In Defense of Defending France.

The forces outside Paris in 1936 are only one Foreign Legion in Northern Algeria, one Militia in Syria (cannot move unless upgraded) and one Infantry in Cochinchina, which may or may not get to France in time.

If you send them to France, depending on where you place them, they may not even get a chance to provoke German casualties, as they always have the option to surround Paris (units in Paris a removed) or to take Paris (units outside Paris are removed).

As the German player, I try to prepare for both options and take the path of least resistance.

All things, considered, I prefer to take my 50-50 chance with the Vichy rolls. At least if you get some Free French units, then you have at least something to rebuild your forces from with lend-lease and limited IPPs.

@trig Doesn’t Abyssinia become Free French when France falls, regardless of Abyssinian victory or not?

@sjelso I believe Abyssinia has to win by taking Eritrea to become Free France.

@manincellv

Abyssinia will always go FF (if it isn’t conquered by the Italians).

On topic, I don’t think that sending Abyssinia a single infantry is that much of an investment that detracts from the defense of France. If they are able to hold off an additional round, at that point it becomes more of a mutually exclusive choice one has to assess.

1st priority should be inflicting losses on the germans. However my last game I did raise units in colonies and even flew the ftr and medium bomber to different colonies in the hope of them going FF.

The results?
Well about 50 50, the ftr went Vichy along with an infantry and militia who were all in algeria/tunisia.
I was able to keep all other colonies along with the French foreign legion in morocco, the medium bomber In west Africa and another man in syria.
I had high hopes but unfortunately there’s no way to properly predict what might happen, even scattering everything might still result in them just becomin Vichy making them harder to destroy.

On the other hand, the french air force seems destined to be destroyed by the blitz with a small chance of even taking down a German plane. The medium bomber in particular seems like it can do little in the defense of France except a possible air superiority casualty to be taken before the fighter, and in my game I was able to make great use of the medium bomber with the FF. And any help FF can get once France falls is good, especially planes which are expensive to LL. And worse case scenario u are looking at a slightly stronger Vichy, which can only atrack FF. In hindsight I wouldn’t have raised land troops, probably just sent the planes to different spots. (or just the medium bomber if going for a luftwaffe casualty in paris)

@trig Oh here is a spicy idea regarding the Med. Bomber. You fly it to St Pierre Island off Canada. If it goes FF, that’s great, you fly it back to somewhere useful. If it goes Vichy, its stuck there for the rest of the game!

@insanehoshi Ha, not bad at all. But yes it would seem the only sure thing France can do is inflict maximum casualties on germans. Anything else is a coin toss at best.

@trig hey I am curious, have been unable to get a definitive answer on this. If Vichy has not surrendured when Paris is liberated by allies, couldn’t Vichy forces attack the french in Paris and force the retreat of any UK or US troops as per Internal French Conflict on the Vichy reference sheet?

@jbuckbuddy or would Paris be a “French” land zone at that point and not a “Free French” land zone, leaving Vichy unable to attack any french forces at that point since they are no longer the free french? Only poss solution I could think of, but wanted to be sure.

@JbuckBuddy

I think that Vichy cannot attack a liberated Paris.

Rule 14.4.3 says that Vichy can only ever attack Free France.

The Vichy NRS says that “If Vichy attacks a Free French land zone containing units not from Free France, these non Free French units do not participate in the combat and are moved to the nearest land zone in their possession”.

However, the Free France NRS says that “If Free French liberates Paris, it becomes a Major Power (effectively becomes France again)”.

Plus, on a related Vichy question in the FAQ :

"Q: What happens if USA liberates Aquitaine? Does it become Free French? And if so, can Vichy attack?

A: Aquitaine is an original French land zone. Until Paris is liberated, “France” does not exist. Thus, USA can not give it back as per 9.20. So any Allied forces liberating a Territory in French Home Country gets to keep it until Paris is liberated and “France” once again becomes a Major Power.

Vichy cannot attack an US possessed land zone."

For these reasons, I would think that Vichy cannot attack a liberated Paris, as France has been reinstated as a major power and is no longer Free France. They would essentially get to wait until Southern France is liberated.