A couple years ago I wrote a blog post (https://agamerstales.wordpress.com/2022/05/25/the-superior-manna-from-heaven-and-the-foreseeable-fall-out/) about attending a game day in Chehalis at the Vet’s Museum. It was a great day in a wonderful venue. As we were breaking for lunch, my friend Gene Anderson asked if I was interested in what he had in a box. It was a gazillion 1/1200 Superior WWII ships.

My first reaction was, no way. It would be a whole new project that took up a bunch of space. There were American ships, Japanese ships, British and Germans, a few French, and a few Italians. Yikes. Honestly, I also didn’t want to pay much for him. I offered him five bucks. He took it. Damn. What was I going to do now?

Well, it’s been almost two years and I’ve worked pretty hard to focus my plan for the ships. I parted with almost everything that wasn’t American and Japanese, and I’ve tried to focus my collection on the Solomons campaign. For surface actions in the Pacific, that’s where the action is. I’ve hung on to all the American and Japanese capital ships, as well as Richilieu and Dunkerque, and I’m beginning to think that’s a mistake. Really, all I need are two Japanese Kongo class and the American battleships South Dakota and Washington, and the rest could go. But, at heart, I’m still a miniature wargamer and it’s tough to let go of stuff. However, some if not all the models are missing things like cranes and catapults. Though I’ve fashioned some of these on my own, if that’s the way things are, I may find new homes for some.

More important than wondering what to do with the ships, I’ve built and painted them. I confess, I’ve added plenty to the original pile. But I’ve only added what I needed for specific battles or to have a more varied ship mix. So, there are now several Aoba class cruisers for the Japanese, because I need three to do the Battle of Cape Esperance. I have four Brooklyn class cruisers and three New Orleans class, because they were so ubiquitous in the sea battles of 1942-43. Last night I finished the cruisers Astoria and Chicago. Neither had an illustrious career. Astoria sank in the disaster off Savo Island. The Chicago, damaged in that battle sank in January 1943 after an air attack near Rennell Island. That finishes my pile of cruisers for either side.

I recently added the Japanese light cruiser Tama to the IJN, and I wouldn’t mind adding a couple more CL’s just for variety. For the Americans, at least one more Northampton class would be nice, and I’d like one more Atlanta class CL. All I have left to paint for the period are the battleships. Well, that and 15 3D printed Fletcher class destroyers. Yes, War Times Journal is offering STLs of a bunch of different versions of the Fletcher which was by far the largest destroyer class built. I have five each of three different types.

At his moment here’s what I have painted:

Japanese

8 heavy cruisers-Mogami, Nachi, Chokai, Atago, Aoba, Furutaka and Kinugasa

4 Light cruisers-Sendai, Kuma, Tama and Yubari

17 destroyers-3 X Mutsuki, 3 X Wakatake, 3 X Hatsuharu, 2 X Fubuki, 2 X Yugumo, 3 X Kagero, 1 X Akizuki

The Hiei and Kirishima battlecruisers/battleships are next up on the painting stocks.

Americans

9 heavy cruisers- Salt Lake City, Chicago, Portland and Indianapolis, Vincennes, Astoria and San Francisco, Wichita and Bremerton

8 light cruisers-Richmond X 2, Philadelphia, Helena, Boise and St. Louis, Juneau, and Cleveland30 destroyers- 3 X Farraguts, 1 X Mahan, 4 X Bagley/Gridley, 1 X Sims, 6 X Benson/Livermore, 1 X Porter, 1 X Somers, 9 X Fletcher (including 2 of the 3 Fletchers that had seaplane catapults, go figure,) 1 X Sumner, 2 X Gearing and 1 X Buckley class DE.

Lots of Fletchers to come.

So 63 painted ships over the two years I’ve had them. Still more to do. I’ve never played a game with them and am still at sea about rules and how to play with 1/1200 ships on the tabletop. Working on it. The size of the ships, which I played with on a gymnasium floor when I was a high-schooler, create some scale problems on the tabletop. I have David Manley’s Find, Fire and Strike, Sam Mustafa’s Nimitz, and of course General Quarters 3. Time to get down to brass tacks and try them.