"Makers of WWII 1/300 Armor?" Topic

I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find the thread. Who besides GHQ and Ros/Heroics makes a fairly extensive line of 1/300 WWII miniatures? Thanks! Lee

Irregular Miniatures

Scotia Grendel as well.

CinC can still be found in fairly good selection and price on Ebay

A one stop site indicating all the various micro scale manufacturers:

microarmormayhem.com

The C-in-C miniatures went to Legions IV Hire.

- Ix

Check out Baccus…
link

Ain't GHQ 1/285, or do I misremember?

I think GHQ and Heroics/Ros are two opposite ends in terms of quality (most likely in price too). I wish I hadn't started buying Heroics/Ros, but then again I saved a lot of money by doing so…

H&R were noticably smaller then GHQ but the latest H&R infantry is on par with them – still a tiny bit smaller but much closer in size. Some of the H&R is not as good as GHQ (but then old GHQ is not as good as new GHQ either) but the new sculpts are excellent.

H&R vehicles are smaller.

Let's also include Adler on the list as we discuss the vendors.

I mix GHQ, C-in-C, Scotia (some select items), Adler (again only select items) and H&R throughout my forces. On the table, within units, and even on the same stand, when the purpose serves me.

Not all will mix well. And there have been some items obtained from H&R (older stuff) and Scotia that, quite frankly, were not up to the levels I want. For example the Scotia WW2 French infantry I bought has gone largely un-used (except for two or three poses that I can't get from anyone else), and the Scotia Leclerc MBTs I bought, and painted, were eventually replaced once GHQ made the same tank available.

But some will mix quite easily. I use Scotia T-38 and H&R T-40 Soviet amphibious tankettes in a force dominated by GHQ T-60s, T-70s, T-34s, T-28s and KVs. I have H&R AMD-178s mixed with GHQ AMD-178s in my French force, and C-in-C AB-40s with GHQ AB-41s in my Italian force. But I would not mix H&R R35s with GHQ R35s. There really is no hard-and-fast rule, I just go with what is pleasing to my eye and my wants (in terms of unit compositions).

I've never had a gamer refuse my units on a table, nor even in fact offer any criticism. Often my units/forces have gotten compliments both for the interesting varieties and scale of forces I can deploy, as well as for how nice they look on the table.

Your tankage may vary.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Back when I was creating microarmor units, I preferred H&R infantry and individual gun crew figures because they have thick, strong ankles that stand up to handling. The fact that they're basically blobs hardly matters without a magnifying glass.

I preferred GHQ for things like officers, prone/crouching/sitting figures, gun and heavy weapon crew clusters, etc. because they had very precise details I could pick out easily with a wash or drybrushing.

I have always preferred GHQ and C-in-C vehicles, guns, trailers, and other equipment because they practically paint themselves, and look great with little effort. Other brands are much blobbier and imprecise, so take a lot more work and still look worse.

- Ix

FWIW, H&R infantry (old type) are more in-scale than those of any competitor. GHQ infantry is over-scale, and the others (Baccus etc.) even more so.

Since some may value model scale move than detail on an out-of-scale model, dismissing the old H&R as "blobs" do them a disservice.

MH

I discovered Main Force minis from Magistar Militum. Great and accurate service, reasonable prices. You can buy them individual or in platoon packs for more savings. All my Team Yankee soldiers are these.
Most all are prone, except for the occasional officer (it figures) or SAM launcher. Easy to paint (only 1/2 half of a figure) sturdy (how are you going to break a prone guy) and already on bases.
All of my vehicles are 70% CinC and 30% GHQ. Most light stuff is CinC (M113's, BMP's etc).

How do the Main Force minis compare in size to the H&R figs?

When my wallet allows I buy GHQ & CinC vehicles. Infantry is now Baccus & the newer H&R figures.

I was looking at these just the other day and I can't believe the quality difference between H&R and GHQ.

The last time I bought any of either was 40 years ago and the H&R T34/76D appears to be the same model. Never that great to begin with, the tool can't be in great shape. It is blown away by the current GHQ equivalent – but then again GHQ are over four times the price.

I notice the GHQ infantry is described as "10mm" which, if 1/300 = 6mm, is absolutely not 1/285 scale. A 5'9" man who's 10mm tall as a model is 1/175 scale.

As I'm shorter now of time than of money compared to 40 years ago, I'd go for GHQ now, and buy someone else's infantry. H&R quality seems about right for what they charge you.

I second Mainforce, I have thousands. Ready based, easy to paint, easy to store. They're ostensibly 1/285, and may vary a bit in figure size between bases, although it's not really noticeable with the, mostly, prone figures.
The integral base makes them very robust. Unfortunately the ranges, WWII and Moderns, are limited, but any gaps can be filled by the newer H&R, and some creative painting. For instance, I use WWII British for 1950-60's Jordanians

I try and use GHQ for vehicles but I'm finding now that prices are too high and I really have to question getting some bits.

I use H&R for trucks and large number items, like APCs.

I started out using H&R infantry but then I got some Adler infantry and just switched to them. They really are stunning and not too expensive.

I've got some C-in-C stuff but find their metal is a bit soft with barrels bending easily, at which point my OCD kicks in.

> I notice the GHQ infantry is described as "10mm"

That is the Civil War and Napoleonic ranges. All the rest are supposed to be 6mm. (EDIT – and their 10mm lines are noticably smaller then other 10mm lines I am told)

I notice the GHQ infantry is described as "10mm"

As Dynaman noted, GHQ's WW2 and Modern infantry are promoted at 1/285 scale, along with their entire microarmor line.

They do have some stuff promoted as 10mm, but their microarmor line is not.

Some hobbyists have suggested that GHQ figures are out-sized for their scale. I do see that they are larger than H&R figures, and their "Individual" infantry and infantry support products, which are all rather newer, are larger figures than in their older "platoon pack" or en-bloc style figures (where many figures are molded together).

As you might see from my postings of pics of my forces, I do care for the look of my miniatures. I have found vendors whose figures are too large for my tastes, even though they are promoted as 6mm or 1/300 or 1/285. That said, the individual infantry figures I have bought from GHQ do not fall into that category. I use them, and I prefer them above all others. The price does not dissuade me (I spend less on my hobby in a typical year than on a single afternoon at the movies with my family). However, the available poses and composition of poses in the packs sometimes does, and so I have a fair bit of H&R infantry in my collection, as well as some specific figures from other vendors.

I have been told by other gamers/collectors that the GHQ WW2 US Paratrooper figures, and their Vietnam figure lines, are larger than their other individual infantry and infantry support figures. They may indeed be larger than I would chose to use -- I do not own any of either of those, so I can not offer a view based on my own experience.

As with the infantry figure, I also mix non-infantry models as well, as suits my needs.

To wit:

Here is a 75mm gun line from my Romanian force. The bulk of my Romanian infantry are GHQ. But here you see:
- GHQ infantry for the LMG security section.
- H&R French 75mm horse-towed guns (GHQ's French 75s are the updated versions for vehicle tows, not what my Romanians needed).
- Mixed GHQ and H&R gun crews. I can look at the pic and find the GHQ figures. But if I didn't challenge you to find them, would YOU be likely to notice the difference in size?
- Mixed GHQ battery HQ stand. 3 figures – one GHQ, one H&R, and one Scotia. To my eye the Scotia figure is too large. But only Scotia offers me a kneeling radio and kneeling field telephone operator pose for each of their WW2 infantry sets. So I use them. Here I use a French radio operator for my Romanians. Kneeling, he is almost as tall as a standing H&R artillery crewman on the base.

My Romanian motor pool. The Romanians used trucks from many sources. The trucks in the last row are French-built Renault trucks. The canvas-topped are from GHQ, the open-topped (with POL barrels added) is H&R. The second row from the front has GHQ Horsche and SdKfz15 prime movers, along with an H&R Fiat light truck. The front row has French Laffley prime movers from GHQ, Laffley scout cars from H&R, and one Polish field car from GHQ. While the GHQ models have crisper castings and more details, I don't perceive enough of a scale difference to concern me about using them together.

Two views of some US Army M6 Fargo light tank destroyers from my Tunisian campaign force. Models are C-in-C, crews are a mix of:
- GHQ standing artillery crew
- H&R kneeling gun crew
- GHQ seated armored infantry

I can see that the GHQ standing figure is larger. But not so large that he stands out to my eye. I have seen greater variance among equal numbers of 1-to-1 scale real people.

I don't mean to tell others how to build their own forces. But for me I use both GHQ and H&R infantry figures, and models from GHQ, H&R, C-in-C and occasionally Scotia, as I create my various 6mm forces.

Your tankage may vary,

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

On the Magister Militum website the GHQ stuff is described as "GHQ (1:285 vehicles and 10 mm figures)"

So I guess it could be argued that they are offering in effect 1:285 vehicles and 1:175 figures. It's a bit misleading though because if you didn't know 1:300 = 6mm, you might well assume that 1:285 = 10mm, which it does not.

link

So I guess it could be argued that they are offering in effect 1:285 vehicles and 1:175 figures. It's a bit misleading though because if you didn't know 1:300 = 6mm, you might well assume that 1:285 = 10mm, which it does not.

This suggests that Magister Militum offers something from GHQ that GHQ does not offer. Which I doubt.

More likely is that either that the Magister Militum website has added it's own interpretation, or perhaps just a grammatical error, to their description of GHQ's offerings.

From the GHQ website:

In 1967, I made my first 1/285th scale pewter miniatures and trademarked the term Micro Armour®. To this day, GHQ is the only company that makes Micro Armour®. … By using our new individual infantry, you can now game everything from a skirmish to a full divisional game in your home using the same GHQ miniatures.

GHQ states with no ambiguity that Micro Armor is 1/285. This applies to all of their WW2, Wehrmacht '47 and Modern models and figures in their Micro Armor line. All are 1/285.

GHQ also offers the Micronaught line of ships. These are identified as 1/2400 scale.

GHQ also offers Micro Scale figures for the ACW and Napoleonic Wars. These are identified as 10mm N-Scale.

GHQ does not offer any WW2 figures in their Micro Scale (10mm N-Scale) line, but if you really want some N-Scale wargaming stuff you can dig through their model RR line. If you do you can find some 1942 rolling stock, and a few civilian vehicles that you might want. But no WW2 infantry. For moderns they do offer an M1A2 in their N-Scale model railroading line. But there is no infantry, nor adversary tank available to go with that single N-Scale modern military model.

This is not to say that I attest that every GHQ product is exactly perfectly 1/285 of the item it represents in each linear dimension. Only that GHQ's product lines do not include WW2 or modern infantry figures that are marketed as anything other than 1/285 scale.

I might add that, when you want to understand if GHQ, or any vendor, offers infantry figures in some particular scale -- you are better advised to go to that manufacturer directly than to a reseller of that manufacturer's products.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

How big are the bases from Mainforce?

Typically 1cm wide; length depends on the number of figures and their poses but 1.2 – 1.5 cm.

Robert

Reading the body of the Magister Militum posting for GHQ it states "We have over six thousand packs of 1:285 scale figures in stock at any one time" It also notes that 1:285 is close to 6mm where it states that in addition to GHQ they have their own line of figures The first page of their GHQ listings also shows GHQ's 1:2400 line of ships. On page 9 of the GHQ listings there are WW2 French infantry described as 1:285 scale.
It appears that the heading for their GHQ section needs to be corrected.

I personally only purchase GHQ, C-in-C and H&R, but this Site lists a lot of suppliers which provide a reasonable range of figures.