While playing a game over the weekend, the question of whether or not convoy disruption is mandatory came up. Japan was about to roll into India and had two subs in the adjacement sea zone. The Axis player wanted to not roll convoy disruption (taking five IPCs from UK Pacific is better for Japan than taking two IPCs), but the Allied player said convoy disruption was mandatory.
In the interest of settling the matter quickly the Axis player relented, although a reading of the rules doesn’t seem to be definitive. Here are the pertinent section of the rules:
“Convoy attacks on Convoy sea zones are conducted in the following manner.”
Calling convoy disruption an attack means to me that it is a conscious choice, and that implies to me that not conducting convoy disruption is a choice. The next section of the rules reads:
“…The owners of enemy battleships, cruisers, and/or destroyers rolls one die for each such unit, and the owners of enemy submarines and/or air units roll two dice for each such unit. Any rolls of 4 or higher are ignored. The results of these rolls that are 3 or less are totaled, and the resulting number is the total convoy damage suffered in the disruption.”
The language here implies, but not strongly, that convoy disruption happens automatically if enemy units are present in the sea zone.
The FAQ is silent on the issue.
To me, convoy disruptions should be optional. However, other folks may disagree with that.
What are your opinions – is convoy disruption automatic or is it a choice made by the owner of the hostile ships and aircraft?
Marsh