Proposals for entirely (mostly) new GHQ line(s)

[thetourist]

As is normal on this forum at this time of year, wishlists are growing like crazy. I thought we might try something new. I am looking for a wishlist of not just a new model or two, but an entirely new line. Here are the rules of the game.
1) It must have at least ten models that could be bought in quantity (no obscure vehicles in the ten)
2) It can be complimentary to an existing line (i.e modern South Africans)
3) Specify the scale (eg if you want a WWI line, should in be in 1/285th or 10mm)
4) Justify why it's a hole that needs to be filled in GHQ's catalogue. ("it's cool" is acceptable, but generally frowned upon, be more specific.)

Have at it!

[Pitfall]

Ok, new line: WWI in 1/285 scale

Products:
Infantry for France, US, Britain, Germany, Austria, Italy, etc (basically everyone and their uncle).

Tanks:
A7V, Mark I and Mark II (male and female) etc., plus a plethora of armored cars (Rolls-Royce, Austin-Putinov) I'm not too knowledgeable about the assorted tanks in this time period, so forgive my lack of deth on this subject.

Also the associated artillery pieces. Also, observation balloons and the early biplaes would kick much ** CENSORED **!

[10mmACW]

Why not WW1 in 10mm? The Inf would look great, and there are not that many tanks yet.

Also why not 10mm ancient Greeks and Persians.
again nice lookin inf. and I'm not that happy with the
other 10mm sculps of this range. Should sell well
with the DBA crowd,

And add Plains Indians to the ACW line. Should ony
have to add a few indian figs both mounted and on
foot. Plus then we could get gattling guns (way cool)

[Extra Crispy]

1:285 Spanish Civil War

Very intersting vehicles (overlap with WW2 early vehicles) plus lots of armored cars. Toss in a few cool planes and a bunch if infantry and you're good to go.

[voltigeur]

Cold War Infantry:

Love the Bush Fighters. I'd like to see that Idea expanded on. It would cover the African conflicts SE Asia and Central America.

Bush Fighters in Berets, Boonie Hats, Base Ball hats one set with AK47's and the other with FN's. Choose a paint job and you can make just about any army. Add 2 heavy weapons packs(any 1 soft cover will do) one with Soviet heavy weapons and one with west European.

A set of genaric infantry with the old US steel pot and FN's and you have generic western infantry. For the pro Soviet gov't troops make a line of "Cuban Infantry".

The sales should be good since you can put together any army from 1960 to 1985 and a few beyond. Also the "Cuban" type infantry at this scale will work well for Communist Chinese as well. THe Beret Armed with AK47's can also serve as Spetznas. You get the idea.

[Mk 1]

I propose a new line of GHQ products, which does not require a new line of GHQ models.

My proposal: "Battle Packs"

Much like today's "Combat Commands", but with forces for both sides of a particular clash. Might be possible just as pairs of combat commands (ie: Battle Pack: Beda Fomm would ship both British 1940 Western Desert and Italian Desert commands). But I think it would be better as whole new products, probably \about 3/5ths of two combat commands (so keeping it down to about $50 worth of models, rather than $70-80), maybe with inserts recommending "for further expansion of your battle, we recommend ... "

So we might see:

Nomonhan - Japanese infantry, Type 93s and 95s vs. Russian infantry, artillery and BTs
Sedan - French infantry, artillery, and some R35s, against a German panzer command
Amiens - German infantry, Pak 36s, and a few 88s, against British infantry and Matildas
Beda Fomm - British A13s and MkVIs vs. Italian M11/39s and M13/40s with infantry
Barbarossa - Smolensk - Panzers vs. T-26s, BTs, and a couple KVs
** CENSORED ** - Henderson Field - Japanese infantry and light artillery vs. US infantry (marines if/when), M3A1 Stuarts and artillery.
Tobruk, El Alamein, Kasserine, Gela, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Salerno, Kursk, Anzio, Korsun ... etc. etc. etc.

Then, if it works, maybe show some further creativity beyond the original formula:

** CENSORED ** - Iron Bottom Sound - Kirishima, some cruisers and destroyers, vs. NoDak (?), cruisers, destroyers and PTs, maybe with some Dauntless's and Wildcats thrown in.
Karelia - Selection of German infantry and French 75mms (impersonating Finns) against Russian infantry, T-26s and T-28s
Barbarossa - Sevastapol - Panzer 35ts and French or Italian infantry (impersonating Roumanians) against Russian infantry and artillery


I think it would be great fun.

[armypainter]

They need to expand the Italian and French lines.

[Der Kommandeur]

Hi Everyone

Well ... my concern here is to avoid diluting GHQ's efforts and resources towards their established lines (especially the ones I buy and still want more from. While diversification is a fine idea, I would imagine one would have to accept an opportunity cost for the established lines. Assuming, that is, GHQ decided to develop some of the ideas above.

BTW: I have to confess my ignorance of GHQ's nature ... I don't know how large the company is, or the ratio of design to manufacturing staff, so I have no idea about their flexibility regarding switching between the manufacturing of different lines, let alone developing them. I can only observe that it has always impressed me that they seem to be able to fulfill orders, even for spares, without trouble.

For my part, I think Mk1's idea for 'Battle Packs' is a good one, and a logical development of the Combat Commands. One could imagine an FoW-like approach to these, with historical background, OoB, painting guide, maybe even specific decal sets. I would anticipate a much higher-quality result though. (Why are Battlefront miniatures so aweful given the advantage of their size?) Such sets could prove to be an excellent introduction to the scale and a firm foundation for collections to be built upon.

So a couple of opposing companies in a box + supporting armour, artillery and perhaps an aircraft or two?

But the star idea here for me is UlrichWW's 'brass barrels'. As a modeller I think it is an excellent idea, but in application I am a little more challenged!

Would we simply remove the cast barrels and drill and insert brass replacements (lots of scope for frustration and tears here) or would GHQ cast the turrets differently? And what of muzzel brakes? Or AT guns?

I do not mean to pour cold water on the idea for a moment, but I am interested in the practicality of such a suggestion. It will be interesting to see Mr Shatton's feedback ... as my feeling is that this may be a niche third-party offering, just as brass barrels tend to be in the larger scales.

DK

[ferret701]

I really like the idea of battlepacks -- they make a lot of sense, and would be a great boon to the wargaming hobby and to GHQ, I think. There is a long tradition of this in other scales, particularly in 1/72, where ESCI and Airfix made many sets.

It would be the add-ons that would really sell the sets, and likely wouldn't be too exensive on GHQs part -- basic rules (slightly expanded beer & pretzels), crude measuring tape, sheet of counters for markers and appropriate obstacles, OOB notes, battle information, and a painting guide, plus one or two bunker boxes. Overall, not expensive add-ons, but would really help selling the sets as all-in-one packages. Other items, a bit more expensive, could be added -- 4 paints (base color for each army, gray for tracks, brown or tan for weathering) and a limited selection of decals.

One other suggestion I would make would be accessory packs to customize vehicles, basically an expansion of the M3 halftrack detail set. I have tried doing this in resin, with mixed results, and would snap up anything GHQ put out. Four sets would probably do it -- WP, NATO cold war, allied, German WWII.

Pat Callahan
www.microarmormayhem.com

[ACWBill]

HOW ABOUT FINISHING the ACW 10mm Line! I have written extensively, some might say ad nauseum about the subject previously. Battle Packs, once again I have written extensively on the subject but what about the ARDENNES - the single most significant battle in the west has been completely ignored by micro armor manufacturers. How about the BEF in France? As far as any new lines - here is one noone else usually mentions

1904-05 Russo Japanese War pre-Dreadnought ships in 1/2400. These would be awesome models.

Finally, what about older AFVs used in WWII like the Rolls Royce armored cars.

[hobby-bob]

I have a couple of ideas regarding new product lines…

Railroad equipment (could be used both as “terrainâ€￾ and gaming pieces):
1:285th scale armored train, including armored locomotive, tender, command cars, flat cars, artillery cars, flak cars, etc., maybe even a rail gun. (The Germans, Poles, and Russians had these.)
Civilian or federalized European rail equipment (steam locomotives, a couple of types of passenger cars, a flat car, a tank car, a box car, a gondola, etc.)
Railroad structures (Station, roundhouse, water tank, freight house, warehouse, etc.).

Civilian vehicles.

Paper terrain (buildings… Wargrid seems to be out of business; GHQ could fill a market niche).

1:285th scale WWII patrol craft, and beef up the line of landing craft.

1:2400 scale harbor facilities.

1:1200 scale WWI & WWII ships & harbor facilities. (The quality of GHQ moldings meets or exceeds the best of the European manufacturers; I’d bet GHQ would find that they would suddenly become the leader in that market).

[SeaHarrier2006]

I would like to suggest the following ships for consideration as new models in 1:2400 scale range, as far as I know none of these are currently made in this scale, but don’t quote me on that :

Royal Navy:

· H.M.S. Ark Royal (1955-1978) + Buccaneer, Sea Vixen, Phantom Aircraft, and Westland ** CENSORED ** Helicopters. How important is this model? Well she was the last British Aircraft Carrier capable of launching fixed wing aircraft, instead of the VSTOL Harriers the navy has to use today.

· Type 12 Leander Class Frigates The class of frigate was the mainstay of the Royal Navy right up to the early 1980’s and was classed as a General Purpose Frigate, which carried a Westland Wasp Helicopter for hunting Submarines. This class was also sold to many other navies across the world such as Pakistan, Chile, Netherlands’s and India to name just a few.

· Type 22 Frigate: I know this is already made by GHQ, but my suggestion is that it is produced slightly longer, as in the Batch 3 Variant, and without any armaments which could be cast separate and included with the model. That way you could produce the Batch 2 and 3 ships with the Gun mounted instead of the Exocet launchers on the current model

· Type 23 Duke Class Frigates This is the current Royal Navy Frigate design, which has 13 vessels in service at the moment. And will no doubt be orders from other counties as the years go on.

· H.M.S. Ocean + Helicopters She usually carries Sea King and Lynx types, but she can also accommodate Merlin’s and Chinooks, and can also ferry Harriers if needed.

· H.M.S. Albion + Bulwalk These are the latest Assault ships in the Royal Navy, and as such deserve at least a mention.

· H.M.S. Fearless + Intrepid These were the ships which help win the 1982 Falklands war against Argentina, and are an absolute must for anyone wishing to play the Falklands campaign properly.

· Modern R.A.F. aircraft: These could include the Typhoon Euro-Fighter, Jaguar, Tornado, Vulcan Bomber, Puma and Chinook Helicopters.

· Vanguard Nuclear Ballistic Submarines: There are 4 in this class, and as far as I know, they are made by anyone else at this scale.

· Other RN models could include the new Type 45 Daring class Destroyers, and the new Royal Navy CVF once the final design has been approved. Also maybe a Fleet Tanker, and a Fleet Supply vessel would be nice to complete the ensemble.

German Navy:

· Lutjens Class Missile Destroyers: Originally 8 were ordered, but only 4 were built. Some of these are still in service, and would make a great addition for anyone who want to make a cold war NATO fleet.

· Type 122, 123 and 124 Frigates: There are 8 type 122’s, 4 Type 123’s and 4 Type 124’s currently in use, and I might be wrong but I think some have been produced for some foreign navies as well.

France Navy:
· Charles de Gaulle (light aircraft carrier (nuclear powered): The First Western European Nuclear carrier to be built, with as Conventional powered Sister ship planned.
· Forbin Class (Horizon Project Destroyers): Can also be used in the Italian Navy.

These are just a few suggestions, and there are obviously many more which could be suggested for the future. But maybe I will go through those at another time. It would be nice if GHQ could spare some time and resources on some of the modern European Navies, however I fear these suggestions may fall on stony ground for now, but maybe something to look at in the future.

Mark. (SeaHarrier2006)

[Donald M. Scheef]

To ACWBill,

I agree with you on Russo-Japanese War ships in 1/2400 scale. Actually, I would like to see a more complete set of pre-Dreadnought ships. In addition to the Spanish-American War, this could cover hypothetical conflicts between the British Royal Navy and various competitiors such as France & Germany.

Before this, however, I would like to see the Great War series expanded to include US, France and Japan.

Another possibility is the series of super-battleships that could have been built if WW I had not imposed reality on the naval arms race. Considering various US, UK, German, French, Italian, Russian and Italian designs, there are well over a dozen possibilities. Since the WW II era Montana and H classes are available, these are not out of the question.

Don Scheef