How do I defend Leningrad?

@AxisOfEvil:

@Romulus:

Krieghund already explained that it is a problem of wording, the word selected “attack” should have been “surprise strike” or “surprise firing”, if I am not making a mistake.

I am not english born but I am considering that “surprise attack” has been not used to indicate the “attack” but the roll of the dice trying to hit the enemy. I do not see the need for a specification for the sub being in defense being able to perform a surprise strike. It is a sub ability to stay hidden and strike by surprise. It do not depend by the role in the battle, the sub is  aiming to hit the enemy in both case, attack and defense, acting in the same way: lurking below the surface, hidden and dangerous.

given this logic, which I am not disputing, why then do subs defend at 1 and attack at 2?  🙂

same reason why fighters attack at 3 and defend at 4  😉

@claborne:

So…. when you have a fleet of mixed subs/surface warships being attacked by only planes, you CANNOT take the subs as casualties?

No, they can not be taken as casualties.  Only if the attacker sends a destroyer with his planes can your subs be removed by air attacks.

Thanks for the clarification.

@general-LD yes. The Sub would get to roll first and any hit would have to be allocated , before the attacker rolled his dice.

@TG:

@Romulus:

Casualty system in A&A is part of the success of the game.
Simple enough for not being too much time consuming but at same time allows for cannon fodder and protection of the expensive units.

If we condsider the real battle attacker do not “know” who are they firing. WW2 was not fought with Napoleonic style battles where 2 armies lined up one in the face of the other.
In WW2 units are camouflaged, entrenched and hidden. When and if a unit is discovered by the enemy it can be target of fire, but attacker is not “selecting” the target among all the defending unit, only the one that has become visible.
So to some extent is the defender, positioning an moving its units, that allow the attacker to fire.

The more “correct” way of picking casualties is the one used in Battle of the Bulge, random selection, with the possibility of overkilling one unit and totally missing another.

If we can not have random casualties then we should stay with the “defender pick the unit to be removed” mechanism.

I am Moses Obama and I endorse this message.

Thank you!

I think that in Anniversary it is the right system. House rule or other ruleset may use different casualties removal system  but it is the right thing for the “standard” game.

@sala33:

so planes can’t shoot subs if there is enemy Destroyer presant in same sea zone in the whole game, or is it just in this only situation with the AC.

Enemy destroyers don’t keep planes from hitting subs.  Friendly destroyers enable planes to hit subs.  If there is no destroyer friendly to the firing air unit in the battle, the air unit’s hits cannot be applied to subs.  This is always true, whether for attacking or defending.

@sala33:

Okay, Reversing the question my original question, if you’re attacking AC with fighters on board, do you use your fighters on AC in battle as well…?

You move your own fighters independently of the carrier.  They take off before either unit moves, so they both begin movement in the same sea zone.  Both fight in any battle(s) they end up in, which could be the same one or different ones.

Fighters on your carrier that belong to another power on your side stay on the carrier when it attacks and are treated as cargo.  They may not fire and may not be taken as casualties.  If the carrier they’re on is destroyed, they’re destroyed along with it.

Recently tried out some of these suggestions in a game, and it turned into a pretty convincing Axis victory.

My takeaways:

Taking Moscow was more important than Leningrad or Stalingrad. Germany pretty much ignored the southern half of the Eastern Front and just played defense in Bulgaria/Romania.

It’s pretty essential that Japan takes out China completely in the first turn, which allows Japan to focus land forces on Russia and India.