Fast Grow Update: How Are Team Mantic Doing?
29th Oct 2026
Alex Gordon
The Fast Grow challenge is well underway, and it's been amazing to see so many people out there painting their Fireteams and sharing their progress. A big thank you to everyone taking part, we've genuinely been blown away by the huge response to the challenge!
Team Mantic haven't been slacking off, either. Between the twelve challengers, we've got quite a range of different Fireteams and hobby approaches, but we've all been making solid progress.
With the final weekend coming into view, let's check in and see how everyone is getting on.
Catch Up on the Paint & Chat
Earlier this week, Ronnie and Cleric took their Fast Grow Fireteams live on the Mantic Games YouTube channel for our special Paint & Chat hobby session, joined by special guest Peachy. If you missed the livestream and want to take a look at what Ronnie and Cleric are painting, you can catch up on the full stream below. It's well worth a watch!
Now, onto the rest of the team...
Tobias
TW: I originally planned to paint the Spartan Killers for Fast Grow, but somewhere along the way I decided that apparently wasn’t enough of a challenge, so I’ve added the Banished Reinforcements too!
It’s definitely a slightly mad amount to take on in the time available, but I’m feeling confident. I’ve got a good process for getting minis to a tabletop standard quickly, so now I just need to keep the momentum going and see if I can get the whole lot finished by Sunday.
Ben
BS: I picked the Sangheili Mercenaries because, simply put, I think Elites are the coolest! I’m trying to capture that colourful metallic look from Combat Evolved, starting with Alien Purple spray and Plate Mail Metal before using Purple Tone and Highlord Blue Speedpaint to build up that iridescent armour.
I’m notoriously slow when it comes to painting, so getting the whole Fireteam finished within the challenge is going to be a good test for me!
Kyle
KP: Surprisingly, the grunts have been my favorite part of this. Their skin and the blends on the yellow armor are a lot of fun. The tiny pops of bright color from the weapons makes for a nice touch. The jackal sniper is a lot bigger than I thought he'd be but the details I want to spotlight are easy to pick out.
I'm enjoying doing my blends before the strong tone wash and then bringing it back up just a little before the finish
Dan
DM: Finding an earthy new colour scheme for the Banished has been good fun. I've been trying to capture their more rebellious/mercenary themes while still looking like an organised military. The brown/bronze undersuits, with pale skin and beaten metal armour started to capture the look I was after. That earthy palette will be offset by the richer reds of their weaponry, and I'm working towards some frosty bases that will strongly contrast with the rest of the models.
They're about halfway there now, with tidy-ups, small details and dry brushing still to come.
Stuart
SK: For this challenge, I really wanted to try out Army Painter's speedpaint markers! I also did a slightly unusual zenithal prime, using Army Painter Alien Purple spray as the base, and then Brainmatter Beige spray for the zenithal. I did a few test models first to get a feel for the markers and work out which colours I preferred.
I then tried a team colour, but still wasn’t quite happy with it, so for the last test model I used a mix of ink wash and marker. I think that’s the approach I’m going to stick with this weekend when I paint up Fireteam Wolf!
Rich
RB: I had a bit of a false start with this. Tried one colour scheme but it wasn’t quite working for me, so I resprayed them and started again. These things happen sometimes!
I really like the ODST miniatures, so the do-over doesn't feel like a chore. I’m still confident I’ll complete the challenge in time.
Jonny
JM: As anyone in the office will confirm, I own quite a lot of Realtree Camo. I thought painting this on a miniature could be a real fun challenge and something different from the more common military camouflage schemes.
Challenge was the word, having looked around the Internet, it seemed not many had tried to accomplish it before me, so I had nothing to base it on and so I have had to think on the fly. I don't think I will necessarily end up with a perfect replication, more just a camo scheme in a vague likeness but I should still end up with something I am happy with and will have learnt a lot on the way.
Duncan
DA: I’ve been eyeing up the Covenant models while we’ve been working on Judgement, so I didn’t need much convincing once some early samples appeared in the building. I’m keeping things fairly streamlined with opaque basecoats, an overall wash and then as much highlighting as time allows, while sticking closely to the studio colour schemes to avoid too much decision-making.
I’m also finally getting the chance to properly try out the Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics range, which I’ve been looking forward to.
Alex
AG: Most of the team are using either speedpaints or traditional layers and washes, so I wanted to try something a bit different – a bit more old-school, you could say! Years ago, I painted my Plague for Deadzone using colour primers and Army Painter’s Quickshade dip wash, and was very happy with the result, so I decided to try a similar method here: priming in a colour that’s prominent on the minis to save some time on basecoating, then blocking out the rest of the base colours, then a dip wash, then some highlights.
I went for Army Painter Dragon Red for the primer. It dries quite shiny, but that should all be nicely dulled down with matt varnish and highlights later on. The only drawback with the dip wash is that you need to let it dry for a full 24 hours, so I’ll lose a day of the challenge window once it's applied. But with only 4 minis to paint, I’m still confident I’ll finish on time. Onwards!
The Final Weekend Approaches
There’s still plenty of painting to do, but that’s half the fun. The challenge runs until Sunday 1st November, so Team Mantic will be making the most of the final weekend to get our Fireteams finished.
And we want to see how you’re getting on too! Keep sharing your progress with #HaloFastGrow, tag @manticgames on Facebook and Instagram, and show us what’s happening on your hobby desk.
Let's bring it home!
