• That version was Revised, which didn’t have cruisers but had 3/3 destroyers costing 12 and could bombard if you get the combined bombardment tech


  • I just re-read the AA50 rules and we’ve been playing wrong.  Apparently those units eliminated during bombardment CAN defend during the land assault.  Oops!

    Personally, I prefer that they cannot.  I mean really … how can a bunch of infantry that got bombarded by ships then defend against the ensuing amphibious assault?  /sigh

  • '12

    I would tend to agree with you Rorschach but on the otherhand……  History has shown that amphibious assults for the most part got little benefit from offshore bombardment.  One notable exception was during the D-day landing, was it omaha beach where the US was getting shot up by German pillboxes?  I think 19 of 20 supporting tanks sank before reaching shore as their floatation devices were overwhelmed by waves and they were let go too far out from shore.  As a result the german pillbox and gun emplacements were causing the landing to stall and possibly fail, serious thought was given to abondoning that landing beach and concentrating on the other 4.

    It was typical superior US ‘in-theatre’ leadership exhibited by the captain of one (or more?) US destroyers who against orders took their boats in so close to shore as to seriously risk grounding and risk of mines I believe.  As a result of the super accurate direct fire support from the destroyer(s) the German heavy emplacements were smashed and the landings success was ensured.

  • '16

    @gamerman01:

    @MrMalachiCrunch:

    Why does the screen always jump around when your post gets to a certain length?

    Sucks, doesn’t it?  At least we don’t get 50x or 404 errors all the time.  That was worse.

    This only happens to me on my Win7 box at home, not at work on XP.  Is it O/S related rather than site?


  • I think both cruiser and battleship retain purpose. For battleships, you absorb two hits, just as a cruiser and destroyer would. But if only one hit occurs against you, you are able to keep your battleship in tact without losing a ship. A cruiser or destroyer would needed to be sacrificed if one takes a hit in battle. Battleships bombard at 4 as well and I believe their is a psychological advantage/disadvantage(depends on if its yours or not)  when you see a battleship. There are also many advantages to having a cruiser and destroyer. Variety is one. They both have abilities such as detecting subs and bombardment shots. Although the cruiser only bombards at 3, it can still be used as an effective weapon. Possibility of hitting twice in one turn instead of once. And also mobility choices. You can keep your ships together or break them apart to do various missions on the board. It allows you to be flexible and with your naval units. I think you have to look at your country and situation, which should be the deciding to whether go with a battleship or a destroyer and cruiser.


  • I would like to point out that the value of cruisers is tied to value of invasions and in particular the threat of invasion. The Allies can tie down a significant number of Axis units in Europe with an invasion fleet in SZ 7 or SZ 12. Trs need protection off course or the enemy will destroy them with air and here the cruiser has a fine role of both providing defense and being able to contribute to the land campaign.

    I agree that you should anchor an Allied invasion fleet around a UK CV using startup Ftr´s, maybee even 2 CV´s. I prefer to keep the fleet UK only to max mobility and firepower on the invasion. You need 1 destroyer to handle subs initially but from then on I would spend my money on cruisers. Allthough it would be prudent to buy more destoyers to soak up hits if the enemy invests heavily in air units.

    By the way i voted the cruiser to be usefull and consider infantry the only unit to be very usefull.

    Cheers

    Quark


  • This is an old debate. The numbers say if you made then 11 IPC and gave them one free AA roll at 1 against a plane ( one cruiser = one die roll) you got as balanced unit.

    Or you can make them 10 and reduce the SB to 1-2 ( 3 is too strong) you also got a balanced unit.

    Just do battles of DD vs CA  using total IPC of say 80 ipc or 160 ipc ( 8 or 16 CA vs> 10 or 20 DD)

    Then also plug in numbers adding BB to each side ( say 3 per)

    You will get a small DD advantage ( like 56%), the tipper is this AA roll or the 1-2 SB….you decide.

Suggested Topics

Axis & Allies Boardgaming Custom Painted Miniatures

26

Online

17.0k

Users

39.3k

Topics

1.7m

Posts