Product Review: UAMC Marines from Defiance Games

I Stopped by one of my friendly local game stores last weekend and was curious about a box I saw piled in with some new releases.  Immediately, it was apparent there was some serious potential for some great veteran stand-ins in my Imperial Guard Army but the more looked the more I was really interested in these new models. The dude working must have noticed how intrigued I was and popped over to let me know about this cool new model kit.

He explained that these infantry models are from Defiance Games a, local manufacturer, and then handed me a sprue as a free sample. Apparently the folks a Defiance Games also gave this FLGS (Hobby Bunker in Malden, MA) a stack of the new models to give out as promo items. I guess it's the luck of living close to a cool small model company.

So here they are, my first look at the "UAMC Marines." Immediately those who are familiar with Wargames Factory's stacking sprues will see the same design here. Both are Boston based companies with a nearly identical manner of manufacture, one can only assume there is some connection between these two (though how much innuendo we can draw from the name Defiance is anyones guess).

Being familiar with the Wargames Factories Greatcoat infantry, I can see a lot of similarities here. The UAMC Marines are also a great value but the level of detail is much improved over what we saw with the Greatcoats. They also have some other nice additions like surprisingly detailed heads and a variety of sidearms and backpacks and pouches.

Also, much to my delight, these guys have really awesome looking weapons. I'm not knocking other independent model manufacturers but a lot of the time 3rd party (not GW) models have disappointing looking guns, often they look like an afterthought. Not UAMC Marines though, it looks like the design for the guns was a key component in coming up with the aesthetic for these models. Everything about them is modern and tactical with picatinny rails, underslung grenade launchers and pretty badass looking squad automatic weapon.

I was ready to buy these based on the pictures on the box, now having held them in my hand I can't go without them. For anyone who likes a more sci-fi and less gothic look, these guys are for you. A little bit Master Chief from Halo and a lot of Elysian Drop Troop.

There you have it - go buy some, the price is right.