U.S. Tariffs – An Update From Ronnie

Hey all,

Ronnie here with an update – and what a few weeks it has been!

Mantic was set up to provide gamer-friendly tabletop miniature games, that were easy to learn – fun to play, and all at a great price – and despite the crazy turmoil we are facing right now – especially our gamer friends in the US, that is what we intend to keep on doing!

From new releases next week, to pre-orders for the latest Halo Banished releases and outstanding Kickstarters we have all had a lot to deal with – but our commitment to being an open, friendly company to deal with, as both a hobbyist or gaming store is undiminished.

Tariffs

It is still very challenging to understand exactly what applies and how this will play out, so we remain vigilant and try to do everything to mitigate these for both gamers, and our partners in retail and distribution.

What does now look certain, is that for product made and shipping from the UK the tariffs will be no more than 10%.

The Good News

In a tough few weeks, the silver lining is, while Mantic’s products are made, printed, sculpted and painted by wonderful and talented people from all over the world, (we are supplied by companies and with services from over 12 nations, and we ship to over 21!), a lot of our finished goods are still cast, assembled, built, and shipped by the team at Mantic HQ from the UK – so it appears they will qualify for 10% tariffs.

At this point we simply need to understand how the tariffs on the UK will be implemented – but I can guarantee that working with our partners we will keep any tariff effects to the absolute minimum. This means there should be a maximum 10% effect on most of the range – once we know exactly the US customs plan we will make it clear to everyone and then enact to minimise the impact as best we are able.

More Good News

- Champions - April Release,

- Halo: Flashpoint - May Release, then

- Epic Warpath - Kickstarter fulfilment (followed by a retail release)

Our releases for the next three months from Mantic are mostly UK-made: Champions, the Halo May releases and the fantastic looking Epic Warpath will all be finished, assembled and shipped from the UK.

As Epic Warpath was a 2024 Kickstarter we will be looking at the best way to ship this to our US backers with hopefully only a small, or no, change in price. Please watch the campaign updates for the latest, but the team is already looking at several options that should keep tariff effects to an absolute minimum.

Similarly, working with our US retail partners, Champions and May Halo: Flashpoint releases should be subject to a maximum of 10% tariff, but again we will endeavour to minimise the impact of this where we can.

What's Coming Next

The next big product on the horizon that is coming ‘complete’ (at the moment) from China is the ‘Rise of the Banished’ set. The Labyrinth board game is also set for Quarter 3.

Right now, this is in the ‘pain point’ of the tariffs – but again (other than hoping a sensible deal can be done) we will look at all the options before we load this on boats for US pre-orders.

Nothing is finished yet (except the tooling, which looks amazing) so again we will keep everyone in the US who has ordered updated. We will not send any 'Rise of the Banished' pre-orders before we have a clear understanding of the situation as it is at that time, and we will inform everyone about the possible tariffs before we send it.

At this point we are getting the models cast and components made and leaving our options open on how we supply.

Let's Make Things Easier Now

What the last few weeks have reinforced is that Mantic's ongoing strategy of balancing the worlds of Physical and Digital tabletop products, working together and in parallel, offers some great solutions.

I am working on a long-term plan to develop this much further in the future, and with the current US tariff situation, digital content of both rules and minis offers some benefits - especially at times like this.

With this in mind we have a few initiatives that we are going to pull forward and some new ones we will implement now:

1) Mantic Vault

The Vault is coming up for two-year-old this month (wow – how time flies!).

In celebration of this landmark, all our 3D digital packs are ½ price until the end of May 2025 - so if you want to get into Armada – or start a Deadzone league then get printing (oh, and it’s tariff free too!) 😉

We also have a VERY special reward for those who have 24 monthly packs – a brand new Vampire Lord on Undead Dragon!

2) Halo: Flashpoint - Digital Rules & More

We are going to release Halo: Flashpoint - The App in April. This will have the free rules to get new players started, a free army list builder, events software, and built-in organised play and global rankings – so we can find out which country, area and player are the best of the best!

There will also be PDFs of the rulebooks available to buy separately, and some premium content for app subscribers, which will obviously have to be $1.17 – at least for the early birds!

We will have a full blog and newsletter on the app and all its functionality in the next few weeks – but what it absolutely means is that even if we are still in this challenging tariff situation, we will get you new rules on the day of release, and we will find a way to get you the physical minis!

We also have more things planned for Epic Warpath, Firefight and Deadzone, both 3D print files and new rules with upgrades to the Companion itself.

So, please, stay strong and keep gaming! As I said, we will do everything to support you doing that.

Sorry I have rambled on but I want to try and reassure everyone that we are looking at all options to mitigate any tariffs for all our US partners, ensure a continuity of supply for our fantastic fans, and ensure that no one receives any unexpected or disproportionate charges on any new items.

We will be working hard to keep you all informed and supported, and to our US fans, partners and retailers, we will work through this with you, so you can keep enjoying the best, most fun miniature games in the world.

Keep well, and keep rolling 8s – or 6s!

Ronnie