Rules clarification: submarines, building airfields & home base action

@Krieghund:

It implies that they are not cargo, as they are not lost as cargo would be.

Oh, ya, I guess it does. :-)

My impression of that sentence was that it intended to speak to fighters on the deck of the carrier (which led to all that other rigamarole I asked about). Didn’t feel to me that fighters in the air in same sea zone as carrier during Combat phase would need mention of the carrier being sunk at that time. But your adjust of my focus provides clarity. Thank you, Krieghund! Your presence here makes our gaming experience better. Take care.

Yes, they can.

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is that if someone comes up with a successful “extreme” strategy, there’s usually an extreme counter-strategy for it.

I copy that.
And believe me, I felt quite uncomfortable to write one of my first posts at this group with some sort of “unbeatable strategy”. I’ve seen so many group newbies here doing that, and routinely got their posts pick to pieces … ;)

Of these, bombing an airfield on Choiseul or New Georgia sounds pretty attractive.  It seems the Japanese will be hard pressed to defend both.  Have all these strategies survived your playtesting?

Yes and no. Japan new units and repairing supply tokens are store temporarily at Choiseul. Japan can have one ore two aa gun at Choiseul and always can move fighters after the bombers, so that any bombing raids are hard, because with the ootb rules any hits from air combat are removed before naval/ground combat (the new rule variant with the airplane only air combat I haven’t try so far, maybe it helps).

If the Japanese are buying this many supply tokens, the US should have some benefit elsewhere.

Challenging, as the US player has to run with the Japanese airfield builds to hold step with victory points. Later the Japanese have many units at New Georgia which means the US pays a high price before amphibic assault while the artilley are firing at incoming ships.
Maybe the US can build only two airfields at Guadalcanal and bring more ground units. Maybe not. Maybe it will rain … :)

Understand me right: I’m not want to say that the US player has no chance. I’m not want to say that I have seen all possible moves and counters in the game. I’m not want to say that I have found an “unbeatable strategy”. But at my games it was a very, very difficult task to counter that japanese tactic.

I bought my AAG last week,it hasn’t been delivered yet,but,when I found out that they had the wrong cruisers,I asked for the right cruisers from AH even before I had my AAG delivered,so I will have my correct cruisers the day after I get my AAG.

Welcome, Arleigh_Burke!

You decided correctly.

Actually, the base that JFK operated out of was located on Rendova, south of the island of New Georgia.  I have just gotten the game, and need to look at the rules a bit more covering PT boats.  I probably will be modifying it a bit, having been in the Solomons, and flown over most of the islands.  I did not make it to Rendova, but was on Kolumbangara, Gizo, and New Georgia, when landing at the Munda air strip on the way back to Henderson Field.  I have attached three pictures that I scanned in from the trip.  The first is of the Grayscout, the ship we used in searching for PT-109, under charter to National Geographic.  The second is of the Munda air strip, which is pretty much the way it was in WW2, except that the jungle has grown back around it.  The third is of me watching sonar screens, sorting out the targets on the bottom to determine which one might be the PT-109.  Note, we did find it.

Graysct1.jpg
Munda Airstrip-2002.jpg
Sonar Stare 72 Crop.jpg

I like the fact that both units can be on an island and not have to keep battling until someone owns it.

It tooks days to take Iwo Jima.

“Japan wanted the island chain as a place to launch air attacks on the US mainland. They also wanted to cut off the supply routes from Australia and the US. The US mostly wanted to stop Japan form achieving their goal, but establishing a foothold in the Solomons gave them a nice place to launch their Pacific operations closer to Asia.”

The first point is totally bogus. Nate’s been too busy with Dreamblade again.The real idea was to cut supply and isolate Australia from points that link back to our mainland and from British support. That was in fact the plan for Coral Sea namely to get in position to capture Port Moresby and further isolate Allied positions in south pacific. Also, it was to anchor the Japanese control of another further island chain for the defense of the perimeter of her conquests. A firm control of these islands would give Japan more time replace her lost carriers at Midway. AS you know she undertook conversion of 2 battleships to hybrid carriers and stepped up the completion of carriers not completed in order to gain back parity with American carrier force. Japan was engaged in a war of attrition after Midway and the Solomons would be for japan her first resolve of a bloody nose and send the message that “each island will be paid for in blood… do you have what it takes to continue?”