Dardanelles Straight open/closed I


  • I see why this option came into play because now all 3 axis nations can attack Caucasus in the same round. I think closing it completely takes something away from the game. There is strategic value for this area. I was thinking the game starts with the straight closed, but through conquest/political pressure on Turkey the axis could open the straight. With the AA50 map there are 4 countries that boarder Turkey lets call them boarder countries (BC).
    1 Caucasus; 2 Persia; 3 Trans Jordan; 4 Bulg/Rom (northern tip of Turkey). Any time the axis get control of 3 BC they can buy a dice to gain passage through the straight. At the beginning of your turn if you have control of 1 BC, but your side (axis) has 3 BC total you can buy 1 dice for say $3. You have to roll a 3 or less to open the straight for your side (3 BC). If your side has all 4 BC then a roll of 4 or less would work. The more tt the axis have the more threat or pressure on Turkey. If you get control of the straight place your marker on Turkey just to show water rights. You could also allow the allies to roll to close the straight once the axis has control, using the same requirements.


  • The Dardanelles question?
    Problem is that this always opens up the can o’ worms marked “Neutrals”…  :evil:


  • a little too complicated for such a small portion of the game, it is REALY easy for turkey to keep it closed, and semi-permanent too with all the mines.

    Having it open OOB rules is a mistake, it forces russia to stack caucaus for like 2 straight turns to be confident in a defense. Ahistorical, they werent fearful of a suprise italian strke at stalingrad.

    It was closerd in real life, I keep it closed myself.
    and italy can still attack overland. like it did


  • I would prefer to keep it closed, but if you are going to make a rule for opening it, I would say that it shouldn’t involve buying a die to roll for a chance to open it.  If you have 3 of those territories that border it, you’re probably not going to need it to move into Caucasus with some force.  Or, alternatively, the forces used to surround Turkey would have been better used as a direct strike to Caucasus.

    I’d say once you have 3 territories surrounding Turkey - and as long as you have 3 territories surrounding Turkey - the strait is opened.


  • I thought buying a dice was a little over the top when I wrote it. The dice should be free if you want to roll for passage once you have 3 or more surrounding countries. You could skip the dice altogether and treat it more like a canal . Control of 3 boarder countries gives your side free passage (as Cobert said). I know the straight was closed to war ships during WWII, and it was to shallow for subs. If Germany/Italy would have conquered  N. Africa, controlled Egypt, Trans-Jordan & Persia (more oil), isn’t it possible Turkey may have buckled. If given the choice of  invasion or open up the Black Sea Turkey very well may have give up control of the Dardanelles. They may have even joined the axis if things had gone better for Germany. In a lot of games I’ve played the axis gets control of N Africa & The Middle East. When this happens they should be able to attack or reinforce through the Dardanelles. I am just trying come up with a simple option to always open (oob) or always closed. Whats happening in the region should have some effect on the straight.

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