From MilesR: Russo-Japanese War Fleets for Graveyard Beach (216 Points)

 

Last year I embarked on another large project - the Russo-Japanese War in 6mm but never got around to finishing the naval portion of the conflict.  One really can't game the RJW without doing the naval side and Graveyard Beach seemed to be a great reason to finish up this project.  I present to you the Imperial Russian Fleet - every capital ship and destroyer or torpedo boat flotilla that participated in the war.  Sadly for the Russians, only a handful of these ships survived the war.

First up is the Port Arthur Fleet.  This fleet had more Battleships than the Japanese Navy and posed a very serious threat.  The fleet attempted to sortie against the Japanese several times but were unsuccessful.  Interestingly - hostilities commenced in the RJW by a torpedo boat sneak attack on the harbor that severely damaged 2 ships.   

In addition to the Port Arthur Squadron, the Russian had 4 Cruisers based in Vladivostok.  While much smaller than the Port Arthur force these 4 ships proved to be very successful commerce raiders.  They sortied 5 times and were responsible for sinking 15 transports including one that carried the only steam engines Japan had that would fit the Russian rail gauge, which severely impacted the ability for Japan to move supplies up to the front.

This small fleet was eventually brought to battle off Ulsan in August of 1904.  3 Russian Cruisers faced off against 6 Japanese.  The result was limited damage to the Japanese and 1 Russian Cruiser sunk (Rurik) while the other two were heavily damaged.

With Port Arthur under siege, The Russian Imperial command decided to send the Baltic fleet to reinforce there Pacific fleet counter parts.  These reinforcements were organized into 2 fleets - the 2nd and 3rd Pacific fleets.  First up is the second fleet which rivaled the entire Japanese fleet in terms of fire power 

The 3rd Pacific Fleet consisted of an older battleship and some armored cruisers.  These fleets joined up right before the battle of Tsushima.  Well, we all know had that turned out....

In addition to Capital ships (cruisers and battleships) the Russians had 8 Destroyer Flotillas and 2 Torpedo Boats flotillas involved in the conflict.

All of these models are 1/2400 resin 3D prints from War Times Journal.  Fantastic models but a bit on the delicate side.

Well, if one is going to do the Russian fleet from the RJW, one should also do the Japanese equivalent also, so please meet the Imperial Japanese Fleet.

The heart of the fleet are its 8 battleships - 6 first class ships and 2 smaller obsolete ones.  Both of the obsolete battleships would be lost to mines while on blockade duty at Port Arthur.

The Japanese Cruiser force did most of the work during the war

The Japanese employed 4 Destroyer and 7 Torpedo Boat Flotillas.

The Russians were terrified of the Japanese Torpedo Boats and often fired on neutral party fishing boats after mistaking them for the enemy.   This included one infamous incident of the Russians sinking one and damaging 5 other British fishing boats in the North Sea.  This little escapade became known as the "Dodger Bank Incident" and almost lead to War between Britain and Russia.  During the same incident, the Russians fired upon themselves and heavily damaged the cruiser Aurora.

Just for fun, 8 transports were added to serve as objective markers for escort types of engagements.

So there you have it - all of the capital ships that were involved in the RJW in glorious 1/2400 scale.  There are 98 total ship bases and I think the going rate for 1/2400 ships is 2 point per so that nets me a 196 points.  Add on top of that the 20 for the room and this little entry will yield me 216 points 

The Battle of Liaoyang.

These fleets along with my 6mm armies will allow me to game just about any aspect of the RJW there is.