Hobby Products
Company History
Hobby Products GmbH was a German company that produced games and miniatures from the mid-1980's (at least 1984) through to 2006. They produced a wide variety of ranges over the years, many of which had little visibility outside of Europe. Most of their ranges had been phased out of production by the mid-1990's and by the final years the company was focused on the Demonworld, Empires, DSA, and Armalion ranges.
Addresses
- Oberhausen, Germany
Branding
Personnel
- Painters
- Josef Ochmann
- Jürgen Neumann
- Jörg-Martin Meyer
- Bernd Siepmann
- Andrea Wille
- Thomas Bartels
- Lars Groeger
- Michael Jacobsen
- Carsten Radzinski
Product Lines
Original Ranges
- Arabian Nights (Geschichten aus 1001 Nacht)
- Demonworld
- Dunwich Detectives (25mm)
- Empires
- Fantasy (earlier) (25mm)
- Fantasy (later) (25mm / 28mm)
- Freaky Fantasy (25mm)
- Historical Heroes (15mm)
- Spacelords (25mm / 28mm)
Licensed Ranges
- Armalion: licensed from FanPro
- Asterix (25mm / 28mm): licensed from Les Editions Albert René/Goscinny-Uderzo
- The Dark Eye (19xx) (DSA-earlier): licensed from FanPro
- The Dark Eye (DSA-later): licensed from FanPro
- Midgard Miniaturen: licensed from Verlag für F&SF-Spiele
- Perry Rhodan (25mm): licensed from Verlang Arthur Moewig GmbH
- Traveller Miniaturen (15mm): licensed from Games Designers' Workshop
Acquired Ranges
-
Web Presence
- Domain: hobbyproducts.de (archived)
- Registered: before Dec 2000.
As a mid-1980s company, much of Hobby Products' history was pre-internet. According to the Wayback Machine, the website existed (with relevant content) from at least Dec 6th 2000 - Feb 9th 2005.
- Email:
n/a
- Elsewhere: -
Distribution
In the UK, Tabletop Games sold most of the Fantasy and Arabian Nights ranges from at least 1984 to 1987-1988 (TTG codes) before Hobbygames of London began advertising the Metal Magic ranges (May 1988).
Disposal of Assets
Many of their ranges are still in production from other companies but the sale and transfer of assets appears to have been the following:
- Metal Magic Fantasy: bought by Mega Miniatures.
- Arabian Nights: bought by Mega Miniatures.
- Dunwich Detectives: bought by eM-4 Miniatures.
- Spacelords: bought by eM-4 Miniatures.
- DemonWorld: bought by RPE.
- Empires: unknown.
- 15mm Historical Ranges: bought by Gladiator Games (and since acquired by Black Hat Miniatures).
- The Dark Eye (DSA): re-licensed from FanPro by RPE.
- Armalion: re-licensed from FanPro by RPE.