• '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    I am not going to make this a poll, that would be annoying.

    Question is:  Is it wiser to liberate France and have a 3rd nation (presumably a couple more IPC as well for the Allies) or ignore France, even though you wont get the American NO and any unconquered land won’t draw income, so you can keep the factories?

    I’m firmly in the do NOT liberate Paris unless you have to stop a VC win by the Axis (then, obviously, we would ALL liberate Paris!)

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    Ignore, unless you’ve got West Germany cap’d, and France can HOLD.


  • don’t liberate it if the axis can recapture it as it will give them an IPC boost time after time.


  • yeah, well, you get 12 IPCs of free units.  :roll:


  • Only liberate if you can hold (counting the 4 French inf you get), the Germans get a big boost for recapturing it so in that case I’d say it’s not worth it. If you ever get to the point where you can hold and the French actually get to produce it is a death sentance for the European Axis. No way they can handle yet another nation making 15-20 IPCs a turn.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    the worst is… all the forward factories, in places like Southern France, and Normandy, get folded into French control, and “liberated” from other allied powers. :S


  • I’ve play a lot of Global and I’ve yet to see for myself or accomplish for myself a liberation of Paris.

    Almost every game I play includes striking for W.Germany/Norway/Denmark or Rome/Cairo.

    I’m not a fan of liberating Paris at any point except late game where Moscow has fallen and you have no other choice to stop a VC win (Med closed - hence Cairo isolated).

  • '16 '15 '10

    Heavily context dependent question.  The short answer is…you want to take Paris at the point when Paris won’t be taken back.  But as noted above, in a close game you may have to take it before then to prevent a VC defeat.

    I wouldn’t say NEVER take it because ultimately I’d want to receive the French income.  And in a turtle situation, it would be nice to have a 3rd power in play (can openers etc).

    Of course, if you are getting 3 or 6 tanks a turn out of the French factories for USA, then that’s a good reason to hold off taking Paris.

    I’ve never experienced this scenario but I could see it playing out in a close game where Axis is close to a Pac win or if Germany/Italy have Russia and Egpyt but are weak in Western Europe.

  • TripleA

    No, there is never a game where you would want to liberate france.

    You should capture italy before that if anything.

    Seriously, if you have enough to liberate france, you have enough to lay waste to italy. italy is faster too.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    The best -use- of this tactic I saw, was in a game where Europe was a mess… but Japan was dominant.

    F.I.C. had a factory on it, and was inadvertantly liberated, with a liberation of paris the previous turn.

    This allowed a “surprise” build into the pacific, which caused some significant problems for Japan.

    Entirely situational of course…


  • The main problem is one of logic. The UK or America is usually always in a position to take Normandy and Southern France. Being on the coast and farther away from Germany and Italy’s major factories, they are almost impossible to fortify to prevent America from taking it if they want it. Fortifying Normandy and S.France means no offensive (or a weak one) against Russia.

    As the Allies, if you are in a position to take France and hold it, it means your assault force is enough to hold off West Germany and Italy, which means you should probably just take West Germany or Italy. Otherwise you’re liberating Paris and turning around and handing a fistful of IPC back over to the Axis.

    As America, Normandy’s factory is supremely important because it allows you to produce naval units in Sea Zone 110. This allows you to directly protect the UK (if they are in a weak defensive state) or produce capital ships for bombardment against Germany if you need them. You can effectively take Germany completely out of the water. I have had my navy ready to take Italy in the Med and successfully stopped a German re-invasion of the UK by performing Operation Instant Navy in SZ110, allowing me to not have to split my naval forces to defend the UK.

    As far as IPC gain is concerned, that’s a no-brainer. With the rules in regards to occupying friendly territories and gaining their IPC, you really only stand to lose IPC as the Allies. As I posited in the FAQ thread, I think you could execute an Axis strategy that involved taking France and not capturing Normandy and Southern France. In the long run, you lose out on 5 IPC a turn for the brief time before an Allied power almost inevitably invades those two countries, but you save the IPC from not suffering casualties taking those two countries.

    And if you’re worried about those forces coming back to attack you, the forces you didn’t use attacking them are the same ones you’ll use defending. You can always throw 1-2 infantry at those two and strafe them with aircraft or have Italy help. Altogether those two countries only account for 2 infantry and 2 artillery. Since they’re French units they can’t jointly attack you alongside another nation. The worst they can do is suicide against you to try to soften you up for a UK or US offensive.

    I think in the short run it looks like a bad strategy but in the long run you ultimately deny 5 IPC and 2 minor factories to the Americans (most likely). Those 4 troops that you’re possibly leaving in the territories more than make up for the 6 tanks that America will be pumping out every turn once they land. Since the Americans won’t have factories in Europe they’ll need to spend more on transports at 7 IPC apiece. Without having to spread forces occupying Normandy and Southern France (and possibly moving them back) you can instead concentrate on fortifying Holland or West Germany.

    If I’m Axis in my next global game I’ll definitely try it out.


  • When does the fac tip over when u lib france ? I mean, can US lib france and still build those 3 last unit, in the same turn ? Or does the fac become french right away ?

    PPP

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    French right away…

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    I have liberated France exactly once, myself, and never seen it happen by an opponent of mine.

    The reason I did it was not for tactical or strategic purposes, it was to demoralize my opponent.  America moved in with a large army, England reinforced with a large airforce and Italy/W. Germany couldn’t do anything about it.  He conceeded on Italy’s turn (he suicided against it, then figured W. Germany didnt have odds to win.)  He was one turn from a VC win in the Pacific, if I remember right (and it’s questionable, it was under Alpha 2 rules, so it was a while ago.)


  • Realistically the US wants both ICs in Normandy and S.France to remain under US control.  Unless a NO makes it more viable to get Paris liberated, 6 Armor a round from the US becomes more valuable for the Allies than 4 French Inf and only 2 Armor a round from them after the fact.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Yes, a penalty system for the United States / England for being in France until France is liberated maybe?


  • Or the IC’s can only build French Units (paid for by the owner of the territory).

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    A thought that occurred was that maybe you could not use the IC’s on French territory?

    So, Japan builds on on FIC and India liberates, they can’t use it.  It’s still there, but it cannot be used.
    Likewise
    Normandy/S. France couldn’t be used by England/USA.

    It wouldn’t really punish the allies for retaking land, but it also would encourage them to liberate Paris to use the complexes again.


  • Another thought is that the IC’s in Normandy and S.France always have 6 damage counters on them if under Allied control and Paris has not been liberated.

    It doesn’t completely solve the problem, but it would cost you the price of 4 Armor to place 3 - every turn which is nothing to bat an eye at.


  • @Spendo02:

    Or the IC’s can only build French Units (paid for by the owner of the territory).

    This is really cool.

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