They have posted the basic and elite infantry, the blunderbusses and the rocket launcher.
The cool unseen stuff (berserkers, characters and centaurs) still to follow a bit later in a seperate box.
Most of the lead bits are quite cleanly cast and by the time you mix the heads from all the different units you get quite a few options.
I will probably use all of the lead bits that you attach to an already existing dwarf head for my blunderbusses and use the full lead heads for the infantry.
I would give the basic Blacksouls a 7/10 for their basic look and an 8/10 for being the first easily available cheap CD’s for a while. Likewise the blunderbusses get a 7.5/10 for look but a 9/10 just for existing.
The immortals are a bit blah - I guess the lead bodies have extra detail and different hand weapons but they won’t end up looking much different to the Darksouls and you can’t give them greatweapons (which you can with Darksouls as they use the basic dwarf plastic bodies). I give them 6/10.
There are seperate metal shield bosses to attach to the plastic sheilds - not super exciting but functional. The command options are basic - an Immortal body for the Darksouls (which I guess you use as a champion), a metal banner pole which you can attach a small grinning icon to. No specfic musician bits but you have the plastic horn from the dwarf sprue.
On the plus side you will end up with heaps of extra plastic dwarf bits and they include some lead chaotic heads for the plastic pit dogs (hobhounds perhaps).
I was not entirely taken with the Katsuchan Rocket Launcher based on the pictures but I rather like it in the flesh. The only issue is that both of the rocket parts (you get two launchers in the deal) had a drooping part where the head of the rocket was. One I straightened manually, the other snapped and required pinning to fix it. However I assembled one fully and like it. An 8/10 from me.
That’s about what I expected - I completely agree (from the photos, anyway) that the main thing here is that these are the only way to reliably get cheap Chaos Dwarfs. If these had been out a few years ago when I was building my Chaos Dwarf army, I’d have been a happy man. Glad to hear they’re fairly decent in the flesh though.
The second part still hasn’t turned up yet - the berserkers are still being cast apparently.
However, I bought some other stuff from Mantic recently so I picked up the War Conclave (so much for the early pre-order) and also qualified for a free gobbo sneak.
Firstly, the gobbo. I think the general opinion is that it is a good figure and I love it. Lots of character, would make a good sneaky git champion or a nasty skulker for Orcs and Goblins. 9/10
Next, the Lord. A lot has been said about this figure looking like a space marine or a exo-armour squat but I quite like the design. However, it’s quite big. The feet of the figure are moulded on to a base which has a round ‘plug’ in the bottom that clips into the normal mantic 20mm base. When this base is in place, the figure overlaps the edges of the plastic at both sides (possibly why Mantic show it mounted on a bigger display base). I’ve mounted mine on a 25mm base to use as a Chaos Lord, and it looks much better on the bigger base. We’ll give this guy 7/10.
Then, the sorcerer. Sizewise, smaller than the lord - fills up but doesn’t overlap on the normal mantic base. The one I got had an oval rather than round plug on the bottom, which meant it fitted into the plastic base a wee bit oddly. It’s all you want in a CD wizard though - looks a bit evil, a bit armoured and has a cool dragon staff. 7.5/10
Finally the centaur. This guy has two halves for the centaur body, which fitted together fairly well for white metal. There is then an armoured lower torso that clips on to the top of the centaur body. The upper torso then clips on to this.
The figure assembled quite well but the lower half of the weapon was bent and snapped when I tried to bend it straight. No problems - I pinned it back on. The upper half of the hammer was joined to the horns of the head. Again, when I tried to bend it away from the horns, it seperated quite cleanly but snapped off at the hand. Again, the pin vice come into use.
With the weapon sorted, the horns can easily be curved forward a bit to match the picture on the Mantic site. Sizewise , it compares quite well with a GW Bull Centaur, but the shorter legs and longer tail give a bit of a pot bellied look. I still quite like it though - 8.5/10.