Russo Japanese Naval War Rules: White Bear, Red Sun by David Manly (Part 1) Set-Up and Contact

Does this sound familiar?

I have a collection of 1/3000 RJW naval models that have been lurking in my loft (strangely all painted, which is the unusual bit), dormant since last century (or so it seems to me). They certainly took part in my "Attack on Port Arthur" and "Tsushima" wargames I staged pre-2000 [last century] at the Exiles Wargames Club (in London) but .. confession .. I cannot remember using them since.

However I found out that I am not alone in this RJW interest. My friend Renko found (or rather rediscovered) he had some some too. He found his in "his loft", naturally while looking for something completely different, however he also pulled out a stored memory from his vast data bank about David Manley's White Bear, Red Sun RJW Campaign and Pre-Dreadnought Rules. He then discovered they are still available through the Wargames Vault On-Line Store (see below):

Link: http://www.wargamevault.com/product/223354/White-Bear-Red-Sun

Being a clever man he purchased them and being 'ultra cool' when he was part of the next "gathering of friends" (ostensibly we were there to be talking about WWII 28mm Germans and Soviets in Stalingrad) lo and behold there appeared 1/3000 RJW "naval toys" (see below):

I found myself in command of a Japanese First Battle Squadron as Admiral Togo himself aboard the IJNS Mikasa (see my portion of the fleet above). Cutting to the end (game report to follow), the game was so good and I enjoyed the rules so much I immediately went and downloaded a set for myself (taking advantage of a cheap 50% sales price) and also took the liberty of getting a copy of David Manley's Spanish American War Campaign Set (for a future "small" 2018 naval project).