Hi All
Am in a forum game with teslas and even his greater understanding of the rules cannot answer all my questions. Although it is also likely that in some cases he has answered and I have not understood!
I am considering a SBR on R. teslas has 5 UK and 2 R fighters there, all of which we understand can intercept.
My three questions:
1. The escort and bombing choices I have?
All air units in the interceptor battle throw 1 or less - including fighters, TBs and bombers. Both sides choose their air battle losses as they wish.
That encourages me to include TBs and bombers in the SBR that I may not wish to actually bomb.
For example TBs can only bomb airfields and harbours – which seems largely irrelevant in this case - so do they have to bomb and so incur AA, or can they merely escort?
Similarly I may not need all the bombers I commit to optimise factory damage, so can some merely escort and so avoid AA fire?
Quote from the rules: After the air battle is complete, or if there were no defending fighter interceptors, surviving fighter escorts are considered to have retreated. They don’t participate in the actual bombing raid, are not subject to antiaircraft fire, and will remain in the territory until the Noncombat Move phase. Any surviving attacking bombers carry out the bombing raid. If the territory offers more than one target, the bombers may be divided into groups, and each assigned a specific target (tactical bombers may not attack industrial complexes).
It does not say must carry out the bombing raid, so does that leave me options? Does not say may carry out either, so seems open to interpretation.
One example might be whether the attacker has the option of scrubbing the all or part of the SBR altogether.
2. The AA casualty choices I have?
From the above quote it seems clear that escorting fighters cannot be taken as AA casualties.
Quote from the rules: “Each industrial complex, air base, and naval base has its
own antiaircraft system. If there is an AAA (antiaircraftartillery) unit in the targeted territory, don’t roll for it. Those units are used to protect combat units. Each complex and base rolls one die against each bomber directly attacking it (regardless of the number of bombers). For each “1†rolled, a bomber of the attacker’s choice is immediately removed.â€
How far dies that undefined choice extend? If 3 bombers bomb the factory and 2 TBs bomb the airfield, the factory AA kills 1 and the airfield AA none, can I choose a TB as the casualty? Or having subdivided into groups for each facility do the AA only hit planes of that group?
And depending on the answer to the first question above, if non-bombing escort only bombers and TBs are allowed can these be taken as casualties? For example can I allocate TBs to the factory group even though they cannot bomb?
3. Does Triple A handle all these issues correctly?
Thanks to anyone able to help in advance.