Concerning transports / "bridging"

[A Former User]

Hi there,

if an US Transporter want’s to load UK Infantry (i.e.), the UK has to walk in at UK’s turn (i.e. turn 4), get transported at US’s turn (i.e. turn 5), and finally get offloaded on UK’s turn (i.e. turn 5). So far, so good.

So my short question: is it possible to offload UK troops from a US Transport and load new UK troops the same turn?

Thanks in advance,
NiSo

[Witt]

Morning NiSo and welcome.
I am afraid not.

[simon33]

@Pac:

Land units belonging to friendly powers must load on their controller’s turn, be carried on your turn, and offload on a later
turn of their controller. This is true even if the transport remains in the same sea zone.

[A Former User]

Thanks to you both,

I had some hope that the bridging rule differ this a bit… Would have been to nice to be real… :-D

Cheers!

[KaLeu]

Just to add some more information on “bridging”:

@Europe:

A transport can load and offload units without moving from the friendly sea zone it’s in (this is known as “bridging”). Each such transport is still limited to its cargo capacity. It can offload in only one territory, and once it offloads, it can’t move, load, or offload again that turn.

However, I suppose that in the example at hand, after offloading the UK troops, it would be possible to load other allied troops (ANZAC, French, Russian) once their turn arrives.

[Athlim]

Hi guys,
Had recently a Global 1940 2nd ED session After a couple of years .
One question our Group was uncertain about affects how Loading and unloading works for the different land units.

Rule Interpretation A
when a Transport gets loaded with INF, those loaded INFs cannot be unloaded in the Same Turn. Only mech /Tank could unload the Same Turn.

Rule Interpretation B
Regardless which Land Units are loaded on a Transport, they can be unloaded on the Same turn.

In a nut shell, its all about the Phrase “loading / unloading uses up the complete movement of a Land unit for this Turn”. As an INF basically only has a movement value of one, a Part of our group argues that INF can just load onto a transport (using up its Single movement Point) and during its Next Turn use its movement Point to be unloaded…

Please give me a clarification to this issue. I Personally always used Variant B but i can See the Argumentation for Variant A.

Thx

[ColonelCarter]

Interpretation B is correct.

I like to consider loading and unloading as part of the transport’s movement. Transports can grab units from coastal territories that satisfy certain conditions (see below) and can drop them in another coastal territory at the end of their movement.
This interpretation falls through for multi-national transporting, but that also has other exceptions and I can still grasp the concept.

“Loading/unloading uses up the complete movement of a Land unit for this Turn” means that to load, you need all your movement points, i.e. a multi-move unit can’t move before getting picked up by a transport. Similarly, unloading also uses all movement points, i.e. a multi-move unit can’t move after unloading, even if it was loaded on a previous turn.

[simon33]

To back up ColonelCarter:
@Europe:

If a
transport loads land units during the Combat Move phase,
it must offload those units to attack a hostile territory as
part of an amphibious assault during the Conduct Combat
phase, or it must retreat during the sea combat step of
the amphibious assault sequence while attempting to
do so.

This shows that it is valid to load and unload in the same turn. The rule I quoted above shows that it is not valid to do so for allied units. They must be units of the same power as the transport owner.

Clear? I suppose if one wanted to be difficult you could argue that the rules don’t clarify that loading/unloading isn’t a movement point in the land sense so all those paragraphs only apply to Mec Inf and Tanks. I don’t think that argument is valid.

[Athlim]

Thx for the replies.

I will try to bring in those arguments.
But as stated above in the comments it’s not directly written in the rules.
It’s the conclusion from the Paragraph.

[Krieghund]

The actual quote from page 34 of the Europe rules is, “Loading onto and/or offloading from a transport counts as a land unit’s entire move; it can’t move before loading or after offloading.”  The “and/or” means the phrase is read as both “Loading onto and offloading from” and “Loading onto or offloading from”, which indicates that whether a unit loads, offloads, or both it uses its entire move for the turn.  As a result, infantry may both load and offload in the same turn (provided they belong to the same power as the transport).

[StuckTojo]

@Krieghund:

The actual quote from page 34 of the Europe rules is, “Loading onto and/or offloading from a transport counts as a land unit’s entire move; it can’t move before loading or after offloading.”  The “and/or” means the phrase is read as both “Loading onto and offloading from” and “Loading onto or offloading from”, which indicates that whether a unit loads, offloads, or both it uses its entire move for the turn.  As a result, infantry may both load and offload in the same turn (provided they belong to the same power as the transport).

Which makes perfect sense, because for US troops to load onto, and then off of, a UK transport, for example, it would imply a move by the UK transport, which it obviously can’t do on the US’s turn.

It’s the same reason a US transport can’t bridge US troops into a land combat and then move to another sea zone during the non-combat phase: it’s MOVE has been used up. However, US troops could load onto (but not subsequently off) a US transport during combat, and then the transport could move during non-combat with the troops on board, because it’s move hasn’t been used up. The act of bridging, however, implies a move - whether combat or non-combat - has been made.

[Panther]

@StuckTojo:

…. However, US troops could load onto (but not subsequently off) a US transport during combat, and then the transport could move during non-combat with the troops on board, because it’s move hasn’t been used up. …

Sorry, this is not correct:

@rulebook:

If a
transport loads land units during the Combat Move phase,
it must offload those units to attack a hostile territory as
part of an amphibious assault during the Conduct Combat
phase, or it must retreat during the sea combat step of
the amphibious assault sequence while attempting to
do so.

So there is no chance to move that transport in the noncombat move phase again.

[StuckTojo]

Yes, I see what you mean. I had a billion bits of info in my skull trying to get this all figured out.

[Athlim]

Thx guys. Problem solved.  :-D