game publisher, based in Bulwell, Nottingham, UK.

History

Mantic Entertainment Ltd (trading as Mantic Games) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. It was founded in 2008 by former Games Workshop Managing Director Ronnie Renton and two other investors, with a range of fantasy miniatures that were compatible with other popular wargames, including Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Mantic began trading in 2009 and is one of numerous miniature and wargaming companies in Nottingham's so-called Lead Belt. In 2015 Mantic relocated to its current headquarters in Bulwell, Nottingham.

Early plastic models made by Mantic were sculpted by Bob Naismith and tooled by production company Renedra[1] in the UK. Other models were all cast in metal in-house. For the first few years, all models were done traditionally by hand-sculpting, but this eventually moved to an all-digital process. Original art direction and some early photography was the responsibility of ex-Games Workshop painter Mike McVey.

It soon began publishing its own board games and miniature games. Notable early titles included Kings of War, Dwarf King's Hold, Dungeon Saga, DreadBall, Deadzone, Project Pandora, Warpath and Loka (published for River Horse Games). It has also produced licensed games such as Mars Attacks', The Walking Dead: All Out War, Hellboy: The Board Game, Worms: The Board Game and most recently Halo: Flashpoint.

Mantic has made use of crowd funding to develop and bring games to market, starting with the first for Kings of War, on the Kickstarter platform in 2012.

Having previously contributed to a number of Mantic products and games, Matt Gilbert joined the company as Chief Operating Officer in 2016.

Mantic started making in-house resin models in 2018 and in 2020 significantly increased production due to the release of its Armada fantasy naval game. Traditional metal model casting has slowly been replaced by resin in the Mantic model catalogue since this date. Only a few metal lines are now cast in-house as of 2024.

By the end of 2021, Ronnie Renton had sole ownership of Mantic.

In 2023, Mantic released its digital Companion and Vault free and subscription offerings, supporting its games systems with army list builders and other tools, and files for 3D printing of models.

Mantic acquired the assets of River Horse Games (founded by Alessio Cavatore) in 2024.

Game development

Mantic has a small internal studio team and makes extensive use of the gaming industry talent in the local Nottingham area and beyond for all its games; from games designers, authors, to artists and sculptors.

Mantic is very community and gamer focused and opens up the maintenance and ongoing development of games through the creation of Rules Committees which are small groups of fans who offer feedback and guidance to the company based on community feedback and opinions. Members of the Rules Committees apply to Mantic and are usually asked to submit a fan written narrative scenario based on the story of the game and to demonstrate their experience with the game.[2] The Rules Committees serve as a bridge between the company and the fan base and members are often seen as representatives for the fans.[3] They often play a large role in developing the rules for further editions of games.

Awards

List of Mantic IP games

This list shows the main game releases, but does not include any supplements or expansions.

Current games
Name VersionGenreTypeMain designer(s)Other significant contributors Year published
Kings of War3.5FantasyMass Battle WargameKings of War Rules Committee2023
Vanguard 1.5FantasySkirmish GameVanguard Rules CommitteeMatt Gilbert 2021
Dungeon Saga Origins1FantasyMiniatures Board GameCiaran Morris, Matt GilbertDungeon Saga Rules Committee 2023
Dungeon Saga Origins The Dice Game1FantasyCard/Dice GameMatt GilbertRob Burman2023
League of Infamy 1FantasyMiniatures Board GameJames Hewitt, Sophie Williams (Needy Cat Games)2021
Bar Room Brawl 1FantasyBoard GameMatt Gilbert2023
Armada1FantasyNaval Battle GameMatt GilbertGabrio Tolentino (Warlord Games) 2020
Firefight 2.5Sci-fiMass Battle WargameFirefight Rules Committe2023
Deadzone3Sci-fiSkirmish GameDeadzone Rules Committe2021
Deep-space: Pest Control 1Sci-fiBoard GameMatt Gilbert2024
OverDrive1Sci-fiBoard GameRob Burman2021
Out of print games!Name!Version!Genre!Type!Main designer(s)!Other significant contributors!Year published
Kings of War1FantasyMass Battle WargameAlessio Cavatore2012
Kings of War2FantasyMass Battle WargameAlessio CavatoreKings of War Rules Committee2015
Kings of War3FantasyMass Battle WargameKings of War Rules CommitteeMatt Gilbert2019
Kings of War Historical1FantasyMass Battle WargameKings of War Rules Committee2016
Vanguard1FantasySkirmish GameMatt Gilbert2018
Dwarf King's Hold1FantasyMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2011
Dungeon Saga1FantasyMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2015
Warpath1Sci-fiMass Battle WargameAlessio Cavatore2011
Warpath2Sci-fiMass Battle WargameAlessio CavatoreMatt Gilbert, Stewart Gibbs2012
Warpath3Sci-fiMass Battle WargameStewart GibbsMatt Gilbert2016
Firefight1Sci-fiMass Battle WargameMatt Hobday2016
Firefight2Sci-fiMass Battle WargameAndy SharpFirefight Rules Committee2022
Deadzone1Sci-fiSkirmish GameJake Thornton2014
Deadzone2Sci-fiSkirmish GameDeadzone Rules Committee2016
DreadBall1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameJake ThorntonJames Hewitt2012
DreadBall2Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameStewart Gibbs, DreadBall Rules Committe2017
DreadBall: Xtreme1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2015
Project Pandora1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2012
Star Saga1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameStewart Gibbs2017
Upcoming games!Name!Version!Genre!Type!Main designer(s)!Other significant contributors!Year of release
Epic Warpath1Sci-fiMass Battle WargameMatt GilbertAlessio Cavatore2025

List of Mantic's licenced games

This list shows the main releases for titles where Mantic have the rights to produce games, but does not include any supplements or expansions.

Current games!Name!Licensor!Main designer(s)!Other significant contributors!Year published
Hellboy: The Board GameDark Horse ComicsJames Hewitt, Sophie Williams (Needy Cat Games)2018
Hellboy: The RPGDark Horse ComicsRedscar2022
Hellboy: The Dice GameDark Horse ComicsMatt GilbertRob Burman2022
Umbrella Academy: The Board GameDark Horse ComicsRiver Horse2022
Worms: The Board GameTeam17River Horse/ Caesar Inc.2024
Halo: Flashpoint343 IndustriesIan Davies2024
The Walking Dead: All out WarSkyboundMark LathamThe Walking Dead Rules Committee2016
The Walking Dead: The Dice GameSkyboundMatt GilbertRob Burman2023
Invincible: The Dice GameSkyboundMatt GilbertRob Burman2023
Out of print games!Name!Licensor!Main designer(s)!Other contributors!Year published
Mars AttacksToppsJake ThorntonMatt Gilbert2014
Upcoming games!Year!Licensor!Main designer(s)!Other contributors!Year of release
Labyrinth: The Board GameHensonRiver Horse2025

Kickstarter activity

Mantic has used Kickstarter to fund a number of its games and expansions, making over $10.5 million to date.

Mantic Games Kickstarter projects!Total USD!Project name!Backers
354,997Kings of War1,568
728,985Dreadball2,539
104,172Loka (with Alessio Cavatore)745
1,216,482Deadzone4,306
558,076Mars Attacks2,753
575,755Dreadball Xtreme2,482
1,057,975Dungeon Saga5,963
366,547Kings of War: Second Edition2,747
380,554Deadzone: Infection2,810
484,917Warpath3,355
272,409Kings of War: Vanguard2,231
1,823,571Hellboy: The Board Game12,716
466,127Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game6,071
296,147TerrainCrate 2: Crate Expectations2,666
174,728League of Infamy1,556
427,654Hellboy: The Board Game Expansions and Dice Game4,988
106,343TerrainCrate 3: Bring The Background To The Foreground1,046
504,060Dungeon Saga Origins – The Game of Classic Fantasy Adventure4,021
673,833Worms

The Board Game

5,849

Other products

Mantic produces an extensive Terrain Crate range of scenery models for various genres, including RPGs and war games. It has also produced small print runs of RPG adventures and miniature packs using Terrain Crate products under the Dungeon Adventures brand.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wargames Minatures - Generic Scenery - Generic Bases . 2024-06-03 . Renedra Ltd . en-GB.
  2. Web site: Burman . Rob . 2016-09-25 . Would you like to join the Dungeon Saga Rules Committee? . 2024-06-03 . Mantic Games . en.
  3. Web site: Daedleh . 2017-01-28 . The Rules Committee . 2024-06-03 . Nick Williams . en.
  4. Web site: 36th Annual Origins Awards Finalists. 2010-06-28 . icv2.com. 2023-11-08.
  5. Web site: 86th Annual Origins Awards Finalists. 2012-06-26 . icv2.com. 2023-11-08.
  6. Web site: Origins Nominations Announced for 2013 Awards. 2013-04-04 . icv2.com. 2023-11-08.
  7. Web site: Griepp . Milton . Origins Award Nominations for 2018 Awards. 2018-05-13 . icv2.com. 2023-11-08.
  8. Web site: Bunge . Nicole . Origins Award Nominees for 2019 Awards. 2019-05-01 . icv2.com. 2023-11-08.
  9. Web site: OnTableTop Industry Awards of 2022. 2023-02-11 . beastsofwar.comm. 2023-02-11.