A few of
weekends ago, I went on a
two gamestore shopping spree, that I posted about several days ago on Stern Rake Studio.
At the
Hobbytown store in
Wilsonville, OR, I ended up
buying four boxes of
AT-43
figures. While I like pre-painted miniatures, I felt the
Rackham products were a bit too
pricey. "Were" being the operative word, because the company went into
liquidation a couple of years ago. (I guess other gamers thought their figures
were too pricey too).
This was, however, unfortunate because they made
excellent quality figures. They're now offered discount prices from sites like
The
Miniature Market and on the discount shelves in some retail stores, like
Hobbytown.
I didn't snatch-up the packages right away, but spent
over an hour pondering whether or not to buy them. This was not because the
figures were lacking in quality. On the contrary, they're awesome
looking.
My major concern was whether or not I could integrate these with
my 25 millimeter (mm)
Star Wars
Miniatures. The
Hobbytown staff, while helpful, weren't sure if
the
AT-43 figures were 25, 28, or even 30 mm.
I didn't have
access to the internet, nor did I bring any of my
Star Wars figures for
a comparison. With the "clock ticking" (I had to pick up my girlfriend from
work), I decided to buy four of the box sets, all from the "U.N.A." (United
Nations of Ava).
So, without further ado, here's my latest sci-fi figure
purchase:
The first set I decided on was the U.N.A. Star Trooper Squad.
This consists of 6 x
troopers with assault rifles, 1 x trooper with a "Volcano Machine Gun," and a
Star Trooper leader.
Rifle squads often
need additional fire support, so I selected the U.N.A Star Trooper Attachment
Set.
Some, (or maybe all?)
of the troops, bearing the following weapons can be added to the basic squad:
Missile launcher and flame thrower, along with another Volcano Machine Gun. A
medic and/or engineer can also augment the squad, along with another
officer/NCO.
All these figures
have detachable heads that can be swapped out with triple-lens helmeted
ones.
Troops wielding heavy
weapons is one thing, but they're still foot-bound infantry.
What about mobile
firepower?
As with Star
Wars, the AT-43 universe seems fixated on "mechs" or "walkers."
The only two I found at Hobbytown were two "Fire Toads," Mark 02 and
Mark 03.
At 50% off I couldn't
pass these two up. Now that my troops have mech support it was time to answer
the big question: Are these figures compatible with my 25mm Star Wars
Miniatures?
These U.N.A.
troops bear a passing resemblance to Rebel Hoth troopers, so when I got home and
conducted my photo-shoot, I dug out the appropriate Star Wars
Miniatures for a direct comparison...
..."Dang!" The
AT-43 figures are visibly larger than the Star Wars ones, even
when looking at them from a distance. By the time I was taking these pictures I
had access to the internet and confirmed the AT-43 figures are, in
fact, 28mm.
(Sigh).
But then I started
thinking: Maybe the mech/walkers can be integrated with the Star Wars
figures?
Before answering this
question, I placed a U.N.A. soldier and a Fire Toad side-by-side, for an initial
comparison:
Then I placed a Hoth
Trooper next to the Fire Toad:
Hmmm. Not bad. In
fact, I think the size ratio seen in the above photo is more appropriate.
I mean,
mechs SUPPOSE to be BIG, right?
(Whew!).
So this purchase
wasn't a total bust.
I may buy a squad of
"Red Block" infantry as opponents to the U.N.A. which will give me a couple of
small forces for 28mm-scale games. More importantly, I'm seriously considering
obtaining more AT-43 vehicles for my sci-fi collection--especially if
they're offered at discount prices.
After some more
internet snooping I came across pictures of "O.N.I" vehicles and figures (some
are conversions):
They appear to be
more suited for police/security/riot control than heavy combat. However, they
have that
Aliens look
that sci-fi gamers love--which is why these vehicles are almost impossible to
find.
(Sigh).
Just what I
need--another quest for out-of-production game material.
