Slitherine

Gang, I need your help with a rules question:

If Axis does not accept French surrender--that means there will be no Vichy France--does that mean the Allies never get Free France? The game manual specifically says that Free France isn't activated at any certain date; rather, it activates at the same time that Vichy France gets activated. So this seems to imply that if Vichy France never activates, there will never be any Free French forces. Is that right?

If you reject the armistice offer then there will be no Vichy France. Instead all remaining French units will become Free French. In November 1942 the Free French will invade near Agadir as they would have when Vichy France was invaded. The French hexes in mainland France will turn French and the ones in north Africa will become Free French. This means the Germans will get production from all mainland France, but partisans may even spawn in the hexes in mainland France that otherwise would have become Vichy French.

When the armistice is refused the French units within France become Free French, but I think they are too strong. The armistice is offered because of the collapse of the French forces in France, any of those which choose to fight on should be significantly weakened. With the fall of Paris the disruption to the French supply system would have been very large, Britain could not have maintained those forces at anything like their former strength.