Northern Italy.. AXIS Weak point in Europe?
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Just playing a great game of Europe 1940. I found myself in the following situation:
An interesting strategy played by the Allies was to land in Northern Italy! It is common to have a large Allied Navy and Army off of Casablanca (Usual Operation Torch). If the Allies still control Gibraltar this opens up some interesting possibilities for the Allies. From this sea zone and its Naval Base this Strike force can hit anywhere in the Western Med, The Normandy coast, Holland/Belgium or even Western Germany!
As the Axis player I expected him to go for France or try to take out Italy by landing in Rome. So most of my forces were concentrated in the Italian Capitol.
The American player landed 3 Transports in Northern Italy! This was devastating to Italy as the Major IC was downgraded to a Minor and my entire European Empire was divided by this force. Germany did not have many troops in Central Europe (Austria etc) so was not able to destroy the force during the first counter-attack. To make matters worse the UK landed EVERY plane that could reach from Africa and Great Britain next turn.
This tied up Italy as they were caught up fighting for their existence instead of expanding their African and Middle-eastern Empire. Germany had to build/divert large amounts of troops to the region to stop an Allied break out. Northern Italy is smack-dab in the middle of Europe and allows attack to both Southern France and Paris, Southern Germany, and the Balkans. What a mess!
Additionally, it is stated in the rule book that if you upgrade a minor IC to a Major IC, you get to place 3 additional units on the same turn (Please confirm my reading of this). This allowed the USA to build 6 tanks on the second round of occupation, with additional Air units supplied from the UK.
I think this was a great move by the USA/UK and highly unexpected. It is still unresolved and after several counter attacks and wasted resources, the AXIS have yet to push the western Allies out of Italy.
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If you upgrade a minor, you can only build 3 units on the same turn
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If you upgrade a minor, you can only build 3 units on the same turn
Check the rule book. You will notice there is an exception in parenthisis “()” in this section.
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I think you’re referring to how you can build 3 “other units” in a minor in the process of being upgraded? If so, the “other” is there to distinguish the 3 units you build to the upgrade itself, which can be thought of as a unit, since you are buying a Major
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Calvin’s right.
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Thanks for the clarification.
Anyways, the point remains that this strategy is very interesting and Northern Italy is a Major weak point in this game.
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well, I thought that a factory gets downgraded only in A&A global during capture. is that true?
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@rock`n:
well, I thought that a factory gets downgraded only in A&A global during capture. is that true?
think so
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That’s correct in the box rules. It may turn out to also be true in the threatre games in Alpha.
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I (Axis) lost the game because of this.
Lesson learned. In this case Northern Italy is the “soft underbelly” of Europe.
Before this I thought it was just a “Tough old Gut”
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Before this I thought it was just a “Tough old Gut”
I deduce from this that you (like me) have watched the classic TV series “The World at War.”
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@CWO:
Before this I thought it was just a “Tough old Gut”
I deduce from this that you (like me) have watched the classic TV series “The World at War.”
One of my favourite docs
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here terrain rules would have made for a great addition to the game and solution to the potential problem you’re mentioning. as most of you will know the Italioan campaig lasted for two years and by the war’s end the fighting was still going on there. The mountainous terrain was ideal for defending troops and an attacker’s nightmare.if defended it would be virtually impossible to just push on to germany….
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