Mantic Games

Mantic Games is a British tabletop-games publisher and manufacturer founded in 2008 by Ronnie Renton, a former Games Workshop employee. The company operates from Nottinghamshire, an area strongly associated with the UK miniatures industry, and became known for offering large-scale fantasy and science-fiction games with plastic miniatures intended to make mass battles more accessible. Its first major success was Kings of War, a fantasy mass-battle game originally released in 2010. The game uses regiments and hordes of miniatures mounted on movement trays, allowing players to move units efficiently while preserving the visual impact of ranked armies. Its setting, Mantica, includes factions such as the Dwarfs, Elves, Kingdoms of Men, Undead, and Forces of Nature. Kings of War has developed through multiple editions, with the third edition released in 2019. Mantic expanded into science fiction with Warpath, a mass-combat game featuring factions including the Corporation, Forge Fathers, Asterians, and the alien Plague. Deadzone, introduced as a skirmish game within the same broad science-fiction universe, focuses on small teams fighting through dense, multi-level terrain. Firefight later provided a more detailed science-fiction battle system for larger armies. The company also created DreadBall, a futuristic sports game that combines miniature gaming with a fictional contact sport. Its players include teams such as the Trontek 29ers and the robot-led robots of the Judwan, and matches use a pitch, scoring zones, and aggressive interactions rather than conventional battlefield objectives. DreadBall was launched through Kickstarter in 2012, reflecting Mantic’s early use of crowdfunding to finance tabletop releases. Mantic has published licensed games as well as original properties. The Walking Dead: All Out War, based on Robert Kirkman’s comic series rather than the television adaptation, was released in partnership with Skybound Entertainment. The game emphasizes survivors, walkers, scavenging, and shifting alliances. Mantic also produced Hellboy: The Board Game, based on Mike Mignola’s comics, after a highly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2018. Its later licensed projects have included games connected to Halo and the League of Infamy setting. Alongside boxed games, Mantic sells individual miniatures, scenery, rulebooks, and hobby products. Its business has therefore combined game publishing with an established miniature range, particularly for Kings of War and its science-fiction titles. The company’s identifiable contribution to tabletop gaming is its focus on regiment-based play, accessible plastic armies, crowdfunding-backed development, and settings designed to support both competitive battles and narrative campaigns.