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Hey folks, I'm working on a trade over on Bartertown and the guy I'm dealing with is offering 5 OOP Jump Packs. I'm an old skool player and have collected a lot of GW/Citadel minis in my time, but I've never seen anything like these. Can anyone identify where/when these Jump Packs are from?



I mean, I don't doubt that they're GW. Looking at the design features, they definitely share a lot of design elements with the current style of jump packs (which, from my research was originally released in metal back in 1993). I'm familiar with the old, round turbofan style packs - I've owned my fair share of them over the years. But these look like they're something from between the round turbofan packs and the current style. Looking at the age and weathering on the metal, I don't doubt that these are probably from the early 90's. And the level of detail and style points to them being GW rather than a knock-off by some other company, but this has got me stymied.

I've pored over the Citadel catalogs on Stuff of Legends without finding anything similar (although, truth be told, I was disappointed as I couldn't even find the old turbofan-style packs on solegends either). Is this from another company?

Does anyone know anything about these jump packs?

Pretty sure these are old Space Marine jump packs. One of the very, very first minis I ever got was a Space Marine with one of these jump packs. I remember those hoses particularly well. Now.. this was back in 97-98 or so, but I'd say I'm 95% sure.

I first thought it was just the current edition ones in metal, until I looked closely. Yeah, I've never seen those either. Best guess would be early 90's rogue trader era. I've never seen the like on a psuedo space marine either


Automatically Appended Next Post:
they'd be great for some CSM or preheresy space marines though

I'm pretty sure that these are not rogue trader era, but are actually 2nd edition metal jump packs...

@whigwam - When you say you got a Space Marine with one of these, do you mean, like in a blister pack or was it a box set of some kind?

It was definitely from a blister. Pretty sure everything was metal except for the shoulder pads, arms, and weapon options. As I recall, there were a bunch of plastic CCW options...chainsword, power sword, and (this might sound crazy?) an axe. Definitely a bunch of pistols too...bolt, plasma, and hand-flamer.

Sorry I don't have any more detailed info. My parents bought me this figure when I was real young and it is long since lost. I spent an inordinate amount of time building/painting/obsessing over it though...hopefully I'm not having a false memory here.

I'm not sure what these are. The RT Jump Pack certainly didn't look like that and the 2nd. ed one was more or less like the current one in design (only the jump jets are different). Both had very rounded exhaust bits. The ones on these are very square. I may be wrong, but they don't look like anything GW I've seen.

The first jump pack I can find at SOL is this: http://www.solegends.com/citcat9x4/c93473-03.htm and that is the same version depicted in the 2nd ed Ultramarines codex.
I can't find any version of this jump pack in my collection of codexes so either it's some very obscure version from rouge trader or it's a third party competitors jump pack (or maybe GW stole the design from someone else?).

Savis wrote:The first jump pack I can find at SOL is this: http://www.solegends.com/citcat9x4/c93473-03.htm and that is the same version depicted in the 2nd ed Ultramarines codex.
I can't find any version of this jump pack in my collection of codexes so either it's some very obscure version from rouge trader or it's a third party competitors jump pack (or maybe GW stole the design from someone else?).

FWIW, this is the RT one: http://ijw.on-rev.com/ebay2/images/mroguetra-1282160974-45943.jpg

@whigwam - No, actually it doesn't sound crazy. The early assault marine blisters came with the sprue with all of the things you listed.

@Savis - that's the earliest separate jump pack that I could find on SOL, too, but knowing that the round turbofan packs came before the ones in your link, I'm thinking that the usually comprehensive SOL has some gaps that we're discovering.

@Grimtuff - yep, that's the old jump pack that I'm most familiar with - awesome model. I'm actually disappointed that when FW decided to redo the turbofan style jump packs in resin that they didn't make them more like this. I'm thinking the ones in the original post are some obscure, short-lived run that was between the RT packs and the modern packs we know today.

Could be a third party knock-off. I found some info that Enigma miniatures used to do complete space marine ripoffs before they got shut down. I can't find any pictures of the old Enigma models to see if these came from them (Enigma or someone else with that name still makes fantasy and sci-fi mins so searches just turn up the current stuff)

Are they to correct scale in comparison to GW jump packs? I know WH40K was originally a game called laserburn & when the designer was hired by GW he incorporated that game into what would become Rogue Trader. I once had a copy of the original laserburn rulebook & it had pics of beakies in it, but I think it was slightly smaller scale than 40k, I dunno, maybe I'm off base here but could they be from that era? Just a thought.

Yeah 2nd or 3rd. I remember having a few beakies with those.

Those aren't GW packs. Enigma or Target (the old Target, not the current one) would be my guess. I don't recall anything in the Shockforce range having a jump pack, otherwise they would be another likely contender...

Red_Starrise wrote:Are they to correct scale in comparison to GW jump packs? I know WH40K was originally a game called laserburn & when the designer was hired by GW he incorporated that game into what would become Rogue Trader. I once had a copy of the original laserburn rulebook & it had pics of beakies in it, but I think it was slightly smaller scale than 40k, I dunno, maybe I'm off base here but could they be from that era? Just a thought.

Laserburn was a 15mm game which is still available from 15mmUK/Alternative armies. http://www.15mm.co.uk/index.html
There are some similarities and concepts that transferred, but according to Brian Ansel it was not an "earlier version of 40k".

Alternative armies also had a 28mm (more like 30mm+) line that they are re-releasing under the "Ion Age" line that does have some beak'ish figs but it doesn't have any packs like the ones pictured. http://www.alternative-armies.com/Ion_Age_Science_Fiction.htm

insaniak wrote:Those aren't GW packs. Enigma or Target (the old Target, not the current one) would be my guess. I don't recall anything in the Shockforce range having a jump pack, otherwise they would be another likely contender...

Nothing in the Shockforce range or GW range back through RT matches these packs, and I've not seen anything in my old Target games Warzone catalog that would match them either.

I think that Enigma (old company, not the company currently using that name) is the most likely culprit here. Enigma made copyright-infringingly GW'ish assualt marines (with Arbites style heads...) but unfortunately I can't find my print-offs that I made of figures from their website in the 90's before they were shutdown. I'm not even certain they had pics of the back of the figures. They look like the Enigma style of GW knock'offs with less detail.

Still, I'd go ahead and use them. They look good enough and it's always nice to have something a little different than everyone elses marines. If you dont want to use them, shoot me a PM and we can work something out, I'm always interested in cheap, oddball vintage figs/bits.

I mean, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the jump packs were Enigma, but how does that jibe with the folks like whigwam and Asherian Command who say these came with Space Marines? Granted two data points do not a data set make, but I note that both are American. Was this a limited US test release that never took off?

Honestly, I could be totally wrong. After reading insaniak and Eilif's posts, I am less sure than I was initially, although these packs still look really familiar to me. In any case, I wouldn't hang too much on my hunch...it is after all only a hunch (based on distant memories) and the others seem to know the history of bits a lot better than I do.

I'm not trying to be a punk, but I think the previous gentlemen are mistaken.

Here's the two listings I was able to find.

1988 early RT style


1994. Metal predecessor of the current plastic style


I wasn't able to find anything else and while not 100% complete, The stuff of Legends is fairly comprehensive.
http://www.solegends.com/citadel/index.htm

Ah, you did find the Rogue Trader turbofan jump pack! Excellent - I'd been trying to find it and failed. Okay - good to know it was there. My faith in SOL is somewhat restored.

Is there anywhere with pics of Enigma's old models? I've found the page with their recent stuff. Sadly, I get a 404 when I check Enigma's page on SOL. I wish there were a way to search SOL.

I'm pretty sure that there is no connection between the new and old Enigma, but I could be wrong. If someone knows how to use the wayback machine, they could look for "Enigma minaitures" around 1998.

Ah, my Wayback Machine-fu is rusty, but I may have to give it a try.

Okay, so, I didn't use Wayback Machine as my Google-fu is much better. Searching around a little, I found that Enigma made a line of models for a table top game called "Tactical Strike". Models for this game included "Storm Marines" and "Starguard Troopers". Enigma was also apparently based in Canada, which could explain why the only two folks who've spoken up about having marines with these jump packs are from the U.S. As far as how these could be confused with Space Marines, well, see for yourself (I can't figure out how to directly show these Ebay pics in the thread - if anyone else can, it'd be appreciated):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Enigma-Miniatures-5421-SM3-Storm-Marines-Miniature-New-/350083662435?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51829cc263

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Enigma-Miniatures-5419-SM3-Storm-Marines-Guns-New-/350089603881?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5182f76b29

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Enigma-Miniatures-5421-SM3-Storm-Marines-Miniature-New-/350083662435?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51829cc263

I haven't found any pics of the Storm Marines with Jump Packs, but I've found some text listings for Enigma's line which list "Storm Marine Iron Eagle" - makes me think they're jump/flight capable "Storm Marines", maybe.

Eilif wrote:

Red_Starrise wrote:Alternative armies also had a 28mm (more like 30mm+) line that they are re-releasing under the "Ion Age" line that does have some beak'ish figs but it doesn't have any packs like the ones pictured. http://www.alternative-armies.com/Ion_Age_Science_Fiction.htm

HOLY CRAP THANK YOU! I've got 4 guys from this line (I'm pretty sure the Retained Knights) and was trying to figure out where they came from.
Sorry for the mini-threadjack.
edited to fix the misquote I just noticed - sorry

Death By Monkeys wrote:, I found that Enigma made a line of models for a table top game called "Tactical Strike". Models for this game included "Storm Marines" and "Starguard Troopers". Enigma was also apparently based in Canada, which could explain why the only two folks who've spoken up about having marines with these jump packs are from the U.S. As far as how these could be confused with Space Marines, well, see for yourself ...
...I haven't found any pics of the Storm Marines with Jump Packs, but I've found some text listings for Enigma's line which list "Storm Marine Iron Eagle" - makes me think they're jump/flight capable "Storm Marines", maybe.

Yep, those are the ones I remember. They were pretty blatant SM copies, so it's no surprise they didn't last long. They weren't great quality sculpts either, so it's rather surprising to see them going for near double what they originally cost. There were definitely Jump Pack Marines. I went up to the attic, but couldn't find the old printouts of the Enigma pics that I made back in the day.

rigeld2 wrote:

Eilif wrote:Alternative armies also had a 28mm (more like 30mm+) line that they are re-releasing under the "Ion Age" line that does have some beak'ish figs but it doesn't have any packs like the ones pictured. http://www.alternative-armies.com/Ion_Age_Science_Fiction.htm

HOLY CRAP THANK YOU! I've got 4 guys from this line (I'm pretty sure the Retained Knights) and was trying to figure out where they came from.
Sorry for the mini-threadjack.

No problem, happy to help. If at some point you decide to part with them, let me know.

Death By Monkeys wrote:I mean, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the jump packs were Enigma, but how does that jibe with the folks like whigwam and Asherian Command who say these came with Space Marines? Granted two data points do not a data set make, but I note that both are American. Was this a limited US test release that never took off?

More likely those folks are mis-remembering. It's easy to get confused about details over time. They look similar enough to GW's jump packs, and if someone had actually seen these on a model at some point, they could simply have confused the source.

A perfectly reasonable mistake, especially since Enigma was purposely trying to copy GW.

Oh wow! I recognize the packaging and the style of the eagle, that's the company (enigma) that made my Sentinels in my Imperial Guard army! I was excited to find any since at the time the metal GW model was out of production and they hadn't made a plastic kit yet.
They had a jet fighter type canopy which I cut back to a small windscreen and inserted GW drivers. A tank commander and two rogue trader rough riders.

They may also be the makers of some not-terminators in my bits box