Hi everyone :) Today I'm going to be looking at the Mantic Games 'Dungeon Traps' terrain crate which I painted as my 'minis of the day' last week. I'll also talk a little about Mantic Games and the role of terrain in tabletop games. Dungeon TrapsThe box describes this as a seven piece set, which confused me slightly as I opened it and found eight pieces in there! Having inspected the box closely I think that there was an extra piece shipped in mine. It appears to be a wooden block attached to a rope. Not knowing exactly what it was didn't stop me painting it, though! Here are all the pieces primed: Painting terrain, particularly scatter terrain like this, can be a fairly simple task. Creating the stone look and adding some metals is a quick and easy way to get something ready for the table. I wanted to go a little further, though, so added a few extra effects myself. Given that some of these traps looked pretty vicious I wanted to add a little blood to heighten the feeling of danger. My interpretation of miniatures, and the resulting style of painting, emphasises that these are not new and pristine. I like to think that these traps have been in place a while and that the adventurers encountering them now are not the first. I decided to add a skull to the pit trap for exactly this reason - if the players are not careful then they may share that creatures fate. The quality of these pieces is good. They are made of hard plastic and I experienced none of the warping issues you can find with some plastic miniatures. The level of detail is good, without being outstanding, but I believe that it is good for the cost. These cost £7, although it seems as though the set may no longer be available. If you were interested in picking them up they now form part of a larger set, the 'Dark Lord's Tower'. Image from Mantic Games website. Mantic GamesMantic Games is a fairly large miniature company based in Nottingham in England. Realistically you'd probably have to call them a big company if there wasn't an even larger one also based in Nottingham... (the GW headquarters is there)(I'm sure they'd love me mentioning GW in a blog post about Mantic!). Mantic make some complete battle games including Kings of War and Vanguard, as well as games based on The Walking Dead and Hellboy. In the last couple of years, however, they've been making quite a big impression with their production of the 'Terrain Crate' range. These traps are one small part of the range, but there are sets which are designed to enliven pretty much any setting you might need, from mines to libraries to markets. Terrain in Tabletop GamingFor me, terrain and scenery is one of the quickest and easiest ways to build immersion in your tabletop game. It won't surprise anyone to know that I am a fan of miniatures in gaming, but I think that well used terrain can be just as useful in drawing people into the gaming world. Miniatures can be a purely functional thing, allowing players to understand the space they and their opponents occupy and allowing them to plan combat accordingly. It can also be much more, though, and terrain can be the next step in building that world. As I mentioned, I wanted to build some more into these pieces, but even simply painted terrain can be a great addition to the tabletop.
I think that the Mantic Terrain crates are good value - the £7.99 I paid for this is probably equivalent to one miniature from a lot of manufacturers - and they have a good selection to choose from. Don't feel restrained to just these crates, though. There are lots of items like this which can liven up your table - I even print some of them over on my 3D printing page! Goblin Squire :)
1 Comment
Silke
25/2/2023 13:37:35
Hi, I just found your review (awesome paint job btw) and my boyfriend also had the extra piece.
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