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 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 Traditional metal model casting has slowly been replaced by resin in the Mantic model catalogue since this date.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. The Rules Committees serve as a bridge between the company and the fan base and members are often seen as representatives for the fans. They often play a large role in developing the rules for further editions of games.

Awards

* At the 2010 Origins Awards, Mantic Games was a finalist for their ''King of War: Elves'' line of figurines in the category "Best Miniatures Figure or Line of Figures".
* At the 2012 Origins Awards, Mantic Games was a finalist for their ''Forge Father Huscarl'' figurine in the category "Best Miniatures Figure or Line of Figures".
* At the 2013 Origins Awards, Mantic Games was a finalist for their ''Trontek 29ers Corporation Team'' line of figurines in the category "Best Miniature Figure Line".
* At the 2018 Origins Awards, Mantic Games was a finalist for their ''Walking Dead Miniatures Game'' in the category "Best Miniatures".
* At the 2019 Origins Awards, Mantic Games was a finalist for their ''Kings of War: Vanguard'' in the category "Best Miniatures".
* Mantic Games' Firefight was "Best Miniature Wargame Of 2022" in the OnTableTop Industry Awards of 2022.

List of Mantic IP games

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

List of Mantic's licensed 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.

Kickstarter activity

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

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.

References

External links

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{{Tabletop game industry
Board game publishing companies
Companies based in Nottinghamshire
Gaming miniatures companies
Internet properties established in 2008