I have a weird rules question.
Presume I move a fighter 3 moves to a battle that has an aircraft carrier on which he may land. The sea zone has no island on which he can land. The carrier is destroyed during combat. During the noncombat phase, he moves 1 more to a sea territory that has an island under his control, for a total of 4 moves. See page 21, right column first full paragraph. There is no aircraft carrier to land.
Is he then considered stranded per the next paragraph? It’s a total of 5, but perhaps because he is stranded he can make it. Or is he stranded in the sea zone battle where the carrier was destroyed even though he has one move left?
Simplest answer is that aircraft always have to land within their movement range. The aircraft carrier doesn’t matter–it did matter to “allow” the fighter to move to that point it attacked at.
If it can’t land within 4 (or 5) spaces, then it is stranded.
So in this case, yep it is stranded and dies.
@surfer ok. I thought maybe stranded aircrafts could still fly to the nearest island per the second paragraph I mentioned. But it did feel a bit odd. Thanks. It will dictate how I make my next move! :-)
All good. Enjoy your game!!
Okay, follow-up. Say Japan attacks 33 with both the forces from 45 (traveling through 34) and from 6. See picture attached.
Assume I assign all defender hits to my carriers, then retreat after 1 or 2 rounds until 34. Can my aircraft then, being stranded, land on Palau Island? Per the following, I think the answer is yes?
“Stranded defending air units also land during this phase. These are carrier air units whose aircraft carrier has been damaged or destroyed in combat or scrambled air units or fighter interceptors (see “Conduct Combat,” page 15) whose original territory is now under enemy control. These units are allowed movement of up to one space to find a friendly territory or carrier on which to land.”
Nice try but nope. When retreating from a combat only ground and naval units actually leave the combat space. Air units remain in the space until after the combat phase is concluded and then they can use the remainder of their movement to land. In essence, a retreat does not affect air units in any way. In your example, they would not move to SZ34 and would instead stay in SZ33 and would then live or die depending on if they could or could not reach a landing area with their remaining movement points.
From Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 Second Edition rulebook - Page 20. (Bold Added by me)
Condition B—Attacker Retreats The attacker (never the defender) can retreat during this step. Move all attacking land and sea units in that combat that are on the battle strip to a single adjacent friendly space from which at least 1 of the attacking land or sea units moved. In the case of sea units, that space must have been friendly at the start of the turn. All such units must retreat together to the same territory or sea zone, regardless of where they came from. Retreating air units remain in the contested space temporarily. They complete their retreat movement during the Noncombat Move phase using the same rules as an air unit involved in a successful battle.
@kevlarfirestrike, you seem to be missing a key word in the rule you quoted:
Stranded defending air units also land during this phase. These are carrier air units whose aircraft carrier has been damaged or destroyed in combat or scrambled air units or fighter interceptors (see “Conduct Combat,” page 15) whose original territory is now under enemy control. These units are allowed movement of up to one space to find a friendly territory or carrier on which to land.
This rule applies only to defending air units. Attacking air units have only their normal remaining movement to find a place to land.
@krieghund Yeah. Fair enough. Fortunately he resigned because of Germany. I wanted to play out the fight. :-)
