@shrinks:
I am strategically bombing Eastern United states as Germany. There is also a Naval battle off the coast going on at the same time.
My opponent has 3 fighters, 2 american and 1 British in EUS. He claims that he is able to use all 3 fighters to intercept my bombers. After which all that survive are able to scramble to defend the coast in the same turn.
is this completely legal? because in that case the fighters are doing 2 battles within the same turn.
what about the British fighter? can he intercept?
the reason why we are mainly confused is because in the Alpha +2 rules it says “Scrambling is a special action that can take place at the beginning of this phase (Phase 3: Conduct Combat (Powers at War Only), AND IT MUST BE COMPLETED BEFORE ANY COMBAT OCCURS.”
so the planes have to scramble before the strategic bombing raid? but in the conduct combat it goes in order as
1. strategic bombing raid
2. amphibious assaults
3. regular combat
this is where i get really confused. what if I were bombing the Air base???
could he still scramble then?
His claim is partially incorrect. He cannot send fighters to Intercept your bombers AND Scramble the same fighters in the following naval combat.
However, he CAN choose to use the british fighter (technically, the UK player chooses whether and how to use the british fighter) in either the intercept or the scramble. The timing of scrambling is such that he must choose (with each fighter, independently) whether to Scramble (up to 3 Tactical Bombers or Fighters in Alpha rules, unlimited in OOB rules, but if you’re defending East US, you’re using Alpha.) OR to Intercept (Only with Fighters) OR remain in territory BEFORE ANY COMBAT OCCURS (including Strategic Bombing Runs)
Strategic Bombing must take place before other combat because if you perform and SBR on a factory you’re also attacking, you cannot bomb the factory if you’ve already captured it (so SBRs must be done first). This is something of a relic of SBR rules from days past, where factories weren’t damaged but instead the damage was IPCs given back to the bank (and you certainly wouldn’t want to send your own IPCs back to the bank).
Also, Amphibious Assaults occur at the same time as regular combat. It is the NAVAL BATTLE that occurs in the seazone that the Amphibious Assault will come from that occurs first.
The timing is:
-
Combat Movements. all combats are described an assigned - escorts go with bombers, planes that you’d need to help in the event of a scramble are sent to those seazones that the attacker deems critical, etc. There is NO redo after this for the attacker. All attacking planes are assigned ONLY in this step.
-
Scrambling Assigned. Scrambled planes cannot be used in any other battles (defending territory, interception)
-
Strategic Bombing Runs are performed. Interception is chosen by defender. Escorts were previously assigned in step 1 and no revision can be made - they’re escorting whether or not the defending sends up interceptors and cannot do anything else that turn. Interceptors also cannot be used in any other battle that turn.
-
Naval Battles that would involve an amphibious assault from that seazone. If defender has scrambled to these zones, attacker cannot assign anything in response. All attacking planes are assigned ONLY in step 1.
-
Any other battle occurs. If defender has scrambled to these zones, attacker cannot assign anything in response. All attacking planes are assigned ONLY in step 1.
