"GHQ vs Heroics and Ros" Topic

I am getting into a new era for me, World War II. I am doing it in 6mm/1:285 due to space and cost considerations. I plan to focus on Cross Fire, IABSM, and Chain of Command and am going with Adler for the infantry.

I am having a tough time deciding on the source for the vehicles and support weapons. Both Heroics & Ros and GHQ have a good assortment of choices but the prices are radically different. I put together a couple of German and Soviet options and even taking into account shipping to the USA, Heroics and Ros comes out a lot cheaper. I have seen pictures of Adler miniatures with their vehicles and the size looks OK. Besides overall price, H&R allows me to order only a few of any one thing.
Is there anything about either the GHQ or H&R lines that I need to be aware of? Do they look OK together on the table top? Are there any other 6mm/1:285 lines out there?
Thanks for any information.

"but the prices are radically different"

So is the detail!
GHQ tanks and trucks are more detailed than most 1/100th vehicules!
GHQ is quite pricey but they have the best models around…

Heroic & Ross are nice and cheaper but if you have both line side by side there is no comparison possible…

GHQ is noticably larger than H&R. Generally GHQ is better detailed as well. H&R's T80 is a thing of beauty though. I've got a mix of both and on the game table nobody has done more than comment on it when I had the exact same vehicle by both manufacturers.

It IS really nice to get a gun and the crew in one package. H&R generally does that while GHQ generally does not.

Don't forget CinC miniatures. They are much cheaper than GHQ, and in some cases have better designs. I used a mix of GHQ and CinC for a A/I war project. I have to admit if money is no object go with GHQ, but in the real world I would use CinC with a smattering of GHQ. I also used GHQ infantry, which are a little on the big side, but at least you can tell what they are on the table.

Good luck with the project.

CinC is a good match for GHQ. Like others said, H&R is a bit small. Infantry is a bit small too and much less detailed.

While CinC and GHQ are billed as 1/285, I believe Ross Heroics was originally listed as 1/300 hence the slightly smaller vehicle size. Your best bet may be to go with CinC or GHQ for your vehicles and Ross Heroics for anything with figures.

Some pics of my Adler troops and H&R vehicles here:
link
The lone 251 is from GHQ.
As others have said, GHQ are beautiful but expensive, H&R are cheaper and look it.

GHQ are (and always have been) much bigger than other manufacturers as they are 1/285th, not 1/300th. The infantry are also gigantic, albeit very pretty.

Depends how much stuff you want to buy really, it is all still pretty cheap compared to larger scales.

My 6mm stuff is almost all H&R (plus a few others) as I'm a cheapskate, it is good enough, and it is what I have been using for 40 years. I still use some of my original figures.

Scotia are nice.

I preferred Scotia vehicles with H&R infantry. I found the Adler oversized. It doesn't bother some people – indeed many prefer the extra detail and character.

GHQ infantry are about 8mm high – so IMO look ridiculous next to the vehicles. Again – others like the extra detail etc.

I always wanted to produce properly to scale infantry for 1/300th but I think you'd lose the detail needed to distinguish even nationalities.

If you are using Adler infantry, I would think GHQ are a better bet in terms of size. I have both H+R and GHQ vehicles. The GHQ are much nicer models, but at about £1.40 GBP for a tank it's a difficult choice when H+R are about 1/3 this.

If you're in the UK, it really comes down to cost. Can you afford GHQ and the slighly cheaper CnC, if not go with H&R. They are cheaper and have a large range and you can buy the exact numbers you require.
Painted up and on the table, they'll look good.

I like all three ranges for vehicles but for infantry I have gone with H & R – great ranges, easy to paint and they look the right size

Stay with GHQ and CinC. When you compare the detail level you'll be glad you did. Also, you can find used GHQ much cheaper than retail. Convention flea markets and places like EBAY routinely have it as cheap as $1.00 USD a vehicle making it much more affordable.

Ultimately remember you are looking at these models from at least 2 foot away on the table during a game. The Ghq stuff is great so if you need smaller quantities why not, IABSM is not over large in terms of vehicles, go for it. Show deals are often available from Wargames Emporium at shows.

I'll just chip in to agree with most of the crowd. GHQ are far better detailed as models, and while they are certainly much more expensive than H&R, the actual money amounts are small. At least that's how it looks to me, with a job and a salary – the time I have to invest in painting and basing them makes the cost of the miniatures almost irrelevant. Many (many) years ago as a poor student I bought Scotia, H&R or whatever I could find and afford, but I have retired almost all of them now, they look half melted by comparison. Once I started buying and painting GHQ, the other stuff won't really do any more.

I do occasionally buy H&R but only for things that GHQ don't make. CinC are OK, but I find their models rather bland, and Alder have some good figures, though their heads seem a bit big to my eyes.

H&R infantry with GHQ, or CinC (now PFC) vehicles.

The GHQ figs are really large, at about 1/220th scale, so look silly next to the tanks.

C-n-C's gun barrels drive me crazy. I think they bend just by looking at them because they are in scale and the softer metal. GHQ seem not to have this problem as much. Now that I am older and the painting/gaming era of my life is drawing closer and closer to an end, I am willing to spend more for quality that I enjoy painting and gaming with.

I use GHQ vehicles wherever I can afford them but use Heroics for things like trucks and 'bulk' items.

I use Adler infantry as they really do look great when painted up.

GHQ inf tend to be too big.

C-in-C are too soft a metal.

Scotia do some really great models (T-64 w/reactive) but some are worse than Heroics.

Who sells H&R in the USA or Canada?

The Last Square in Wisconsin-
link

Baccus 6mm are about to launch a WWII range – thought of course it will be a while before it matches the wide range of well established lines – perhaps worth a look though since you are starting out on a new project.

Another vote for GHQ vehicles. I enjoy painting but do not rate myself as anything much above 'wargames' standard. As such, I always buy the best figures I can afford for the simple reason that good figures reward competant (or better) paint jobs out of all proportion to the effort, while average figures with average paint jobs, look, well, average…

I have many vehicles and figures from both manufacturers in my "active forces" boxes.

As a generalization I would say most H&R kit rises to the level of adequate, while most GHQ kit rises to the level of excellent. In both cases that is most, but not all.

One great advantage of GHQ stuff is that they provide photos of everything they sell on their website. Even the very newest releases get pictures of un-painted castings as an interim until painted models can be put up.

I give credit though to the new owner of H&R for steadily improving the website. The number of products in the H & R line is quite expansive, and progressively more and more have been photographed for the website, so we can see what we are ordering. Also, the new models I have seen (in friends' collections) that were mastered by Ian Armstrong (who posts in this forum) are really very well done. Interesting kit, and very well mastered and molded. They look quite good. Kudos!

I am fairly open minded in my choice of manufacturers. I have bought from many over they years. I even mix figures and occasionally models from different manufacturers in the same units, and it is the rare gamer who can spot the difference.

That said, and even with full appreciation for the "wargaming" standard of appearance (modelling or painting), I have developed a pretty strong preference for GHQ models when they have what I want. Yes, they may be 2 or 3 feet away when they are on the table, but they are IN MY HAND when I put them on the table, and when I move them during the game, and if they look really good to me while they are in my hand, it enhances my enjoyment of the game.

This is an illustration of just how open minded I am. Or at least, how open minded I used to be. The SU-152 in the back was in my active forces box for about 25 years. When I bought them in the late 1970s (mail order from a UK manufacturer that no longer produces 1/300 scale stuff), they were the only SU-152s available. I had to have some, and I was willing to use these. But the IS-2 and IS-3s I bought from that vendor were even worse than the SU-152s, and frankly I could never bring myself to game with them (although a few were chewed up and half-melted to become battlefield wrecks).

The SU-152 in front is GHQ. The older ones have been replaced in my active force by the GHQs. And … I feel much more satisfaction when they come out onto a gaming table. Really I do. I just enjoy gaming with fine looking pieces like this.

But as much as I prefer really nice models I really have little or no objection to mixing when it serves my purpose of building the unit I want.

Here is my Romanian force's motor transport pool. Romania got its vehicles from a number of sources before and during the war. I wanted to represent this. So there are many different models, not many of any one type.

The POL truck (barely visible in the back) is an H&R Renault medium truck. I kit-bash my POL trucks by putting scratch-built barrels into the backs of open-bodied model trucks. H&R was the only producer I could find that made a French medium with an open top. There are several other GHQ Renault medium trucks that have tarps. There are several German heavy Bussig-Nag and Opel medium trucks and van-body trucks, all GHQ. There are German Horsch light trucks and SdKfz 11 light half-tracks from GHQ, as well as two French Laffly artillery tractors. But there is one open-backed French light truck and several Laffley scout cars from H&R.

Here is a mixed unit from my Romanian force … the German Horsch trucks are again GHQ, the kneeling gun crews are H&R (Russians), the Bohler 47mm guns are H&R (Italian Bredas), and the battery security and command section are GHQ (Romanians). I have chosen the H&R gun crews because GHQ does not offer separate kneeling crew figures. I chose the H&R guns because GHQ puts the Breda (Bohler) 47mm gun in a kit with 2 deployed guns, 2 guns in towed configuration, and 2 Italian trucks. All I wanted was 4 deployed guns.

I have no complaints about how they look together.

Your mileage may vary.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

I have mixed all the different companies products together for almost 30+ years and once painted and on a small stand in the battlefield you can't tell the difference. Granted that at 64 my eyes are in need of stronger glasses; but look closely at Mark 1s photos and see how well they look and work together. A little camo paint and the vehicles bland together even better.
-Rich

I mix GHQ, H & R and Scotia for vehicles and guns etc. (In moderns) but prefer Mainforce Miniatures from Magister Miletum for infantry. They're mostly prone or kneeling (more realistic, I think), easy to paint, and much more robust than any others.

The GHQ stuff is much nicer and I think matches well with the Adler infantry.

However, I also have plenty of Heroics and Ros stuff, it is much cheaper and is not sold in inconvenient pack sizes.