Guadalcanal Tips and Tactics article

Hi there,

I am confused about land units NOT being allowed to attack airfields.  The rules do indicate that when using air or sea power that has previously attacked, you must decide if they are attacking land units or airfields - they cannot attack both.

However, nowhere in the rules does it say “land units cannot attack airfields”.  I agree that what you are saying makes sense.  Perhaps Avalon Hill should issue an official errata so that we can all play with the same expectations.

Thanks,

Harry

On page 16 of the Operations Manual under Attack Land Units and/or Airfields it says:

For each of your air units and sea units participating in the attack (not land units), decide whether it will attack the enemy’s land units or airfields.

The “(not land units)” implies that land units don’t have the option of attacking airfields.  I agree that the wording isn’t the clearest.  I’m trying to get it added to the FAQ, but I think the move of the forums to Gleemax is taking up a lot of AH’s resources right now.

Question regarding combat.

Must opposing units (air, sea or land) attack if they are in the same zone after movement phase is complete?

For example:
After movement phase, Japanese (first player) have sizeable fleet and air contingent in a sea zone that is also occupied by American (second player) fleet and air cover. Does the Japanese player HAVE to attack in air and on sea? If Japanese player is not forced to attack (i.e., he simply “passes” and doesn’t roll combat dice), can American player (as second player) engage and attack? Or is only the first player able to decide whether there will be combat?

I’ve only played a few games, but in all instances we have played that enemy units occupying the same sea, air or land zone at the end of the movement phase must roll combat. If first player decides not to attack, does second player have a choice? I don’t see any advantage in not attacking. If you choose not to attack because you’re outnumbered, won’t your opponent have the same option, and wouldn’t he attack if he had an advantage?

I believe that they do. I will have to do more checking though. Why would you move ships into an a sea zone of enemies and not want to attack? You just wouldn’t move them. Yes I see no advantage to it.

Oh,… and I forgot these two.

1. Submarine movement and attack - does first player move AND attack before the second player moves his submarines? Or do both sides move their submarines and then both attack dice are rolled for both? It’s a little unclear, although the phase indicates “move submarines and attack”.

2. If a player puts multiple AA guns on an island, does EACH AA gun add 3 dice to the air attack? Or can only 1 AA gun fire, even if there are multiple guns present? So,… if you had 3 AA guns on Guadalcanal and the Japanese attacked, would you get 9 dice from the AA guns in the air attack phase? Or only 3? (This is where A&AR habits cause me not to think things through…)

Thanks Admiral.

@Botider:

Must opposing units (air, sea or land) attack if they are in the same zone after movement phase is complete?

For example:
After movement phase, Japanese (first player) have sizeable fleet and air contingent in a sea zone that is also occupied by American (second player) fleet and air cover. Does the Japanese player HAVE to attack in air and on sea? If Japanese player is not forced to attack (i.e., he simply “passes” and doesn’t roll combat dice), can American player (as second player) engage and attack? Or is only the first player able to decide whether there will be combat?

I’ve only played a few games, but in all instances we have played that enemy units occupying the same sea, air or land zone at the end of the movement phase must roll combat. If first player decides not to attack, does second player have a choice? I don’t see any advantage in not attacking. If you choose not to attack because you’re outnumbered, won’t your opponent have the same option, and wouldn’t he attack if he had an advantage?

The first player only decides the order of combats, not whether or not they occur.  If enemy forces are in the same zone, they will fight.  There may also be instances of units attacking adjacent zones, such as ships doing shore bombardment without an accompanying land attack.  The second player may declare the intent of such an attack, and the first player decides when it occurs during the sequence of combat resolution.  Remember that each unit with the Ranged Fire ability may only attack one adjacent zone per turn, and that zone is decided at the point at which the combat in that zone is resolved.  As a result of this, determining order of combat has significant strategic advantages.

@Botider:

1. Submarine movement and attack - does first player move AND attack before the second player moves his submarines? Or do both sides move their submarines and then both attack dice are rolled for both? It’s a little unclear, although the phase indicates “move submarines and attack”.

Each submarine is moved and/or attacked with individually, starting with the first player’s subs.  If the first player has two subs and the second player has one, the first player will move his/her first sub and attack with it, then do the same with his/her second.  Finally, the second player will move and attack with his/her sub.

@Botider:

2. If a player puts multiple AA guns on an island, does EACH AA gun add 3 dice to the air attack? Or can only 1 AA gun fire, even if there are multiple guns present? So,… if you had 3 AA guns on Guadalcanal and the Japanese attacked, would you get 9 dice from the AA guns in the air attack phase? Or only 3? (This is where A&AR habits cause me not to think things through…)

Each AA gun adds three dice.

Thanks, Krieghund.

@Krieghund:

On page 16 of the Operations Manual under Attack Land Units and/or Airfields it says:

For each of your air units and sea units participating in the attack (not land units), decide whether it will attack the enemy’s land units or airfields.

The “(not land units)” implies that land units don’t have the option of attacking airfields.  I agree that the wording isn’t the clearest.  I’m trying to get it added to the FAQ, but I think the move of the forums to Gleemax is taking up a lot of AH’s resources right now.

Thanks, Krieghund!  I agree - the wording is poor.  It could also be interpreted as “the sea and air units have the option of participating in the attacK while the land units MUST attack to resolve current combat” which is the mistake I made.  That being said, it would be pretty silly if 2 infantry units could damage an airfield every single turn.

Thanks for the clarification.

Harry

combat Scenario, First player has Sea units and no air, the 2nd player has air units but no sea units.  During the Sea attack can the 2nd player declare an attack on the sea units?  I played and said yes.  (2 Betty Bombers vs Aircraft Carrier & Battleship).  Result 3/4 1s on the role for the bombers.  first 2 hits went to the battleship which sunk since the first was ignored, and the second one destroyed the ship.  The 3rd hit obviously went to the AC and sunk that.  This obviously had to be the “last” sea attack since player one declared all the initial shots.

If you have units from each side in the same zone an attack will occur.

You kind of lost me in your example but if you attack ships with just planes the ships with air attack values will shoot at the planes in the attack air units step and the planes will attack the ships in the attack naval units step.

The planes will have to survive the ships before the ships have to face the planes –casualties are removed at the end of each step.

Also combat is simultaneous. Each side resolves the attack air step before moving on to the attack naval step.

Frimmel is correct. Krieghund answered a similar question for me recently. It is 4 threads below this.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=14187.0