Retreating and amphibious assault?

The confusion seems to be in you’re holding back naval ships for naval bombardment. The advantage about scrambling planes is that it forces the attacker to commit all their naval ships regardless if they want to or not. That’s why it is sometimes wise to scramble in a losing battle if the enemy is relying on bombardment for victory. The easiest situation would be when Japan invades the Philippine islands. If Japan was so aggressive that all they brought was two infantry with two cruisers as example. I would scramble the fighter in that situation because while I will lose the sea battle, if you choose to invade the island after the battle, you’re doing it without naval support which gives my defending infantry a better chance at winning.

Thanks for the responses guys. Much appreciated.

“As we play the game that no air combat can take place unless at least one attacking ground unit is involved”

How do you blow up stranded bombers?  doesn’t it make perfect sense that the lone landed bomber defending at 1 should be strafed apart by attacking planes?  Except for integrating interceptions into SBR, there is no defined “air combat” air units function largely just like land units except with different move restrictions.

A transport can load units while in any friendly sea zone along its route, including the sea zone it started in. 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. A transport that is part of an amphibious assault must end its movement in a friendly sea zone (or
one that could become friendly as result of sea combat) from which it can conduct the assault. However, a transport is not
allowed to offload land units for an amphibious assault in a sea zone containing 1 or more ignored enemy submarines unless at
least 1 warship belonging to the attacking power is also present in the sea zone at the end of the Combat Move phase.

Page 16, AA Pacific 1940 Rulebook

Battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and transports move, attack, and defend in sea zones. They
can’t move into territories. For the sake of these rules, the following are surface warships: battleships, carriers, cruisers, and
destroyers. Transports are not warships. Submarines are warships, but they are not surface warships.

Page 31, AA Pacific 1940 Rulebook

This might help clarify.

You are right on all counts MeinHerr.

As someone who has had to read a LOT of pages of rules related to AAG40 (but WHAT a fun game!), the answer to your question is referenced here, in the AA 1940 Pacific Rules FAQ (page 4):

"Q. Let’s say I’m doing an amphibious assault and there are no enemy ships in the sea zone
around the island I’m attacking, but the island has an airbase and enemy fighters. Can I move
extra ships and planes into the sea zone along with my transports that won’t support the
assault just in case my opponent decides to scramble the fighters to defend the sea zone?
What about if there’s only an enemy sub in the sea zone? Can I move a destroyer in along with
my transport just to keep the sub from getting a free shot at it, even though the destroyer will
not participate in the assault?

A. Yes, in both cases. You may move units into a sea that presents a danger to your units during
combat movement, even though they may not actually end up fighting. Just the chance that there will
be combat is enough to allow it."

Attached is that FAQ for your review, and happy gaming!

AA 1940 Pacific Rules FAQ.pdf

@calvinhobbesliker:

Actually, they will die. The procedure for aircraft retreat is different from sea or land retreat: the air units break off and land anywhere withing their remaining range. Since the plane had zero movement points left, it dies if you retreat

Correct.

Thanks for the speedy reply!