Old OGRE mini

Photo from Martian Metals Ogre Mk Vb blog

One of this blog's readers, THE HESSIAN (all caps are his) asked in this comment about a miniature of an OGRE Mark Vb, and provided links to photos of the mini in question.  He later created his own blog showing photos of the Mark Vb.

A quick history of OGRE minis: Martian Metals was the original producer of castings for this game, making figures based on Winchell Chung's game artwork (for the force now known as the Paneuropeans).  Ral Partha later took over the line, adding North American Combine vehicles.  Finally, for awhile, Steve Jackson Games produced its own miniatures for OGRE/GEV.

For those of you unfamiliar with the OGRE/GEV setting, the sci-fi tank game comes with giant cybertanks, increasing in size from the Mark I all the way to the Mark VI.  The rules also have a Mark III-B, but nowhere could I find a mention of a Mark V-B.  As you can see from the photos on THE HESSIAN's blog, the package for this model clearly lists the OGRE as a "Vb"--so there's some mystery about this miniature. 

I did find this old Martian Metals catalog posted online.  I've reproduced a page here for historical purposes:

Here's a closer look:

As you can see in the closeup, they clearly offered the Mark V, but there's no mention of a Vb.  A commenter in this thread on the SJGames forums notes the mini carries all the weapons of a Mark V.  I'm guessing the "Vb" is just a typo.  Still, I appreciate THE HESSIAN bringing this to our attention.