Yesterday I received a delivery from Heroics & Ros of their new WW2 British Airborne range. Very fast delivery which is a big thumbs up.
Now I have to say I have soft spot for H&R having first purchased from them in the early 70's. Originally it was WW2 stuff and then throughout the 80's I amassed a sizeable collection of their Napoleonics (sadly since sold). The fact that they are still going strong is in itself a reason to be cheerful, especially for fans of the smaller scales.
My concern over the years being that they seemed to be falling behind in the quality stakes especially with new arrivals such as Baccus and Rapier. I recognised many of their vehicles and figures being the same that I purchased 40 years ago. Which brings me on to this latest collection.
When I first laid out my new purchases the first thought that came into my mind was 'bloody hell, this is quality'. I cannot explain adequately how pleased I am that H&R have not only matched the best that is around now but in many ways have exceeded it.
I apologise for the poor quality photo but hopefully this will give you an idea. From left to right, Adler Italians, Baccus Brit Paras, H&R Brit Paras, GHQ 8th Army. Firstly size. They are marginally smaller than Adler and Baccus, and although they look much bigger than GHQ in the photo, in reality they are only very marginally larger in height. They are though much beefier figures. It appears H&R have gravitated towards the 1/285 scale which is no bad thing. Their jeeps are compatible with the GHQ vehicles I have. The figures though do appear to be slightly on the large size compared to the vehicles. Unfortunately the photo does not do justice to the quality. They are superior to GHQ and Adler (or at least the Adler figures I have). They are very similar to Baccus in quality but I believe they have the edge. They are cleaner sculps with little or no mould lines and virtually zero flash.
The jeeps that I purchased are within a whisker of the quality of GHQ and much cheaper. H&R have increased their prices, no doubt to reflect the higher quality of these figures. e.g. it now costs £4.50 for a pack of 50 paras. More expensive than Baccus but cheaper than GHQ. For this quality though I have absolutely no objection. A clear advantage of H&R is that for the most part you only buy what you need. All vehicles are individual and there is a significant number of small packs of figures covering numerous types.
If this is an example of where they are going with WW2 then I believe H&R will be around for many years to come. And I for one will be making many long overdue purchases for WW2.
Over the next few weeks I will paint up a battalion of British Paras and put them on the blog. Hopefully I will do them justice!
Nice to see them doing new stuff to add to their already extensive range. If you based the vehicles, would the para still look a bit too big next to them?
ReplyDeleteYes but it is not as obvious as say Baccus or Adler. It certainly would not put me off this range though and I suspect when spread out on a table it would not look obvious. They really have upped the game with these figures.
DeleteI should have said you would not notice rather than 'obvious'.
DeleteI don't game in this scale, but the H & R guns, being available individually (rather than in packs of X) makes them very useful for 'on table markers' for off table artillery involving games using larger scale figures / vehicles. They are nice pieces, easily identifiable, even painted gloss red - see link.
ReplyDeletehttp://olicanalad.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/off-table-battery-markers.html
That's a great idea James and yes they do look good sculps. Superbly painted figures you have there. I have a fairly sizeable 15mm collection which I am not giving up on but I have been pretty much sucked into the 6mm universe!
DeleteHow to these compare to 'older' H&R WW II? I'm thrilled to see H&R expanding its collection....just needs to move out of the 20th century. But I'm worried that these will tower over their previous models. I don't want to see H&R go the Baccus' distortion route for model details.
ReplyDeleteThey are slightly bigger than the older sculps. The best way to describe it is that they appear to have gone from 1/300 scale to the 1/285 of GHQ. In my opinion they are the better for it and allows them to put more detail on the figure. They are though noticeably smaller than the Baccus ranges that are not WW2. e.g. from top of base to top of head they typically measure 8mm. H&R WW2 are coming out between 6mm and 7mm. I have almost finished painting the first battalion of paras and will put them on my blog when complete.
DeleteI suspect that H&R will concentrate on their WW2 and modern ranges which are sizeable projects in their own right. With this improvement in quality it has the potential of making them clear leaders in these ranges with only GHQ as potential challengers (although cost would inhibit them from making too much of a dent in H&R's sales).
I too would like to see H&R updating their other ranges but at this stage not sure how successful they would be against Baccus and Adler. I may be proved wrong though!