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sbaxter1 -> Amphibious Assault Operations (2/24/2011 10:18:21 AM)
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Amphibious Assaults
1.Amphibious assaults are high risk missions with the potential for great payoffs, if successful. The possibility that you could conduct such operations may also cause your opponent to take steps to reduce the chances that you can do so (keeping ships in port, for example) or to reduce your chances of the attack being successful (by keeping infantry stationed at the port which helps you by keeping them from being used in the front lines).
2.Among the risks are
a.If the attack fails, the attacking unit does not retreat. It is completely destroyed.
b.If the enemy has protected the port by keeping ships at home rather than on a mission, the attack will not be allowed. You will not know this until after you have spent an offensive point to activate the assault unit. You may be able to guess if the enemy has sufficient naval power in port by knowing his starting naval order of battle (and hoping he has not changed it) and paying attention to which of his ships yours have encountered during naval engagements.
c.If successful, the attacking unit cannot be pulled out until the next game turn.
d.If attacked successfully after taking the port, then your unit and any reinforcements sent in during subsequent impulses will be destroyed. One odd exception to this is if Germany takes Petrograd and is then forced out. When Petrograd falls, the isthmus hex north of Petrograd and the Finnish hexes above that become German. A German unit driven out of Petrograd will retreat there and then die unless relieved.
e.Supply by sea will be critical unless you intend to leave on the turn after the attack. If enemy ships have sunk or damaged your ships on sea supply missions, your troops will soon be starving. Each transport providing sea supply increases supply in the hex by 25%, so it would be normal to see 31% supply in the port hex. Units moving out of the port, taking enemy territory, will have even lower levels of supply unless you have multiple supply ships.
f.Only one corps can be sent to attack an enemy held port. You can use cavalry for this but the presence of infantry in the port will guarantee its failure. Enemy cavalry in the target port may cause attacking cavalry to lose but will retreat from infantry as usual. Reinforcements may be sent in on subsequent impulses, subject to the stacking limits and the availability of more amphibious transports (each one can be used only once per game turn).
3.Planning
a.Designate sufficient transports for amphibious operations (one per sea per unit to be moved from the friendly port to the enemy port). Assign more than needed if you wish or hope enemy ships don’t reduce what you have available for the operation.
b. Designate one or more transport for sea supply in the sea of the target port.
c. Have the attacking corps in a friendly port with or adjacent to an HQ.
d. Activate the HQ and the attacking corps (yes, you can have multiple corps in a port, all activated by the same HQ and all attacking different ports, for example, the Germans taking Riva, Narva and Petrograd or the TE taking Galliopli, Smyrna, Beirut and Trieste).
e. During the movement phase, select the unit to move, select amphibious movement, then select the port to attack. If the port you intended to attack is not in the list (assuming you do have transports available from your port to the objective) it will be because the enemy has enough warships present to prevent the attack. You can complain to the Navy about not telling you earlier.
f.Combat resolution will follow.
g. If the attack is successful, you may bring in reinforcements by normal amphibious movement (i.e., without having to be activated). If the attack failed, you could always try to send in another corps.
h. No amphibious movement is permitted in a sea contested or controlled by the enemy. If the success of your overall plan rides upon the success of amphibious assaults in a particular turn, you better hope you can control all the seas through which you must move or revise your overall plan.
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