Metal Magic Madness!

The Return of Metal Magic Space Lords! 

Yup. Thanks to EM4 Miniatures in the U.K., we're seeing a return of the classic Metal Magic Space Lords figures originally produced by Hobby Products of Germany back in the 90s! For those of you not familiar with these figures, they are a definite treat by anyone's standards, being close enough in size to more current lines of 28mm figures, yet done to such a high standard of execution and detail that they are still an excellent subject for miniature painters and gamers alike. I personally like them for their artistic vibe that has overtones of the classic work of the French sci fi artist Jean Giraud a.k.a. Moebius:


http://www.moebius.fr




The figures were sculpted by the Metal Magic team that included my old kamerade Josef Ochmann, who has since his days with Metal Magic gone on to launch his own miniature company, Obelisk Miniatures:


http://shop.strato.de/epages/61074886.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61074886/Categories



So when Hobby Products folded in the mid-later 90s, those of us who had been building up armies of Phagons, Battle Clones, Wartechs, and Yoyodyne were sadly disappointed to see them go! Enter EM4 Miniatures, who have built themselves up as an indy miniatures producer by picking up an eclectic assortment of very handy figures from defunct indy manufacturers, who wasted no time in acquiring the Space Lords moulds, and began by releasing a very limited selection of Wartechs, Wartech Bunkerbusters, and Yoyodyne Shigaru poses (but not the whole lines, dadnabbitt!!!!):


http://www.em4miniatures.com



Then the news broke on TMP The Miniatures Page just a few days ago that Doug over at EM4 had finally succumbed to popular demand, and began to release a great many more poses for the Phagon Battleclone and Wartech codes, along with the Space Lords civilians, much to everyones great pleasure!

So this news inspired me to go dig out some of my Space Lords figures for all of you to enjoy, as perhaps a number of you are too young to remember these very cool sci fi figures that can be used for just about any war-game or sci fi FRP system one could care to name. So without further ado, for your consideration, starting with the Phagon Battleclones:

Next, the Phagons themselves in all their carnivorous goatly glory:

Cybertech Bunkerbusters, hefty powered armor troopers even by today's standards (and very high tech compared to the pseudo medieval nonsense of one company I shall not sully my blog page naming!):

Wartechs, superbly detailed and well thought out high tech infantry fit for any sci fi wargaming system:

Wartech S.E.C.S., the Wartech's light infantry branch:

A Yoyodyne Elite trooper (space samurai) with a Citadel Miniatures Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader Imperial Sanctioned Psyker figure (left) and ex-Grenadier Miniatures Future Wars female trooper (now produced by EM4!) for size comparison:

So as always, I just couldn't help myself, so I had to build up some heavy support for my Wartechs, starting with an anti-grav gunship/transport packing multiple gigawatt pulse lasers, automatic cannons, and a brace of heavy demolition warhead guided missiles:

Wanting a heavy grav tank for my Wartechs, I started with the base of an old television antennae and a pair of plastic food coloring bottles:

And of course, I just cannot pass up an excuse to kit bash up some alien mercenaries to add some auxiliary muscle to my Imperial Terran legions (especially when I get the alien mercenaries for dirt cheap on EBay or at the local Michael's crafts store):

These fellows were cheap plastic toy Meerkats that just begged to be redone as alien mercenaries, and given their actual size, they're actually more than a bit intimidating armed as they are with hand weapons that would normally require a human crew to manage (!!):

Of course, the challenge is to get the alien mercenaries to actually do what you want them to do when you need them to do it:

"NO! NOT THAT WAY!! THIS WAY!!! THE ENEMY IS THIS WAY!!! DOES ANYONE SPEAK MEERKATIAN?!!!:"

Next time, more oldies but goodies from the ancient past of sci fi miniature gaming! Stay tuned to this TBD transmitter frequency...