Ty Beard

C-in-C does 1/285 and is somewhat cheaper (and somewhat lower quality, though still useful). Navwar, Heroics & Ros and Scotia are actually slightly smaller (1/300 scale) but seriously cheaper (even in the US, I can get them from the UK for about 50-70 cents each, vs $1.80 each for GHQ). A good friend of mine has a website with photos of 1/300 stuff (mostly Scotia at http://homepage.ntlworld. co/bob_mackenzie/ Click on the Models link and you'll see his photos.)

Far and away, the best quality models are by GHQ. C-in-C comes in second, with some vehicles approaching GHQ in quality. Both these lines are slightly larger than 6mm, by the way, although I mix them up on my table (same manufacturer in a given unit, light vehicles mix better than MBTs).

The 6mm companies that I'm familiar with are Irregular, Heroic & Ros and Scotia. Their stuff tends to be of uneven quality, with later issued models being better. Since I play modern, I can't really opine on the quality of their WWII stuff. But generally, being spoiled as I am by GHQ, their stuff seems to be equally mediocre. You can order H&R from www.spiritgames.co.uk .

For modern, GHQ and C-in-C helicopters are prohibitively expensive (1 model - $9). So I use 6mm helicopters. Many modern games prefer 6mm infantry to the GHQ infantry.

That said, a decent paint job will yield a nice looking mini regardless of the manufacturer. The two techniques I favor (and both are fast) are:

1. Stain painting. Spray model white or tan, and apply a "stain" --about 2 parts water, 1 part green or brown paint. Works wonderfully for models with lots of detail. Experiment with the mixture, as some colors wash better than others.

2. Drybrush. Spray model with a dark version of the main color -- dark green or dark brown. Drybrush with much lighter green (make light green by mixing yellow and green, not white and green which makes it too chalky) or khaki, as appropriate. Pick out flat panels and details if necessary. A final, lighter highlight can be drybrushed -- or you can skip that step as only you will notice... This is the better technique for vehicles with minimal detail and large flat surfaces. Again, highlight green with yellow, not white. I prefer more vivid colors for microarmor, by the way.

Using these techniques, I found that it can be hard to tell a Heroics Ros BMP-2 from its GHQ counterpart.

I should add that the one indisputable virtue of 6mm is that it is almost absurdly cheap compared with GHQ. A GHQ pack is now $8.95 for 5 vehicles, or $1.79 each.

By comparison, I last bought Heroics & Ros from Spirit Games for about 25-35p each. This works out to about 50-70 cents by the time you pay shipping. You can also get them in the exact quantity needed, which is nice -- sometimes, you don't need 5 command APCs...

Brian O'Leary

GHQ oversizes detail which makes the vehicles look "busy" and pleasing to the eye, but some of their models such as the M48s are not as good when compared to CinC. CinC offers better prices that can be reduced further if you buy a fairly large quantity direct, and their models are often truer to scale. I like H&R's infantry, though the new GHQ dudes are very nice. CinC infantry are very fine in stature and a little "weak kneed" as a result. Check out Ebay regularly for deals, also join "The Miniatures Page" (TMP) so that you can access the discussion groups for info and occasional items for sale. TMP also has directories of manufacturers and rules that might be useful.

I would suggest buying all of a given type of vehicle from a single manufacturer. Some vehicles from GHQ and CinC are interchangeable, but not all. The 1/300 scale minis from various manufacturers will work fine with the 1/285 GHQ and CinC, but again don't mix vehicles of a given type from two manufacturers. A side effect of the finer detail and softer metal on CinC vehicles is that their gun tubes are more fragile than the other manufacturers and tend get damaged more readily. If you or anyone in your gang is a bruiser with figs, this might be an issue to consider, though fixing them down the road with a little brass wire and tube from K&S isn't really too hard.

John Secker

If you are doing 1/285 then only GHQ are in that scale. The others (Navwar/Heroics & Ros are the best known, but there are others such as Scotia and Irregular) are in 1/300 scale. This may not seem like much difference, but it is in fact very noticeable if two models of the same vehicle in the different scales are placed alongside each other. You may get away with mixing them if you are careful - eg use 1/300 for soft skins and support stuff, and 1/285 for the tanks. You might want to do this because GHQ are very nice models indeed, and very expensive indeed - several times the cost of the 1/300 models. These latter have improved a lot - some of my early Scotia stuff from 15-20 years ago looks as though it has half-melted - but GHQ are in a different class. You do pay for that quality, though, and you also may struggle to find the range you need.

Personally I go for 1/300 and avoid the compatibility issues - my painting is not good enough to do justice to the quality and cost of GHQ anyway. I use Heroics & Ros as my standard supplier, and go to the others only for stuff that H&R don't do.

Martin Rapier

Personally I only use Heroics & Ros (or rather NavWar now they have been bought by them, Navwar do some neat conversions on basic H&R like tank riders etc) with a slight smattering of Scotia. All my Italian WW2 stuff is H&R/Navwar. You can buy direct from the manufacturer: http://www.navwar.freeserve.co.uk/ or from Spirit Games: http://www.spiritgames.com/

I've never used navwars mail order service as I usually buy stuff at shows, but Spirit Games are very good.

H&R kit is not as good as GHQ, but it is vastly cheaper and takes a wash/drybrush very well, especially the more recent castings. I've still got some old Skytrex micro models from the 1970s, and they really are awful - lead blobs with a pin stuck in the front! Some of the softskins have found their way into my current armies though.....