Naval Retreat & Pursuit

[oztea]

The naval combat is risky to make amphibious invasions into hostile waters suicidal.
There was no D-Day in WWI.
Land at a friendly port, march to the front. No tomfoolery behind enemy lines.
I dont want to see some grand American army sail into SZ 11 and dump 6 loaded transports on Berlin.

[Imperious Leader]

To a KISS idea would be to keep the OOB naval rules, except defending ships can retreat if you roll above their combat value. This makes cruisers the easiest to retreat. Of course transports ( AKA Ocean liners) don’t retreat.

[Flashman]

That gives me an idea for a new icon - icebergs.

Any ocean liner moving into a SZ with an Iceberg icon must roll a dice; a 1 means they get sunk.

[ossel]

@oztea:

The naval combat is risky to make amphibious invasions into hostile waters suicidal.
There was no D-Day in WWI.
Land at a friendly port, march to the front. No tomfoolery behind enemy lines.
I dont want to see some grand American army sail into SZ 11 and dump 6 loaded transports on Berlin.

I feel like, between the mine rules and the new preemptive strike artillery get during amphibious assaults, Larry has pretty well discouraged that type of move.

[BJCard]

Not sure how grand the american navy will be at 20 IPCs/turn.

[oztea]

10 loaded transports making an amphibious invasion in the Baltic would be pretty grand.

[BJCard]

10 loaded transports are a significant investment for a country making 20 IPCs.

Does the US start with 20 units?  Looks like 6 Inf, 2 Art to me.

Also, one Battleship and one cruiser.  I suppose that could be enough escort, combined with the British ships, but I’d like another cruiser at least.

therefore-

10 transports = 60 IPCs
starting 6 Inf, 2 Art
Buy:
5 Inf = 15 IPCs
1 Art = 4 IPCs
2 Tank = 12 IPCs
1 Cruiser = 9 IPCs

This gives you 100 IPCs.  I guess if you are waiting until turn 6 to start moving the US fleet then more power to ya (You’d get there turn 8).  I would rather get to France with 5 loaded transports on turn 6 and follow that with 1 or 2 loaded transports every turn.

This all assumes the US can’t move forces to Europe before at war (the way I’m going to play, rules or no).

[oztea]

If the allies are stable it might be worth waiting as the US so you can set sail with an annoyingly large transport fleet that can D-day somewhere in germanys backyard.

[ossel]

I think we may not be quite grasping the feel of this game. I keep seeing posts about grand maneuvers like ‘Land a large invasion force in Germany’s backyard.’

I think when it comes down to it, players will be forced to throw any and all available troops at whatever front is most critical, in order to avoid being overrun…you may not have extra men to make sneak attacks on Germany when Fritz is knocking on Paris’ front door.

Also remember that a ‘front’ is not going to be just one or two territories, but possibly all tt’s on one’s border. Feeding the meat grinder is going to be more expensive than I think we realize.

[BJCard]

@oztea:

If the allies are stable it might be worth waiting as the US so you can set sail with an annoyingly large transport fleet that can D-day somewhere in germanys backyard.

True, but I hope the allies aren’t stable otherwise the writing is on the wall by the time the US can make landings on turn 6.  Would you risk DDay if naval mines can hit transports? (Can they?  Not sure).  May be better to land in friendly territory in France or Italy.

[oztea]

Naval mines can hit transports. You call out mines on ships one by one. (to distinguish transport w/2 INF vs transport with INF+Tank)

So yea, amphibious invasions are risky, but if you have naval superiority why march through France as the US when you can land and Greece and be super annoying.