Bombers, naval bombardments, damaged capital ships/factories

[Gandroid]

I’m mainly wondering if you can carry out a bombardment or air strike on enemy troops even if you have no ground troops involved in the combat. For example, can the UK launch air raids and bombardments in normandy and holland even if they have no plans for a landing that turn? Only have a couple matches under my belt, and everyone I play with is as new, or newer, than I am to the game. The rulebook only mentions bombardment in coordination with amphibious assaults, unless I missed some info in there.

Was also wondering how to handle aircraft attacking naval units (excluding carriers). So far we’ve been giving ships a defensive roll against aircraft since they would certainly have AA guns, but we’re all a little unsure about the rules around it.

Lastly, we weren’t entirely sure of the costs involved in repairing damaged capital ships and factories. Unless I’m mistaken, capital ships can only be repaired at your own factions naval yards, but we weren’t sure of the cost (if any). We were also uncertain about the cost of repairing factories, etc. We figured it would be 1 IPC per point of damage dealt to the factory, but were also uncertain if the factory can be used the same turn it is repaired.

Hope I wasn’t too vague. We’re all loving the game, just wanna make sure we’re doing it right :-)

[Witt]

Morning Gandroid. Happy to help you and your friends get the game right.

Naval Bombardment is only for landing troops amphibiously and a one time shot per BB/CR to every  one per Ground unit landed. Defending troops still get to shoot back and possibly kill the attacking Ground units.

Air units can indeed Attack Naval units. The only exception is that to attack a Sub, the attacker whose turn it is must also have a Destroyer in the SZ. If they don’t, any Subs cannot be hit by the Air units.

Capital ships beginning their turn in a SZ bordering a Naval Base are repaired, free of charge, at the beginning of the turn, before any Movement (Combat or Non Combat).
Factories are repaired at the same time, but you do pay one per damage repaired.
Bear in mind, you do not need to repair a Fac/Base to its maximum. You only need repair as much as you can afford or the necessary amount to build the number of units you wish to buy.
Air and Naval bases work to their full potential even with two Damage.

Please ask again if unclear.
Enjoy this, our favourite game.

[Gandroid]

Good morning to you, witttmann.

That helped a lot, we were all arguing over our interpretations of the rules :-D The rules regarding damage on all of the base types really cleared things up. Also, if you get lucky and wipe out a force with bombardment (Friend did this to me in Malta) Do the landing forces regard it as an undefended territory?

That also brings up a couple more questions about air and naval bases that I forgot about. We played with the rule that air and naval bases are like minor factories. With this in place they could only produce 3 units per turn, and could only be placed on territories with 2 IPC. Is this correct? Or can they be placed on any territory producing IPC?

Lastly, we figured planes could be refueled in a territory even if it was taken in the combat phase, but we weren’t entirely sure about it.

[Witt]

Hello again.

Defenders always get to shoot back at the Ground or Air units, as all combat is simultaneous (even pre bombardments). Effectively, you could clear the beaches, but still not take possession of the territory.

Air Bases and Naval Bases can be placed in any territory owned by your power at the beginning of your turn, even ones worth nothing. They do not produce any units.

Not sue what you mean by refuelled. Planes can only go on a mission if they have sufficient movement left to reach a friendly territory or carrier. They can never land on newly conquered territory on your power’s turn. However, UK planes could land on a territory captured by the US on its turn (as they are a separate power who follow it).

[Gandroid]

Thanks wittmann, that cleared up a lot of things that we were doing wrong. Can’t wait to play again with a better understanding of the rules.

[Krieghund]

@Gandroid:

Unless I’m mistaken, capital ships can only be repaired at your own factions naval yards, but we weren’t sure of the cost (if any).

Your capital ships may be repaired at any friendly, operative naval base, not just your own bases.  As wittmann indicated, there is no IPC cost for this.

[Gandroid]

Oh, awesome. We thought you had to own the base. That actually makes a lot more sense as far as realism goes.