Question about Shore Bombardment during amphibious assaults

[elque]

There has been some discussion/argument within our AA42 group about the extent of shore bombardment allowed during an amphibious assault. Can battleships/cruisers/etc. fire multiple times on a coastal location to support an assault or may they fire only one round (one die roll). Appreciate any clarification on this matter.

[Veqryn]

similar to AA gun shots

shore bombardment happens BEFORE combat starts
It only happens once per area being amphibiously assaulted
there can be no more shore bombardment rolls than the total number of units being offloaded from the transports for combat in that territory
if the roll is a hit, the enemy unit is moved to the casualty board (meaning they still get their defending roll)

[elque]

Thank you Veqryn. That clears it up.

[johnnymarr]

and naval units can’t be taken as casualies

[elque]

Quick follow up: Can the attacker decide to abort the amphibious landing after the shore bombardment phase. Or must the attacker commit to at least one round of combat once the shore bombardment has commenced?

[Krieghund]

If you declare an amphibious assault, you must go through with it.  The only exception is if you lose the preceding naval combat, either by losing all your ships or retreating.

In the case where there is no sea battle, your amphibious units have already been moved into the assaulted territory during Combat Movement.  They are already committed to the attack before the shore bombardment occurs in the Conduct Combat phase, so there’s no turning back.

Also, amphibious units may not retreat once they land.  They must fight to the death.

[Veqryn]

you you were, say, attacking from land territory AND using an amphibious assault from some transports, you could retreat your land attacking units, and any aircraft, but your amphibious assaulting troops may not retreat.

so krieg, does that mean it is a partial retreat, or do you just have to wait until your amphibious guys die first to do a full retreat?  or am i wrong, you can’t do this at all?

[Krieghund]

You may retreat your non-amphibious land units and/or air units at the end of any round of combat, regardless of whether or not amphibious units remain, but they must all retreat together.  This is the only circumstance under which a partial retreat is allowed.

[dnalevelc]

Alright, I need a pro to answer this question for me.

An argument ensued after a japanese amphibious assault was launched on US controlled midway island.  US had a navy with carriers holding fighters, and land units on the island. The japanese navy wiped out the US navy and air units, with the exception of one US fighter and one japanese battleship with one hit on it remaining.

At this point, I explained that the Japanese battleship had to destroy the US fighter, clearing the sea zone, in order to continue to the next step of the amphibious assaut. My opponent, the Japanese, declared that the sea combat was successful because there were no defending warships, just a US fighter remaining. His battleship missed and my fighter hit the battleship.

Please clarify rules on this scenario, and furthermore what happens to the transports and their cargo?

[Krieghund]

Criag is right, of course.  The rulebook says that all defending warships must be destroyed, but it should say all defending units.  This will be corrected in the FAQ.

[dnalevelc]

thanks for the speedy response. about the retreat, could the transports retreat one space, and dump cargo on say, Japanese controlled hawaii?

[Krieghund]

The transports may retreat, assuming there’s a sea zone from which at least one of the attacking sea units came that’s friendly.  However, they may not unload their cargo in the same turn.

[dnalevelc]

Craig, Krieghund, thank you so much for your expertise. I cant find many people to play in Cleveland. I wish we could be playing online so you can teach me a thing or two about defeat and humility. I am taking this game way too seriously. I invite my pals over for strategy discussions, and have game night once a week.

[lozmoid]

Hey guys, I have a retreat question of my own. This situation came up in a current game a couple of times recently, and I read the AA42 manual for the answer but couldn’t find it stated explicitly:

When retreating from a land combat, I know that all attacking land units must move to one adjacent space from which at least one of those units originally came. But what about the attacking air units? We played it that they may move to any friendly space (range permitting) during the Non-Combat Move. Were we correct in this? Or must they move to the same space as all the land units?

Thanks very much in advance. I hope we played it right. Also, I take it that partial retreats are still allowed? i.e. all/some attacking air units may retreat from a land cobat after one round, leaving the attacking land units to continue the struggle… Is this correct also? Thank you again.

[Krieghund]

@Lozmoid:

When retreating from a land combat, I know that all attacking land units must move to one adjacent space from which at least one of those units originally came. But what about the attacking air units? We played it that they may move to any friendly space (range permitting) during the Non-Combat Move. Were we correct in this? Or must they move to the same space as all the land units?

You played it correctly.

@Lozmoid:

Also, I take it that partial retreats are still allowed? i.e. all/some attacking air units may retreat from a land cobat after one round, leaving the attacking land units to continue the struggle… Is this correct also? Thank you again.

Partial retreats are only allowed in the case of amphibious assaults. Even then, all units that may retreat (non-amphibious units) must retreat at the same time.