US income question alpha 3

Welcome, General A-Ron!

Wheatbeer is correct.  Since Kamikaze strikes occur at the beginning of the Conduct Combat phase, any attacking air units are already in the air.

On the subject of convoy disruption, here’s a quote from the 2nd edition Rulebook:

There are three conditions that must exist for this kind of attack to occur:
1. The sea zone must have a “Convoy” image,
2. The sea zone must be adjacent to one or more of your controlled territories, and
3. At least 1 warship belonging to a power with which you are at war must be in the sea zone. (Any ships in the sea zone that belong to you or a friendly power will have no effect on convoy disruption.)

Convoy attacks on “Convoy” sea zones are conducted in the following manner.

Each enemy warship (except for aircraft carriers) and carrier-based air unit in the sea zone might cause the loss of 1 or more IPCs from your income for the turn. The owners of enemy battleships, cruisers, and/or destroyers rolls one die for each such unit, and the owners of enemy submarines and/or air units roll two dice for each such unit. Any rolls of “4” or higher are ignored. The results of these rolls that are “3” or less are totaled, and the resulting number is the total convoy damage suffered in the disruption. However, this number might be limited. Each disrupted convoy can’t lose more IPCs than the total IPC value of your controlled territories adjacent to the sea zone. Also, no single territory can lose more IPCs than its own IPC value from multiple disrupted adjacent convoys (for example, Japan cannot lose more than 8 IPCs from disrupted convoys in sea zones 6 and 19). After these limits are applied, the final total is subtracted from your income for the turn.

G1:

Purchase - 30 IPC
1 CV
1 DD
1 SS

Combat:

SZ110:
1 BB via SZ112
All Aircraft less the Tac in Poland and the Ftr in Hungary

SZ106:
2 SS via SZ117 and SZ118

SZ91:
2 SS via SZ108 and SZ103

SZ109:
1 SS via SZ124

Normandy:
2 Inf/Art via Holland

France:
3 Arm S.Germany
4 Mech, 1 Art, 3 Inf via W.Germany
3 Arm, 2 Inf via Holland
1 Ftr via Hungary
1 Tac via Poland

Yugoslavia:
6 Inf, 2 Art via S.France
3 Arm via Poland, Hungary and Romania
2 Inf via Hungary
1 Inf via Romania

Only thing to realistically note about this move is that if you sink all the ships in SZ110 and the BB is remaining, retreat to SZ112.

NCM:

Finland:
1 Inf via Norway

Bulgaria:
1 Inf via Romania

SZ112:
1 CR via SZ114
1 TT w/ 2 Inf from Poland to Norway
2 Ftr via SZ110

W.Germany:
All remaining Aircraft from France and SZ110

Unit Placement:

Place 1 CV, 1 DD, 1 SS in SZ112

End Move

Notes about this opener:

I like this opener due to the fact that provided the SS score hits in both SZ106 and SZ91 that you effectively eliminate units into England via Canada and help Italy in the Med.  Further, your SS are in a location (SZ106 and 91) that if the DD in SZ109 survives, that the UK has to choose one of the two to hit.

Your fleet in SZ112 has the following in it:
1 CV (with 2 Ftr)
1 CR
1 DD
1 SS
1 TT

It also has the possibility of a tipped BB as well as 3 aircraft to scramble out of W.Germany.  This will most likely deter England from sending its SZ111 fleet against your fleet.  The preservation of your fleet in SZ112 is paramount to allowing for SS builds on G2 and G3 to keep England in a defensive posture until the US establishes a presence of a fleet in Europe.

In example, the UK is going to have to face multiple SS from varied locations and it does not have enough DD to address them all, which enables Germany to establish a convoy on SZ109 as early as G2.  This convoy will probably survive until the 4th round before the US and England can remove your SS and fleet and regain control of the Atlantic.  This is beneficial to enabling a march on Moscow if the Allies cannot just waltz in with TT once the US enters the war.  Further, for every SS you purchase at 6 IPC - England has to spend 8 IPC on a DD to attack it with.  This creates a 2 IPC per SS advantage for Germany on top of any Convoy damage England takes.

The drawback to this is that Germany will probably not make significant headway into Russia until G4 - but it also enables Japan to work its magic of getting China under control while establishing an AB in Northern China to fly in its entire starting Air Force in support of your delayed entrance into Russia.  Many Japanese players will not buy into this tactic, but from an Axis perspective, If Germany owns Moscow then the fight is for Egypt - which Japan can assist with via its fleet sailing PAST Calcutta and into the Med.  A combined Japanese/Italian move against Egypt is almost impossible to stop - especially if Germany is providing air cover out of W.Germany once Moscow falls.

Another option, besides the CV buy, is to invest in bombers.

Do a strat. bomb on London G1 (with 2 bombers), and do another one with 2 + 2 on G2 (with a G1 buy of 2 bombers and whatever else your heart desires for 6 IPCs).

In my opinion, it’s the better option because once you’re through taking London, extra bombers are far more useful against the USSR than a carrier.

I’ve found floating a sub (or a couple!) on down off the west coast of Africa can work out pretty well.  Some nice convoy action down there to disrupt, and not many threats around.  Puts U.K. out of position if they come chase you down.

Ahhhhhh. Thanks a lot cts17!

I think I’ll have to try these setup/rule variations.

Thanks again!

~MadPup~

@MarkVIIIMarc:

To clarify: if i attack a territory and suffer greater losses than i expected i can move additional land units in during my movement phase to help defend it?

Yes that is right. So long as you won the battle you can move in further troops to defend it on your non-combat move. Aircraft, however are excluded as they must land in a territory that has been controlled by you or an ally since the beginning of your turn.

@MarkVIIIMarc:

Also, a transport can not move then pick up a unit, the transport must start off in the same sea zone as the units it intends to load?

Actually a transport may move, pick up troops and either drop them off or move again and drop them off. Once a transport unloads though it must stay in that sea zone until the following turn.

Plus Germany has a little extra incentive to make sure they keep it with the new NO.  Taking Norway and building an IC there won’t be the sure thing it’s always been up to now, but yes, if the US can pull it off it would be a major shift in power.