GHQ

15mm WWII Vehicles

Reviewed by Bill Rutherford

Here are seven new WWII Micro Armor releases: G143 15cm Panzerwerfer (Maultier), UK57 Sherman VC Firefly, UK58 Sherman V, US76 Individual American Infantry, US77 Individual American Heavy Weapons, R48 Individual Red Army Infantry, and R49, Individual Red Army Heavy Weapons.

Starting with the last four items first, please note (in case the titles didn't give it away) that ALL of the infantry is individually mounted! The infantry packs each include 74 figures in a variety of poses, including kneeling and standing firing troops, grenadiers, and officers. In the Red Army's case, most of the rifle troops are armed with what look a LOT like AK47s. This made me wonder whether I'd mis-identified the troops, so I checked GHQ's website and they ARE listed as WW II… The Soviet heavy weapons (the heavy weapons packs come with 64 figures each) pack includes several each: wheeled MG with gunner and ammo box (no dedicated assistant gunner, though); a prone light machine-gunner; a prone light mortar team (2 crew); a prone fellow with field glasses; advancing flamethrower gunners; and an officer. The American infantry come in an equal variety, some with Thompson SMGs, and the American heavy weapons are similar to their Soviet counter parts except that there's no heavy MG and that the light MG is a Browning automatic rifle. These figures are generally what we've been wishing GHQ would do for the last 15 years! They're well-sculpted, weighing in at 6M Barrett, and the animation is conservative (i.e., not silly). If you're eyesights good enough, you could even do 1/285th scale skirmish gaming!

The two Sherman V variants share a common hull, differing in the turret (the Firefly has a 17 pdr. gun, the Sherman, a 75mm gun), and are up to the standard we expect from GHQ - very high - with good overall outline, sharp detail, and capturing the "feel" of the prototype. The Panzerwerfer pack includes four vehicles - two rocket launchers and two ammo vehicles, sharing a common chassis, the late-war armored Maultier half-track. The former has a multiple-tube rocket launcher on a roof pintle. These models well capture the just-plain-ugliness of the prototype and should prove popular with 1/300 armor gamers.

If you game in 1/285 - 1/300 scale, I unreservedly recommend these! They are available for $7.95 per pack from your local game shop, or if (unlikely) they don't carry GHQ, directly from the maker at 28100 Woodside Road, Shorewood, MN 55331. Go to GHQ's website at http://www.ghqmodels.com to see a complete catalog - just about everything in GHQ's line is illustrated with a clear black-and-white photo; take a look at their infantry to see what I mean!

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