Something a little different this week as I take a break from constructing Orky contraptions and give a little review of a non GW model kit I think would do well in any Ork force.
Games Workshop has some beautiful models; however, some of their kits are in need of a major upgrade. The Ork Warbggy is one such kit; its design is still circa the late 90s, and it doesn’t really fit the modern aesthetic of the rest of the Ork models. The biggest problem is really the Ork driver and gunner, which one could replace easily enough with modern figures.
That was my original plan until I discovered the Maruader Raptor from Mantic Games. The overall design has a much more modern feel, while still having the kind of ramshackle look I want in my Ork vehicles. Mantic also happens to sell a three model bundle for forty dollars, which is only ten more than the GW Warbuggy kit which contains only a single model. Figuring that at the very least I would end up with a nice pile of bits, I went ahead and ordered the bundle.
When the kits arrived, I was a little disappointed with the packaging. The retail versions apparently come in nice boxes with foam padding, the three kits I ordered came in baggies thrown into a large brown envelope with no padding. On the other hand, the kits shipped from the UK to the US for under five dollars and they arrived in less than two weeks from the day I ordered them. Thankfully, nothing was broken so I suppose what I lost in flashy packaging I made up for in fast cheap shipping.
The models themselves are made of a sturdy plastic resin, and all the parts have good molding with plenty of details and a solid feel to them. There are some issues with warping, a common problem with resin kits, though the quality of the plastic lends itself well to the tried and true hot water trick for softening and reshaping. It is a minor nuisance considering the price spent per kit.
Even with the warping, the parts dry fit together pretty well and there is almost no flash to deal with. The parts come precut from the sprue and there are very few mold lines to clean up. In fact the kits required even less cleanup that most of the GW kits I have dealt with, those the molding is not quite up to GW standards either. The entire assembly process was one of the most painless I have had the pleasure of dealing with.
Scale wise the models fit perfectly with my GW figures. However, the gunner figure is rather tiny in comparison to the average Boy and has a very strange stance with the arms cupped under its chin. That can be easily rectified with an official Ork boy though, and with just a few other pieces this little buggy should make an excellent addition to my forces. For a bit extra Mantic does have some variations on the mold, including four wheeled varieties, however having never actual seen those in person I cannot vouch for the quality.
I have another custom on the table to finish first, but expect to see more of these buggies in the near future. I plan to convert and paint them up in the coming weeks to join my Kult of Speed. Overall, I highly recommend ordering the three kit bundle if you plan to run warbuggies in your force. The price is hard to beat and the models are pretty sweet looking.
