Slitherine

I have a suggestion regarding Afrika Corps DLC when and if it hopefully comes.

I think it would be awesome if It started historically with all Italian units, maybe even with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935), and then moving to the fronitier skirmishes (initiated by the British) against the Italians in 1940 and with an (probably piecemeal) import option from Blitzkrieg starting from the German entrance in the Theater (feb 1941).

I also think it would be awesome if it could encompass both the Western and Eastern African Campaign and somehow include Torch and a what if path if the German/Italian forces are succesful.

And finally if it could (for the missions where this would make sense) include a core (not auxiliary) of Kriegsmarine. This should be easy with separate Kriegsmarine RP and unit max.

I like your suggestions. I can easily see Afrika Corps being a three-parter like Blitzkrieg, Panzerkrieg, and "End"krieg (name to be determined). At least. The natural partitions could be just as you described: Invasion of Ethiopia, the Desert War, and Operation Torch to conclusion.

In another forum, they have a slobbering smiley that I miss here. It's called "drool" and I reproduced it below as witness my reaction to the thought of an OOB Afrika Corp campaign:

I think Italian attack on Ethiopia is too much. There will not be so many scenarios.

Possible scenarios list: (in my opinion)
1. Italian-British fights before arrival of Africa Corps, 1940/41
2. Rommel offensive in Cyrenaica, March 1941
3. Siege of Tobruk and Axis defense on the Egyptian border (against British operations Brevity and Battleaxe), April-June 1941
4. Axis defense against British operation Crusader (attempts to unblock Tobruk), November 1941
5. Rommel's retreat through Cyrenaica, December 1941-January 1942
6. DAK's counteroffensive and Cyrenaica's recapture, January-March 1942
7. Battles of El Ghazala and Bir Hakeim, achievement of fortress Tobruk, May-June 1942
8. First El Alamein, July 1942
9. Second El Alamein, October-November 1942
10. Axis retreat through Libya, Mareth line defense, December 1942-February 1943
11. Battle of Kasserine pass (and whole Axis attacks on the Allies positions in the Eastern Atlas), February 1943
12. Axis defense of Bizerte and Tunis, April-May 1943

WarHomer wrote:I have a suggestion regarding Afrika Corps DLC when and if it hopefully comes.

I think it would be awesome if It started historically with all Italian units, maybe even with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935), and then moving to the fronitier skirmishes (initiated by the British) against the Italians in 1940 and with an (probably piecemeal) import option from Blitzkrieg starting from the German entrance in the Theater (feb 1941).

I also think it would be awesome if it could encompass both the Western and Eastern African Campaign and somehow include Torch and a what if path if the German/Italian forces are succesful.

And finally if it could (for the missions where this would make sense) include a core (not auxiliary) of Kriegsmarine. This should be easy with separate Kriegsmarine RP and unit max.

I like this idea, the challenge of turning the Italian Army into an effective fighting force would be a nice and new challenge. This would fit well with the OoB mantra of looking at the overlooked from WWII.

kondi754 wrote:I think Italian attack on Ethiopia is too much. There will not be so many scenarios.

Possible scenarios list: (in my opinion)
1. Italian-British fights before arrival of Africa Corps, 1940/41
2. Rommel offensive in Cyrenaica, March 1941
3. Siege of Tobruk and Axis defense on the Egyptian border (against British operations Brevity and Battleaxe), April-June 1941
4. Axis defense against British operation Crusader (attempts to unblock Tobruk), November 1941
5. Rommel's retreat through Cyrenaica, December 1941-January 1942
6. DAK's counteroffensive and Cyrenaica's recapture, January-March 1942
7. Battles of El Ghazala and Bir Hakeim, achievement of fortress Tobruk, May-June 1942
8. First El Alamein, July 1942
9. Second El Alamein, October-November 1942
10. Axis retreat through Libya, Mareth line defense, December 1942-February 1943
11. Battle of Kasserine pass (and whole Axis attacks on the Allies positions in the Eastern Atlas), February 1943
12. Axis defense of Bizerte and Tunis, April-May 1943

I think the list is pretty obvious. But you can include most of these missions in an Allied corps DLC (U.S. and British), too.
So there's enough to do. And there's still hypotheticals, e.g. advancing to the Suez Canal with Rommel. Plenty of meat.

Snake97644 wrote:
I like this idea, the challenge of turning the Italian Army into an effective fighting force would be a nice and new challenge. This would fit well with the OoB mantra of looking at the overlooked from WWII.

Hypotheticals, not impossibles, please. Just hypotheticals.

awesome ideas.
+1

I think we could combine 5th and 6th scenario, then there would be space for 1 additional scenario.

Andy2012 wrote:
e.g. advancing to the Suez Canal with Rommel

Ок

I hope they won´t limit it to 12 missions and include "what if".

I would also like to see both Italian and German core units. The Italians need a bit of love

Erik2 wrote:I would also like to see both Italian and German core units. The Italians need a bit of love

Italians have poor reputation as soldiers during World War II, but this is partly unfair.
They had great pilots and brave artillery gunners.
The entire world press (British too) wrote about outstanding performance of Italian paratroopers from "Folgore" brigade during both battles of El Alamein.
Generally, Italian soldiers fought well but being under German command.

kondi754 wrote:

Erik2 wrote:I would also like to see both Italian and German core units. The Italians need a bit of love

Italians have poor reputation as soldiers during World War II, but this is partly unfair.
They had great pilots and brave artillery gunners.
The entire world press (British too) wrote about outstanding performance of Italian paratroopers from "Folgore" brigade during both battles of El Alamein.
Generally, Italian soldiers fought well but being under German command.

Of course, you are right, kondi.
But the jokes are just too damn good. 'Oh look, it is the italian war flag - white eagle on white ground.'

stereotypical joke, but funny

Great idea, maybe Mediterranean theater can be added like Dalmations, Crete, naval/air siege of Malta, etc.

My two cents are that the campaign should begin with the Italian invasion of Egypt in 1940 and then go from there. The Italian soldier was a good soldier just poorly lead. Even the Germans admitted this. I would love to have a chance to do a better job than Graziani. As far as Ethiopia goes it would be interesting to have a campaign that deals with the Italian defense of the colony from 1940 on.

Also, a game such as Kriegsmarine but which deals with the war in the Mediterranean and could be called Regia Marina would be an excellent expansion. There were many naval battles fought between the British and Italians which are largely forgotten about in the US. It isn't only Toronto and Matapan. Let's remember the battles of Punto Stilo, Cape Spada, Teulada, the convoy battles of mid-June and August 1942, etc. It is a fertile field for expansion and the Italians were a major player (power) in the war until the surrender in Sep. 1943. It will be great to see them represented and explore the many what ifs with better leadership.