by RockyMountainNavy, 3 August 2023
A few years back I found a piece of my wargaming history tucked between old wargame periodicals. In 1982 I owned the entire Jim Day tactical armored combat collection of Panzer, 88, and Armor for World War II from Yaquinto Publishing. As much as I loved the hex & counter wargames1 I was thinking about trying some of the 1/285th scale MicroArmor miniatures from GHQ.2 I must have written away for a price list because I received mail from GHQ just in time to take advantage of their Holiday Special.
GHQ actually sent me two flyers; one that is an undated newsletter (it does say “…Christmas is rushing up on us…”) which features seven “modern”—aka Cold War—sculpts and one P-51 Mustang for World War II. The small image at the bottom of the second page showing a sculpt on a coin always had me thinking I could fit these onto a wargame map.
click images to enlarge
The second flyer featured the “New!” Micro Nauts WWII sculpts and others for Napoleonic-era sailing games. I owned Wooden Ships and Iron Men (S. Craig Taylor, The Avalon Hill Game Co., 1974) but had no interest in buying minis for that game. The second page was the Micro Armour price list that I am sure I pored over more than once (and yet again now).
Truth to the matter was that, in 1982, I was in middle school and made just a little money from chores (I had no allowance). Later on, when I got a bit older and had better jobs, I could do some miniatures, but that was mostly Star Fleet Battles (the Commander’s Edition released in 1983) and Harpoon II (Larry Bond, Adventure Games, 1983).
GHQ still exists and you can still order Micro Armour. Be warned, however, that the prices are three times what they were in 1982…
Did you collect Micro Armour? Do you have a copy of GHQ’s own rules, TACFORCE? [I realize now that TACFORCE was designed by Frank Chadwick and was a collaboration between GHQ and GDW. Looking for a copy now…]
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IF YOU ENCOUNTER A COUNTER CASTING A HEX IN A HEX
AND YOU COUNTER THE HEX WITH A COUNTER-HEX IN THAT HEX DURING THE ENCOUNTER,
AND YOU HAVE TO COUNT HOW MANY HEXES ARE IN THE HEX DURING THE ENCOUNTER
ARE YOU PLAYING A HEX-AND-COUNTER WARGAME?
I love GHQ, and will sometimes play regular boardgames with GHQ bits.
Around 1982, I think I had bought a few GHQ minis, but I ended up with more from CinC– they came in clear plastic boxes, which I though was handier for storing them after painting, and I think they did more “moderns”. They’ve spent far more time in those little storage boxes than on the table, as my friends never got beyond reading the TacForce rules and I may have been the only one who bought & painted.
A friend had those rules, and I remember taking them to school to read on the bus, and we played a little with bits of cardboard, as a temporary measure, of course, until we had two armies to play with.
Later on, I bought up the Assault series from GDW, which had similarities to TacForce, just on a hex & counter basis, and we did play more of those. Especially if my one friend could play the helicopters….
I am a proud “hex and counter” wargamer just like there are proud “tax and spend” Democrats, LOL.
https://frinkiac.com/video/S15E21/N1J8rAQpRfP2V1tgUizSYaPTD2Q=.gif
Can’t believe 1982 is over 40 years ago. That was another lifetime.
Never had anything to do with miniatures. I dislike measuring stuff.