Mantic-Fest Recap – Armada

Last weekend we held our first ever Mantic-Fest Online event. Rather than the usual Open Day, Mantic-Fest is a new venture in which we showcase all the cool stuff that’s coming up from Mantic in the months ahead. The plan is to hold a Mantic-Fest Online event every quarter, so March (we were a little late with this one), June, September and December (like a festive treat).

However, just in case you missed the live stream or just absolutely hate the sound of our voices and our lockdown haircuts (we get it), then all this week we’ll be recapping the highlights on the Mantic blog… and giving you a few extras too. Here’s the plan for this week:

• Firefight Second Edition
• Brush With Death Blog
• Armada
• Kings of War
• Hellboy: The Board Game

ARMADA

Despite Armada only being released in November last year, clearly the wind is behind its sails because it regularly continues to sell out and social media is crammed full of amazing fleet pictures. Here at Mantic we've been absolutely blown away by the response and we're only just getting started!

During Mantic-Fest Matt Gilbert, designer of Armada, joined us to talk about everything that's coming up for the rest of the year.

However, just in case you can't secretly watch that video at work or don't want to drool with envy at Matt's amazing gaming room, we've got the highlights below.

MAY - EXTRA LARGE SHIPS

We've had tiny ships. We've had medium ships. We've even had large ships... but what we're all screaming out for are EXTRA LARGE SHIPS! That's right, these titans of the sea are bristling with destructive power and are just waiting to be added to your fleet.

The great thing is, you don't even have to wait that long for these to hit the high seas of Pannithor because they're due for release next month. In fact, we're pleased to say you can pre-order from the Mantic website RIGHT NOW! Just check out the links below.

There's an Extra Large ship for each of the four launch factions:

• Basilean Dictator
• Orc Ripper Hulk
• Dwarf Dreadnought
• Empire of Dust Monolith

From now on whenever we launch a new fleet the Extra Large ship (where appropriate) will release along the Starter and Booster. Talking of new fleets...

JULY - TWILIGHT KIN

July sees the beginning of wave two of the Armada releases, starting with the Twilight Kin. These ships are a mix between elvish designs and the dark influence of the terrifying Nightstalkers.

During the live stream we showed the Butcher and Soulbane, however as a little extra treat for all you blog readers, here's a picture of the Assassin. The Twilight Kin won't be getting an Extra Large ships because they're fast raiders but their ships are absolutely full of gruesome character.

JULY - SEAS AFLAME SUPPLEMENT

However, the Twilight Kin isn't the only new release coming in July because we'll also be releasing a brand-new supplement for Armada: Seas Aflame. With new scenarios, rules fortifications, as well as a full campaign system, the book also expands on the background in the world of Pannithor and introduces the next wave of fleets to be released.

Now, you may notice that the cover features some flying units and that's because July will also introduce...

JULY - FLIERS

That's right, we're taking to the skies with the next batch of releases. All the existing factions will be getting two fliers. We'll have plenty more information on how these work in the game in the months to come but, for now, feast your eyes on the Orc Winggit and Basilean Phoenix.

Oh, and because you asked so nicely - you did ask nicely, right? - here are a couple more.

Please bear in mind these are work in progress so the design may change a little... particularly when Ricky in the resin department sees those bony wings!

So, as you can see, there's plenty to get excited about for Armada and we'll be having some demo sessions at HQ as soon as we can open back up properly.