Try using tanks first to exploit this weakness of the IPM as the Allies then move on to planes b/c doing it with planes takes a great deal of skill and game knowledge and there is not a great deal of margin of error in terms of purchasing. If you buy too many planes too quickly you can get in trouble and if you buy a few over a very long period this unique ploy might be made irrelevent. With tanks you have more options and its easier for a lower skilled player to enact it adequately. If you are worried about losing Africa dont. If the Brits slide their tanks into Cauc they can shield SEuro from the Japanese and delay a full takeover by them. Also when the Japs move a large fleet into FICSz to threaten Africa you can take Turkey with the armor in order to threaten a retake. In essence you defend Africa with but a few guys, I go as small as 2-3 or even 1. Japan is too weak to afford a press on Russia and a lurch for Africa and if Britain can reatake it immediately then it does no good. Of course British steel in Cauc and still hit EEuro and Novo, but if the Japs have gone “all in” to FICSz then you know they have to “crap or get off the pot” meaning they either have to go back to Japan on the next turn or go to Africa. If they go to Africa you make sure you have enough tanks to overwhelm(Japan shouldn’t be able to go with much more than 16inf so 3inf 20arm some air should be able to take with ~17arm, enough to withstand most counterattacks. That is unless Japan backs off troops f/Sink to India for just this, but in that situation Japan is costing them not 1 but 2 turns of reinforcements to Siberia so Russia should be able to push Japan back quite a ways there and the British steel can help.
Air Units - How They Move - Fighters and Bombers
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On page 14 of the AA Classic 2nd edition, it states the following under Fighter Planes section of How They Move: “On their flight into an enemy-occupied land territory or sea zone, fighters can also fly over other enemy and neutral territories and sea sones in route.”
Does this mean that air units can fly over enemy-occupied territories during a combat movement or strategic bombing raid?
For example, can a German bomber leave Germany and fly to bomb the United Kingdom’s industrial complex if there are enemy naval units in the neighboring sea zone? Or could a German bomber leave Eastern Europe and fly over enemy land units on its way to bomb Russia’s industrial complex?
My interpretation of the phrasing “enemy territory” vs. “enemy-occupied” territory means that if any enemy unit (excluding AA guns) is in any territory or zone, an air unit cannot fly over that unit to conduct combat or strategic bombing.
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@burmaboi Air units can fly over any territory or sea zone, regardless of its status or who occupies it. Of course, they must suffer the fire of any enemy AA guns they fly over during combat movement, and they must end their noncombat movement in a territory that was friendly at the beginning of the turn (or on a friendly carrier in the case of fighters).
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@krieghund Can you tell me where in the AA Classic 2nd edition rule book it would help you make that call?
I am basing my understanding of this rule on what I have sighted above, and based on the Land Combat and Naval Combat portions of the “5 Combat” Section on pages 18-20.
On page 18, under the subtitle Land Combat, it states “When land and air units move into an enemy-occupied territory, follow the sequence below”
On page 19, under the subtitle Naval Combat, it states “When land and air units move into an enemy-occupied sea zone, follow the sequence below”
Now how I interpret this, anytime any air unit flies into an enemy-occupied space a combat sequence needs to be followed.
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@burmaboi The rules consistently use the term “into” when referencing the ending space of a unit’s move and “through” when referencing spaces passed through along the way. So, an air unit must conduct combat if it moves “into” an enemy-occupied space, but not “through” one (other than being fired upon by AA guns). Also, on page 14, the rules mention AA guns in “flown over” territories, which indicates that enemy-occupied territories may be moved through, and the Official Rules Clarifications make the same reference on page 2 in point 6 regarding AA guns.