Please vote: Changes to Free France, Vichy France and Italy

[Blathergut]

I'm not too experienced in the latter part of the game to vote with any knowledge, but will playtest any options. In the game I have going, am finding it tricky to get anything from Italy to Africa since with the French refused, there are lots of french ships floating around still!!!

[NotaPacifist]

What do you mean about research being taken away. You don't lose any research if Tunis is checked for Italian surrender city. You need to have ALLIED control of Tunis (Vichy neutral is not enough). And you won't surrender until Palermo and Messina fall too. If the Axis player knows that Torch started he needs to build a defense in Tunisia and Sicily to keep Italy in the war. This is what happened historically. Italy surrendered less than 12 weeks after the Allies entered Messina. So we didn't see the Italians fight at the tip of Italy trying to keep the Allies from Taranto.

With a German presence in Tunisia and Sicily then it's not a walkover for the Allies. Try putting a German mech in Messina and see how the Allies struggle to kill it. If you add a leader with +1 defense it's even harder.

I've used a German mech in Sicily to great effect in PBEM's. So, I can't argue with that. What I meant was why research your troops up if they're just going to lose effectiveness through no control of your own? BUt I can't argue with your counterargument...so I'll change that vote to yes.

[rkr1958]

1. The Free French also gets the leader Leclerc (in addition to de Gaulle) when Vichy is DoW'ed -- Yes.

2. Vichy French hexes in southern France and Corsica will turn to core French control if the Allies invade Vichy France. -- Yes.

3. Vichy garrisons in Toulouse and Lyons are removed if the Allies DoW Vichy. -- Yes.

4. Tunis is added to the Italian surrender cities -- Yes.

[schwerpunkt]

1. The Free French also gets the leader Leclerc (in addition to de Gaulle) when Vichy is DoW'ed -- Yes.

2. Vichy French hexes in southern France and Corsica will turn to core French control if the Allies invade Vichy France. -- Yes.

3. Vichy garrisons in Toulouse and Lyons are removed if the Allies DoW Vichy. -- Yes.

4. Tunis is added to the Italian surrender cities -- Yes.

Yes I guess - I'd better get a German MECH and Heinrici down to Messina and perhaps pack Sicily with Lvl 4 It INF (Are you reading this Duncan? )

[Given that Italy will surrender then once Sicily falls, the axis player may as well expend all of Italy's resources on it. With some decent axis air in Italy, it will be damn hard for the allied player to take two mainland cities so a reduced Italian presence there shouldnt be a great issue]

[Peter Stauffenberg]

If you don't do Torch you have to fight to Taranto or Naples.

[NotaPacifist]

If Italy falls while the Germans maintain a presence, will there be an eruption of Italian partisans? Defending Sicily isn't very difficult if the Allies don't have enough airbases nearby. I've defended against a couple of decent Huskies but since the only air available was carriers and whatever free spaces he could get on sicily, it isn't too hard to hang on.

[gerones]

I think that the keys for the allies in Sicily campaign with the new rules will be to have a significant air support provided from air bases in Tunisia and to increase their naval presence in the Med to support the landings in the island with also tons of additional sea ports to refit and to repair because of Torch. Tunisia will be an excellent territory for the allies to build air bases because: a) there are no hexes affected by bad weather in Tunisia and, b) due to its proximity to Sicily and Italy, allied air units will be able to give air support not only for Husky but also for the campaign in Italy mainland.