"Russo-Japanese War: what scale?" Topic

What scale are people using for this conflict?

Having purchased WWII 1/6000 models from Hallmark, I fear that, nice as they are, the RJW models will just be too small for my limited painting skills and identification on the table.

I now wonder if 1/3000 from Navwar would be more suitable, bearing in mind there is not actually much difference in cost. The models from WTJ would not be an option due to the cost of shipping to the UK and import duties.

I have all Navwar and for the most part the models are quite nice. The WTJ site has a nice painting guide if you find yourself in need.

I have large French, Italian, Austrian, German & British fleets (not all yet painted) – and a small US fleet not yet started. A pal has the Japanese and Russians.

We are very satisfied with Navwar and the consistent quality and detail works for us. Not as highly detailed as WTJ ships but mostly more robust. A few poor castings but only one I have ever had that was unusable, in over 250 ships. Tony would have replaced those if I'd bothered to ask but I never did.

Very complete range too – odd cruisers and smaller vessel classes not represented and limited merchants datable to 1880-1910 but the majority of warships are covered.

Another vote for Navwar. Solid little gaming pieces, complete ranges and great service.

I have the Tsushima fleets in 1/6000. Admittedly I got them already painted, so can't comment on difficulty. I have them on medium FoW bases with a number identifier on them which correlates to the respective ship chart. Advantage I find is a small playing area, and it is easy to see differences in ships and armament.

I've run the campaign twice using 1/6000 mounted on bases with name tags (DD's/TB's mounted as a flotilla) but with the advent of WTJ, 1/3000 would work as well depending on gaming space.

You are going through the same debate many of us have had. I have Navwar Russo Japanese, WWI & II as I decided that 1/6000 was just too small to recognize ships on the table. After many rounds of gaming with the Navwar ships I find that they are not that much more recognizable than the 1/6000 vessels. If I were to do it over I would go with 1/6000 in part because of this conclusion but mostly because the smaller the miniatures the more reasonable the scale distances on the tabletop. Using 1/6000 for the Russo Japanese war would mean that realistic scale distances for engagement would be possible in the space I have.

Painting the little critters is another matter about which I admit that 1/6000 is intimidating. I am not quite sure how to approach that.

Most of mine are 1/3000 Navwar. My SpanAm collection is mostly WTJ – I avoided the shipping charges by asking a friend in the US to bring them over when she visited last year

I use 1:2400 scale models from Panzerschiffe.

You can see most of my endeavors at link

My buddy has Spanish-American War models also in 1:2400 scale from Panzerschiffe and has the Jutland fleets in 1:6000 mounted on the Avalon Hill Jutland playing pieces.

We've had fun with all of them.

Jim

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

Mine are all 1/3000th scale NavWar. A lot of ships used in the RJW are pretty small compared to later Dreadnoughts etc.

I find 1/6000th works better for WW1 and WW2 when the ships are gigantically bigger.

I also made up all three fleets in 1/2400 using Panzerschiffe – Japanese and Russian Pacific and Baltic fleets. I found the resin models easier to drill for wire masts than metal castings. David Manley's campaign system was used and played to a finish before the Baltic Fleet arrived. I wrote this up as three part series in the short-lived free online Wargamers Notebook Quarterly – if you like I'll send you the pdfs if you let me have your email address.

Until this year, I had 1/3000 Navwar RJW fleets of both Russia and Japan, mostly painted and based (enough to game Yellow Sea and smaller "what if" battles), but I sold them off. I also had the USN Great White Fleet and a small collection of cargo ships, and I still have nearly-complete UK and German pre-dreadnought fleets of unpainted Navwar models for sale. I never liked the Navwar 1/3000 ships much; they are just a bit too small and under-detailed. I far prefer 1/2400 scale, because it's larger, a lot of the models are just plain gorgeous (esp. from GHQ and WTJ), and I already have a large collections in 1/2400 (mostly WWI British, German and Russian, and scads of WWII).

I only expanded into 1/3000 scale in the first place because I ran across a flea market deal that I couldn't resist, but every time I went shopping to complete the 1/3000 collection, I balked because I didn't want to buy duplicates of vessels I already owned in 1/2400 (especially cruisers, DDs and auxiliaries which served well into WWI). Last year I decided the selection of 1/2400 pre-dreadnoughts available in the market had finally grown complete enough that I no longer had to hold on to the "wrong" scale, so the culling began. Now I'm in a race to buy everything I want before the vendors go out of business. :-)

In 1/2400 scale, I already have a start on the Russian fleet (the units which served in the WWI Baltic, including a lot of TBDs and TBs), but no Japanese units yet. A fair number of my Royal Navy WWI units are also late pre-dreadnought period units, and I have a decent collection of non-combatants (including esoteric fun stuff like clipper ships, small sailing craft, barges, etc.), and generic TBs and gunboats that work for coastal actions.

My plan is to first get the RJW ramped up enough to game the Yellow Sea and Tsushima, then begin to collect the French and British pre-dreadnought fleets. I'll think about the other navies later (US, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Greece, Turkey).

- Ix

We know our own Mr Byron chose to use 1/2400 scale: TMP link

Great Scott, but that's an inspiring set of photos.

- Ix

I really like 1/6000. You can use a ground scale equals miniature scale gaming area since 2 yards is 12,000 yards in scale. I found painting to be fairly simple. Yes it is really hard to get Seaman Watanabi's name tag right but really at this scale unless you are using a scanning electron microscope to look at the ship who will notice?

1/600 and 1/700. :)

Recently completed a campaign using 1/3000 ships, mainly from WTJ.

I built my fleets from 1/2400 Viking Forge with a very few Panzerschiffes.

For RJW, the ships are so small I think it calls for at least 1/2400 scale.

That said, you're not a true war gamer if you're not playing in 1/1 scale!

I have 1/3000 Navwar for RJW, based on their Tsushima battle pack, then expanded from their range. Decision factors: source, budget, playing area, sculpt quality & gaming aesthetic.

If cost outweighs other considerations, Navwar 1/3000 is probably the best route, but you should also check the old Davco 1/3000 line at Navy Models and Books.

You mentioned that WTJ and GHQ are out of your price range, but there are some 1/2400 options that might be worth considering:

Tumbling Dice is in the UK and has a decent and still growing line of 1/2400 battleship-era miniatures, including a wide range of RJW and SAW units.

Viking Forge charges a somewhat high $23 USD flat rate for shipping to the UK, but a single order for all of the RJW units they make might mitigate the pain of the shipping cost.

Panzerschiffe charges only $14 USD flat rate to ship to the UK, if you like the Panzerschiffe models.

- Ix

I only have a few ships but my preference for RJW is 1:2400 from Panzerschiffe. Admittedly, the only action I game is Battle of Ulsan!

I also use Panzerschiffe 1/2400.