• My friends and I rolled for teams, and I got stuck with Italy, I was wondering if anybody had any ideas kuz italy deffinately cant be a power unless it controls Africa and possibly India


  • I love playing as Italy!

    I find that Italy’s role is to take back France from the Allies, reinforce Cauc when Ger/Japan takes it, and to be open for opportunties in Med/Europe/Africa.  Also depends on your first turn buy.

    Don’t worry to much about it but go with the flow and see what happens.

    Are you playing with NO’s?  That also makes a big difference.  Try to maximize the shore bombardments and keep the fleet together.  I can’t remember who but there was an idea of buying 1 ftr, then a CV to secure the fleet.


  • Depends on what is going on in the game as Italy goes fifth, but…

    Personally, I wouldn’t invest anything in the italian fleet.  Buy as many ground troops as you can, and hang on to the NOs for as long as possible.

    If the allies want to kill your fleet, they’ll do it whether you build it up or not.  Money spent on fighters, carriers, destroyers is infantry not being sent to Egypt/Transjordan or defending france/italy.  The US will happily trade a big pile of their ships for a big pile of italian ships, but the allies will have a much harder time cracking 10-12 italian infantry each in france and italy.

    Italy is a real ‘team player’ - i.e. you might not have a lot of fun playing them as a separate power, but how you play them will make a huge difference to Germany’s fate.


  • That makes alot of sense, I thingk the main point of the Italien fleet is to have transports to bridge into Egypt and the other ships are to defend it.  Italy could potentionally become a power if it holds NO’s, conquer UK’s colonies (which hurts UK big time if Japan does the same in the Pacific), and just hold out until Russia Falls.  If Russia falls, my friend who is Germany is gonna block off the Atlantic and let me capture UK to gain it’s IC and IPC’s to help attack the U.S.


  • I like the idea of safing some ipcs from the first round and get a cv on the second (with German fighters on it it’s devasting for egypt and makes iyour fleet very hard to crack for the us-player)


  • Trying to keep the Italian fleet is a tough task. As said before the allies are determined to kill it. Depending on what the US is doing in the Pacific Japan might be able to lone you some navy or air. You have to figure the German navy is toast early normally, so there will be a lot of fire power coming your way. If you decide to build Italian fleet get some help. Maybe even G/J air on an I AC, and anything else Jap can spare. Its also helpful if Germany has a large air force to shield the Med. As Germany I try to buy at least 1 air unit every round. Take as much of Africa as possible and control the Suez for aid from Jap (or possible escape rout). Running is normally not an option as it leaves you wide open. In short keeping ships in the Med will take effort from all 3 axis powers. The game we’re playing now (I’m allies W/NO’s) my son saved some $ and just built a 2nd Italian BB, I think an AC might be coming next. It sure got my attention. Looks like he’s planning on staying in the Med awhile. I’ll have to see about that. Even when I take him down (and I will) It will be costly to both of us. So even if you end up losing the fleet you have diverted important resources from the allies. As it is difficult for Germany to build fleet and keep pressure on Russia many feel its up to the Italians.
    Some sort of naval AA would have been nice, but that’s another tread in another part of the forum.

  • '10

    it could be worse….you could be china


  • In the last game I played, Italy kept it’s entire fleet with the addition of another Transport from 1st round purchases. After that they just built a fighter + whatever other ground forces they could afford per turn. They took Ukraine 2 times, holding it the second time.Caucasus fell the next turn to the Italians. The turn after that they took Trans-Jordan and Libya back. Overall they were a great pain in the Allies side. They eventually had their own stack facing off against a British Tank stack in Anglo-Egypt Sedan, but the game ended with Russia crushed by the Germans, the Japanese planning an invasion of mainland U.S.A , and the Germans 1 turn away from an unstoppable Sealion.

    So imo it depends how lucky,smart and resourcefull you are with them. :? :lol: 8-)


  • make it historically with italy: loose against any army possible and roll 6’s, except with SBR and tech.


  • in my last game, Italy fleet fell GB1, and Libya fell US2 :)

    I was playing the Allies  :-D :-D :-D :-D

    :-D


  • Yea that happens only if Germany screws up and doesn’t take out the British fleet in sz 12 & 15.


  • what i do is buind nothing but armor and march to the caucasus.with germany on the same page the results ive had are very good at giving russia a hard time early


  • If you want to make waves with Italy then take Africa.  Also building your fleet up only a little bit can distract the Allies.

  • '16 '15 '10

    I see Italy’s role as dumping troops into Africa for as long as possible, and gradually building up armies to defend Western Europe.  I don’t buy as many Italian tanks in 42 as I would in 41 because the turn order does not support the can-opener.  However, sometimes Italians can reinforce German defensive positions on the Eastern front and give Russia problems that way.


  • In 42 Italy can position tanks in Bulgaria or preferably Eastern Poland and those tanks can go through Eastern Ukraine or Ukraine(since Germany would take/clear the territory and support an attack on Caucuses. Mixed in with 2-3 transports, Caucuses must be well defended to prevent an Italian capture.


  • I have played Italy a couple of times and found that the most important thing you should do is get all your NOs right away, first turn if possible with Germany’s help.

    That means capturing Gibraltor, Trans-Jordan, and Egypt and getting rid of UK ships out of the Med. First round is good to buy a transport or a destroyer to help against subs.

    You should try to build up your fleet a little right away, just to secure it, then start buying tanks and planes as you can afford it.

    Then with your first full pay (including NOs) buy an aircraft carrier to really bug the Allies and help protect your fleet. After that you will only need to buy ships as the game play demands. The aircraft carrier with planes on it (even if they are German) is a great defense against attacks (sea and air) protecting your expensive Italian fleet you don’t want to loose.

    After that combine your tank/plane attack strategy with the Germans and concentrate on Russia. Use Italy to take the first line of Russia defense and on the Germans next turn (before Russia gets to go) use an all out German offensive to capture and hold Moscow itself.

    One game I also bought an aircraft carrier with Germany on the next turn after Italy did and then moved the two fleets together to create the ultimate fleet. Allies fell by game turn 6 in that game.

    In conclusion Italy can actually be the cataclist for an Axis win. 8-)


  • ITA can be a real burden for the Allies if left unchecked for too long. The fleet is key. The longer it can stay in the game, the more troops you get to move and shore bombardments you get to conduct. The problem is that UK can strike the fleet before it even has a chance to survive. If you see 2 bombers purchased on UK1, you can bet the ITA fleet won’t be around after UK2.

    After that, ITA is purely in a supplemental defensive stance for GER.

  • '10

    @Frontovik:

    make it historically with italy: loose against any army possible and roll 6’s, except with SBR and tech.

    I think I have this down to a science….ask Darth Maximus :-D


  • Last game we played ('42 w/ NO’s) Italy ended up with a fully loaded AC, 2 DD, 2 SS, 2 CA, 1 BB, 2 TR. The US tried to swing down to Morocco with an amphibious assault backed up by navy in round 4 but it was too little too late. Italy counter-attacked and wiped out the landing force and the navy (thank you Italian bomber).

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