Carpet Bombing

[alexvand]

Ok, I have never used this optional rule. This past game I had it enabled, but I kept skipping past it. I need some help in how to use this well.

First, what is the best approach to carpet bombing. How many factors are worth it for what chances?

Next, where in gameplay is this a useful technique?

[paulderynck]

It's not in CE because it was too powerful for the Allies. For example late in the game they could throw 25+ at the only axis HQ supplying a bunch of units in France and if it went poof, well then...

[EUBanana]

I just started using it. 25 strategic factors and no air defence gives you a 50/50 chance of destroying a unit. It’s quite powerful. It was the only way to weed MNT troops out of Italy in my very limited experience…

I can see it might give the Allies too much of an edge, but I suspect against decent Axis air defence it would be very costly.

[michaelbaldur]

yes you can get a chance to destroy a unit. but you will use all your air missions for the impulse, and you cant use the bombers again in the turn

so you might be able to use it 10 times doing the end game. if you use oil rule, then you will never use it

[AllenK]

The other thing with those rolls that would destroy a unit is that had the bombers been on a Strategic mission they would have been destroying factories or oil wells. Factor in the repair costs and either lost production or lost oil and the benefits are likely to be greater than for the destroyed unit. The exception might be the France scenario described above if enough air missions then remain to ground strike and disorganise any coastal defenders to allow a virtually unopposed landing.

[paulderynck]

At that point in the game Allies are throwing O-chits all over the place and mission count hardly matters. Likely either US and/or CW re-orgs at half cost as well. Might be the only reason ever for the Axis to vote for the Variable Re-org option.

[michaelbaldur]

only time I seen, that carpet bombing should have been used.

it was Japan in end game, I was cut off, so had minimal production. but the allies kept bombing my factories.

I had like 5 BP a turn and they removed some of it. but I had like 200 BP of units on the map.

it was not my reinforcements that kept me alive, it was my on map units.

if the allies had systematic removed my on map units I would have lost

[Centuur]

Personally, I think that this rule is to much pro-Allied. By attacking Axis HQ's in late game, they can try to put whole sections of the front in France or the USSR out of supply, especially if they got FTR's to escort the bombers. After reorganising the planes, next turn they ground strike the out of supply frontline and breakthrough. Or they target the HQ which has been send to replace the one which has been destroyed.

And 8 build points for a German HQ-ARM is a awful lot for them to replace, apart from the fact that that unit will take half a year to get back on the map...

Also: I never understood why there is no penalty for land units entering a hex cleared by carpet bombing during that impulse. IMHO, units which enter such a hex cleared due to carpet bombing, need to be disorganised. The mess the CW had to move through around Caen after a carpet bombing attack was huge and really bogged them down...

[paulderynck]

I agree - too pro-Allied. There was talk about modifying the rule for CE to make it more like a ground strike but the whole rule was ultimately chucked.

In the late game as the Axis I used to return any used aircraft to hexes with HQs (especially any FTRs that fought an air interception against the carpet bombing mission) and also try to stack a corps and a div with them so that the chance of randomly choosing the HQ as the carpet bombing victim was reduced as much as possible.

[Centuur]

Of course, if my Allied opponent would like to have carpet bombing as an optional rule in the game, I would like to have the no ZOC during the surprise impulse optional rule in play too. That is a really pro Axis rule in the game. [:D]

[Courtenay]

I agree that the carpet bombing rule as written is far too pro-Allied. If I use it, I use it with a bunch of house rules.

My house rules:
1) Carpet bombing can only be done against a hex in a cooperating unit's ZOC.
2) No overrun, invasion or paradrop can be made into a hex carpet bombed this impulse.
3) Carpet bombing only affects ground units
4) Carpet bombing does NOT destroy any units.
5) Instead, a carpet bombed unit that is hit is both disrupted and may not receive supply this impulse. A HQ MAY pass on supply to other units as normal.
6) None of this affects A-bombs; those still use the original rules.

That is, a carpet bombed unit will only have a defense of one or three this impulse (not counting mountain effects), but will then recover if it manages to survive the impulse.

Carpet bombing did not kill units; it badly disrupted the units, weakening them before an attack was immediately made.

I do NOT insist on these rules. They are my opinion of what the carpet bombing rules should sort of look like.