Futuristic humanoid warrior in 1/56 scale - Blaine Sponsor for DreadBall from Mantic Games, 2014 - Miniature figure review

The Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for the DreadBall  board game from Mantic Games is a futuristic humanoid warrior. It was first produced in 2014, in the DreadBall Xtreme base set.

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Details - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Miniature: Blaine Sponsor, Product name: Blaine Sponsor, Product code: ?, Sprue: -, Range: Warpath range - DreadBall range (Futuristic), Series: Warpath universe, Company: Mantic Games company, Production: 2014-2021-

Size: Human-sized (S3), Species: Blaine's species (Humanoid), Gender: ?, Technology: Futuristic (Advanced), Role: Warrior, Features: -, Armour: futuristic armour (armour), Helmet: no helmet, Equipment in hand: empty hands, Equipment carried: none (no weapon), Based on: ?

Scale: 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) scale, Proportions: Realistic, Size: 31mm high, Material: hard PVC - gray, Priming: Primer is not necessary
Assembly: One-piece, Sprueless, No cutting needed, No assembly, Posing: Hard, Paintjob: Unpainted, Base: Integral flat base - Fits Mantic base, Conceptual design: ?, Sculptor: ?

Set: DreadBall Xtreme base set: contains 1

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Review - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Material: Hard PVC

Glueing: As it is not polystyrene, you can't use polystyrene cement, only superglue.

Priming: You don't have to use primer, but as restic is sligthly hydrophobic, it's recommended, as it will be easier to paint it. Use non-water based primers, as those might have problem with sticking to it.

Painting: The material is sligthly hydrophobic. If you don't use primer, then don't dilute your paint with too much water, or be prepared to paint more than one layer of paint on an area to cover it entirely. Also, if you use water based wash, paint the area beforehand (even if the original gray colour would fit you), otherwise the wash will just drop off.

The miniature

Every miniature in the DreadBall Xtreme base set is either a one-piece cast, or multi-piece ones that are pre-assembled and glued, so you don't need any preparations before your first game. All of them are also sanded, so there is no need of further work before painting. The only exception is the Grogan Guard, but it has a tight fit peg, so you only need to push it together, and it will hold through your games.

The glue doesn't show, most of the miniatures are so finely crafted it's hard to realise whether or not it is a multi-piece cast. Most of the joins are hidden well, and that also helps the pieces to stay together. I haven't seen any of these minis come apart.

Painting the miniature

Mostly hard detail. Soft detail on cloak.

The cloak is too thick, but I don't think anyone would notice it during a game. There are some small holes on the cloak for aesthetic reasons.

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Size comparison photos - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:72 miniatures: From left to right: Greek Hoplite from Zvezda, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, Greek archer from Zvezda.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) miniatures: From left to right: Orc with Spear #2 from Renegade Miniatures, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, Bretonnian Bowman #1 from Games Workshop.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) miniatures: From left to right: Shock Trooper from Wargames Factory, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, Shock Trooper from Wargames Factory.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) miniatures: From left to right: Long Rock Lifers Jack #2 from Mantic Games, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, Long Rock Lifers Jack #1 from Mantic Games.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) miniatures: From left to right: Zee Buccaneer #1 from Mantic Games, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, Zee Buccaneer #2 from Mantic Games.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) miniatures: From left to right: Long Rock Lifers Striker #2 from Mantic Games, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, Long Rock Lifers Striker #1 from Mantic Games.

Size comparison of 1:56 (28mm / 32mm) miniatures: From left to right: The Warden from Mantic Games, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:50 (35mm) scale miniatures: From left to right: Benjamin Orchard from Knight Models, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, William Cobb from Knight Models.

Size comparison of Blaine Sponsor with 1:35 miniatures: From left to right: 40mm high shepherd, Blaine Sponsor from Mantic Games, 54mm high soldier.

For further comparison images: Mantic Games-DreadBall-Blaine Sponsor comparison images

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Using the miniature - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Uses for games

• Alkony Wargame: Humanoid warrior

• Alien vs Predator: Predator
• Cthulhu Wars: Monster, Acolyte Cultist
• Kings of War: Tyrant Blaine, Forces of Nature knight, Humanoid Warrior, Abyssal
• Deadzone: Blaine, Human Soldier, Rebel Captain
• Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Warrior, Beastman
• Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: Warrior, Beastman
• Warhammer 40.000: Humanoid Soldier/Officer/Merchant/Psyker, Sanctioned Alien, Astra Militarum Beastman, Chaos Beastman

Rules

• a

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Resources - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Official

Mantic Games Shop: DreadBall Xtreme with free Player’s Manual: Official webpage.

Rules overview

Pope (from Dreadball Notebook): SPONSOR: Blaine (DBX): Rules overview article.

Showcase

Deathwatch Studios: Dreadball Xtreme – Kalyshi Team!: Showcase article about the Bremlin Nebulas, and Blaine Sponsor.

Giovanni Sebastiano Pecora (for Valle dei gufi): Sponsor per Dreadball Xtreme (in Italian): Showcase article in Italian. (2019: The article is offline.)

Richard Heath (for Yith's Wargaming Blog): Dreadball Xtreme: Showcase article about the Bremlin Nebulas, the Long Rock Lifers, the Renton Rejects, Blaine Sponsor, and The Warden.

Robert Angliss (for Neoscream's Log): Neoscream's Life: 13th to 19th April 2015: Showcase article.

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Buying the product - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Price

Where can you buy it?

Mantic Games Shop: DreadBall Xtreme with free Player’s Manual: Official webpage.

Buy the DreadBall Xtreme base set from Mantic Games from Amazon

Amazon US - Amazon UK - Amazon CA - Amazon DE - Amazon FR - Amazon IT - Amazon ES

Buy the DreadBall Xtreme base set from Mantic Games on eBay

eBay US  - eBay UK  - eBay CA  - eBay DE  - eBay FR  - eBay IT  - eBay ES  - eBay AU  - eBay IE  - eBay AT  - eBay CH  - eBay BE  - eBay NL

Buy the DreadBall Xtreme base set from Element Games (UK) -10%, ref. code:KAD935 Buy the DreadBall Xtreme Player Manual from Firestorm Games (UK) -50% Buy the DreadBall Ed2 base set from Firestorm Games (UK)  -15% Buy the DreadBall Xtreme base set from Wayland Games (UK) -20% Buy the DreadBall Xtreme base set from Noble Knight Games (USA)  -18% Buy board games from Book Depository

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Possible substitutes - Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games

Blaine's species miniatures

Blaine MVP #1

Blaine MVP #2

Predator miniatures

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Do you have the Blaine Sponsor miniature figure for DreadBall from Mantic Games? How do you like it? Would you recommend it to others? What further uses can you come up with? Tell your opinion in the comments!