Few ?'s about version 2

@daggaz:

Ok, can you move a trn two spaces, engage in an naval battle (you have other ships there, the trn stays out of the sea battle) and then bridge units across that sea zone?  For instance, JP has a fleet in burma sz, moves up to JP sz, destroys an american sub there, and then the trn in that fleet (which was declared part of the amphibious assault on russian invaded manchuria), bridges two inf from JP to Man.

I believe that is legal, but I’m trying to dig up confirmation of that.

The transport would have to be present during the naval battle and would be in jeopardy of being sunk (and it’s cargo lost).
You’d have to declare the whole move during the combat phase.
Should the Trn survive the naval battle you then continue with the amphib battle at Man.

@daggaz:

Another question: do you give defending subs the sneak attack capabilty? We read it cold and hard, and the answer was no. But knowing how M&B suck for this game so hard, thought I would ask the int. community.

No.  Not in 2nd Edition.

@daggaz:

Last question, and the one guaranteed to generate the most answers: What is the best way to handle bidding to balance this game (version 2), when you include Russia Restricted as part of standard game play. Be VERY explicit in your description of how bidding works, as we have never used this method before. (I finally taught my friends enough that whoever plays allies, wins. unless they are really drunk or really hung over.)

There are a few different ways.

#1 - Blind Bid.

Both players write a number of IPC they want on a piece of paper.  Player A writes 12, Player B writes 14.  You then show each other what you wrote and Player A would then get to be the Axis with 12 extra IPC to spend.

#2 - Aution Bid.

Flip a coin to start.  Player A says “I’ll play Axis with 18 Bid”.  Player B says " I’ll take Axis with 16", Player A then says “15”, etc.  And you go back and forth until one player stops.

You can alos Bid up, in the same style.  Player says "I’m willing to give you 10 IPC if you play the Axis."  Player B then says “I’ll give you 12”,  etc.  And you again go back and forth until one player stops.

#3 - Bid with declared placement (Kind of like auction style).

Player A “I’ll bid 14, with 3 inf, 1 arm on Lib”.  Player B then responds with a counter (in which case it goes back to player A again - like the auction style), then some one finally accepts the bid.

This is designed to allow some variation.  You may not want to give someone 16 IPC, just so they can place a bunch of troops in EE, BUT if they bid 16 with 1 bom and 1 IPC to the Ger bank you may be willing to grant that.

There may be more styles but I think these are the most common.

@daggaz:

Oh… having read your answer the second time… I can see you perhaps mean the tranny (and fleet) enter the contested sz, the tranny picks up the cargo, the battle ensues (and now it hurts to lose that tranny), and if trn survives, it can unload? Hmm I like that too, that seems fair as well.

Yes.
All naval units (including trn) must enter the sz during the combat phase (if you intend to bridge and perform an amphib assualt).
Technically, the trn will pick up the troops (and declare the intention to go to man) prior to the naval battle.  Should the trn be sunk, you lose the inf as well.

If it helps think of the enemy ships as guarding the Man coast, and your ships sail to the safe side pick up the inf on Japan, THEN encounter the enemy ships as they approach the Man coast.

Should you retreat from the naval battle, the inf are left on the trn and cannot go to shore (anywhere).

You cannot declare the naval battle, then afterword move the trn and pick up the troops to attack Man.

However, if Man is friendly then you could of course hold the trn back from combat and bridge during Non-Com.

So is it revised where you cannot load a trn in a sz that has hostile enemy units?  I am thinking of a G1 Gibraltar attack here, where you have to load the trn from SEU not WEU…is this a revised rule then, whereas it would be legal to load the trn from WEU in 2nd edition?

@daggaz:

EXTRA BONUS PS:  We have an interesting houserule about the capture of an enemy capital.  The IPC’s from that capital are like a stash of gold.  They are heavy, and immobile (man, digital transfer of funds thru international banking cartels just DIDNT happen back then).  That said, if you take a capital, the IPC’s of that capital are in your hands, but they are stuck in the capital of origin.  You CANNOT spend them, until a turn where the capital is in your possession on the beginning of that turn, at which point those IPC’s are transferred to your general fund, to be spent anywhere. (It takes a full round to liberate enemy gold).  Even then, the captured capital only has limited production capabilities (ie, Moscow produces only 10 units) according to the normal rules.  If you take a capital, and the enemy retakes that capital on their next turn, the enemy also retakes their gold.  Note those IPC’s can only be spent on their next turn, provided they still own the capital.Â

So which money is lost when the surviving opponent’s heavy bombers do a stategic industrial bombing attack?