Lore Question: What factions use what minis?

[HeatDeath]

Originally Posted by Mack_JB

I may be remembering this wrong as well, but wasn't the Mk. IV Ogre only used by NAC (and aligned) forces?

My age-old question is why does everything look like a "tank" except the NAC "Raptor" GEV? That thing looks like a bad scifi version of a space fighter.

Because in 1982, when SJGames put out their own version of GEV, they commissioned new cover art (either because they didn't own the rights to the Metagaming art or because the Metagaming cover art, especially the 2nd edition, was kinda sucky) and David R. Deitrick, Dave Martin, and ultimately Steve Jackson, thought this looked cool (not that looking cooler than the Metagaming 2nd edition "art" was terribly difficult, see the goingfaster link below).

Also, Star Wars was at the height of it's popularity, and that may have played a role.

[I don't know when the rest of the distinctive Combine armor designs originated. I haven't seen any paintings or sketches of them, so it might have been as late as Ogre Miniatures, in 1992. As you point out, they appear quite different in lineage from the Combine GEV, but quite similar to each other, suggesting a separate common design phase somewhat later. But the Combine GEV is definitely from 1982, 5 years after the PE armor designs, which are Winchell Chung's (except for the Howitzer and the PE CP) from the late 70's.]

[EDIT: This http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/miniatures/checklist.html confirms that the Combine armor units other than the GEV originated in 1993, and were designed by Mike Naylor, as miniatures. [He's the one who originated the common pointy "prow" design element you can see on Combine armor from the LTNK through the Ogre Mk II. Nice touch, that.] The Combine GEV was designed by Dave Martin a full decade earlier, as noted above.]

http://www.goingfaster.com/ogre/historicart.html
http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/resources/ludo.html

[Mack_JB]

Yeah, that cover. It makes them look more like anti-gravity units than G.E.V. units. It's far too late to re-design them ... maybe I'll retcon or hand-wavium them away as some minor faction's or a variant with different specs. Also, hopefully the plastic mini will be able to incorporate the tailfins as part of the body, since gluing those on the metal minis was always a royal PitA.

[HeatDeath]

I bought a couple dozen of them while the metal minis were available. I was getting pretty good at those fins by the time I finished. Painful practice makes perfect, I guess.

[Mack_JB]

Originally Posted by HeatDeath

[EDIT: This http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/miniatures/checklist.html confirms that the Combine armor units other than the GEV originated in 1993, and were designed by Mike Naylor, as miniatures. [He's the one who originated the common pointy "prow" design element you can see on Combine armor from the LTNK through the Ogre Mk II. Nice touch, that.] The Combine GEV was designed by Dave Martin as noted above.]

Aha! Two different artists, so two different design aesthetics. That explains a lot ... more hand-wavium, the maker of the NAC GEV's was the low bid contractor from the aerospace field, while the makers of the rest of the NAC tanks were from the more traditional ground based defense firms. That nose of the Raptor looks like it was stolen from a helicopter body ....

[sir_pudding]

They actually look more like actual surface effects vehicles than the hovercraft looking PE thing does.

[GranitePenguin]

Yeah, the NAC GEV is the one real thorn in my side. I really do not like them; never have. I was never even aware of the pocketbox art (or the minis, for that matter) until much later in life, so I spent a good 25 years thinking the PE GEV was the only game in town.

Absolutely no bias whatsoever ;-)

[Mack_JB]

Slightly off topic, has anyone ever used one of these:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/vn12.html

As either a heavy GEV, or a mobile GEV-CP?

I used to have one laying around, but can't find it now.

[Dave Crowell]

I have a few one piece Combine GEV models that I got with some old Martian Metals Ogre minis. They are smaller than the SJG versions. I remember a minis add describing the Combine GEV as "a new bad guy unit" but I cannot say for certain if that was before or after the SJG GEV cover art.

I like the Combine GEV, and think they would look nice with shark grins on the front...

[HeatDeath]

I can see why a differentiated second-faction GEV would be a priority at the time of GEV's release - GEV's flagship scenario "Breakthrough" really shines a spotlight on them.

[Desert Scribe]

Originally Posted by Mack_JB

Slightly off topic, has anyone ever used one of these:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/vn12.html

As either a heavy GEV, or a mobile GEV-CP?

I used to have one laying around, but can't find it now.

WANT!!!

About how big is that mini?