Home Defense Trick

[0wn]

Hi !

I came to hear there exist a “Home Defense trick”, which i understood as this:

1. Germany moves its 5-sorties fighters out of the West front (for example);
2. At the next turn, it benefit from the Home Defense obligation to repatriate there fresh fighters further than 10 hexes away.

While trying to experiment this in a table, i was unable to pass the very first step,
instead a message appeared: “Home Defense not satisfied”,
both in the Strategic Movement and the Operation Phases.

I get that what i tried was against the spirit of the policy,
but the section 10.3.1.1 Home Defense Not Satisfied of the Rulebook says:

At the start of its faction’s Strategic Movement Phase and again at the start of its Operations Phase; if a country is not satisfying a
Home Defense policy rule above, its faction must attempt to satisfy that rule.
For each unsatisfied rule, the faction chooses and repatriates (10.4) the required unit from a hex and/or Map Box and puts it in a location that satisfies that rule. It continues to do this until the rule is fully satisfied or the necessary unit or location is unavailable.
After all possible repatriation, if the rule is still not satisfied, continue playing that phase.

And especially:

There is no other impact.

So i would have thought that no Home Defense-check would be made once the game gave me the possibility to move units.

I guess there is something i did not understand, but what?

Thanks for any answer!

[RobertBr]

What I think you are attempting is the Posen switch. In its classic variant the German forces position two of the fighters as far west as they can while still satisfying the eastern portion of their home defence and then begin an invasion of France supported by the other three fighters. One of those fighters is exhausted then at the start of the next turn it is strategic moved to a position that satisfies the eastern home defence - a fresh fighter near Posen is then flown to France to continue operations. By repeating the switch multiple times the German player brings almost every sortie the luftwaffe has to bear in a single campaign.

But the switch requires you to set up a fighter that is surplus to the home defence requirement because you cannot legally make a move that would violate home defence (which is why, for example, Ireland cannot invade the UK proper). The rules you quoted are only about what happens when you violate home defence for reasons beyond your control, they are not the home defence policy which is on page 49 of the rulebook.

[0wn]

From your answer I admit I misinterpreted the rules … as predictable should i say ?

I totally missed the obligation to enforce Home Defense any time if possible,
plus the required surplus fighter for the switch to happen.

Thank you RobertBr!

[Serilo]

There is no obligation to fulfill that rule during your opponent's turns, however(e.g.you may retreat during their turn even if this would cause Home defense to be no longer fulfilled)

[RobertBr]

There is no obligation to fulfill that rule during your opponent's turns, however(e.g.you may retreat during their turn even if this would cause Home defense to be no longer fulfilled)

That is a rare occurrence, I have never seen specifically that, but I have seen someone placing a unit where it will be destroyed (thus causing them to fall short on home defence) so that on the next turn they can teleport a better unit across the map to bolster the defence (this is a thing the UK can do but it also works with some of the minor powers when under Axis control).

[Dren608]

There is no obligation to fulfill that rule during your opponent's turns, however(e.g.you may retreat during their turn even if this would cause Home defense to be no longer fulfilled)

That is a rare occurrence, I have never seen specifically that, but I have seen someone placing a unit where it will be destroyed (thus causing them to fall short on home defence) so that on the next turn they can teleport a better unit across the map to bolster the defence (this is a thing the UK can do but it also works with some of the minor powers when under Axis control).

Happened in a game I was in it was an Allied pile on in 1940 and there were no "legal" hexes for the German Air to base in the West when forced to retreat from one of the two hexes they could base at. It is rare, and usually only in cases like this