Open Day Recap – Vanguard

With COVID still causing issues here in the UK, it meant we couldn’t hold our traditional day of gaming and chat at HQ over the weekend. However, we weren’t going to let a pandemic stop all the fun! So, we hosted our second Virtual Open Day. This gave us a chance to invite Mantic fans from around the globe to spend the day chatting and give them some sneak peeks about what’s coming up in 2021.

You can watch the whole thing above. However, just in case you can’t get away with watching six hours of live streaming, we’ll be running through the highlights on the blog all this week… and we might even sneak in some extras too!

VANGUARD

2021 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for Vanguard with two warbands on the release schedule already! And both play very differently, adding plenty of tactical options for all you Vanguard commanders.

RATKIN

First up we’ve got the Ratkin. It’s really exciting to be tapping into not only a brand-new faction, but a totally new range of miniatures. The Ratkin have been in the Kings of War fluff since the first Uncharted Empires but we’ve never released any miniatures.

Well, in 2021 we’re going to change all that with a Vanguard warband and a Kings of War army (which we’ll have more on later this week). So, let’s take a look at some of the minis that will be making up your Vanguard warband.

BIRTHING DAUGHTER

The Birthing Daughters are second in command to the Brood Mother. They scurry around the Ratkin warren delivering instructions to the various parts of the nest. They are responsible for raising the baby rats and they actually carry a bag full of pups with them. The Birthing Daughter is a new warband leader.

MASTER SCURRIER

The Master Scurrier (painted by Matt Kennedy) is another great option for your Ratkin warband. As you might expect, this is a particularly sneaky character that will strike from the shadows.

WARLOCK

Although we’ve already released Twitch Keenear, a named Ratkin warlock from the War in the Holds two-player set, Vanguard will see the release of an alternate warlock (also painted by Matt Kennedy). Perfect if you want two for your Kings of War army.

WAR-CHIEF

War-chiefs are the Ratkin responsible for whipping their cowardly underlings into battle. They rule through fear, which is replicated in the rules too. Keep the War-Chief close and your warband members will fight with more vigour.

SALAMANDERS

As if the Ratkin weren’t already exciting enough, 2021 will also see the release of the Salamander warband. Again, this is an army that has been around since the original Uncharted Empires, but hasn’t seen a great deal of miniatures.

The Salamander warband will play on the fiery nature of the faction, whilst also giving them a more distinct appearance.

CLAN LORD

As you can see, we wanted the Salamanders to have a unique style – so their armour is nicely detailed. When coming up with the concept we thought of something more like a Roman centurion, rather than the more common Aztec-style we see in a lot of lizard-inspired miniatures.

CEREMONIAL GUARD CAPTAIN

From a rules point-of-view, the Salamanders will excel in group actions. This is to reflect the fact these are often highly drilled units that spend plenty of time in the training grounds.

ARKOSAUR MAGE-PRIEST

The Salamanders are slightly unusual because they’re a mix of different races under the umbrella of ‘Salamanders’. Alongside the standard Salamanders, you can also find Ghekkotah, Tyrants and Arkosaurs. This is an Arkosaur mage-priest.

TYRANT

Here’s a work in progress Tyrant. You may recognise the face from the live sculpting session that Luigi did during the Open Day.

So, as you can see there’s plenty to get excited about for Vanguard in 2021. Stay tuned to the Mantic Blog to find out when they’ll be released.