I’ve just started playing AAR, and I’m still working through the fine details. Apologies in advance for such a newbie question, but here goes:
In a recent PBEM game, my worthy opponent and I were discussing movement options involving aircraft in the Pacific where there are numerous islands contained entirely within a single sea zone. I was under the impression that an aircraft could move from one sea zone (or an island contained completely within it) into an adjoining sea zone (or an island contained completely within it) for a cost of one movement point. For example, let’s use WAK/SZ51 and HAW/SZ52. My thinking was that if an aircraft could launch from a carrier to the west of Wake island and land on (or attack) another carrier to the east of Hawaii at the cost of one movement point, then the same aircraft should certainly be able to launch from Wake and land (or attack) Hawaii for the same one movement point. I have been told that the land based option actually expends three movement points. On the surface, this disparity in movement costs seems odd.
I have no reason to doubt my opponent, but I would feel better if I had a specific reference. I’ve gone through the rules and various forums, and I haven’t seen this particular question addressed. Can someone help me out here?
Thanks in advance!
From page 11 of the Operations Manual:
A unit may move a number spaces up to its movement (or “move”).
Islands and sea zones are separate spaces, as defined on page 7, so it does cost a plane one movement point to leave the island and enter the sea zone that it’s in, or vice versa. Whereas a carrier is in the sea zone, so taking off from or landing on it does not involve entering or leaving the island space. This is one reason why carriers are so important.
Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, your page 7 reference doesn’t correspond to mine. Perhaps I have a later edition of the rule book? The rules I have define an island group as “a territory located entirely inside one sea zone.” Without further clarification, I think this leads to some ambiguity regarding movement.
I’m not trying to be dense here, and I understand that the accepted practice is to count Wake Island to Hawaii as three movement points. However, I was hoping to find a specific reference or gain a better understanding as to the history of this interpretation since it does seem a bit counter-intuitive.
All that being said, just about every war game I’ve played had some rules that just didn’t seem to pass logical muster, but they were the rules.
Thanks for the assistance.
Ogre
The page 7 reference is to the chart at the bottom of the page called “Spaces on the Game Board”. It defines an island group as a game board space. A land territory is also defined as a game board space, so the definition on page 8 of an island as a territory located inside a sea zone also defines it as a separate game board space.
There’s also this FAQ entry:
Can a fighter take part in a naval battle in a sea zone and then in a battle for the island in that sea zone?
No. The island is not part of the sea zone; it’s a different map space that is adjacent to the sea zone but not part of it.
