I remember the articles from WD, and I still have a copy of the boxed game ... somewhere. The plastic ships are quite nicely done.
My recollection is that Space Fleet was released before the four other intro games that you mention, (rather than being one of them) but I may be wrong. I remember there being one called Mighty something and it used the art that was also the cover of WD132. I believe it included the skaven miniatures and board pieces from Advanced Heroquest, iirc.