Inside Mantic Games an Interview with Ronnie Renton
August 1, 2010 by warzan
So while we had Ronnie in the studio we wanted to get a better insight into Mantic and see what makes them tick. I really enjoyed the time we spent with Ronnie and found his approach both insightful and fascinating.
We we're a little sceptical here in the studio about Mantic and wondered about their commercial strategy, but over the last few months Mantic have demonstrated just how clued in and passionate they really are.
What they have accomplished in such a short time is pretty incredible, and they are not showing any signs of fatigue or burnout which bodes well for this coming year as development will potentially ramp up another gear.
They have also demonstrated their desire to work with the best in the industry, both in terms of their manufacturing (working with the team at Renedra undoubtedly a giant in miniatures plastics engineering), and their Game (where hooking up with Cavatore and River Horse is surely a big statement of intent), and even in the hobby side (where the Army Painter Team have been working very closely with them).
Wargaming is a massive undertaking for any company to venture into, it is one of the most multifaceted of all industries, and its clear that Mantic are out to make every bit of resource count, commercial success will be by no means easy but it certainly appears that they have gamers needs and desires at the heart of what they are doing.
The question is have they done enough to get us gamers to put Mantic at the heart of what we're doing?
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oh yeah, more mantic buzz
Tickle his feet! *must not lapse into Soviet Russia…*
I really look forward to the ruleset and… did he mention Mantic Orcs? >:)
I thought the coverage was great, just hope there is more coming with the rules and Alessio.
Only thing I am left wondering about is language support in both your community and your products. I am pretty sure that the french and german speaking people wouldn’t mind rulesets in their own language – after all, not everyone is speaking english over there but both markets are probably quite big (I do and could live with just english rules/community – however, I know it’s of great importance to some of my german tabletop buddies as they either know very little or no english at all). I know you have started adding a german section to your website, however… Read more »
I do have a question for Ronnie, as it happens. Though it might be a bit early to say at the moment, what will Mantic’s approach be towards races in the future? Will they continue to match Fantasy archtypes, or will some unique ideas that havn’t yet been explored in wargaming come to light?
In all honesty, I don’t mind either way, so long as they make some Daemon miniatures of some description at some stage! 😀
If we can have as much fun collecting and playing Kings of War as Ronnie and co seem to have making and talking about it then it is sure to be a great game.
The Mantic guys are doing a great job promoting their brand through the internet… at very little cost they are getting the word out and planting the seeds. I’ll be showing up with my first Mantic figures at the club and spread the news about a new fantasy rule set in the works…
I might even get a small game going if the beta rules are released by then. There is a high level of war, erm GW wearyness at my club with the arrival of the new edition, so this could be something big…
Glad to hear Ronnie has plans to expand into larger models and terrain… Eventually.
Great video Guys but I did have one question for Ronnie:
Is it hard writing rules for the Kow when there are some obvious simalarities betwen your range and fantasy?
“…Dwarves, Humans, Elves or Undead” Was that a slip Ronnie? 😀 Humans and Orcs are the two races I am pulling for.
Great weekend just wanted to ask Ron ‘what number of races are you looking at roughly to make?’ and ‘to what extent will we see gunpowder and machinery in the Kings of War universe?’
Mantic, can I just say well done! Brilliant looking miniatures, brilliant value for money and from the sounds of it a brilliant game system! I am really looking forward to the box set and the rule set and shall definately be introducing mantic and Kings of War to my friends and war gaming club.Keep up the awesome work and may the Undead rule all!!!
Ps. Cheers B.O.W for bringing Mantic into the limelight. . . they certainly deserve it with Kings of War 🙂
did I hear something about Orcs? maybe a Freudian slip? ;D
anyway great works and fantastic value for money, I’m really looking forward to the rulebook
orcs are on the agenda for sure
Loving the giant dwarf! 🙂
What exactly are those “pens” called ? Can we have a link or photos of that part of the process ?
A balance issue I’m worried about is the Undead’s range power. So far, it is only a Warmachine.
Thanks for the gread weekend, it was a lot of fun to watch!!!
Oh , and those close ups in between were nice, make more of them in the future and a little bit longer
what types of human armys you got planned? knights, celts, both?
Oh man did I here ORCS!!!
As someone who has been following Mantic for a while now I have to say that Ronnie has either got a natural flare for creating Internet buzz through supposed “slips” or has a fantastic team in his marketing department who are feeding him advertising mechanisms. One question I would like to ask Ronnie is “After the slightly luke warm reaction to the Elves (something I dont understand as they are proportioned as they SHOULD be) did you rush towards the Undead quicker than you intended to?” Undead minis just scream to the geek within so many people I would assume… Read more »
Notice how we don’t know what the new army is and he said Orcs a few times. But i am probally not the first to notice that .
One little thing I noticed (or actually some one else pointed this out to me) – Alessio talks about easy ways to do units; just buy a box and go with even blocks of 10, 20, 40… however, Ronnie mentions the contents being something like 15 of some kind of models. How does that work out – isn’t it a bit contradicting?
When they move onto the kingdoms of man are they going to stay just in Europe , or will they do armys from the middle east , africa , asia , china , japan & south america . wil maybe come up with new life forms . please ask them , hole new empires from around the world .
Really enjoyed the videos and a big thumbs up to BoW for a great site and content. I have purchased quite a few undead figures and have pre-ordered some dwarves for a small alternative (to be honest to try in 8th edition as a very cost effective alternative). As a veteran gamer (in age not skill!) coming back into the hobby manticore has provided a very cost effective alternative to GW for a starting force to have a go at painting and playing. So far my dealings with Mantic have all been really positive and meeting them at Salute in… Read more »
The more I see from Mantic, the more I get excited to see where this company goes.
I really hope that Mantic succeeds to rival, and perhaps even, surpass the titan that is GW.