"It's a Metal Express New years SALE!!!" Topic

That's right, Space Possums! We're having a sale over at the Metal Express online store, 20% off on all Silent Death minis, so grab yer flight helmets and saddle up to conquer the universe and save 20% while you're at it!

Just enter the special sale code 76d9bfd662 at checkout and save 20% off of the cost of the minis (discount is taken before shipping is calculated):

metal-express.net

The sale ends February 7, 2015, so go get 'em, people!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Thank you for the very easy-to-remember sale code. Just so you know, I am laughing at you for that one, not with you.

To everyone else: even if the games are not your thing, the models make great drones for your 15mm and 28mm sci-fi forces!

"Thank you for the very easy-to-remember sale code. Just so you know, I am laughing at you for that one, not with you."

I for one didn't create that code, mate! Besides, is using a mouse to highlight, copy, and paste a code all that challenging..?

We are on exactly the same page regarding the utility of the minis for more roles than their original, intended purpose. Depending upon the mini, there's all sorts of applications:

Over 100 different ship minis to choose from, from tiny fighters to escort vessels large enough to pass muster as heavy cruiser or capital-class ships for fleet action scale games.

Go get 'em!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

You mocked my mocking… well played, sir. Well played!

Also, don't forget to post the sale on Instagram too, I haven't seen it there yet.

Hey, Leland, do you have anything like Spike's Swordfish?

"You mocked my mocking… well played, sir. Well played!"

I mock myself as mercilessly as I mock your mockery, oh Pugilistic, Instagram-obsessed, Spacefaring Carnivorous Bunny!

Thank you for catching that! I have added a crude-as-Luches announcement on the Instagram feed (plus another photo of painted minis for some semblance of presentational balance)…

The saga continues, as I have been busy cleaning up and updating some things on the Metal Express home page's assorted resources, adding more photos to the gallery if you haven't seen 'em already, and other mischief afoot…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

@Lion, not precisely. About the closest we come in terms of configuration and it's kind of a longshot is the humble Thunderbird:

Spike's bird really is a rather unique ship to say the least. I had a design on the drawing board pending sculpting resources of a two-seater that carries a Rail Repeater as its (extreme, burgeoning) main armament, but that's about as close as we get thus far to this peculiar, specialized kill-you-in-one-shot spacecraft….

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Thanks for the sale, I have had a shopping list sitting around for a while now and this will get me off my seat.

To clarify, does this sale also cover the various Metal Express miniatures which have been seconded for use in Star Fleet Battles?

SFB Module Y2 and Module Y3 use three MX minis to help flesh out the warp-refitted Terran navy, which served prior to the onset of the first "saucer-and-nacelle" ships of the unified Star Fleet. While 25 other minis were used as the basis for the five warp-driven "pre-ISC" fleets, built by the five species which would later unite to form the Inter-Stellar Concordium.

@Nerroth, if you buy the minus from us via our Metal Express web store, then they're on sale. *Indulge* yourself accordingly.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Hrmmmm… twin engines instead of one, but a bit of whittling on the nose should help with the ludicrously large particle cannon.

@Lion, I suspect it might not be *too* difficult to pull off… and the Swordfish was a unique, one-off ship IIRC… (and a mean one too!)…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Nerroth, if you mention the SFB, should also mention the 're-used' from Traveller. I really think there are more than the few Leland has mentioned elsewhere.

Anyway, plenty have proxied in a heck of a lot of other games; just go look, imagine.

I've even seen the smallest fighters used as ground support in Dirtside. ;->=

Doug

Doug,

Oh, you want me to list the repurposed Traveller ships too? Sure! Look at the assorted UNW ships in our online store. They're wonderful examples of what I refer to as "scale neutral" starship models. All it took for example to convert a Traveller escort vessel into a SD:TNM gunboat was to paint a particular panel as a canopy bubble, and voila! Enter the Javelin class bug huntin' specialist gunboat unique to the UNW.

Mind you, these redundant minis were so adopted something like 20 years ago IIRC, and IIRC with the blessings of the IP holders as things were a bit less corporate in our community back then than they've become since.

I for one have no problem with other publishers adapting our minus to their game universe as long as they ask our permission first and we come to a mutually beneficial accord (ie., Two Hour Wargames, who have our enthusiastic two thumbs up blessing, and NSKN Games who are skating on some increasingly thinner IP ice with us…).

I entered this hobby waaaay back in the early 1970s. Adaptation and kitbashing were the only really viable means of entering the hobby genre of starship tabletop gaming, as there were very few actual models easily available to those of us who wanted to stage starship battles in miniature. People therefore tended to adapt what was available to just about any game system in print, and with a pretty clear approval of the manufacturer community at large. I for one was a high school kid with a high school kid's allowance from stingy middle class parents who refused to allow me to get a job even a summer job until I turned 18 so I would "concentrate more on my studies" (Arrrgh!).

Well, the fact that I was able to do as much as I did in the hobby in those penurious antediluvian times has colored my perspective thusly: our hobby should never be a rich man's game or a competition between who are "the cool kids" and everyone else because the marketing appointed "cool kids" can afford to drop hundreds of dollars on their hobby every time they get paid for overpriced, overhyped models than those who have rent, kids, and other real world concerns to focus their financial resources upon. This hobby should be open to as many as possible, encourage the use of imagination and personal creativity, and above all be FUN!

So pardon my birthday ramblings. Having hit 54 today I am afflicted with a degree of self reflection and introspection, and remain committed to encouraging as many people as possible to enjoy our hobby and without going broke or even having to spend more than the cost of a couple of tubes of Krazy glue, a hobby knife, some paint, and a bit of imagination.

So I say that yes, do adapt our minis to your favorite game system, and do so shamelessly and well if you're a player! If you're an aspiring game designer or even an established company, we have over 100 different ships to mess with and we're working on producing more later this year if all goes well. If you want to adapt our minus to your game, just ask us, and we can come to a reasonable and mutually beneficial accord.

Seriously. In a tight economy with corporate entities trying to suck both the money out of everyone's wallets and the joy out of life's simple pleasures especially the pleasure of being creative, us Indies need to stick together as much as possible, and for our part, we at Metal Express do what we do on a shoestring and wad of old chewing gum out of the sheer live of the adventure.

Yes, we are a business and yes, we do want to make a few pieces of eight out of our efforts, but we know we don't have to slip a dagger in anyone's ribs to do it, unless of course we're playing Bladestorm!, in which case all bets are off, and I'll spit yer ass like a shish kabob so fast your scum sucking character won't know what hit 'em!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

My apologies; of course I meant customers, not other publishers trading on your images, having free rein.

Doug

"Apologies?" Pffft! no apologies necessary, Doug! *You're* not the pirates…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net