PM me if you’re down for a round. I’m playing Anniversary Ed.

Kriegmeister
Canada
Winnipeg, Manitoba
A&A

My friends and I played the Anniversary Edition for the first time yesterday. We really like the new map and units, but we sort of agreed that the way destroyers negate the subs’ sneak attack has “nerfed” the subs somewhat. We also felt that Europe’s Soft Underbelly is a little too true, as the Allies quickly found this to be a misnomer.

As things stand, one DD can neutralise all the subs in that sea zone. We think that in such a scenario, the DD should be treated a bit like artillery supports infantry; that is, for the defender, one DD can engage one sub, while permitting one friendly unit in that sea zone to engage (in this case, whichever has the highest defensive die roll).

So say two German subs decide to attack in a sea zone containing one British destroyer, one CC, and one BB. The DD can defend against one sub, and permits anti-sub operations by the battleship (because it has the highest defensive roll. The second sub retains its normal sneak attack as per the usual rules (one roll at the outset of the first turn).

In the event of a CV with embarked fighters, we argued BOTH fighters can roll for each DD defending, and that should the CV be sunk by a sneak attack, the fighters in this instance are permitted to recover on any friendly territory or CV within range. Otherwise, if a DD is not present the normal rules apply (and the planes go down with the ship, having not been alerted to the presence of subs).

On the attack, one DD permits one other surface ship to attack one sub. In the case of aircraft, one DD can support TWO planes in any combination (2 fighters, 2 bombers, or one of each). I welcome your thoughts. We’re going to try this the next time we play.

Moderator’s edit: Added tag [Anniversary] to title.