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Hey all,

With the release of Flank Speed I've got several questions about the new SAs. A couple seem like common sense to me, but I just wanted an official answer just to be sure.


B6N2 "Jill":
Kamikaze attack: Can this be used from Range 1? (Has torpedo attack at range 1)
The card lists 1 for range 1 torpedo, can you ignore the Harass from a Distance SA(since its positive) and use this instead to benefit from Expert Torpedo SA?
(Suggestion: errata the range 1 torpedo attack to - would solve both)


Soryu:
Surprise Raid: Does the 10 or higher roll on this SA include bonuses from Flag and other sources (Flotilla Leader, etc) or must it be a natural die roll of 10+?


USS Alaska:
Fighter Director: Can you use this ability on one of your aircraft which has been aborted? Can multiple units with this SA be used on the same aircraft?
Should this ship be referred to as "Battleship" instead of "Cruiser" to remain consistent with other similar ships?


Prinz Eugen:
Crippling Salvo: Is this effect applied immediately or at the end of the phase? For instance, the -1 to armor ratings, counts as damaged for [/b]Finish Him Off[/b], for opponent’s gunnery later in the phase, etc.

Martlet Mk. II:
Rugged: If this unit is Strafing, does this mean the unit can avoid being destroyed on an 8, but is still destroyed on a roll of 6, 7, or 9+?
May this unit make Strafing attacks without penalty due to the Main Gunnery icon on its card being different than normal aircraft gunnery icons?


HMS Saumarez:
Battleship Killer: Is this the same as the USS Samuel B. Roberts' "Valiant Stand"?


Aquila:
Stuka Operations: Does this SA override the normal "Can't overrides Can" for the negative SA "Land Based"?


HMS Repulse:
Evade Torpedoes:  If the roll successful, can the enemy choose to fire their torpedo attack at a different target? The card says when an enemy "would" make an attack, not "after enemy declares an attack".


Re. 2001 CB:
Mission Selection: Can this unit declare it's a Dive Bomber to avoid enemy SAs such as Advanced Fighter or benefit from an Escort, even while engaging in anti-air combat with enemy planes?
Must this unit take the Strafing penalty if it declares itself as a Fighter and instead uses its Bomb attack on any enemy ship?


Gromkiy:
High-Speed Run: If you use this SA on a ship, does that mean no ships you control can claim any objectives during that turn?
Mines: Should Mines affect Submarines? Should mines affect MTBs? Can High-Speed Evasion be used to avoid damage from Mines as it’s an attack from a Ship's SA? Are Mines removed after a ship takes damage from them or if the ship which deployed them has left the field of play?


A65M "Zeke":
Great Agility: If this unit is Strafing, does this mean the unit is not destroyed on an 8, but is still destroyed on a roll of 6, 7, or 9+?
Is this unit’s name incorrect? (ie. A6M5)
May this unit make Strafing attacks without penalty due to the Main Gunnery icon on its card being different than normal aircraft gunnery icons?


General:

Bad Weather Fighter: How does this interact with Sharpshooter? Does Sharpshooter take precedence and force a 6 natural only, or does Bad Weather Fighter increase allow for a 5+ (5+1=6) to count as a success?

Opening Salvo: If a unit with this ability has both Gunnery and Torpedoes, does this bonus apply to the first attack with each system or only the first one rolled for?

Lay Smoke Screen: Are all units in Flank Speed which have this SA considered to be typos, or should they followed the rules on their card?


Thanks in advance.


*Edit: A couple more questions to add to the list since WotC_Huscarl said he'd have an answer in a few days...


Revisiting the Alaska's "Fighter Director":
Can this ability be used by a player who wins the initiative roll to remove a fighter from a sector before the defender has an opportunity to fire on it?

For example, a US player wins initiative so makes Air Defense first. Their Hellcat with Expert2 from Yorktown attacks a "Zeke" (12 dice total) and easily aborts or destroys it. A nearby Alaska then moves the Hellcat one sector to make a 10 dice (still has Yorktown's +2) to attack a "Jill". In the Japanese player's Air Defense phase, the aborted/destroyed "Zeke" has no targets in its sector.
If the initiative winner DOES wait until the other player has fired, has the winner lost his opportunity to use this ability since it is no longer his Air Defense phase?

How is the moved aircraft's "Escort" ability applied? To the aircraft in the fighter's original sector, to the ones in the new sector, to both? If an Escort moves in after attack dice have been rolled, will the Escort ability kick in and possibly reduce the number of successes? Can Fighter Director be used by an initiative winner to move an Escort after an attack on a plane has been declared but before dice are rolled to apply the Escort bonus to that roll?

Can this ability be used in, say, the Surface Attack step to move a fighter to another sector and attack out of sequence? I'm not sure why you'd want to, maybe you forget earlier, but it doesn't specify and this ability grants an "exception to the rules" attack.

Are any sectors "adjacent" or "within 3 sectors" of the land airbase if a fighter is set on an "Airfield Strike"? (assuming no, but wanted to be complete!)



Another general question that came up:

How are multiple effects which give -1 penalties applied? For example, a Hellcat which has been moved using Fighter Director attacking an Escorted bomber. Do these stack for a -2 penalty or, like Crippled BB's Main Gunnery vs Destroyers, does only the worst penalty apply? In this case, two -1s simply being an overall -1.

A more extreme example...
For example, a crippled ship(-1) that the Soryu is "Surprise Raid"ing(-1) firing at an aircraft that a Ju88 is "Dividing the Defense" for(-1) at night(-1). Does this become a -4 penalty for the poor little ship, or since the worst penalty is -1 will it still hit on 5s and 6s?

B6N2 "Jill": Kamikaze attack: Can this be used from Range 1? (Has torpedo attack at range 1)

No.

The card lists 1 for range 1 torpedo, can you ignore the Harass from a Distance SA(since its positive) and use this instead to benefit from Expert Torpedo SA?

No.

(Suggestion: errata the range 1 torpedo attack to - would solve both)

Honestly, we don't consider this confusing.

Soryu: Surprise Raid: Does the 10 or higher roll on this SA include bonuses from Flag and other sources (Flotilla Leader, etc) or must it be a natural die roll of 10+?

The dice must total 10 or more before adding initiative modifiers.

USS Alaska: Fighter Director: Can you use this ability on one of your aircraft which has been aborted?

No. (corrected)

Can multiple units with this SA be used on the same aircraft?

No.

Should this ship be referred to as "Battleship" instead of "Cruiser" to remain consistent with other similar ships?

The USN classed it as a heavy cruiser or battlecruiser, and that's good enough for us.

Prinz Eugen: Crippling Salvo: Is this effect applied immediately or at the end of the phase? For instance, the -1 to armor ratings, counts as damaged for [/b]Finish Him Off[/b], for opponent’s gunnery later in the phase, etc.

A target isn't effectively "damaged" until the end of the phase when the attack occurred, so this SA takes effect at the end of the phase.

Martlet Mk. II: Rugged: If this unit is Strafing, does this mean the unit can avoid being destroyed on an 8, but is still destroyed on a roll of 6, 7, or 9+?

No. In the Clarifications document, this SA will receive errata indicating that it comes into play when an attack scores successes exactly equal to the unit's vital armor.

May this unit make Strafing attacks without penalty due to the Main Gunnery icon on its card being different than normal aircraft gunnery icons?

No. That Main Gunnery icon is a misprint; it should be the standard one for aircraft. Even without that, though, the strafing penalty applies because an aircraft is strafing, not because of the icon on its card.

HMS Saumarez: Battleship Killer: Is this the same as the USS Samuel B. Roberts' "Valiant Stand"?

Effectively, yes.

Aquila: Stuka Operations: Does this SA override the normal "Can't overrides Can" for the negative SA "Land Based"?

Yes. This will be covered in the updated clarifications document.

HMS Repulse: Evade Torpedoes: If the roll successful, can the enemy choose to fire their torpedo attack at a different target?

No.

Re. 2001 CB: Mission Selection: Can this unit declare it's a Dive Bomber to avoid enemy SAs such as Advanced Fighter or benefit from an Escort, even while engaging in anti-air combat with enemy planes?

No. Declaring the unit's type for the turn commits it to using the associated attack.

Must this unit take the Strafing penalty if it declares itself as a Fighter and instead uses its Bomb attack on any enemy ship?

This isn't allowed, per the previous answer.

Gromkiy: High-Speed Run: If you use this SA on a ship, does that mean no ships you control can claim any objectives during that turn?

Yes.

Mines: Should Mines affect Submarines?

No. In W@S, Submarine is a separate category from Ship.

[Should mines affect MTBs?

Yes. MTBs are categorized as ships.

Can High-Speed Evasion be used to avoid damage from Mines as it’s an attack from a Ship's SA?

No.

Are Mines removed after a ship takes damage from them or if the ship which deployed them has left the field of play?

No.

A65M "Zeke": Great Agility: If this unit is Strafing, does this mean the unit is not destroyed on an 8, but is still destroyed on a roll of 6, 7, or 9+?

See Martlett.

Is this unit’s name incorrect? (ie. A6M5)

Yes.

May this unit make Strafing attacks without penalty due to the Main Gunnery icon on its card being different than normal aircraft gunnery icons?

See Martlett.

General: Bad Weather Fighter: How does this interact with Sharpshooter? Does Sharpshooter take precedence and force a 6 natural only, or does Bad Weather Fighter increase allow for a 5+ (5+1=6) to count as a success?

Bad Weather Fighter allows the concealment roll to succeed on 5 or 6.

Opening Salvo: If a unit with this ability has both Gunnery and Torpedoes, does this bonus apply to the first attack with each system or only the first one rolled for?

Opening Salvo specifically restricts itself to Gunnery attacks.

Lay Smoke Screen: Are all units in Flank Speed which have this SA considered to be typos, or should they followed the rules on their card?

All should use the corrected wording for Lay Smoke Screen -- "Instead of attacking during your Surface Attack step, this unit can make a local smoke screen. A sector containing a smoke screen blocks line of sight. A unit in a smoke screen has concealment. Remove the smoke screen at the end of the next turn."

Steve

Great, thanks for all the answers! A couple followup questions:

Fighter Director: The new clarification document says aborted aircraft can't be redirected. Should we use that one? Makes a bit more sense that and aborted plane can't attack again.

Opening Salvo: The T27's text mentions torpedoes. I'm not sure how many other units have that SA.


Thanks for answering even the seemingly silly ones, it'll save time in the future when those questions eventually come up.

Fighter Director: The new clarification document says aborted aircraft can't be redirected. Should we use that one? Makes a bit more sense that and aborted plane can't attack again.

I don't understand the question. If an aborted plane can't be redirected, then it can't attack again.

Opening Salvo: The T27's text mentions torpedoes.

Oops, I only looked at P. of Wales (and didn't understand why you were asking the question, based on that). The bonus die can be used once per game, not once per attack type. I'll add that to the clarifications.

Steve

Sep 8, 2009 -- 5:25PM, WotC_Huscarl wrote:

USS Alaska: Fighter Director: Can you use this ability on one of your aircraft which has been aborted?

Yes.

From clarificaiton:

Fighter Director:  Only a nonaborted Fighter can be redirected.

Sep 9, 2009 -- 8:35AM, WotC_Huscarl wrote:

Fighter Director: The new clarification document says aborted aircraft can't be redirected. Should we use that one? Makes a bit more sense that and aborted plane can't attack again.

I don't understand the question. If an aborted plane can't be redirected, then it can't attack again.

 

The answer conflict, that's the question.