Russo-Japanese War

[em2nought]

Surprising - given what some of their games ended up covering - that the RJW was considered too esoteric a subject is funny...

Maybe the lack of appeal has more to do with who won the conflict.

[magnus]

 Computer wise it is very limited but with board wargames you have a good choice of naval,land and the entire conflict. Check Boardgamegeeks.

" Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear" is a good book fairly new, but I prefer " The sun at rising tide? " it's a book that was published in the erly 1970s.

[ArizonaTank]

Computer wise it is very limited but with board wargames you have a good choice of naval,land and the entire conflict. Check Boardgamegeeks.

" Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear" is a good book fairly new, but I prefer " The sun at rising tide? " it's a book that was published in the erly 1970s.

+1 many good boardgames on the conflict.  I recommend GDW's Port Arthur....  Long out of print, so difficult to find.

[besilarius]

JH, in regards to the land war, it basically came down to the organizational, and leadership issues that were endemic to Czarist Russia in the early 20th century.
Being on the end of the terribly inefficient Trans-Siberian RailRoad, only emphasized Russias problems.
Tacitcally, I'm not sure either side had a clear advantage, but the Russian artillery doctrine was outmoded.  They followed Napoleonic concepts of close support.  This allowed the Japanese to quickly establish a superiority over the Russian artillery, and they pushed that very hard.

[Staggerwing]

IIRC Since the Japanese Army was virtually rebuilding itself into a 'modern' military force they borrowed quite heavily from Prussian, and later German, military doctrine in conducting land war.

[magnus]

 Yes, pretty much what you have on the Russian side is a blueprint for their WWI failures, with many of the same cast.

As was mentioned the Japanese artillery had a field day with the Rusian guns. Many times the Russians even when they had dugout positions refused to use them for the guns. Then when they attempted to dig in the their trenches etc. they were visible for miles in the Manchurian earth.

On the other hand you have the second Japanes sneak attack with no declaration of war. For this reason I always doubted that the failure to deliver a DOC before Pearl harbor should be blamed on the typist.

The war saw the first mass uses of barbwire, searchlights and machine guns, along with many others.

[eyebiter]

For Japanese Navy perspective

Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941, Chapter 4
http://books.google.com/books?id=M-5feKonuNkC&pg=PA94&lpg=PP1

[Nefaro]

PON is the only one with the land war portrayed, but since it uses the massive world-wide PON scale and map as a basis, it's obviously a little one.

A TW Fall of the Samurai mod could be interesting (if there's one at all) but as with all TW games it won't be very representative of the real situation.

[Gusington]

I have been eyeing that Kaigun book forever but its always pricey. Anyone read it?

[Jarhead0331]

FWIW, TOAWIII does have a R-J War scenario called Double Eagle-Rising Sun 1904-1905.  This seems to combine naval action and land combat elements.  However, a quick glance at the map shows the Korean peninsula only. I didn't see any part of the Chinese geography.

[Grim.Reaper]

I have been eyeing that Kaigun book forever but its always pricey. Anyone read it?

Seems like only $22 at amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Kaigun-Strategy-Technology-Imperial-1887-1941/dp/159114244X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354245010&sr=8-1&keywords=kaigun

[Toonces]

It's on my Xmas list.  I already have the one on the airpower and it was great.

I wish I had been faster to pick it up when it was reasonably priced in hardback, as I'm sure it's a keeper.

(in reply re: Kaigun).

Sorry, JH, no input to your original question.  I was going to suggest TOAW3 also, but it seems that's been covered.

[Gusington]

I like to buy hardcovers when I can, the hardcover is a little more. What is the book on airpower called Toonces?

[Toonces]

Gus-
Check here:
http://www.amazon.com/Sunburst-Japanese-Naval-Power-1909-1941/dp/159114664X/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354246279&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=sunburst+zero

The book is good.  I got it in softcover, but I see it's not too bad in hardcover used (and in fact, neither is Kaigun depending on how nice you want it).  I really wanted Kaigun in hardcover...I might have to figure something out.

Anyway, Sunburst is really good and I highly recommend it if you're interested in the full story of the Japanese development of their navy.  If you haven't read Shattered Sword, then of the three books that is by far the one I would recommend most highly.  I've read Shattered Sword three times and will probably read it again this summer.  It never gets old.  Just a great, great piece of work.

We're way off topic now.

Edit: Just realized that Dull's Battle History is the buy three books list.  I can't recommend Dull's book.  Although it has a lot of very good reviews, I have repeatedly fallen asleep reading it and have yet to get past halfway.  It's a really good-looking book for the shelf, but reading-wise it is boring as hell.  The Rising Sun by Toland is much better.

[LongBlade]

I found a reprint of my copy on Amazon. Tyler was a war correspondent. Written in a style that is very true to the period, but it looks like it's packed full of info since he was there when it happened.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935501054/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1935501054&linkCode=as2&tag=grogheads-20

One of the things I found interesting is that the author even as far back as 1905 he understood that Japan's victory put it on a headlong conflict with the US for domination of the Pacific.