• My friends and I were very dissapointed when we found out that the French could not surrender to the Axis so we made a house rule concerning the fall of France to the European Axis Powers. When Paris is captured, the Axis will approach the French player (note that this does not riquire a seperate French player but it does work out better) with the conditions of Frances surrender to the Axis. The French player can accept them or not the choice is theirs if they do accept the terms will be as followed.
    1.) The French Infantry in the UK and the French cruiser that is bordering Norway will become British pieces.
    2.) All other French units will stay French but France is now a member of the Axis.
    3.) All current French territories will have to have another Axis unit (Ger,Ita,Jap) enter the territory in order to claim it. Any French units in those territories will not resist.
    4.) If France is to capture a territory while on the Axis side that territory will go to either Germany’s, Italy’s, or Japan’s economy (Axis members will discuss who gets it, preferably Italy)
    5.) France is allowed to have an income of 3 IPC’s while under Axis control. France will be allowed to place their units on whatever Axis or French controlled space they like.
    6.) France’s original IPC’s still goes to whoever captured Paris
    7.) If Paris is captured by the Allies, France will have the option of going back to the Allies or remaining Axis if they chose to sign the treaty.

    Comment if you like or dislike these terms and conditions for the Vichy government or if you have a different way of operating the Vichy Regime. I made these because I have alot of friends who like Axis & Allies and I wanted to let the French player to continue to be in the game and still have a noticeable affect on the game. Not a major effect, but an effect none the less.


  • I’d rather use France’s capitulation as a default rule to make this unbalanced game slightly easier for the Axis. It’s not much, but every little bit helps.


  • Interesting House rule. I like it but it may not be really worth it. The only real gain is the french fleet in the med for the Axis. All other territories have only 1 inf besides southern France. Not much for the Axis to just steamroll anyway.


  • @deadbunny:

    may not be really worth it. The only real gain is the french fleet in the med for the Axis.

    Except they don’t need to direct stacks of units to guarantee a win as now the french territories are essentially pro axis neutrals. Italy can start to snag much of africa with a single infantry and do so immediately, rather than having to wait to regroup and reinforce from the north.  plus france can provide one free infantry for defense in normandy or africa each turn.  With the addition of fodder french navy, that’s not a small thing.

    For balance I’d say that the french fleet cannot be used for attack and must remain off the coast of southern france in perpetuity.  It will defend against attack only.


  • @deadbunny:

    Interesting House rule. I like it but it may not be really worth it. The only real gain is the french fleet in the med for the Axis. All other territories have only 1 inf besides southern France. Not much for the Axis to just steamroll anyway.

    And the UK either attacks Syria or the French will activate Iraq for the Axis and gain 3 inf to use on round 2.


  • Good point Hobbes. I’m thinking if Vichy french ever see the light of day they should be non combative. IE no taking pro axis etc. Of course I still see this game as balanced so as a house only rule its OK, I would not recommend it as a fix or anything.


  • If the Option to surrender is allowed for the french I believe that all of north Africa and the remaining European french territories should become Vichy French as another axis player. While the other french territories (F. equatorial africa, syria, french indochina, french guiana, madagascar) all become pro-allied neutrals/Free french. Any French units in other allied territories or in the same zone as an ally (british are the only ones I think) will automatically be transferred to that allied players control (replace french cruiser in SZ 112 with british cruiser, french infantry in UK for british infantry). The remaining french fleet will be playable as the Vichy french only in sea zones bordering Vichy french/axis territories. All land Vichy french non infantry units will be taken off of the map and replaced with German counterparts in neighboring axis territories. Vichy france will be allowed its income (should be 8ipc’s) half of which must be given to the German or Italian player. There will be no restrictions as to what the Vichy french may build or conquer as long as they follow the above rules. The other axis players may also occupy Vichy french territories once the allies have attacked any French territory and collect the IPC values for themselves, if the axis players choose to do this the Vichy French player may switch back to the allies.


  • I don’t like the house rule but if it works for you….


  • I’ve been thinking about this topic and I came up with a rule for France’s surrender that’s fairly simple and would give some extra options for the Axis. Here it is:

    Puppet States

    When the capital of any minor power is captured, the invading player may elect to establish the conquered power as a puppet state instead of incorporating the territory into its own. The “minor powers” are France, Italy and Australia.

    When a minor power becomes a puppet state, it switches sides and joins the opposing alliance. It immediately regains control of all territory previously conquered by its former enemies and returns control of all territory it has conquered to its former enemies. It loses all money in its treasury. This money is not plundered and may not be spent by any power. The puppet state retains control of all of its units in land belonging to it or its former enemies. If it has units stationed in territory that belongs to a former ally, such units are absorbed by the former ally and become units of the same type belonging to the appropriate power. If any former allies have units in the puppet state’s territory, those units become invading units and the resulting battles are fought immediately in a special combat round. These units may not retreat unless they are air units. Naval units grouped with newly hostile navies are treated as new purchases deployed into hostile waters.

    After this process has been completed, the puppet state now operates normally except it has switched to the opposing side and the player who established the puppet state now controls it. If a former ally of the puppet state is able to take its capital territory, the capital is considered conquered and not liberated. The former ally has the option of repeating the puppet state process and returning the power to its original alliance, in which case the original player controlling that power now regains control of it. The puppet state option does not go away and may be repeated indefinitely by the two alliances as they conquer and reconquer the capital territory of the minor power.

    Because the capital territory never switches control during a puppet state conversion, major factories are not reduced to minor factories. National objectives still apply for the puppet state. When reading these rules, replace any instances of the term “Allies” or “Allied” with “Axis” and vice versa. The only exception to this is France’s national objective. The one-time bonus of four infantry is never available to Axis powers when they conquer or liberate Paris and is awarded to France even if being converted back into an Ally through the puppet state process.

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