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Europa Games and Military History

FAQ Tag: Air Units

Rule 23I: Can Air Units leave Garrison Boxes?

Question:
Rule 23I2 states that Allied air units may enter and leave garrison boxes. Rule 37E1 says that the Allied player “must maintain garrisons in certain districts or pay a penalty”. Does this mean that the Allied player can voluntarily exit air units (for instance, the 20 fighters from the Britain garrison) and then later return them to the garrison again? If yes, when is the penalty implemented?

Answer:
Yes, you can choose to have air units leave a garrison. They may do so during a friendly initial phase, simply move the air unit from the garrison box to the associated holding box. This occurs when you do replacement/reinforcement activities. Note that you check required garrisons before replacement and reinforcement activities. So, if you remove one or more air units from a garrison, you will be short that many air units from the garrison at the beginning of your next friendly initial phase. When you check required garrisons, you will be penalized one ARP per air unit missing from the harrison at that time. You will be unable to have any air units enter that garrison before the penalty is assessed, due to the sequence of play.

Source:
TEM 73

 

Rule 23B: Staging as a Mission

Question:
Rule 23.B, Staging, states the initiating players units fly a “1-legged transfer mission”. The transfer rules state that transfer missions occur only in the movement and exploitation phase. I assume that this restriction does not apply to staging, otherwise the prohibition against staging of DAS missions would not be necessary. Is this correct?

Answer:
Staging is not a “mission” in itself Staging is a separate concept from transfers and while it operates similarly to the transfer mission, it is not exactly the same. The staging rules detail any restrictions upon this mission and staging may be performed during combat phases.

Source:
TEM 59/60

 

Rule 20G2d: May an Air Unit aborted during an Harassment Mission become operational in the next initial phase?

Question:
An Allied air unit flies a harassment mission during the Axis player turn but never makes it (aborted or killed by flak or fighters). Example: During the Axis Jul II 43 player turn, a USAAF p-400 participates in an air operation flying harassment mission against Messina (26:3823); during the AA fire step it is aborted, and does not participate in the mission resolution step. During the initial phase of the Allied Jul II 43 player turn it is replaced. May the P-400 become operational during the Allied Jul II 43 player turn initial phase? Or is the P-400 inoperative under Rule 20G2d last paragraph, “an air unit which flies a harassment mission during a player turn does not become operative at the start of the next player turn”? Under the Master Sequence of Play Summary air units are replaced (step 6) before air units become operative (step 8).

Answer:
The air unit may become operational. Once it was aborted (or eliminated) it was no longer flying a harassment mission, it was out of play. No air unit “carries” over any status from previous turns when replaced/rebuilt from a replacement pool.

Source:
TEM 74

 

Rule 20G2b: Limits to the numbers or air units providing GS

Question:
Does the limit mean total number of units that may be committed per RE or the maximum number that counts?

For example, I am attacking with three REs of ground units (one panzer division). I have committed 8 air units to GS. Per the rules, 3 air units provide GS, the 5 others don’t contribute any SPs. The defender now fires AA and turns back one unit. May the attacker “call in” one of the surplus 5 units instead of the one that was turned back?

Answer:

This shows why the sequence of play and various activities is so important. The air units can not provide GS until combat is resolved and combat isn’t resolved until after AA has fired during the GS air operation.

You can fly as many air units as you want for a GS air operation. Some may be lost through air to air combat, others through AA fire. You don’t have any limitations upon the number of air units that can fly the GS mission, only upon how many can effectively aid the attacking units.

After all air to air combat and AA fire, the air mission is carried out, that is, the bombing strength is added into the combat strength of the units participating in the combat. The limitations of numbers of air units participating in the ground combat isnot figured until the ground combat is resolved. So, in your example above, the single panzer division an be aided by up to three air units. Regardless of how many air units began or participated in the air operation, three may assist the ground unit in its attack.

Please note the sequence, the air units are not limited in number until the ground combat resolution, and that resolution takes place after all air to air combat and AA fire in that air operation. []

Source:
TEM 67

 

Rule 20G2b: Does the limit mean total number of Air Units that may be committed for GS per RE or the maximum number that counts?

Question:
Does the limit mean total number of Air Units that may be committed for GS per RE or the maximum number that counts?

For example, I am attacking with three REs of ground units (one panzer division). I have committed 8 air units to GS. Per the rules, 3 air units provide GS, the 5 others don’t contribute any SPs. The defender now fires AA and turns back one unit. May the attacker “call in” one of the surplus 5 units instead of the one that was turned back?

Answer:
First of all, combat is not mandatory, so any number of air units could be flown on GS and this would not “force” an attack, in and of itself.

However, once the phasing player initiates combat resolution for a particular hex, then combat resolution must proceed.

Any units that fire AA are automatically included in the attack, since firing AA is, per earlier rulings on this, part of resolving combat. Beyond this, however, there are no requirements that anyone attack. So yes, if you decide to begin the combat resolution for a particular attack, you are free to declare that of the x number of units available to participate, only one will do so, and if so, then GS calculations are governed by what attacks, and not by what is available to attack.

To be quite clear, the number of air units flown on a mission such as DAS and/or GS has nothing to do with how many may participate; one is always able to fly as many air units as desired and possible, the limitations are only in effect once the combat is to be resolved. Even flying the GS mission doesn’t mandate combat, as the rules make plainly clear (last paragraph, 20G.2.b).

Source:
TEM 59/60

 

 

Source:
Errata published at http://www.hmsgrd.com/Files/Europa/Second Front/Second Front.pdf

Rule 20G: How does Bad Weather halve the bombing strength or air units?

Question:
Bombing strengths of air units are halved in poor weather. ls the bombing strengths halved for units bombing in a weather zone with poor weather (because the weather makes bombing more difficult in the hex)? Or, is the bombing strengths halved for air units that initiate its bombing mission from an airbase in a weather zone with poor weather (because the airplanes can’t make as many takeoffs during these two weeks due to the poor weather)? or is the bombing strength halved in both cases?

Answer:
Air unit bombing strengths are halved when bombing land targets present in target hexes in weather zones with poor weather; air unit bombing strengths are halved when bombing naval targets present in target hexes in sea zones with rough and stormy sea conditions. The location of the target is all that matters. Regardless of the weather present at the air unit’s base, it will be halved if the target hex of the mission is in a weather zone with poor weather.

For example, assume Mud in the D weather zone and Calm seas in the Mediterranean. An air unit bombing the city of Genoa, say its port capacity, would have its bombing factors halved, due to the Mud weather.

Another air unit, bombing enemy ships in the Genoa hex, either at sea or in port, would not be halved, since it is attacking a naval target and the sea conditions are Calm.

Source:
TEM 50

 

Air Units and Supply

Question:
In FitE/SE,  what happens to air units surrounded in a
pocket, and the pocket is out of supply?
Supply rules just say units, with special supply listing an RE amount
that can be carried by aircraft, but aircraft only have an RE Equivalent
listed in the Section on German’s operating in Finland, where each air
unit counts as one RE.

Answer:
Air units didn’t need supply until an optional rule was introduced in
WW. So if using FitE/SE, just ignore them for supply calculations.
They never run out of supply.

Source:
Posted by Bill Jenman (bill.jenman@gmail.com) on the EuropaAssociation Mailing list at Yahoo, April 21st, 2015

 

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