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Osorios wrote:
I showed my wife, who doesn't know much about the hobby, the pictures of the GW Catachans and the WA/RO Space Nam and she had to laugh at how bad the Catachans are by comparison, especially the front guy with the googly eyes.

WA has made me do something GW never managed to do: consider building a Catachan force.

To be fair, it isn't really a feat to make better Catachans than Games Workshop.

When will the cease and desist letter arrive?

Nah. They will just suddenly announce that catachans have been redesigned and are a soon to be released.

General Hobbs wrote:


When will the cease and desist letter arrive?

Never? They can copyright the name, but nothing the Spacenam minis do or have breaks GW's copyrights.

I guess they could try, but these ain't space marines, so why would they?

 Albertorius wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:


When will the cease and desist letter arrive?

Never? They can copyright the name, but nothing the Spacenam minis do or have breaks GW's copyrights.

I guess they could try, but these ain't space marines, so why would they?

They are almost exact copies of GW's catachans. Even if they lose, GW can and is willing to spend a ton of money to take someone to court, and oftentimes that is enough. What was the bits company they killed?

Let me offer an example of when they won't: Praetorians. Because those uniforms are taken off the British troops from Africa and India, they can't claim they own the image. Hence why other companies can make Space British in that style.

But the look of the Catachans is unique to 40K.

General Hobbs wrote:
But the look of the Catachans is unique to 40K.

Bro, have you seen, like, Predator?

Or this other obscure piece of arthouse cinema

Catachans are so unique their special character is just rambo, with two letters transposed.

General Hobbs wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:


When will the cease and desist letter arrive?

Never? They can copyright the name, but nothing the Spacenam minis do or have breaks GW's copyrights.

I guess they could try, but these ain't space marines, so why would they?

They are almost exact copies of GW's catachans. Even if they lose, GW can and is willing to spend a ton of money to take someone to court, and oftentimes that is enough. What was the bits company they killed?

Let me offer an example of when they won't: Praetorians. Because those uniforms are taken off the British troops from Africa and India, they can't claim they own the image. Hence why other companies can make Space British in that style.

But the look of the Catachans is unique to 40K.

You defeat your own argument.

Spacenam. Vietnam in Spaaaaace!

Spacenam are almost exact copies of Catachans (your words).

Therefore Catachans were inspired by US soldiers in Vietnam.

Therefore, like Praetorians, GW cannot claim they own the image.


Plus, as others have pointed out, bare armed macho muscle bosun jungle fighters aren't exactly uncommon in pop culture. To wit, Sgt Elias in Platoon, Rambo in First Blood, the cast of Predator. Even Crocodole Dundee has a vest jacket and has 'that's a knife'.

1/72 scale but these bad boys predate Catachans.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/review.aspx?id=103







Berets, bare arms bandanas. They are all there.

General Hobbs wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:


When will the cease and desist letter arrive?

Never? They can copyright the name, but nothing the Spacenam minis do or have breaks GW's copyrights.

I guess they could try, but these ain't space marines, so why would they?

They are almost exact copies of GW's catachans. Even if they lose, GW can and is willing to spend a ton of money to take someone to court, and oftentimes that is enough. What was the bits company they killed?

You sure about that?

Are these...



...and these...




...almost exact copies to you? In what way, and how much different from anything out of Predator, Aliens or, you know, Vietnam movies?

To be clear: bandanas + wife beaters + cargo pants + combat boots is not, and basically cannot be, a unique GW look. Anyone trying to litigate will probably be laughed off the court.

Wow. I actually forgot how hideous the GW minis are. Yeah, those are not direct copies, they’re too well done. LoL

And considering GW got spanked in a lot of what they thought they could protect in that Chapterhouse case, I think they’d be very careful about opening that can of worms.

Generic space Vietnam is not something you want to try to argue you own. GW will likely either change Catachans a lot, or silently drop them, since they can’t be protected as is anyway.

Oh man, I had that 1/72 set!

There is zero danger of real action from GW against the Spacenam figures.


I do wonder what the future of the Catachan plastics will be. It's one of GW's weakest kits and I can't remember the last time I saw someone excited about starting a Catachan force. Still, it is one of the most iconic guard Armies and probably not one they want to drop.

I doubt I'm in the market for a box of Spacenam.

I might swung for a sprue. I need to create an Ox to go with my Cannon Fodder based Last Chancers

Let's see what one looks like painted orange with a heavy bolter.

They are nice enough sculpts. Good as generic Sci Fi fodder.

I do wonder how GW will update their own Space Nam range since there is nothing really IP unique about the aesthetic.

They could play up the abhuman physiology aspect from lore (which I think stems from the exaggerated forms of Arnie and Stallone in the eighties).

Might be in for 1 box for Stargrave, would like to see a scale shot first though

alphaecho wrote:


I doubt I'm in the market for a box of Spacenam.

I might swung for a sprue. I need to create an Ox to go with my Cannon Fodder based Last Chancers

Let's see what one looks like painted orange with a heavy bolter.

Same here. Never liked the Rambo look for regular joes. One or two character models are acceptable, but a whole section or platoon is too much for my tastes. And even when the Catachans and Goliaths were new I thought they were ugly sculpts. I like the "Sgt. Apone" figure though. He's worth a sprue.

"All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the Corps! A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I *love* the Corps! "

I like those rifles and specialist weapons. They could be good grenadiers or scions to accompany a more regular space nam force. If you swapped those battle rifles out for bolters they could make some pretty good spacemarine scouts they're some pretty big guys and that could in either case represent some augmentation.

 OldMate wrote:
I like those rifles and specialist weapons. They could be good grenadiers or scions to accompany a more regular space nam force. If you swapped those battle rifles out for bolters they could make some pretty good spacemarine scouts they're some pretty big guys and that could in either case represent some augmentation.

They are probably in-scale as regular guardsmen go considering the scale creep over the past few years.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:
But the look of the Catachans is unique to 40K.

Bro, have you seen, like, Predator?

Isn't this the guy that has such a huge issue with their not-colonial marines that he allegedly sockpuppeted a bunch of accounts on the WGA forum? I've also seen him try to tilt at windmills to have the Ukraine thread locked "because politics" (despite a mod starting it, and discusison being pretty decent in in the spirit of the rules.

Just pointing out some patterns of behaviour, and from that how much stock and effort might (or might not) be worth putting into replies....

....

Huh. he also started this shitstorm of a thread simply by dropping in a link to a clickbait article with a controversy-inspiring thread title. Just dropped the grenade and then fethed off to watch the fallout and shitfight that ensued since he didn't even post in the thread. Dance little puppets, etc.

Yeah, looks like he enjoys gak-stirring and trolling for a hobby. Juuuust skirting the lines of mod warnings, since they're pretty loose and relaxed in general unless you call someone a witch directly.

There's probably more to find if anyone is interested in looking...

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/recentTopics/showTopicsByUserSubscription/3828.page

Seems like the perfect person whose opinions anyone should put stock into

General Hobbs wrote:


When will the cease and desist letter arrive?

Yeah Vietnam War in space is an obscure, GW only concept.

Sure the GW sculpts haven't aged well, but boy oh boy do I have fond memories of my grandparents buying me by a box (a whole 20 minis!) and build them on their floor when I was like... ten? And the hours spent flipping through the 3E IG and Deathworld Veterans codices. Hooked me for life.

So don't judge too harshly

https://wargamesatlantic.com/blogs/news/contest-name-the-alien-bugs

Name that bug contest. Win 10 boxes and have your name on the box.

These Reptilian Overlords look fantastic. How much bigger are they compared to the vintage GW Catachans?

Better and better! I wonder if there will be any range weapons for the bugs?

Yep those are certainly not exactly Nids

They more remind me of Starship Troopers' or Deep Rock Galactic

Not great not terrible

 Eilif wrote:
Better and better! I wonder if there will be any range weapons for the bugs?

The contest description says "may come with integrated plasma/laser/you say what it is weapons arms" so it looks like they will.

Those bugs are suitably scary! While I was hoping for antlike "Bugs", these will do. Also hoping for ranged weapons.

"Some music while you wait, Lieutenant?"
To the everlasting glory of the infantry shines the name of Roger Young ...

Nice preview. Going to be picking these up
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1MEJM0cboDg

Noting that they discuss making the fluff for the bugs, is there an expanded Death Fields lore? My understanding was the entire lore could be summed up with "aliens take various groups, sci fi them up, and have them compete in battles". Is there a more in depth lore in play here?