As I've been playing through "Five Parsecs from Home" second edition, a pdf I've had for ages, I realised that I wanted some generic sci-fi grunters and that my un-played Star Saga box might be perfect for some scenarios
Mantic are all over the place with their quality. These 'board game plastic' figures, that softer PVC, are actually nicer sculpts that much of their ranges for Deadzone or what-have-you. And even with the slightly lower detail they painted up quite nicely. I'm pretty sure that they have changed sculptors quite often and mostly I think it's for the worse, even while their casting improves. In fairness though, their games are mostly superb. I love Deadzone for instance, it's everything I thought Kill Team would be but better. Very slick game. These Star Saga figures are a playable faction too!
Mantic Games were selling it off a while back and and I bought two copies ostensibly for the scenery. I sold the other one off when I looked at the unpainted pile....
As I'd painted these, I actually got around to playing Star Saga and it's pretty great - solo plays well and a slick reinterpretation of that "Heroquest"-style crawler. Lots of clever variety in the missions and characters. Much, much better than any of the similar games I've bought over the years. ie, Descent(ok, but really a "race" game.) or "Shadows over Brimstone" (Frankly, it's dogshit.).
It's a shame then that Star Saga didn't catch on and ended up on clearance, good for me, mind.
