GHQ and Heroics and Ros vehicles

 One of my rules of wargaming has been not to get tempted into various scales with different projects.  I have always gamed land battles with 15mm and air combat with 1/285th.  For a solo gamer this keeps costs down. [ I have failed with the sea though.  I have slowly moved to larger scales both with AOS and WW II until I am at 1/300 for WW II and 1/700 for AOS.  I take a little solace in that it is relatively few figures and a museum actually wanted my smaller AOS ships. For those of you that visit the USS Constitution...]  

As I moved up in land scale from 1:1 to 1:2+ I have thought about micro armor.  My friend Jack sold me a bunch of his modern stuff which you have seen on these pages.  I am still unsure if I prefer it to 15mm [ 1/100] but thought I would flesh out my modern US forces at  least.  I asked on TMP which vehicles and infantry to buy.  As you might expect I got multiple opinions but the vibe was GHQ for vehicles and H+R for infantry.  The sentiment appeared to be GHQ vehicles are larger [ 1/285] and more detailed but more expensive but since you live in the US postage will even much of the cost out.     

So I purchased some Abrams from both companies and some M113s and present here my findings.  

H+R abrams.  Not as detailed as GHQ and a tad smaller but still looks like an Abrams to me.  Straight cost without postage or specials about $1.  GHQ is $2.80 but you have to buy 5.  Of course I needed 6!

  Not exactly a M113 but close; a M901.  Same comments as above but as the M113 has less detail there is less detail missing.  Straight cost $0.9.  GHQ $2.80.  I needed only 2 of these for a platoon.  

The 3 H+R pieces I painted up plus some terrain [ close up]

Gaming distance.

Next a series of side by side comparison pictures.  If you are paying attention the 1/300 H+R does look smaller because it is.  

Not as clear as I had hoped but you get the idea.

H+R closest now.

From the rear.  There is some detail lost in the H+R Abrams compared to the GHQ in both the turret and the hull.

2 platoons of Abrams at closer to gamers distance.  From here if I wasn't concentrating I would need to look to find the H+R model.  YMMV.

A little more obvious which is the H+R model here.  

From gaming distance.

2 H+R tracks plus one GHQ.  The width of the GHQ is noticeable to me but nothing else unless I am really looking.  

From gaming distance I wouldn't notice anything unless I was concentrating on it.  

Those are the pictures.  While the GHQ Abrams do have more detail at gamer distance it is harder to tell. The GHQ are larger and more detailed but much more expensive.  Would I rather not mix them; yes.  Will I; yes because here I don't see much difference at gamer distance. 

If I was still stationed in England H+R would be a no brainer; very good figures, can buy only as many as you need and cheaper.  In the US I wasn't as confident because postage from H+R to me is almost 50%.   So lets do some math shall we?

Let's take 2 examples, ordering 1 Abrams and ordering 40.

If I want 1 Abrams from H+R that would cost me [in theory at least] $1.50.  that is $1.00 for the tank plus $0.50 for postage.  I can't buy just 1 Abrams from GHQ I have to buy 5.  That will be $14 plus postage so clearly an expensive tank. So my GHQ tank is literally 10 times as expensive at a H+R tank. Do you think the GHQ tank is 10 times better?

If I want 40 Abrams from H+R that would cost me close to $60 including postage.  This is where the 50% postage really kills.  If I want 40 from GHQ that is 8 packages at $14 a piece equals $112plus postage.  But GHQ gives you 10% off any order of $100 or more so lets call it $100.  There shipping is $8 so It is $108.   So now my GHQ tank is "only" 40% more than a H+R tank.  Do you think the GHQ tank is 40% better?  I suspect some people would argue yes.  For M113s, trucks, jeeps and the like I would say absolutely not.  

Vehicles

GHQ

Pros

1/285 scale is nice.

Models are great

Cons

Expensive anyway you look at it.

Have to buy 5 at a time.

H+R

Pros

Nicely detailed models particularly those vehicles without much detail at 1/300 scale such as M113s, trucks, halftracks ect.

Can buy individually

Cons

1/300 scale is smaller than GHQ.

Postage is a killer to the states

 

Obviously the more you buy at once from GHQ the better your ratio will be.  Another wrinkle to add is GHQ will normal have a Christmas sale with 20% off if you can wait.  

I think everyone in the US will weigh how important a 1/285 vrs a 1/300 tank is and make their decisions accordingly.  Hopefully I have given you some more data both pricing and photographically to help you decide.  I know I would have found this helpful 5 months ago.  

Next I will look at infantry.

Cheers

Joe