ORIGINAL: brian brian
Here is an historical loss + WiF trivia question. What aircraft model sank a Cruiser in history, but it’s WIF counters could not do so, as there is no air-to-sea factor? (The right honorable Sir Warspite is still some turns away from listing the ship involved).
The lost ship from this question has been posted now, and Warspite listed the aircraft taking credit for the sinking: a flight of Me-109s hit the CL HMS Fiji with multiple bombs and illustrates the extent to which the Royal Navy would sail into harm's way - i.e. in range of Axis land-based air - repeatedly during operations in the Med. The CA Gloucester was lost nearly simultaneously to attacks by Stukas.
I think a force multiplier for the Germans there could have been that the RN operated to the north of Crete, putting them in range of Luftwaffe planes in Greece, which were in turn not in very effective range of the ground operations on Crete. Perhaps in a sad irony of the battle for Crete, the stout defenses of the airfields by CW ground troops partially doomed those ships to attack by aircraft with little else to do. But then with the airfields in Axis possession, perhaps Royal Navy losses would have been even higher with areas to the south of Crete then also becoming in range of Axis air.
Reading the Atkinson books with details on Axis air attacks on the task forces delivering troops to the beaches of Italy made me conclude that by 1943, Axis air strength in the Med had been successfully attritioned down sufficiently to make the landings possible, & illustrates the necessity of putting an amphibious invasion ashore within range of the attacking force's own land based Fighters.
But in World in Flames, your NAVs and LNDs have to make a successful "search" roll to attack enemy amphibious forces - even when those same ships are under observation by your infantry officers. The invaded side might also have to be able to take a Combined Impulse to even try one of those search rolls. In the new CE rules, this is partially addressed by the new "Spotting Fleets" optional rule, which can force ships that are shore bombarding or disembarking to be placed in the 0 box afterwards, putting them at a disadvantage in surprise points on the subsequent enemy impulse (but also allowing FTR cover from any FTR that can reach the 0 box - very helpful). However the side being invaded still has to make a "search" roll when they know precisely where they are being invaded.
When I am able to play CE in my own "House" with any House Rules I wish, I am going to experiment with that Spotting Fleets optional by requiring ships to be placed on an adjacent hex dot during the subsequent enemy impulse, where they could then be subject to a Port Strike mission by the invaded side - & your own air cover had best be ready for that. This would still roll search dice to simulate the Fog of War (perhaps literally with fog).