Ooh-Rah! 28mm Near-Future Space Marines from Wargames Atlantic

 

the front of the box

 

        OK, if you are a reader of my minis reviews you are well aware of the high esteem that I hold for Wargames Atlantic's recent work, and it is a regard that has been earned and deserved. But I have to say that this latest offering "Ooh-Rah!" doesn't fit that mold. It simply towers above all of the previous product from Wargames Atlantic; these are quite possibly the best 28mm figures that I have had the pleasure of seeing in the fifty years that I have been collecting and painting wargames minis. And I don't say that lightly because there are some damned fine minis out there. The proportion, positioning and detail is all top-notch, the reasonably-sized and realistic-looking weapons and vast selection of heads all add up to a tour-de-force of what is possible with digital design and CNC machining. Wargames Atlantic (and the rest of the other manufacturers out there) are going to have to work very hard to exceed this level of quality.

       But off to the real information rather than my hyperventilating! The box contains four identical sprues each holding six figures with associated arms, heads and weapons. These are flawlessly molded in a firm gray plastic that displays the sumptuous level of detail very clearly. The detail is crisply cast and clearly defined without being oversized or clumsy. These figures have the look of the Space Marines from "Aliens" in that they are wearing functional uniforms and carrying weapons that a man could reasonably pick up, no outlandish gigantic guns or absurdly huge swords, just a bunch of mean S.O.B.s here to get a job done. These are what GW's Catachans wanted to be but failed at (to risk the ire of 40K fan-boys). 

 

the back of the box

 

box with contents

 

sprue, Side A

 

sprue, Side B

 

I expect to see the spare heads from this set popping up all over the place

 

my favorites are the ball-cap and Ray-bans "Operator" looking guys

 

the helmets look  purposeful

 

and then there are the full-face sheilds, in case they get deployed to a place with toxic air,

 like Beijing or Newark

 

the figures are all actively pose and realistically proportioned

 with logically laid-out equipment

 

the weapons look like something you might see the boys at DARPA playing around with

 

the detail is razor-sharp

 

I thought that the shotgun was a nice touch

 

there are no bases included 

but the plastic minis can be glued to any available plastic base easily enough

 

and of course there is a scoped sniper rifle (because why not?)

       At right around a dollar and a half per mini these are a LOT cheaper than other (very similar) near-future Space Marine minis and, as I said earlier, they are simply the best-looking minis I have had the pleasure of seeing. If you have the bug for Sci-Fi  at all you will want a box (or two) of these guys on your workbench.

        Extremely Highly Recommended (I'm running out of superlatives, somebody get me a thesaurus!)