Mantic Games is a British miniatures, wargames 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 Traditional metal model casting has slowly been replaced by resin in the Mantic model catalogue since this date.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 the Mantic Companion, a web application for army list building and the current rules for all of its various games. This is supported by various subscription tiers. In addition, Mantic launched the Mantic Vault which offers a monthly subscription to 3D model assets for home 3D printing. In 2025 the Mantic Vault added an online store for one-time purchases of 3D model assets in addition to the subscription service.

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

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 games

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

Kings of War Universe Kings of War is a mass battle wargame set in Mantic's fantasy universe called Pannithor (originally called Mantica), and the universe includes the following main games:

Kings of War Kings of War Vanguard Kings of War Armada Kings of War Champions Dungeon Saga Origins

Warpath Universe

Warpath is the name of the universe for Mantic's own science fiction games, including:

Deadzone Firefight Epic Warpath Dreadball

+ Current games Name VersionGenreTypeMain designer(s) Other significant contributors Year published Kings of War4FantasyMass Battle WargameAlessio Cavatore, Matt Gilbert Kings of War Rules Committee 2023 Vanguard 1.5FantasySkirmish GameVanguard Rules Committee Matt Gilbert 2021 Dungeon Saga Origins1FantasyMiniatures Board GameCiaran Morris, Matt Gilbert Dungeon Saga Rules Committee 2023 Dungeon Saga Origins The Dice Game1FantasyCard/Dice GameMatt GilbertRob Burman 2023 League of Infamy 1FantasyMiniatures Board GameJames Hewitt, Sophie Williams (Needy Cat Games) 2021 Bar Room Brawl 1FantasyBoard GameMatt Gilbert 2023 Armada1FantasyNaval Battle GameMatt GilbertGabrio Tolentino (Warlord Games) 2020 Firefight 2.5Sci-fiMass Battle WargameFirefight Rules Committee 2023 Deadzone3Sci-fiSkirmish GameDeadzone Rules Committee 2021Epic Warpath1Sci-FiMass battle wargameMatt Gilbert and Alessio Cavatore Deep-space: Pest Control 1Sci-fiBoard GameMatt Gilbert 2024OverDrive1Sci-fiBoard GameRob Burman2021 +Out of print gamesNameVersionGenreTypeMain designer(s)Other significant contributorsYear publishedKings of War1FantasyMass Battle WargameAlessio Cavatore2012Kings of War2FantasyMass Battle WargameAlessio CavatoreKings of War Rules Committee2015Kings of War3FantasyMass Battle WargameKings of War Rules CommitteeMatt Gilbert2019Kings of War Historical1FantasyMass Battle WargameKings of War Rules Committee2016Vanguard1FantasySkirmish GameMatt Gilbert2018Dwarf King's Hold1FantasyMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2011Dungeon Saga1FantasyMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2015Warpath1Sci-fiMass Battle WargameAlessio Cavatore2011Warpath2Sci-fiMass Battle WargameAlessio CavatoreMatt Gilbert, Stewart Gibbs2012Warpath3Sci-fiMass Battle WargameStewart GibbsMatt Gilbert2016Firefight1Sci-fiMass Battle WargameMatt Hobday2016Firefight2Sci-fiMass Battle WargameAndy SharpFirefight Rules Committee2022Deadzone1Sci-fiSkirmish GameJake Thornton2014Deadzone2Sci-fiSkirmish GameDeadzone Rules Committee2016DreadBall1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameJake ThorntonJames Hewitt2012DreadBall2Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameStewart Gibbs, DreadBall Rules Committee2017DreadBall: Xtreme1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2015Project Pandora1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameJake Thornton2012Star Saga1Sci-fiMiniatures Board GameStewart Gibbs2017 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. +Current gamesNameLicensorMain designer(s)Other significant contributorsYear publishedHellboy: The Board GameDark Horse ComicsJames Hewitt, Sophie Williams (Needy Cat Games)2018Hellboy: The RPGDark Horse ComicsRedscar2022Hellboy: The Dice GameDark Horse ComicsMatt GilbertRob Burman2022Umbrella Academy: The Board GameDark Horse ComicsRiver Horse2022Worms: The Board GameTeam17River Horse/Caesar Inc.2024Halo: Flashpoint343 IndustriesIan Davies2024The Walking Dead: All out WarSkyboundMark LathamThe Walking Dead Rules Committee2016The Walking Dead: The Dice GameSkyboundMatt GilbertRob Burman2023Invincible: The Dice GameSkyboundMatt GilbertRob Burman2023 +Out of print gamesNameLicensorMain designer(s)Other contributorsYear publishedMars AttacksToppsJake ThorntonMatt Gilbert2014 +Upcoming gamesYearLicensorMain designer(s)Other contributorsYear of releaseLabyrinth: 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 projectsTotal USDProject nameBackers354,997Kings of War1,568728,985Dreadball2,539104,172Loka (with Alessio Cavatore)7451,216,482Deadzone4,306558,076Mars Attacks2,753575,755Dreadball Xtreme2,4821,057,975Dungeon Saga5,963366,547Kings of War: Second Edition2,747380,554Deadzone: Infection2,810484,917Warpath3,355272,409Kings of War: Vanguard2,2311,823,571Hellboy: The Board Game12,716466,127Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game6,071296,147TerrainCrate 2: Crate Expectations2,666174,728League of Infamy1,556427,654Hellboy: The Board Game Expansions and Dice Game4,988106,343TerrainCrate 3: Bring The Background To The Foreground1,046504,060Dungeon Saga Origins – The Game of Classic Fantasy Adventure4,021673,833Worms: The Board Game5,849227,428Dreadball All Stars1,066

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