• As we were reading through the rules (my father, brother, and I), we are getting most thing squared away.

    I think we have a handle on initial setup, movement, and round/turns.

    We’ve come to the combat section and we are a bit confused.  So when you move into a hostile territory and all phases are done aside from combat, you move the attacking and defending pieces to the battle strip.  Then the attacker does any special combat first like submarines?  Then general combat.  You roll your dice and if it is equal to or lower than the number of their corresponding position on the chart they score a hit and the targeted piece is moved to casualties?

    Then it’s the defenders turn to roll?  How does defense work exactly?  Do you “block hits” or is it happening simultaneous like we think?  We are a bit confused and I hope you veteran players can understand my questions because I’m sure my explanation is a little wonky.

    Thanks in advance.

  • '17 '16

    Hi,
    you may probably like to see this video at 1 min 41sec:

    Axis and Allies: Commonly Asked Questions
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLomDI5I6cQ


  • Welcome to the forum, TwoFistedSarge!

    To avoid confusion when it comes to the Conduct Combat Phase it is recommended to stick closely to the sequence defined by the rulebook:

    1. Strategic Bombing Raids
    2. Amphiboius Assaults
    3. General Combat

    The General Combat Sequence consists of seven steps:

    1. Place units along the battle strip
    2. Submarine surprise strike or submerge (sea battles only)
    3. Attacking units fire
    4. Defending units fire
    5. Remove defender’s casualties
    6. Press attack or retreat
    7. Conclude combat

    From this you see that submarine’s fire is actually part of the general combat.

    Attacking and defending Submarines fire their surprise strike in step 2.
    All other attacking and defending units fire in step 3 and 4.

    Every attacking unit scores a hit when the die result is equal or lower than the attack value.
    Every defending unit scores a hit when the die result is equal or lower than the defense value.

    But units do not shoot at a specific target (if not one on one). It is always the opponent who decides which units are taken out.
    After the attacking player has rolled for all attacking units, the defender chooses one
    unit for each hit scored and moves it behind the casualty strip.
    However these casualties can fire back (if not hit by submarine’s surprise strike) in step 4.

    The attacker then chooses his units as casualties. Those units are removed from the game then as well as the defender’s casualties.

    When choosing casualties be sure to assign hits correctly. So a submarine for example cannot hit an air unit.
    If a submarine attacks a cruiser and a fighter and scores a hit, the defender must assign the hit to the cruiser.

    If no special rules like this apply, the opponents are free to choose what units are taken out.

    I cannot cover all the details of the Conduct Combat Phase and their sequences here so please ask back if I missed to answer parts of your questions.

    HTH :-)

  • '17 '16

    Pretty clear Panther.
    Cheers.
    :-)


  • Ok, that really clears it up.  To put it in terms I am more recently familiar with, it seems like, and what we were thinking initially so thanks for helping with this, is that the casualties are assigned much like Risk (The person being hit chooses his casualties and attack/defend is sort of simultaneous).

    The specific targets makes sense, with the example of the submarine not being able to target aircraft and such.  Next I am going to have to comb over the amphibious assaults, loading and unloading.  Do you mind if we print out that little step by step chart you typed out Panther?

    I am going to check that video out now Baron, I’ll let you know afterwards how the viewing went.

    Thanks guys.  :-)

    EDIT:  I checked out the video Baron, that actually helped me out a lot.  I am a big visual learner so thanks for that.  Seeing the strip setup and the dice rolled and hits/misses/casualties spelled it out!

  • '21 '20 '18 '17

    In most cases, you just want to lose in order from the least valuable unit to the most valuable.

    Exception;

    If you are the defender and you have 1 destroyer and 1 cruiser

    The attacker has 2 subs and hits you 1 time

    If you lose the destroyer, you are vulnerable to a surprise shot during the next round, and you would not get a reply, so losing the cruiser before the destroyer might be the smartest move.

    Another example;

    You have 3 bombers and 2 infantry.  Enemy attacks you with 2 fighters and 1 bomber and hits you 2 times.  You may want to lose one or more expensive bombers (defend;1) before infantry, in the hopes of keeping the better defenders alive now to drive off the enemy as the combat rounds go on.  Once all the bombers are dead, however, the enemy will probably just leave.

    Another example;

    AAA guns cost 5 but they can’t fight after they do their special shot, so lose them first no matter what.

    Carriers are weak attackers, and expensive, but in some editions they do have 2 soak hits.  However, if you lose or damage a carrier first, they cannot collect planes after the battle, reducing your defensive posture and possibly giving your planes no where to land. While Battleships should always soak a hit first, carriers probably should not.  Note that losing carriers first keeps your combat power high (attack 1 or 0 lost vs losing a cruiser or fighter at 3).  It can be tempting to dump the carrier first, but you may regret this after combat is fully resolved…

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