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Fantastic News for Pre-Dreadnought Naval Enthusiasts

Mister Nizz

On September 17, 1894, two hodgepodge fleets met at the mouth of the Yalu River and proceeded into what history refers to as THE BATTLE OF YALU between China and Japan. The battle was the highlight of the 1894 Sino-Japanese war, and is probably one of the more obscure historical topics out there, unless you like naval wargaming.

I certainly do.

I've been wanting to get into pre-dreadnought ship battles (and, more specifically, the Naval Battles of Yalu and Lissa, between China and Japan and between Italy and Austria, respectively) for a long time. The problem was the available miniatures were all rather smallish for what I had in mind. NAVWAR has some 1:1200 predreds, and so does the War Times Journal, which Ral Partha (in its Ironwinds guise) is making for them. There's also some slightly larger resin ships done by Panzerschiffe. I like them, but I wanted something big and visual. Like in the good old days of Houston's Ships.


(image from Dave Ferris' excellent "Building and Painting Pre-Dreadnought Ships" on Irvania.Com)

A chance glance into the OUTLAND GAMES booth at FALL IN (see my travelogue, below) provided a fortunate surprise. He is the new importer of the recently revised HOUSTON'S 1/1000 SHIPS line. Great news, indeed. A British outfit named "Great Endeavors" is in the process of recreating the line (as well as Ral Partha Colonials). I'm getting the Chinese Yalu fleet this week, and would have at FALL IN if I weren't already somewhat broke.

More from Dave Ferris' site:


Chinese Ships



Japanese Ships


Apparently, Dave Ferris shares my liking for this obscure naval battle!