The Italian playbook

@black

Don’t forget as well that if the British send blockers to sea zones 96 and 98, the transports won’t be able to land troops in northeast Africa.

it is bc it opens the door for a german blitz.

key trick isnt the infantry thing thats too slow.  daves move is to grab the tank off africa to add another one, and use the yugoslavia retreat trick with both germany and italy in sucession

I view Malta is my CV in the Med.

SZ97: CV, DD, CR, 1 Ftr (Malta), 1 Tac (SZ98), 1 Bomber (London)
SZ96: CR (SZ91) and FTR (Gib)
I use the TT to move 1 INF/ART on NCM to activate Persia, joining up with the Indian DD/CR.  Round 2 I can use the CR via the TT for an extra bombard to take out Iraq.  Bomber is in range as well if Italy stays in Europe.

I’ll sac the CV on the first two hits in SZ97, because its not going to survive an axis counter attack anyways and I don’t want to lose aircraft as sitting ducks to a full swing by the Italians if they elect to not scramble and counter with their airforce and naval ships in SZ95.

I generally end up after Turn 1 with a CR in SZ97 or a CR in SZ96 with 1 Ftr and 1 Bomber on Malta.  Sometimes its an empty Med with a UK DD waiting to slide in on UK2 or act as fodder if the Italians have ships left in the Med.  The French DD in SZ98 will suffice to deny the Italians the Med NO going forward if I’ve cleared the Med as the UK.

Having aircraft in position, plus a DD inside the Suez generally keeps the Italians bottled up buying ground units or a Ftr.

@Black:

… while Soviet Navy could have been dealt with just British units (as was in previouse AA versions)…

Some naval units for the USSR have been unique to Russia since AA1942.  These aren’t new molds specifically for AAE1940, these are reused molds from AA1942 plus new molds for tactical bombers and mechanized infantry.

I don’t disagree with you regarding the necessity for unique russian units or the sad lack of Italian units. I just want to point out that it was AA1942 (the 25th anniversary release of A&A) that first featured the unique russian destroyer, cruiser and battleship.

I would think its good to give extra guys and ipc’s to Italy. You can add a couple Italian tanks to start driving into Russia (maybe to can opener). You could also get them into the African fight if you can keep the Italian navy a float.

I will say I like to take Yugo w/Germany for a possible IC build if it looks like the Italian navy is going under. A few German subs in the Med (with German air) could help axis turn things right. Plus both Italy and Germany can build in the same sz. I know Greece gives you this option too, but it can be invaded to easy from sz 99.

@Tavenier:

Did you place the 4 free inf in Paris for France?

Yes. And I got a third round of good returns. I doubt I’ll see another game any time soon where France puts up that much of a fight.

Bump - Added Italian Set

Tibet is represented in the game, it is called the Himalayas and is impassable, as accurate as anyone could have asked for,

though a bit off topic