Sometimes I wish there was a word other than 'miniature' to describe the collectible figurines we build and paint in the miniature wargaming hobby, because a lot of 'miniatures' are very, very big indeed. And as if to prove the point, Steamforged Games has revealed photos of the fully painted Dusk Phantasm, a Colossal war robot for its flagship tabletop wargame Warmachine.
We know the Phantasm fits onto a 120mm base, and eyeballing the photographs we estimate that it's at least nine inches tall - about the same size as a Master Grade Gundam kit. Heck, it even looks a bit like the XM-XX Ghost Gundam, or the Epyon in Gundam Wing.
This size of model isn't unprecedented for Warmachine: long term fans of the miniature wargame will remember the draconic Archangel and Storm Raptor, both of which measured over 10 inches from base to wing tips.
If you're not familiar with Warmachine, Colossals are the largest units available to any force. They cost loads of points, hit like a freight train, and are very hard to kill. This one comes supplied with alternative heads and arms for different weapon loadouts. The components have magnet sockets so you can magnetise the gear and hot-swap to your heart's content.
The Phantasm is part of the House Kallyss army, a noble house within the undead elven nation of Dusk. The elves of the Warmachine world have had one hell of a time - their gods are dead, one of their nations was corrupted by a dragon, and another has now fallen into vampiric undeath. But they're still, more or less, goodies - or at least, they're fighting against the worse evils that are coming for the world of Immoren.
Steamforged has also revealed the rules for the Phantasm. Like all Colossals, it hits incredibly hard, and you could double-down on giving it utterly devastating melee weapons - but it also has access to some powerful board manipulation effects. Its Teleforce Array gun can slow down enemies, knock them backwards, or expose them to the rest of your forces with a blinding flash of light.
The 'Desolator' chest weapon option creates a Vortex that sucks enemy models towards the target you hit, very useful in a game where clearing charge lanes is so powerful: and the optional Revivifier arm guns allow you to possess living or undead infantry models when you shoot them, puppeteering them to attack their own comrades before they finally expire.
We've already been ogling this kit in the Warmachine Discord community - come and say hi, whether you're into Warmachine, or just want tips on how to paint your Gunpla so it looks like this!
Interested in mecha wargaming? I built some of the minis from next year's Gundam miniature wargame 'Gundam Assemble' - you can find out why I'm so impressed by the kits in this article.