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Although I haven’t finished my Guadalcanal campaign, I’ve decided to embark on a new naval wargaming project.
Over last summer I read two excellent books about the Pacific War that I had not read before:
– The First Team; Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway, by John B. Lundstrom; and
– Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.
Having recently been reading David Manley’s Find, Fix & Strike and Sam Mustafa’s Nimitz rules, both of which were designed with carrier battles in mind, the two books got me wondering whether I could game the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway with miniatures.
The Battle of the Coral Sea seems the obvious place to start, because it’s a battle that either side could have won, because it was chronologically first and because it’s one of those battles that I have always been fascinated by.Rules
My first question, which I have yet to resolve, is what set of rules to use. Both David Manley’s Find, Fix & Strike and Sam Mustafa’s Nimitz have been designed to replicate carrier operations on the tabletop. The two games are similar in scope, though Nimitz is better presented and explained.
I think I prefer the four-hour operational game turn in Find, Fix & Strike to the eight-hour campaign game turn in Sam Mustafa’s Halsey campaign rules. I found a map of the Coral Sea originally published in Avalon Hill’s The General magazine for a Coral Sea expansion of its old Midway wargame that could work well with Find, Fix & Strike, but I’m wondering whether the greater simplification of the Halsey campaign map might be a better option.Naval miniaures
My next decisions were what miniatures to use. I already had most of the warships I need for the Coral Sea campaign in 1/3000 from my Guadalcanal campaign, because most of the surface warships on both sides at the Coral Sea went on to fight in the battles of Guadalcanal.
So the biggest gap in my order of battle was the aircraft carriers. My favourite miniature designer for 1/3000 Second World War warships is Tiny Thingamajigs. But aircraft carriers on Shapeways are painfully expensive, even in 1/3000 scale, working out at more than £10 a ship; and, for some reason, Tiny Thingamajigs doesn’t list the US carriers in 1/3000 scale anyway. So I needed other options.
Then I remembered the Fujimi 1/3000 kits that I had considered but dismissed for my Guadalcanal campaign. While I still don’t like the unsightly thick plastic masts on the Fujimi models, the carriers are not affected by that design decision. The Pearl Harbor set contains all six Japanese pre-war fleet carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku, which even come with flight-deck decals. The kits are good value for money provided that you want most of the models included in the particular bundle, and as it happens I don’t have a Tone or a Chikuma either.
So a quick order for the Fujimi Pearl Harbor set sorted out the Japanese fleet carriers. But Fujimi doesn’t offer the American fleet carriers, or pretty much any Allied warships, in 1/3000.
So my next question was where to get the American carriers Yorktown and Lexington, as well as the Japanese light carrier Shōhō. I decided that my best option was to order some 1/3000 Davco miniatures from Navy Models & Books.
I added a few other ships: the American oiler Cimarron (for her sister ship Neosho) and the Japanese auxiliary Tsugaru, as well as the Enterprise and Hornet for Midway and the light carrier Ryūjō which fought at Eastern Solomons.
Left to right: Lexington, Yorktown x 3, Cimarron, General John S. Pope, Ryūjō, Shōhō and Tsugaru.I have been slowly painting these up.
The carriers Lexington and Yorktown formed the core of Task Force 17 at the Battle of the Coral Sea.
The Japanese light carrier Shōhō would be the first Japanese carrier to be sunk in the Pacific War.Aircraft miniatures
The choice of aircraft miniatures is a bit less obvious. I could just use card or paper counters, and there are some nice ones in Nimitz. But counters spoil the visual effect of miniatures and I might as well just play a board game.
Unfortunately, aircraft in 1/3000 are ridiculously small and almost indistinguishable from one another: fine for showing aircraft on a miniature carrier deck, but far too small to game with.
I’ve seen larger scale aircraft combined with smaller-scale ships, such as in the games by the French club Jeux d’Histoire du Ponant, and I think the visual trick works.
For the Battle of the Coral Sea, I need Grumman F4F Wildcats, Douglas SBD Dauntlesses and Douglas TBD Devastators for the Americans and Mitsubishi A6M Type 0s, Aichi D3A Type 99s and Nakajima B5N Type 97s for the Japanese. Various other aircraft, like the Consolidated PBY Catalina and Kawanishi H6K Type 97 flying boats, would be nice to have.
Although there are a variety of scales available, I’ve settled on 1/700 because of the availability of a large range of good quality, injection-plastic miniature naval aircraft at reasonable prices. I am slowly working my way through painting a batch of US carrier aircraft.You may be interested; I have run Battle of the Coral Sea using the Halsey rules. I ran the battle twice and I am currently getting ready the Battle of Eastern Solomons using the Halsey rules. I had way too many dummy task forces for the Coral Sea games. Ships are 1:3000 and planes are 1:700. Table is 6′ x 4′. If you go with the Halsey rules, I can certainly share the scenario I made up.
This is my take on Midway with miniatures: LINK
Pictures of Coral Sea setup:
Eric
I have made a little bit of progress on my 1/700 aircraft.
I started with some Fujimi 1/700 US carrier aircraft that I already had (from a kit of the USS Saratoga), which contains F4F Wildcats, SBD Dauntlesses and TBF Avengers.
First up, some 1/700 US Navy Grumman TBF Avengers on Litko bases. I know there weren’t any Avengers at the Battle of the Coral Sea. I’m never sure how best to paint aircraft canopies, but I think black works.
Four Fujimi 1/700 Douglas SBD Dauntlesses, again on Litko bases. US Navy aircraft in early 1942 were usually painted in an overall blue grey. I like the decals, but they do take patience to align in the right place with the star pointing in the right direction. I am not sure whether I will take the time to add them to the sides and undersides of the aircraft.The insignia on these Dauntlesses is right for Midway, but not for the Coral Sea. US Navy aircraft markings were changed in May 1942, between the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, following a directive from Admiral Nimitz. The red dot in the national insignia on the wings and fuselage, which looked too much like a Japanese hinomaru, was painted out white, while the colourful red-and-white-striped tails were overpainted in blue grey.
Unlike Japanese carrier aircraft, US carrier aircraft carried relatively few obvious squadron markings, other than each aircraft’s BuAer number and its squadron codes which are hard to show at this scale. According to Lundstrom, rather than being permanently allocated to squadrons, in the first half of 1942 US carrier aircraft were frequently switched between squadrons between operations to make up numbers, so the generic markings work well.
I have also got some Grumman F4F Wildcats done.For the Battle of the Coral Sea, I also need Douglas TBD Devastators. So I bought the Trumpeter 1/700 US Navy Aviation Set, which contains eight different types of aircraft, primarily for the TBD Devastators, though the F4F Wildcats, SBD Dauntlesses and B-25 Mitchells are all also useful for the Coral Sea.
The models are designed to look good on the deck of a 1/700 aircraft carrier. That means they come with separate wheels and propellers that make them a bit of a pain to put together.The paint jobs look good from here. I personally like the 3 color scheme, but that’s later than what you’re playing.
Thank you. 🙂 I agree about the three-colour scheme — though it would be hard to paint.
In the mean time, I have made a little more progress on my US naval aircraft.
I decided to paint my second batch of US carrier aircraft with the early red-white-and-blue national insignia, mostly because that is correct for the Battle of the Coral Sea (though not Midway), but also because the Trumpeter 1/700 US Navy Aviation box contains early-war decals that I otherwise wouldn’t use. The red dot in the decals is very slightly off centre, but you only see that when looking very closely. Painting tiny red-and-white striped tails sorely tested my limited painting skills.
Six Trumpeter 1/700 Douglas TBD Devastators in early-war markings on Litko bases. I can see that my brush work was not very steady on the tails.
Four Trumpeter 1/700 Douglas SBD Dauntlesses in early-war markings. I have painted all six from the box, but only photographed these four. The close-ups are not going to win me any painting prizes. I don’t think these models really capture the essence of the Dauntless. The tails look too large to me and the panel lines on the wings seem out of scale.
Six Fujimi 1/700 Douglas SBD Dauntlesses in later 1942 markings. I have eight of these done now, having shown four before. I much prefer the Fujimi rendition of the Dauntless: the shape of the tail is more accurate and I like the way the aircraft’s distinctive dive brakes have been rendered.Next step: Japanese aircraft
For the Japanese aircraft, I bought two of the Waterline Series 1/700 Japanese Naval Planes (Early Pacific War) box, originally produced by the four companies of the 1/700 Waterline Series consortium, Aoshima, Fujimi, Hasegawa and Tamiya.
The contents of the box will be familiar to anyone who has ever built a 1/700 Japanese aircraft carrier model. The box contains four different Japanese carrier aircraft: 10 Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 fighters, eight Aichi D3A1 Type 99 dive bombers; eight Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 torpedo bombers; and six Yokosuka D4Y2 Suisei dive bombers. The box also contains a sheet of decals and two (different) painting guides.
Most of you will already have seen my post about the Lae and Salamaua raid: https://www.thewargameswebsite.com/forums/topic/the-lae-and-salamaua-raid-10th-march-1942/.
With my enthusiasm for painting tiny aeroplanes starting to wane after painting more than 60 American aircraft, I switched my attention to building and painting the Fujimi 1/3000 Japanese carriers that I bought a few months ago. In particular, I need the Zuikaku and Shōkaku of the 5th Carrier Squadron to complete my fleets for the Coral Sea.
Unlike any other 1/3000 manufacturer, these miniatures are multi-part plastic kits.
The models are very easy to put together. Each carrier is just three parts: hull, flight deck and island. These clip together neatly, not even needing glue. There is some very slight flash along the mould lines, but nothing that can’t be scraped off easily with the edge of a knife.
Japanese ships in the first years of the Pacific War were almost all painted in an overall grey. Unlike the US Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy did not attempt to camouflage the decks of its carrier decks until later in the war, leaving them their natural wood colour. With hindsight, I wish I had picked a slightly less yellow colour for the wooden flight decks, but it’s done now. The Fujimi kits include flight-deck decals. The decals look superb but have a slight sheen that does reflect light. I may try to tone that down with some clear matt varnish.
The capital-ship conversions Akagi and Kaga of the 1st Carrier Squadron (Koku Sentai). Like the American Lexington and Saratoga, Akagi and Kaga were converted from the incomplete hulls of capital ships cancelled under the terms of the Washington Treaty: Akagi had been laid down as an Amagi-class battlecruiser, while Kaga had been laid down as a Tosa-class battleship. Akagi was the first carrier ever to be fitted with a port-side island.
The near sisters Hiryū and Sōryū of the 2nd Carrier Squadron. Hiryū’s design was modified to incorporate more armour, as well as being given a distinctive port-side island.
The sister ships Zuikaku and Shōkaku of the 5th Carrier Squadron. I need to clip the conspicuous radar antenna off the tops of the carriers’ islands as these were not fitted until later in the war.
The six carriers of the First Air Fleet that rampaged across the Pacific and Indian Oceans for the first six months of the war: Akagi and Kaga, Hiryū and Sōryū, and Zuikaku and Shōkaku.I have made a little more progress on my project, mostly on the Japanese aircraft though they are not finished yet.
In the meantime, I have completed another US carrier air group. The proportions on the Fujimi 1/700 aircraft sprues are not aligned to those of US carrier air groups in 1942, so this gives me far more TBF Avengers than I need. These models are moulded in a clear plastic, giving a clear canopy, which I prefer. However, even in my poor photograph, the sunlight has rather cruelly exposed where the paint is too thin. I’ll touch those up.
The B-25 Mitchell is perhaps best known for being the aircraft used for the Doolittle raid in April 1942, with 16 Mitchells flying from the aircraft carrier Hornet to attack Tokyo and other Japanese cities. That is, presumably, why a USAAF bomber is included in Trumpeter’s 1/700 US Navy aviation set. However, they happen to be useful for my Coral Sea campaign as B-25 Mitchells of the 13th and 90th Light Bombardment Squadrons were based at Townsville in Queensland, northern Australia, in May 1942.
I’ve modelled them with their wheels down, which does look slightly silly from this angle.Imperial Japanese Navy carrier aircraft
I have now completed the 1/700 Japanese carrier air groups for my Coral Sea project: 20 Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 fighters, 16 Aichi D3A1 Type 99 dive bombers; and 16 Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 torpedo bombers.
Shortly before the Pacific War broke out, most Japanese naval aircraft were painted light grey overall with black cowlings to reduce glare. The light grey can appear to be a silverish or even white grey in black-and-white photographs and is sometimes interpreted as a very light grey. Although most Japanese records were destroyed during the war, there’s considerable evidence from surviving aircraft and wrecks that the paint was in fact a light yellow (a sort of beige) or even yellow-green or ochre colour. However, I’ve chosen to stick with a plain light-medium grey.
Like the US carrier aircraft, the appearance of Japanese carrier aircraft changed during the course of 1942. The B5N torpedo bombers had a dark-green camouflage as early as Pearl Harbor. This was then gradually adopted by the D3A dive bombers during 1942.
Waterline Series 1/700 Imperial Japanese Navy Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bombers from Zuikaku’s air group. The D3As aboard the 5th Carrier Squadron had been repainted dark green by the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. The two white stripes on the fuselage indicate that they are from Zuikaku.
Japanese carrier aircraft in 1942 carried distinctive markings to help identify the aircraft’s carrier squadron, carrier and seniority within its formation. Vertical stripes around the fuselage indicated the carrier squadron and the ship within the squadron: red stripes for the 1st Carrier Squadron, one stripe for Akagi, two stripes for Kaga; blue stripes for the 2nd Carrier Squadron, one stripe for Sōryū, two stripes for Hiryu; yellow stripes for the 4th Carrier Squadron, one stripe for Ryūjō, two stripes for Shoho; and white stripes for the 5th Carrier Squadron, one stripe for Shōkaku, two stripes for Zuikaku. When the 5th Carrier Squadron was renumbered as the 1st Carrier Squadron in July 1942, its aircraft continued to wear white stripes.
Waterline Series 1/700 Imperial Japanese Navy Nakajima B5N Type 97 torpedo bombers from Zuikaku’s air group, with a pair of Mitsubishi Zero fighters beyond. I’ve given a distinctive red tail to the aircraft of Zuikaku’s Hikōtaichō, Lieutenant-Commander Shimazaki Shigekazu, although I don’t have any historical evidence for it.
Horizontal stripes on the tail indicated the aircraft’s seniority within its formation: a single horizontal stripe indicated a Shotaichō (flight leader); two horizontal stripes indicated a Buntaichō (division officer); three horizontal stripes indicated a Hikōtaichō (air group commander). The tail stripes were usually, but not invariably, the same colour as the fuselage stripes. Akagi’s flight leaders had yellow stripes on their tails. Some Hikōtaichō adopted particularly colourful markings for their aircraft, seemingly in order to make it easier for the aircraft to form up on their leader. Commander Fuchida Mitsuo of Akagi had a red tail on his B5N; the D3A of Lieutenant-Commander Takahashi Kakuichi, Shōkaku’s Hikōtaichō, was bright orange in early 1942; and by the time of the Indian Ocean raid, the D3A of Lieutenant-Commander Egusa Takashige, Sōryū’s Hikōtaichō, was green with a red tail.
Four Waterline Series 1/700 Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M Type 0 fighters from Zuikaku’s air group. Known initially to the British as the ‘Navy Nought’, the aircraft was soon universally known to the Allies as the Zero. The Battle of the Coral Sea would see the first meeting between the A6M and the Grumman F4F Wildcat.
The Zuikaku air group in 1/700, using one aircraft model to represent each flight of three aircraft.
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