Unescorted transports can be attacked by partial fleet

Tjoek where are you?

Anytime, you are welcome  :-)

LOL - The past 3 years, we have played under the assumption, that the answer to all of the above questions was no. :-o  :-o  :-o

It is gonna be very interesting game next time  :mrgreen:

Thanks.  :-)

Yes, #1 is the optimal move in most games. Destroying the sz61 transport is essential for delaying Japan’s take of India. With the sz61 sunk, UK can hold out in India until R6 even with optimized Japan pressure. The carrier and transport can be reliably brought to UK by round 4 to start pressuring Germany.

#2 is very risky. The main problem with #2 is that it uses the entire UK pacific fleet to destroy some of Japan’s naval fleet. Unless the US follows up with a full pacific commitment, japan can use the extra transport and absence of UK naval pressure to aggressively pressure and take India by round 4-5.

A third option to consider is to move the india fleet into the Med if germany failed to deadzone the seazone next to egypt. This allows UK to destroy the med fleet R2 and allows the UK fleet to travel to UK as early as R3. Often, germany will sacrifice air to sink the UK ships in the Med which is also a good outcome for the allies. Overall, this provides the most possible pressure against germany. This is probably the best of the 3 options in my view, but is contingent on a Germany mistake of failing to deadzone sz15.

80+% of my games against good axis players, I do #1.

I tend to agree. In Revised the main reason to stack Bury was to take pressure off Borneo and Pearl, while simultaneously threatening Manchuria or the distracting the rest of the mainland. Here Pearl is a non-issue, there are less units to stack into Bury, the transit to East Indies takes longer even if USA goes south, and its easier for Japan to push the center or India out of sz 61. That said, if you were going to leave units behind in Bury, the only reason to do so is to hold the battleship and transport north in the first round, which you can probably accomplish just leaving 1 inf behind. Putting 5 into it, just seems like throwing the ipcs away. Stacking Yakut, or pushing down to hold the center, is likely more advantageous than stacking Buryatia on this board.

@emerson303:

Can a fighter or bomber attack a defenseless transport and essentially kill it just by flying into the SZ?

Playing 1942, 2nd edition.

Thanks,

Yes. It has to be in the combat move phase. Technically a battle takes place but no dice are rolled, as the Transport has no defense value.

800 on each section is the high score, but I’m old enough to where there were only two sections…I guess there are 3 now…

Hobbes, had success using a balanced attack.  Had some luck in the Atlantic though.  Both UK/US DD/Trans survived, so it gave us moment of opportunity.  My EI invasion failed (so lost both trans/inf), but the US was able to take the heat off India.  The German Navy was sunk pretty quick with exception of the BB in the Med.  US thankfully was able to use its DD and CA to knock it out.  The first US fleet got knocked out the Solomons (bad die roll by US, 2CV, 4FTR, 2DD, BB), but the US did have a reserve fleet standing by.

Russia was successful at being aggressive both in Europe and in China.  My allies were angry that I abandoned Africa, but the aggressive Russians and the impending invasions of Norway/Finland and Morroco only made me lose Egypt.

Lessons Learned for the Axis:

As Japan, only get the 3IPCs in the Russian North.  Don’t advance anyfurther with a small task force.  There will be too many Russian inf and possilby the use of the 2 FTRs (Russia has probably turtled back at this point). I think SBRing UK is a waste of time for the Germans.  I think Caucus would be a better target if Germany is going North to Karelia (to help keep the South clear of Russian units). The Russian inf in China make things very difficult to clear China effectively and worry about India/US (especially when the Russian 5 from Yakut swing back into China from Evengi).  This 3 pronged counter works well if Japan focuses on the US Fleet. Never ever use both SS against the BB…if the UK DD survives, you sack both in this attack for no real gain.  The only time you should combine your SS is to go after the US fleet in the Atl (pri #1 for German salvation)