Legal or not?

[Frederick II]

I was playing some G42 on Triplea and something weird happen. I was playing the USSR and everybody else was AI. I declared war on Italy (I think it was turn three) and Germany hasn’t declared war on me. Italy attacked Eastern Poland and occupied it (because I only had one inf there). On Germany’s turn they moved a chunk of their force in Eastern Poland (remember Germany and I are not at war) and on my turn I attacked the territory with a couple inf and my air force and was victorious taking it. However, the German forces stayed there and now it’s been several turns later and Germany and I are still are not at war and the German forces are still there.

So my questions are in a real game (aka on an actual board) are the German forces in Eastern Poland allowed to stay there even though now I own the territory, can they move out, and what happens if either me or Germany declares war on each other? I haven’t gotten to the point where either me or Germany has declare war on each other and will tell you what happens when war is declared. If this is legal, I’m a bit puzzled why there can be 30ish German units in a neutral territory. Thanks.

[Caesar-Seriona]

If you attack a territory that is occupied by any possible enemy, you should of been at war before you could legally attacked because in order to take it, you would have to remove anyone else on it.

[Frederick II]

@Caesar:

If you attack a territory that is occupied by any possible enemy, you should of been at war before you could legally attacked because in order to take it, you would have to remove anyone else on it.

Funny thing is that I was allowed to attack it.

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

My understanding is that you could selectively attack just Italian forces if Germany hadn’t declared war.  That strangeness has been eliminated in the new BM version which prevents Germany from marching into former Russian territories without DoW.

Nevertheless I am having a related problem in a League match where Russia is attacking an original German territory with both German and Italian forces.  Italy is currently at peace so TripleA assumes that they are not aiding their German friends.  It has huge impact on the game so this is a critical rule argument.

[Wolfshanze]

My standard answer to the subject question is she has to be over 18… but I think we might be talking about different things.

[Caesar-Seriona]

I know you can by pass peaceful navies to get another enemy in the same square but I am pretty sure this isn’t true with land forces. If the territory is controlled by Italy with German forces on it, Soviet forces attacking the territory would have to remove German forces in order to secure it as Germany and Italy are allies and are at war, just not with the Soviets at the same time. By the logic, the territory would of then turned German with Soviets clearing Italy out. So I am pretty sure this was an illegal move.

[Frederick II]

Okay so when Germany declared war on me the units in Eastern Poland attacked my one inf there. If this move is legal, I wonder if there could be an interesting strategy where Italy takes Soviet territory and Germany moves their units in the occupied territories (Just a interesting thought).

[Arthur Bomber Harris]

Germans walking in behind Italy is a very valid strategy in standard G40.  You can keep your at-peace bonus for Germany for another round.  The downside is that your Scandinavian must wait a critical extra round before moving south.  In many games that is a huge downside.  In other matches where Russia has stacked Novgorod, you might not have that option so don’t bother with a German DoW.

[Caesar-Seriona]

@Frederick:

Okay so when Germany declared war on me the units in Eastern Poland attacked my one inf there. If this move is legal, I wonder if there could be an interesting strategy where Italy takes Soviet territory and Germany moves their units in the occupied territories (Just a interesting thought).

That’s literally the standard Italian Can Opening move where Italy attacks Soviet territories so German forces and get in without losing forces. USSR will always fall to axis forces if they don’t receive help from the other allies.

[Caesar-Seriona]

The only issue with Italian Can Opening is that Italy being the poorest major power in the game either has to focus on controlling the Med against UK and France, or can open for Germany. And I honestly prefer the idea of Italy dealing with the allies’ naval power.