A review of Lesser Obsidian Golems by Mantic (after building 12).
I gotta say I’m a little more impressed than I expected. It’s one of the older Mantic minis, but just like Earth Elementals and many of their undead models they fell into the “hard to fuck up” category for me. With the lack of affordable options Mantic strikes again, winning my wallet over. Let’s do a pro and a con list here of my unboxing and assembly.
**WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT TWO DISCLAIMERS
1) these are my opinions, and I’m not trying to put anyone down. This is meant to be informative with a taste of that classic “Drew Sauciness” thrown in. I am overall happy with my purchase.
2) LESSER OBSIDIAN GOLEMS ARE MONSTROUS INFANTRY. If you’re buying these to proxy like I was for another unit, do not freak out when all of them come with 50mm bases. I frantically went and measure like a whole army thinking I’ve been playing wrong. Thanks to a friend and Mantic’s excellent army builder (Here: https://mantic.easyarmy.com/) I was able to realize my misunderstanding.
OK now that I’ve got all that nice shit is out of the way, let’s get into the meat lol.
Pros:
1) Like I mentioned briefly above these fall into the “hard to fuck up” category for me when it comes to Mantics models. They’re model line is drastically improving and I’m excited to buy more and more of their upcoming models, but just like all companies they’ve got a rough looking past. However, within the rough you can find some gems. Things like Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls, Earth Elementals, various Treemen (no this isn’t the start of a bad joke), all are so simple in design before Mantic even starts sculpting that you have to try and make them look bad. Well with that, I thought these golems would be the same. They’re just rock monsters right? WRONG> They overmet expectations. There’s a lot more detail than I think we get to see by looking at these models typically, with how often they’re so dark looking. Sculpted in magma lines, rock skirts, different detailed helmets. More than I thought I’d get.
2) THEY’RE NOT FREAKING METAL. I was whole heartedly expecting them to be metal. Yeah sure I could’ve read the description (wtf am I some kinda pleb?) but I’ve had large infantry before be metal so it was just a nice surprise to say the least.
3) To piggyback a little bit off the previous point, they assemble really well. All the arm and leg joints only fit one way, and they’re nice and tight and snug.
Did I mention they’re fairly affordable? You’re getting three monstrous sized models for $30. If that’s too much for you gtfo and stop reading. You don’t deserve my whole post.
Cons:
1) **Sigh** mold lines. I’m probably beating a dead horse here, and I understand they happen, but damn I spent time about half my time of assembly cleaning. Now I understand I’m a bit particular, more so than some of you. I will say at least they were easy mold lines to clean.
2) MODEL POSES. Something that always drives me nuts with larger models. We saw it with even the newer Ice Trolls. There weren’t enough poses available. There are two. For mobs of infantry I don’t mind it as much. Again, another minor pro though and tip for those also struggling with this. Thanks to the kit being plastic I was able to cut just a little bit on joints to move arms around a bit.
3)The last one, is actually probably the only real beef I’ve had with the kits (the prior points I can fix easily), and that’s that the heads don’t fit snug with the hole sockets they go into. EVERY other part fits so WONDERFULLY. The heads though, I had to pack some green stuff/putty in on each of them to make them stay. Otherwise fall victim to an hour of glue drying just for them to break off later.
Ok guys, that’s all I got. Again, I am not meaning to step on anyone’s toes, and I actually would encourage people to purchase these if you need rocky large or monstrous infantry, with an evil flare. A notable community source that has some excellently painted ones is Daniel Cammack (his pics below).
Thanks again for listening, and if you liked this stuff let me know. I might do em again. If you hated it and thought I was out of line, I can’t stop you from saying anything, but… I also won’t let it stop me 😜 Have a good one and happy gaming.
