I agree that there could be circumstances when it would be very useful to “blitz” into a friendly territory, for instance a surrounded army could want to break through the enemy lines and reach the safety of a friendly territory.
There is nothing that prevents you from having house rules to allow this, but it’s not under the official rules.
There is no obligation to blitz whenever and wherever you can. It sometimes makes more sense not to blitz and keep your expensive units protected by infantry and AA Artillery.
For isolated territories or islands, Militia are often the only option.
They are also an option for controlled minor powers and the CCP who have recruitement rolls, as they can choose 1 Infantry or 2 Militia. Depending on the situation, the Infantry is not always the obvious choice.
They are best when paired with other units, as they can soak up the hits while your other units can hope to survive and have better defense rolls. It also helps if they are in a city.
You will sometimes get lucky and take our one or two attacking units with militia, but even in great numbers, they can be easily wiped out by a dedicated attacker.
In small numbers, they mostly serve as a deterrent to the free capture of the territory or half-hearted amphibious landings. Litteraly “better than nothing”.
Still, once in a while, it is very satisfying to take out a SNLF and foil an amphibious assault with a single militia.
Note that there are A LOT of rules and exceptions for building and moving militia. They are very easy to overlook.
This is a definite no if there was combat on the first impulse.
Blitz rules are in the Combat Phase / Land Combat section (9.5).
Moving units into friendly territory is part of Non-Combat Movement and can only be performed by units that did not move during Combat Movement (10.1).
Moving into friendly territory on the second blitz impulse, would violate rule 10.1 since it is considered non-combat and these units already combat-moved.
However, rule 8.2 lists as an example of Combat Movement “Blitzing through an unoccupied Enemy land zone into another zone”.
It does not say “another Enemy zone”. Does this mean that if the first Enemy territory is empty, then the second territory could be friendly? I still don’t think so since the meaning of “blitz/blitzing” is explained in rule 9.5 and requires an attack.
I think this example was given to show that moving into Enemy territory, even if it is empty, still counts as Combat Movement.
To avoid any confusion it could be better is rule 8.2 mentionned “Blitzing through an unoccupied Enemy land zone into another Enemy land zone”, as it would be more consistent with the concept of blitzing.
But in short, this ain’t Axis & Allies.
Honestly, I can’t see how it would mean that the whole territory is impassable, as it contains a railroad, a coastline with a port and the Outback desert is clearly delimited on the map.
Rule 1.7 that was quoted is followed by all the different terrain types: Mountains, Deserts, Jungles, Marshes, Rivers and Tundra.
In my view, terrain marked with the word “Impassable” should not be considered to be a terrain type within the meaning of rule 1.7.
The only explanations regarding impassable areas are found in the box on page 8 and say:
“Terrain marked with the words “impassable” cannot be moved into by land units. Air units can fly over this terrain but cannot end their movement there”.
I think we must distinguish the territory (Western Australia) from its terrain(s), as the territory also contains mountains and a desert (in this case an impassable one).
Granted, the litteral application of rule 1.7 could still mean that Western Australia is at least subject to optional desert rules since the roundel is in the desert, but I would opt not to apply them to Western Australia in my games.
Perhaps another question for the FAQ?
So, basically when a convoy is raided and you have ASW, for each raiding submarine, you roll:
The D12 is a “free Defense roll”, as it does not depend on surface warships or aircraft on MAP being on escrot duty.
See table 9-8 in the rules for all modifiers, including ASW.
There are many legitimate questions about the rules that may arise even in different situations, even when a lot of effort went into drafting, play-testing and proof reading the rules. I have played almost 20 times since I got this game and we got at least one thing wrong every single time.
Sometimes a question is covered by the rules, but the person asking the question simply missed it or misread it. There are a lot of questions in this forum that can be answered by simply pointing out the relevant rules.
Sometimes a rule is subject to more than one interpretation as written, but the context and the other rules will guide us to the correct interpretation. This is a good category of questions to put in the FAQ.
Sometimes the rules contradict themselved or may even appear very clear to some, but following them goes against what the game creators intended. It’s almost impossible to figure this out by yourself as a player unless you have access to the creators of the game to discuss it. This is when the rules need to be changed or clarified in the Errata, pending updated versions of the rulebook or reference sheets.
@manincellv’s original question was a good one and spaked a good debate but has now been aswered by the updated Errata.
I do agree that “well historically such and such happened” is not really the best argument to explain the rules , especially if the historical explanation appears to contradict the game rules. Historical context can be instructive to put some rules in context, but not to rewrite them.
That being said, this forum is a great place to ask any questions that we have about the rules and obviously the creators are paying some attention since most debated questions so far have been answered either in the FAQ or Errata. Let’s keep it that way.
Yes, the Vichy National Reference Sheet now reads (according to the Errata) :
“The Axis players can decide to let some or all of its newly acquired ships sail to their Home Country under the French Flag. Thus, they can pass any ships belonging to a nation they are at war with. independent on which sea zone they are in, they can make this move in one turn. This must be decided after the rolling has ended.”
I guess that closes this topic.
@GeneralHandGrenade, I think that everyone on this forum is trying to play by the rules as they are written, but in this case the wording simply does not match what you say is the correct interpretation. Your explanations are clear but the rules are not. They should either clarify them or add it to the FAQ.
There are multiple examples given in the rulebook which mention fighers, tactical bombers, medium bombers and seaplanes on Maritime Air Patrol (MAP).
While it does not explicitely state that Strategic bombers cannot MAP, rule 12.2 (Unit types) does mention that they do not have a standard Attack value and that “they can perform carpet bombing on Enemy land units from high altitude for one round only”.
So this would disqualify Strategic bombers as suitable aircraft for MAP as it is performed against enemy naval units (Rule 8.7). Same goes for Air Transports who have no attack value.
I’m not sure what @sjelso meant when he wrote that they could “spot but not attack”, as spotting is not a concept used in this game.
The Great Britain (v3.5), FEC (v3.4) and ANZAC (v3.2) National Reference Sheets all mention that “British Commonwealth includes Great Britain, FEC and ANZAC. These share the same turn, war status (…)”, as @GeneralHandGrenade pointed out.
Rule 2.3 for 1936v3 states that “Great Britain determines when the Commonwealth declares war”.
You will also notice that only Great Britain has a “Declaration of War” section on it’s NRS and that FEC and ANZAC do not, as they cannot declare war on their own.
You will also find in the Glossary (Rule 0.9) under Income that “Peacetime Income is the income a nation receives until they are at war with a Major Power (…)”.
When Great Britain is at War with a major Power, so are FEC and ANZAC and they all become eligible to collect their individual Wartime Bonus Income (Rule 5.4).
Therefore, to answer the question, once FEC and ANZAC are at war (because Great Britain is at war), they no longer receive their Peacetime Income, but instead the full value of all territories that they possess, plus any Wartime Bonus that may apply.
@caesar-seriona I agree with you and we play almost the same way, but we do not give the Axis the option to remove the French flag until they reach home port and they can also be attacked by Free France since they are at war.
In the current rules, the word “sail” does not make sense for teleportation and neither does “once per game (or immediately)” for passing enemy ships. If the other interpretation is the correct one, then the rules should simply say:
“Once all the naval units on the board have been reassigned, the Axis players can decide to relocate any or all of their converted ships to their Home Country by placing them immediately in sea zones 13 or 15 (for Germany) and sea zones 38 or 56 (for Japan). Ignore all normal movement restrictions.”
That means what it says and says what it means.
Hello @GeneralHandGrenade,
I mentioned zone 49 because it is an example where, by comparison, the rules are very clear that no matter where the ship is when Vichy rolls (even across the map in the Pacific), Vichy ships are all moved to zone 49.
In the case of Axis rolled ships, we put an Axis model (i.e. Germany) and a Vichy roundel under it to indentify it as flying the Vichy flag until it reaches the German Home Countrty, but the player actually needed to bring it home under normal non-combat rules.
Since Vichy is not a war with the Allies, those that are at war with Germany cannot attack or block movement of these ships, but they could be attacked by Free France since they are flying the Vichy flag.
This could explain why it is specified in the NRS and rule 14.4.2 that the Axis player can let the ships sail to their Home Country under the French Flag. Thus they can pass any ships belonging to a nation they are at war with.
I’m not saying that your explanation is wrong, but it’s hard to account for the very different wording between Vichy rolled ships and Axis rolled ships, thus my suggestion that this rule should be clarified.
Sorry, but don’t understand @GeneralHandGrenade‘s answer with what the Vichy National Reference Sheet (v.3.1) states:
« The Axis players can decide to let ships sail to their Home Country under the French Flag. Thus, they can pass any ships belonging to a nation they are at war with once per game (or immediately). »
How is immediately moving the Axis rolled ships compatible with these ships sailing home and possibly passing enemy ships? Why mention the French Flag at all?
By comparison, Vichy rolled ships are clearly instructed to be moved immediately to sea zone 49.
If this is indeed the correct interpretation, then this is a case for the FAQ sheet or a correction of the Vichy NRS. It could simply say that the Axis repositions its ships immediately to a sea zone next to their Home Country.
Due to the pandemic, I have only been playing 2-player games. It’s more like Axis & Allies, as Russia always sides with the allies and CCP and KMT don’t attack each other.
It’s still an enjoyable game, but I can’t wait to have the full 3-player experience.
I watched the clip and that tech board makes little sense for the standard rules.
For instance, Canada has roundels on it, but its supposed to share the Commonwealth tech (CAA 1.2). I don’t see how the Dutch are supposed to get three techs either, as they don’t even have a factory at the start of the game…
On a budget note, I found that the cardboard Axis & Allies roundels are good enough to stick to a magnet for use on the tech board.
Hello @GeneralHandGrenade. I watched the video and you asked if advanced artillery can move and make an attrition attack and the answer was no. I am fine with that answer, but there is absolutely nothing in the rules to suggest this. Do you think this will be added to the Errata or FAQ?
Your estimates are way, way too high. CCP and KMT have no major factory, so no research. France has one but will get wiped out before it reaches level four with one tech. Japan and Italy start with only one major factory.
I got a set of 80 self-adhesive magnets to cover both tech and income tracking and still have some left over.
According to rule 9.11 a convoy line will close if one or both territory at either end is possessed by an Enemy. A closed convoy line cannot be raided.
The Tokyo Line goes to Tokyo, but the other end is in sea zone 122, not any specific island, so it would not be closed unless Tokyo falls, at which time Japan has bigger things to worry about…
