Assuming there isn’t an awful dice roll during UK1, Italy will be primarily defensive for the rest of the game. Egypt should not fall regardless of the main Allied openers. Gibraltar might be briefly captured but will be reclaimed when America enters the game. Africa will eventually be dominated by the Allies. The Med cannot be kept free of British ships.
Nevertheless, Italy has crucial roles:
Canopening for the Germans
Protect the coastline from Allied invasion
Make it difficult for Russia to claim Axis territories in Africa.
delay convoy raids in the Med
Make sure Rome and Berlin don’t get captured.
I build a mech and a tank on I1, and then mostly infantry after that. Perhaps a fighter on I1 if there are opportunities to use it in a limited action on I2.
@Arthur-Bomber-Harris Thank you ABH! Current game just started - Italy survived Taranto (on dice) and captured Egypt, Trans-Jordan, into Iraq and Syria. This is a global game so Allies sent planes in from Calcutta to support a firewall at Persia; add tanks churning out of S. Africa and the writing’s on the wall for Italy’s Mid-East/Africa force going into turn 4 but they’ve tied up UK Europe pretty well (every 3 tanks is a couple of planes not built) and will hold Mare Nostra through turn 4.
It’s reassuring to hear from such an experienced player that no matter what I were to do Italy is generally destined to shrink into a defensive posture - I can see that my current 28 IPCs will be the high point for Itay.
At this point rather than reinforce the doomed expeditionary force I think I’ll commit all to defense of the mediterranean coast.
If you captured Egypt and held it for a few turns, the game has shifted so much in the Axis favor that it is impossible for the Allies to compete again assuming good game play. But it sounds like inexperienced Allied and Axis players if the Italians survived Taranto.
@Arthur-Bomber-Harris Inexperienced for sure, and big error in Pacific as I held Japan back from DOW until turn 3, with the idea of keeping the Americans out of the European war while Germany wins it for the Axis.
Japan’s delay meant they were on their back foot the entire game, never approached 50 IPCs and by the end (round 10) Anzac was almost producing as much as Japan and the Chinese and PacUK were out of control.
Reinforcement air from UK (both theaters) into Moscow stalled its capture until G9, and heavy American reinforcements in Egypt coming through sub-sahara would have made it impossible to take.
Axis was saved only by my opponent taking his eye off the ball in UK. I added dd’s and subs here and there in the mid rounds to the German fleet holding the channel. A quick transport/troop build G9 left him unable to respond to G10 Sea Lion, which held and ended the game.
At the end of the day, you were right, Italy’s success after the failed Toranto led to Axis victory.
Awesome ! Sounds as if you guys had a lot of Fun ! :)
@Colonel-Mustard how did it turn out for the US sending troops via subsahara?
@Cornwallis They sent a couple waves of fighters first, it’s just 2 stops to Egypt through French West Africa. They landed a large land force there turn 8, it would have been too much to overcome in Egypt, especially as bad dice in Moscow left me with a lone occupying tank (and some bombers, see below). He should have taken Gibraltar which I held with only a couple Italian inf., but I think he didn’t want to lose any transports to S. Italy bombers.
G9 was the battle of Moscow, and also my Sea Lion build. I think his miscalculation was missing the 6 Bombers from Bryansk, who landed back in Germany after Moscow. They made the difference in London. He’d left his London factory damaged, focused on building Egypt forces. So in UK9 he could only add 6 inf and a Tank with his 41 IPCs. That gave him a total of about 17 land units in London which my 11 landing units plus air power wiped out. G9 and G10 blockers kept his massive relief force from being able to reach London from West Africa.
The pace of the game, basically sitting down to do one turn each week, may have helped take his eye off the ball. The Axis never out-produced the Allies in IPCs the entire game.
S surfer referenced this topic on
