Non-combat movement

In an opposite sea zone a lone German submarine wants to engage a Russian cruiser and submarine. I need clarification in what are the German’s options. Does he need to use the Step 2 Surprise rule to conduct combat or can he wait for Step 3 & 4 where he can continue attacking? Reading the manual it looks to me that the only option is Step 2. In this case it would probably behoove the Russian player to use both of its ships in the combat I would think. Also do both Russian ships get to fire back after the German fires regardless of any hits?

One last question concerning an attacking submarine against a lone transport. Is the transport lost just like any other time it engages an enemy or does the submarine need to role a 1 or 2 to destroy it?

Thanks

@hengst

Yes, that plan is the cleverest cheat of the game. My opponents are too smart for that though.

No to 1,2,4. Look for a “powers not at war” box in the rules.

For 3, you can move to any sea zone which is not adjacent to Japanese territory. So you can totally move toward Japan, eg to SZ16 or SZ17. Just remember that if you move to SZ54, you can’t use the naval base there until you are at war with someone.

In addition to this, any of your ships in the sea zone when the combat are presumed to have taken place in combat. The only way to avoid this is to move them during combat movement (even if the move does not result in combat).

Marsh

@Mr.Z:

To: Young Grasshopper
Yes, I have watched almost all of you youtube videos and noticed a lot of things you have done to help make this fantastic game even more interesting and enjoyable to play. You have done an excellent job on everything I’ve seen and Thank you for your input.

Thank you very much.

1. Yes, you can still move the navy that didn’t participate in combat into and/or through the sea zone during non-combat move. Once all the enemy ships in a sea zone are destroyed, the sea zone is no longer considered hostile and there is no restriction of movement into or through it during non-combat movement.
Also remember that you can ignore enemy transports and submarines when moving through sea zones. They don’t make a sea zone hostile.

2. Yes, they can.

The rule book and what is said by play testers trump what AAA says.

Yeah, that was a massive FAIL for Failure is not an option….