"Best 6mm WW2 figures?" Topic

Looking to start a new project in 6mm and seeking opinions on the best figures.
Choice has narrowed down somewhat as both Adler and 2D6 have closed for 6mm this month. That leaves according to my reckoning GHQ, Baccus, Heroic and Ros old figures or Heroics and Ros new figures. Thoughts?

Voxel House 3Dprintables, too.

Main Force from Magister Militum (prone figures, mostly) – if still available

And in 6mm, you might consider printable (i.e., paper) infantry too.

Scotia-Grendel. scotiagrendel.com

Slave 2 Gaming. slave2gaming.com

CinC. link

CinC sold by legions 4 hire now. link

A number of designers through Shapeways. shapeways.com

Same at My Mini Factory for stls either print yourself or find someone who can print for you. There are many companies specializing in custom 3D printing from your stls. myminifactory.com

Heroics & Ros new figures you could get 2 packs for the price of 1 GHQ pack, also you can buy individual strips, if you need to fill in any gaps.. The new ranges are also being extended, and are much better than the old range of figures

Greg

I am pretty sure you can still get the older style of figures if you want. They are usually the low numbered sets. You would want them if you wanted to match old style figures as the new ones are much "clearer" and more animated. Sometimes people want to match what they have. If that is the case just email H&R for advice as he is very easy to deal with. But yes the new figures are very good.

Main Force from Magister Militum (prone figures, mostly) – if still available

Sadly another range that is disappearing.

CinC sold by legions 4 hire now.

Well that is good news. Thought they were defunct!

I am pretty sure you can still get the older style of figures if you want.

Both the old and new figures are advertised on the site.

All my 6mm figures are H&R and have been for decades. Not planning on changing.

GHQ and Baccus figures are huge, nothing like 1/300th, so not for me.

GHQ are 1/285 and Baccus are closer to 1/250…

H&R new range for me. Just finished painting up 279 of them.

GHQ, but they are pricey!

CinC sold by legions 4 hire now.

Well that is good news. Thought they were defunct!

I warned Legions 4 Hire about C-in-C not paying their bills, but they did not listen.

My issue wit4h CnC figures was the very weak and thin ankles, too delicate. Don't know if Legion changed that, haven't gotten any since the sale.

My first pick would be ghq if you are in the US, because the shipping cost of H&R from England make it close to as expensive as GHQ. GHQ is much higher quality than H&R in my opinion.

My issue wit4h CnC figures was the very weak and thin ankles, too delicate.

Quite agree. Did a lot of CinC infantry long ago. Found they never came on to the game table without some being broken off at the ankles. Too fragile!

GHQ is much higher quality than H&R in my opinion.

My two largest armies are based on the older H&R figures. They are certainly "unremarkable" in terms of their modelling and casting quality. But they have a good selection of poses and equipment, and they are very sturdy figures. Still, my choice for these figures was done in the 90s, before the "individual infantry" line became available from GHQ.

I have built several forces with GHQ individual infantry figures. I am a big fan of their modelling and casting quality.

But if you have not seen the new H&R infantry, you will be surprised. The quality of the new H&R stuff is stunning -- pretty much indistinguishable from GHQ quality, and a notably better choice of poses and infantry equipment. Very much worth a look.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

New range H&R is very nice, and pretty comprehensive.

I also like the GHQ individual infantry, but I'd been using them in combination with Adler. With Adler fading away, I'd look to make sure GHQ had everything necessary, or that I was satisfied they'd blend with some other line.

My first pick would be ghq if you are in the US, because the shipping cost of H&R from England make it close to as expensive as GHQ. GHQ is much higher quality than H&R in my opinion.

I am in the UK so the opposite is true. 20% shipping on GHQ to the UK, Ouch! There is no UK stockist now Magister Militum are closing down. For the vehicles I might go GHQ, but may stick with H&R. I had a load of H&R some years ago, but sadly were stolen!

But if you have not seen the new H&R infantry, you will be surprised. The quality of the new H&R stuff is stunning -- pretty much indistinguishable from GHQ quality, and a notably better choice of poses and infantry equipment. Very much worth a look.

Thanks Mark that is good to know. I will try them.

H&R have started to replace their vehicles with new models, I picked up their new Panther D's and Tigers at the Colours show in September. They come with either a closed commanders hatch or open with the commanders head out.
There has been some photo's of the new vehicles (and figures) on the '6mm Wargaming and Terrain' page on Facebook.

Irregular Miniatures can be an option link
I prefer H&R.

Thought I might add a couple of pics to illustrate the thread, and give some visualization of what's being said.

And please pardon the quality of the images. I do try, but alas my skills with a digital camera are not great. Probably for the best, as my skills in painting my miniatures are not exactly the best either…

This is a set from my Romanian Army force. There are 4 infantry squads and a 60mm Mortar section in entrenched positions. All of these figures are from the GHQ individual infantry sets (Romanian Infantry and Romanian Heavy Weapons packs).

This is a close-up of one of the Romanian infantry squads. (I place 4 figures on a base to represent a regular rifle squad -- in the case of the Romanians that might mean 10 – 14 men). The modelling and castings are absolutely top notch.

This shows my US Army Infantry -- a full company including the weapons platoon and an attached combat engineering platoon. Love the variety of poses and kit that H&R provides, including items such as: US M1917 water-cooled .30cal MGs, M1919 air-cooled .30cal MGs, M2 .50cal MGs (on both ground and anti-air mounts), handy-talkie and walky-talkie radiomen, flame-throwers, etc.

This is a bit of a closer look at a couple sections of dismounts from my US Mech Cav / Armored Recon troop. Again all of the figures are older H&R models. Not as finely detailed in either the modelling or the casting as GHQ. But a good selection of poses and kit, and solid robust figures for the game table.

This is a close-up of some of the newer H&R figures, still being prepared for mounting. In this case we see some of the great selection from earlier H&R kits has continued into their new castings, while the modelling and casting detail has gone up substantially. Here you see Italian army crouching gun crews (front stick), as well as HQ and combat engineering figures (back stick).

Here are my Italian combat engineers in finished form. This force is fully mixed -- GHQ and new H&R figures mixed as suits my convenience. In the top rows you see 2x two-man teams with H&R M35 lanciafiammes (flame throwers) and a rifleman escort (also H&R). You also see a three-man base with a kneeling engineer with satchel charge (H&R) and two riflemen, one standing and firing, the other advancing (both GHQ). At this level I intermix them with no hesitation.

This is a dismounted platoon from my US Armored Infantry force. It is primarily older H&R US Army figures (1990s era figures). Also, I have added in a few more recent H&R figures -- the prone BAR gunners are new H&R castings from the US Paratroopers. They intermix well enough for me, although I can see on closer inspection that the prone gunners are modeled and casted better then the standing figures.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Thanks for the pictures Mark. Your painting is fine and some nice figures.

I admit to being partial to the GHQ figures. I know there are few poses that I am not crazy about, I do love the detail on these.

2D6 had a growing line but unfortunately has now closed shop. Their figures were pretty decent as well and had some that GHQ did not make.

I may be looking at H&R in the future for some things. Their new sculpts are looking better to me and may use them to fill in some gaps that GHQ does not make.

Here are a few pictures of my GHQ infantry.

American Infantry

Late War German Infantry

Russian Infantry

Russian AT Rifle Team

Russian Infantry – there are 2 2D6 figures at the top on this stand. They are the light MG gunner and ammo bearer.

Ammo Bearer from 2D6

Light Machine Gunner from 2D6

Thanks for the pictures. Yes the GHQ are good, but a bit pricey here in the UK. Adler and 2D6 have closed up so that leaves Baccus and H&R. The new H&R figures look good too so will try them first. Baccus look quite big compared to others.

I went through all this last year. My conclusion: ghq for vehicles and H&R for infantry. The new H&R infantry is quite good. I also use H&R for vehicles that don't have a lot of details like trucks and jeeps.
Good luck and happy hunting.

Joe

The H&R vehicles are good; just don't compare them to GHQ and you will be fine.

The H&R vehicles are good; just don't compare them to GHQ and you will be fine.

I am a very big fan of GHQ. I've been buying and painting them since the mid-1970s. Their vehicles are superb.

But credit where credit is due. The H&R stuff has made a substantial leap forward in the past 10 years or so. So I do indeed compare the new H&R vehicles to GHQ.

To wit:

In this image there is an H&R French Renault medium truck, which I have modelled as carrying barrels of petroleum. This is an older casting, and I might describe it as "adequate" but not praiseworthy.

Here is the older H&R French Renault truck, next to a new H&R Italian Ceirano truck. The quality of the modelling and casting is far better on the newer H&R models. Here we are indeed reaching into "praiseworthy" territory!

And here is the new H&R Ceirano medium truck, for direct comparison with GHQ SPa light truck and Lancia heavy truck.

To my eye they are completely comparable. Top quality in both cases -- GHQ and H&R.

At least that's my view.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Mark,
I do give credit to H&R. They have good stuff. I think you misunderstood my post. I said for vehicles that are not too detailed, such as the trucks you pictured, they are just as good. But for detailed vehicles I do think GHQ does look better.
Is it worth the cost? That is up to you.
link

Cheers

Joe

Joe -

I hope it did not read as if I was critical of your posting. The "credit where credit is due" comment was actually intended as a self-reflecting statement. I post a lot of praise for GHQ, but I also wanted to highlight that H&R's new owner* has done some very impressive work on their more recent products.

For their older castings I often take a "see it before you go in on it" attitude. I have a fair bit of older stuff from H&R in my forces. Much of it is adequate. Some of it is only marginally so, but my interest in the kit overcomes my opinion on the visual quality. But there have been cases where my interest in the kit was just not enough to overcome the shortcomings in the older castings.

For example my French force now includes a platoon of H&R White-Laffley AM50 armored cars.

Quite honestly this vehicle is not very well modeled. There should be external headlights on the front wheel fenders, the hull-side bulges under the turret should be rounded (rather than squared), and the MG as cast was actually shorter than the 37mm infantry gun (poking out the opposite side of the turret -- one of the qualities that makes this such an interesting piece of kit for me). I painted in headlights where they should not have been, and cut off and replaced the MGs to give them more length, and that just about brought them to a level where I will be happy to have them in my French Armee d'Afrique force.

I have a pretty substantial Romanian WW2 force. But I have not added the H&R R1 tankettes to that force. I have seen the model in another gamer's collection, and quite honestly it does not reach the level of visual quality I want for my forces.

But I have no hesitation on going in on any of the newer H&R castings that fit my force needs. Every one I have bought so far (mostly Italian kit) has left a very positive impression on me.

Here for example is an Italian Autocanone da 75 from the newer H&R models. It is modelled and casted in excellent detail, with a driver and two gunners cast into the model. (I added a third gun crew member, a loader, from the new H&R Italian Artillery crew figures set). I rate this far ahead of what I would have expected from Scotia or Baccus, or even from C-in-C (in terms of the modelling details, although I still expect C-in-C would achieve equal or sharper casting quality). It really is comparable to what I would expect from GHQ.

Not a commercial for H&R, just a bit of input from an old gray-hair -- if your impression of H&R is based on what they have offered for more than a decade, you should see their newer stuff. It's surprisingly good.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

*New you say? As in 10-15 years? Maybe new in YOUR book, Mr. Mk1)

Neat stuff Mark!