"Recommended Scotia or H&R for Soviet vs BAOR?" Topic

Based on feedback from earlier posts, for my 6mm Cold War project I've settled on H&R and Scotia as best fitting my wallet, for 3SA vs BAOR. Now I've picked those two manufacturers though, I'm trying to work out which models from which – anyone here have preferences for one or the other for the specific forces I'm interested in? (I will buy from both, but apart from stuff like BMP1 or T64, the numbers required will be low, at which point 'buying one to see if I like it' makes the benefit of the low price redundant due to postage, so I'd rather accept previously earned wisdom and buy the best model from each once.)

Scotia has great engineering, anti-aircraft, missile vehicles. H&R has the old Skytrex line. Anything in Lt.Blue in their catalog is ex-Skytrex…great tanks and APCs. H&Rs newer stuff is a HUGE improvement over their old models. BTW- H&R have a new Soviet mine dog sprue-besides the mine dogs and handlers it has 3 German Shepards that would be great as guard dogs for an airbase or a recon unit.. Hope that helps

That is useful, thank you. So the H&R for stuff like T64, etc, and Scotia for items like ZSU-23-4?

Well, I would get Ex-Skytrex, thru H&R, tanks and APCs when I could, and Scotia for the odd stuff. BTW But again, H&Rs newer models are really good. Scotia has alot of pics of their models on their website catalog. ZSU-23/4- that's a tough one…I went with GHQ on that myself because of the delicate guns, CinCs is good too. Also- both H&R and Scotia are great for scratchbuilding- they are always happy to sell you extra hulls or turrets, etc.
Most of Scotia's artillery is mounted on a base. For infantry- definitely go with H&R! check out microarmormayhem- they have a ton of pics too.

here is a link to microarmormayhem's gallery:
link

I would recommend Mainforce infantry (1/285 scale) from Magister Miletum. Realistic, mostly prone, positions, ready based, easy to paint and extremely robust.
See the editors post in 'Showcase' above for his Israeli examples. No more broken ankles, and easy to store too.
Both Scotia and H&R make items that the other doesn't, Scotia definitely for artillery, wheeled anti-tank and anti-air, softskins and engineering/bridging too.
Tanks and APC's are a matter of personal taste and I have some from each, as well as GHQ and CinC. As said above, H&R are very amenable to extra turrets and mix and match, (I have some of their BMD 3's with BMP 3 turrets, to do as makeshift BMD 4's), while Scotia often chuck an extra turret in the order in case of damage/breakages.
H&R's range of aircraft and Helo's is more extensive, and mostly OK, although I'd go with Raiden for fixed wing where I could.
Some of the old Skytrex stuff, but not all, is a bit crude and oversized. (I have some old Skytrex BTR 60's which are absolutely huge compared to any others, even dwarf GHQ ones)
Some of the newer H&R is very good.
Hope this has been a help.
Happy gaming.

Back when I got mine – it was the early 90s so things may have changed – Scotia were nearly always better than H&R when available. Especially the tanks T-80s were great, unsure about T-64s as I never bought any.

BMPs and BTRs better from Scotia. BRDMs not sure.

I'd basically put in an order for everything you think you'll need from Scotia and then fill in any gaps from H&R.

H&R, since they were bought out bu a new company, their range as gone from strength to strength with some fantastic new moulds.

Mainforce infantry are decent figures but they always look way too large to me when near vehicles. Since they were produced by Magister Militum I find them a tad expensive as well. However they are a doddle to paint.

I agree Bruntonboy, cheaper when Hallmark made them, but they have cleaned up some of the moulds and castings.

A lot of H&R modern stuff was re-modelled before Andy took over H&R, and Ian has done a great job on the new lines that Andy has released. Some H&R models are much better than Scotia such as the Wiesel.

I tend to go H&R for most stuff, filling in with Scotia for the models they don't do.

What would be great is if H&R put up a picture of every model they do on their website, even unpainted it would be such a help.

Not keen on Mainforce – picked some up through some EBay purchases – they are large in comparison to others, don't like that they are mostly prone and I don't find them easy to paint.

Ask any soldier if he prefers to stand up or lie down when the bullets fly. It's a no-brainer, and makes for a more stable firing platform.