Predictions / Guesses for GHQ's 2015-2016 Releases

[Donald M. Scheef]

2015-05-14 predictions / guesses for 2015-2016 Micronaut releases

GHQ has released the last of the 2014-2015 models and within the next month they will announce their new releases for the coming year. I would like to post my predictions/guesses for next year’s Micronaut releases. A suggestion from Mikee started this several years ago and it seemed to provoke some good discussions. We are interested in any support or contradictory opinions. Those of you interested in Microarmor, ACW or Napoleonic figures, etc.; start your own thread.

For those of you following the Consolidated Micronaut Wish List, predictions/guesses for next year’s releases do not count as votes in the Wish list.

In general, GHQ releases about twelve Micronauts per year, and I predict twelve releases this year. Last year GHQ introduced a new Micronaut line with the first of modern Japanese ships. Although I am primarily interested in WWII, I think GHQ should continue with WWI and modern ship releases. Since GHQ “short-changedâ€￾ WWI enthusiasts last year with only two GW releases, I’m going to predict six WWI releases this year. This leaves three releases of modern vessels and three releases for WWII types.

WWI era releases: There’s a conflict here between my preference that GHQ produce as many possible of the ships that were at Jutland before the centennial of this major event and the concept that they should continue the successful GWF and GWH series. Last year there were no GWF releases and GWH-5, DD Tatra, essentially finished the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Since the 2015-2016 releases are the last chance before the Jutland centennial, I’d really like to have all the WWI releases from Jutland.

For British ships at Jutland I think the most likely are:
• Devonshire class armored cruiser: Not only was Hampshire at Jutland, this ship was sunk soon after with Field Marshal Lord Kitchener aboard. Carnarvon of this class was at the Battle of the Falklands. Production of Devonshire would mean that GHQ has produced all of the six last classes of British armored cruisers. With six ships in the class, customers are likely to make multiple purchases of this product.
• Birmingham group (Town class) light cruisers: Birmingham and Nottingham were at Heligoland, Dogger Bank, and Jutland. Lowestoft was at the first two but missed Jutland. Unfortunately, a model of this class as they were at Jutland would not accurately reflect HMAS Adelaide.
• Chatham class light cruisers: Dublin and Southampton were at Jutland. Other significant actions involving ships of this class include the pursuit of SMS Goeben, Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank, and the destruction of SMS Emden. With six ships in this class, enthusiasts are likely to buy multiple packs.
• Acasta (K) class destroyers: Sixteen of these medium-sized destroyers saw service at Jutland, with four of them being sunk during this battle.

For German ships:
• Pre-Dreadnought battleship Braunschweig class: Hessen of the Braunschweig class is the only battleship type at Jutland not yet modeled by GHQ. Despite its age, Hessen did participate actively in the battle.
• V1 through S24 type destroyers: Nineteen destroyers of this type participated in the battle of Jutland. With a relatively large number of ships built, I think these would make a good product for GHQ.

For my three selections in the era of WWII, I’m going to divide them according to type of ship rather than by country.

Recently GHQ seems to have been producing at least one aircraft carrier each year. Although I am more interested in surface warfare, I predict that there will be another aircraft carrier in this year’s offerings. For this year, I’m going to predict the USS Lexington (CV-2) as she appeared at Coral Sea.

I also think there will be a battleship from WWII produced in the next year. My prediction is that it will be USS Idaho (BB-42) as she appeared in 1945 at Iwo Jima and Okinawa with individual enclosed 5â€￾/38 gun mounts.

GHQ should produce a WWII era cruiser in the coming year. I think the most likely is HMS Berwick or HMS Cornwall. These two ships differed from the other County class ships because of the large hanger added (like HMS Cumberland and HMS Suffolk – GHQ’s UKN2) but not cut down right aft like Cumberland & Suffolk. Berwick saw combat off Norway, in the Mediterranean, and fought Admiral Hipper in the Atlantic. Cornwall was sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft in the Indian Ocean.

GHQ has been steadily producing merchant ships over the past several years. In the long term, this should continue. For this year, however, I predict no new merchant/auxiliary types.

Last year, GHQ produced four post-Cold War ships. I think they will continue with this pattern (rather than producing any Cold War types). I am going to go out on a limb and predict three modern Chinese ships for this year. Now that the first of the type 052D (Luyang III, Kunming) class destroyers is active, I think that this would be a good choice. This seems to be a highly-capable design with a large number of units planned.
Other likely choices for Chinese ships to be modeled by GHQ include the Yuzhao (type 071) class amphibious transport/dock, Yuting (type 072, 072II, 072III, 072A) landing ships, or Jiangdao (type 056) corvette.

There are no aircraft packs in this list. I would like to see GHQ come out with some more aircraft packs, but don’t expect to see any this year. US forces need early WWII carrier aircraft, the Japanese need late-war carrier aircraft, and the British need something other than biplane Swordfish for carrier-based attack types. Of these, the Fleet Air Arm pack is my highest priority – at least the US and Japanese have some variety, if not complete coverage, in carrier-based aircraft. On the other hand, if GHQ produces an early-war Lexington or a late-war Unryu, one of these packs would be a good accompaniment.

Don S.

[CG2]

Firstly, let me thank Donald for the fantastic work he does on the Micronaught list. I wish this could be replicated on the other ranges!

I agree with Donald's choices except I think there will be less WW1 releases and more WW2 and Modern.

I'm going to forecast a Black Swan Class Sloop and a Type 23 Frigate in lieu of 2 WW1 releases. The British WW2 line is very sparse on escorts and the modern British range is sort of pointless without the Type 23. I can't see GHQ resisting a QE class carrier next year or the year after and it can't really be fielded without the Type 23.

[33YearsGHQ]

Thanks for all of your hard work as always Donald. I am not going to predict the entire list, but I am hoping/expecting the following this year:

Modern:
- LCS-1 Freedom (USN)
- Another modern Japanese vessel (likely DDG)

WWII USN:
- Early war aircraft pack (Devastator, Buffalo, Vindicator)
- 50/50 at best for either Coral Sea CV-2 or Yorktown at Midway
- Hog Island Type B

WWII IJN:
- One new carrier

Plus:
- 3 or 4 Great War Ships
- 3 or 4 additional WWII ships

[TAMMY]

Ineresting preddition Don.

While I understand the Jutland ships, I would like to see some WWI Italian ships. A cruiser or destroyer to start in order to fight Austro-Hungarian in Adriatic together with French and British ships.

I don't think to Italian battleships as they were not depoyed in the Adriatic.

[Donald M. Scheef]

2015-06-14 Results of 2015-05-14 predictions / guesses for 2015-2016 Micronaut releases

In general, GHQ releases about twelve Micronauts per year, and I predict twelve releases this year. Last year GHQ introduced a new Micronaut line with the first of modern Japanese ships. Although I am primarily interested in WWII, I think GHQ should continue with WWI and modern ship releases. Since GHQ “short-changedâ€￾ WWI enthusiasts last year with only two GW releases, I’m going to predict six WWI releases this year. This leaves three releases of modern vessels and three releases for WWII types.
I was wrong here; GHQ announced twelve Micronauts for release but followed the recent pattern of four WWI, four WWII, and four modern.

WWI era releases: There’s a conflict here between my preference that GHQ produce as many possible of the ships that were at Jutland before the centennial of this major event and the concept that they should continue the successful GWF and GWH series. Last year there were no GWF releases and GWH-5, DD Tatra, essentially finished the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Since the 2015-2016 releases are the last chance before the Jutland centennial, I’d really like to have all the WWI releases from Jutland.
Three of the four WWI releases were of ship types represented at Jutland. The light cruiser Konigsberg was not (the earlier was away from Europe, the later commissioned after the Battle of Jutland.

For British ships at Jutland I think the most likely are:
• Devonshire class armored cruiser: Not only was Hampshire at Jutland, this ship was sunk soon after with Field Marshal Lord Kitchener aboard. Carnarvon of this class was at the Battle of the Falklands. Production of Devonshire would mean that GHQ has produced all of the six last classes of British armored cruisers. With six ships in the class, customers are likely to make multiple purchases of this product.
I was correct on this one.
• Birmingham group (Town class) light cruisers: Birmingham and Nottingham were at Heligoland, Dogger Bank, and Jutland. Lowestoft was at the first two but missed Jutland. Unfortunately, a model of this class as they were at Jutland would not accurately reflect HMAS Adelaide.
I was incorrect here.
• Chatham class light cruisers: Dublin and Southampton were at Jutland. Other significant actions involving ships of this class include the pursuit of SMS Goeben, Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank, and the destruction of SMS Emden. With six ships in this class, enthusiasts are likely to buy multiple packs.
Another hit for me.
• Acasta (K) class destroyers: Sixteen of these medium-sized destroyers saw service at Jutland, with four of them being sunk during this battle.
Nope; no WWI destroyer types this year.

For German ships:
• Pre-Dreadnought battleship Braunschweig class: Hessen of the Braunschweig class is the only battleship type at Jutland not yet modeled by GHQ. Despite its age, Hessen did participate actively in the battle.
I missed on both the German WWI types.
• V1 through S24 type destroyers: Nineteen destroyers of this type participated in the battle of Jutland. With a relatively large number of ships built, I think these would make a good product for GHQ.

For my three selections in the era of WWII, I’m going to divide them according to type of ship rather than by country.

Recently GHQ seems to have been producing at least one aircraft carrier each year. Although I am more interested in surface warfare, I predict that there will be another aircraft carrier in this year’s offerings. For this year, I’m going to predict the USS Lexington (CV-2) as she appeared at Coral Sea.
I was correct about an aircraft carrier, but picked the wrong one.

I also think there will be a battleship from WWII produced in the next year. My prediction is that it will be USS Idaho (BB-42) as she appeared in 1945 at Iwo Jima and Okinawa with individual enclosed 5â€￾/38 gun mounts.
No WWII battleships this year. Instead, GHQ announced a Japanese destroyer class.

GHQ should produce a WWII era cruiser in the coming year. I think the most likely is HMS Berwick or HMS Cornwall. These two ships differed from the other County class ships because of the large hanger added (like HMS Cumberland and HMS Suffolk – GHQ’s UKN2) but not cut down right aft like Cumberland & Suffolk. Berwick saw combat off Norway, in the Mediterranean, and fought Admiral Hipper in the Atlantic. Cornwall was sunk by Japanese carrier aircraft in the Indian Ocean.
I was correct about a WWII cruiser, but picked the wrong one. It’s been a while since GHQ produced a new WWII French ship. There are a number of other French ships that GHQ could produce for this era.

GHQ has been steadily producing merchant ships over the past several years. In the long term, this should continue. For this year, however, I predict no new merchant/auxiliary types.
I was correct about no merchant ships this year. I hope GHQ resumes producing merchant types next year.

Last year, GHQ produced four post-Cold War ships. I think they will continue with this pattern (rather than producing any Cold War types). I am going to go out on a limb and predict three modern Chinese ships for this year. Now that the first of the type 052D (Luyang III, Kunming) class destroyers is active, I think that this would be a good choice. This seems to be a highly-capable design with a large number of units planned.
Other likely choices for Chinese ships to be modeled by GHQ include the Yuzhao (type 071) class amphibious transport/dock, Yuting (type 072, 072II, 072III, 072A) landing ships, or Jiangdao (type 056) corvette.
I was pretty far off on this; no Chinese and no amphibious types. Maybe I’ll recycle this prediction for next year.

There are no aircraft packs in this list. I would like to see GHQ come out with some more aircraft packs, but don’t expect to see any this year. US forces need early WWII carrier aircraft, the Japanese need late-war carrier aircraft, and the British need something other than biplane Swordfish for carrier-based attack types. Of these, the Fleet Air Arm pack is my highest priority – at least the US and Japanese have some variety, if not complete coverage, in carrier-based aircraft. On the other hand, if GHQ produces an early-war Lexington or a late-war Unryu, one of these packs would be a good accompaniment.
I was pleasantly surprised at the release of WWII USA early-war carrier-based aircraft. I had thought that if this were produced it would be in conjunction with Lexington (CV-2) as she was at Coral Sea or perhaps an early-war Enterprise.

Also, I want to congratulate CG2 and 33YearsGHQ on their predictions. CG correctly predicted that there would not be more than four WWI types. 33YearsGHQ was correct about LCS-1, WWII Japanese destroyers, WWII aircraft, and a WWII Japanese aircraft carrier.

Don S.