Has anyone played Italy using house rules, in AA Europe?
Which rules did you use?
This thread has some different takes on adding Italy to the official game version, it’s moved under the house rules section:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12182.0
there are also some very nice ‘advanced’ maps and rules put out originally by Craig Yope and later worked on by IL.
several threads on harris forum about adding Italy and advanced maps:
http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/bb2/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=e0804882861d5025a1fa08b037357207
I made a map for each game. If you cant DL I will get a link for this site maps are large.
What are those links?
Thanks!
Hello. I just finished altering the game board for A&A Europe to include Italy. I think it came out pretty good. Basically, I took 10 IPCs from Germany for Italy. Otherwise I simply play the game the same way. I put Italy right after Germany in turn order.
when you say modified, do you mean the original board, or you recreated it? got any pictures to post? What territories did you convert to Italy? any unit changes?
I basically used the A&A gameboard and used a highlighter to color in the Italian territories – Northern Italy, Southern Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Tunisia, Libya, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. This gives Italy 10 IPCs but cuts Germany down to 30.
I played this game twice – the first time the Axis got trounced but the second time the Axis won bigtime. I put Italy right after Germany in turn order which may be a mistake giving the Axis a bit of an advantage. Jeremy at FMG suggested I try putting Italy right after Russia or Britain. I’m going to have to try that out and see how it works.
I use the Germany set up card and simply replace German units with Italian in these territories. Aside from that, I play the game pretty much like regular A&A Europe.
@vgostiknam:
Has anyone any gossip about Newtons Masterpiece? His finest hour-glass I hear?
Ask yourself what does that have to do with anything.
Maybe Crete should be Italian and also the inf there, or you are going to have problems sending that inf to Africa
Maybe Crete should be Italian and also the inf there, or you are going to have problems sending that inf to Africa
The Italians never took Crete. It was a major effort by German airborne that took Crete. In short, there should not be an Italian Infantry unit in Crete.
@C_Strabala:
Maybe Crete should be Italian and also the inf there, or you are going to have problems sending that inf to Africa
The Italians never took Crete. It was a major effort by German airborne that took Crete. In short, there should not be an Italian Infantry unit in Crete.
Tunisia should also be under German (Vichy French) control.
Yeah, I know that Tunisia was historically controlled by the Vichy French/Germans. In fact, if you want to get technical about it, the Italians didn’t really control Yugoslavia or Greece either. It was Germany that invaded both those countries before Operation Barbarossa. However, I needed a way to give Italy 10 IPCs so I chose those territories for Italy because I figured they were the closest to being historically accurate as I could. In the Anniversary Game, it has Italy controlling the Balkans territory which is basically Yugoslavia and Greece and Tunisia doesn’t even show up on the map at all.
Also, going by the setup chart, there are NO Axis units at all in Libya, but there is an infantry, an artillery and a tank in Tunisia. I wanted those to be Italian. I guess I could have changed the setup and put those units in Libya and left Tunisia under German control with Italy only getting 9 IPCs, but I just didn’t think of that at the time.
Yeah, I know that Tunisia was historically controlled by the Vichy French/Germans. In fact, if you want to get technical about it, the Italians didn’t really control Yugoslavia or Greece either. It was Germany that invaded both those countries before Operation Barbarossa. However, I needed a way to give Italy 10 IPCs so I chose those territories for Italy because I figured they were the closest to being historically accurate as I could. In the Anniversary Game, it has Italy controlling the Balkans territory which is basically Yugoslavia and Greece and Tunisia doesn’t even show up on the map at all.
Also, going by the setup chart, there are NO Axis units at all in Libya, but there is an infantry, an artillery and a tank in Tunisia. I wanted those to be Italian. I guess I could have changed the setup and put those units in Libya and left Tunisia under German control with Italy only getting 9 IPCs, but I just didn’t think of that at the time.
I actually tried this as well, with Italy getting 9. I also allowed land movement from Sicily to Southern Italy and gave the Italians one inf on Sicily, with UK getting one inf on Malta to balance it. However, those were the only changes I did, meaning Germany and Italy took their turns at the same time so, for example, they could use each others transports as their own. I did this to minimize the impact on the game. So the only real change was that the Axis is forced to spend it’s money at both factories, much like how the UK is handled in AAG40. In order to maintain the balance of the game, if Italy loses it’s capital their on hand IPC’s are transfered to Germany, not the allied power. If the Allies take Germany the German IPCs do go to the Allied power (but Italy keeps it’s own IPCS). The real purpose of my variant was just to allow a fifth player without messing up the game as is.
I made the Sicily change as every other wargame on the market does that (the land movement thing). The british infantry was added in Malta also because adding one there was such a standard move with the bonus IPCs that it probably should have been there in the first place.
You are right about Germany having captured the balkans after Italy’s failure to do so themselves, but after that they got to Italy handle the occupation for the most part. So giving Italy the IPC’s seems fair.
EDIT: Forgot to add, during the collect income phase, Germany can give Italy up to 3 IPCS.
Yeah, I know that Tunisia was historically controlled by the Vichy French/Germans. In fact, if you want to get technical about it, the Italians didn’t really control Yugoslavia or Greece either. It was Germany that invaded both those countries before Operation Barbarossa. However, I needed a way to give Italy 10 IPCs so I chose those territories for Italy because I figured they were the closest to being historically accurate as I could. In the Anniversary Game, it has Italy controlling the Balkans territory which is basically Yugoslavia and Greece and Tunisia doesn’t even show up on the map at all.
Also, going by the setup chart, there are NO Axis units at all in Libya, but there is an infantry, an artillery and a tank in Tunisia. I wanted those to be Italian. I guess I could have changed the setup and put those units in Libya and left Tunisia under German control with Italy only getting 9 IPCs, but I just didn’t think of that at the time.
I actually tried this as well, with Italy getting 9. I also allowed land movement from Sicily to Southern Italy and gave the Italians one inf on Sicily, with UK getting one inf on Malta to balance it. However, those were the only changes I did, meaning Germany and Italy took their turns at the same time so, for example, they could use each others transports as their own. I did this to minimize the impact on the game. So the only real change was that the Axis is forced to spend it’s money at both factories, much like how the UK is handled in AAG40. In order to maintain the balance of the game, if Italy loses it’s capital their on hand IPC’s are transfered to Germany, not the allied power. If the Allies take Germany the German IPCs do go to the Allied power (but Italy keeps it’s own IPCS). The real purpose of my variant was just to allow a fifth player without messing up the game as is.
I made the Sicily change as every other wargame on the market does that (the land movement thing). The british infantry was added in Malta also because adding one there was such a standard move with the bonus IPCs that it probably should have been there in the first place.
You are right about Germany having captured the balkans after Italy’s failure to do so themselves, but after that they got to Italy handle the occupation for the most part. So giving Italy the IPC’s seems fair.
EDIT: Forgot to add, during the collect income phase, Germany can give Italy up to 3 IPCS.
That’s and interesting way of doing things. I also put Italy right after Germany in turn order. It seemed to me that gave the Axis too much of an advantage. They pretty much trounced the Allies. I want to try a version with the turn order Germany, Russia, Italy, UK and USA to see if there is any difference. I haven’t gotten around to trying that out yet.
Yeah, I know that Tunisia was historically controlled by the Vichy French/Germans. In fact, if you want to get technical about it, the Italians didn’t really control Yugoslavia or Greece either. It was Germany that invaded both those countries before Operation Barbarossa. However, I needed a way to give Italy 10 IPCs so I chose those territories for Italy because I figured they were the closest to being historically accurate as I could. In the Anniversary Game, it has Italy controlling the Balkans territory which is basically Yugoslavia and Greece and Tunisia doesn’t even show up on the map at all.
Also, going by the setup chart, there are NO Axis units at all in Libya, but there is an infantry, an artillery and a tank in Tunisia. I wanted those to be Italian. I guess I could have changed the setup and put those units in Libya and left Tunisia under German control with Italy only getting 9 IPCs, but I just didn’t think of that at the time.
I actually tried this as well, with Italy getting 9. I also allowed land movement from Sicily to Southern Italy and gave the Italians one inf on Sicily, with UK getting one inf on Malta to balance it. However, those were the only changes I did, meaning Germany and Italy took their turns at the same time so, for example, they could use each others transports as their own. I did this to minimize the impact on the game. So the only real change was that the Axis is forced to spend it’s money at both factories, much like how the UK is handled in AAG40. In order to maintain the balance of the game, if Italy loses it’s capital their on hand IPC’s are transfered to Germany, not the allied power. If the Allies take Germany the German IPCs do go to the Allied power (but Italy keeps it’s own IPCS). The real purpose of my variant was just to allow a fifth player without messing up the game as is.
I made the Sicily change as every other wargame on the market does that (the land movement thing). The british infantry was added in Malta also because adding one there was such a standard move with the bonus IPCs that it probably should have been there in the first place.
You are right about Germany having captured the balkans after Italy’s failure to do so themselves, but after that they got to Italy handle the occupation for the most part. So giving Italy the IPC’s seems fair.
EDIT: Forgot to add, during the collect income phase, Germany can give Italy up to 3 IPCS.
That’s and interesting way of doing things. I also put Italy right after Germany in turn order. It seemed to me that gave the Axis too much of an advantage. They pretty much trounced the Allies. I want to try a version with the turn order Germany, Russia, Italy, UK and USA to see if there is any difference. I haven’t gotten around to trying that out yet.
I didn’t actually put Italy after Germany. They went at they same time. In essence they played as one country with it’s economy split between 2 factories. It actually makes things a bit tougher on the axis as Germany can no longer mass build in either factory if need be (good luck plopping a battleship in the med, Italy needs to save for 3 turns). Let me know how your versions works out with Italy playing in the middle of the Allies, I’m curious to see how it goes.
Hey moralecheck,
I finally got around to trying A&A Europe with Italy placed between Russia and Britain. I haven’t actually finished the game, but it’s about 5-6 rounds in and the Allies really seem to be winning this one. The US has taken France, the Allies totally rule the Atlantic, the Italian Navy just got whacked and Russia is building steam on the Eastern Front. Plus, the US and Britain have strong invasion forces ready to go on England and their transports are out of range of the Luftwaffe, or what’s left of it. I figure another 3-4 rounds max and the Axis will be finished.
However, I don’t think this has to do with the turn setup. Rather some pretty decent strategy on the Allies side and a few rather unlucky dice rolls for the Axis (particularly on the Eastern Front).
As for placing Italy after Russia in turn order, I don’t think it really made much difference in the overall Axis gameplan. With this game, Italy is not really affected by Russia and mostly tangles with British forces, although I did manage to send a few Russian units to back up the British in North Africa. Also, except for the island of Crete and Morocco, Germany really has no presence anywhere in the Mediterranean and they spend their time duking it out with Russia while trying to keep the British at bay.
My next idea would be to put Italy after England and before the USA. With England getting the chance to move first in North Africa and the Med, that would probably drastically change Italian strategy. I don’t know when I will get to try this though since AAE40 is released now and my copies from FMG are already with UPS and on their way here. So, I’m going to be busy with that for a while, not to mention trying out the massive Global game.
By the way, that is another interesting idea you had about Germany and Italy sharing a portion of their IPCs. Italy could sure use that since even starting with 10 it is not much to build forces with. Their only advantage is that it is hard for Britain to get more troops and equipment down there. It seems to me though that Germany has too much trouble with Russia and needs ALL of their money to fight that battle.
It sounds like this may have softened the German attacks on Russia, which is probably a good thing, balance wise.
Hey moralecheck,
I finally got around to trying A&A Europe with Italy placed between Russia and Britain. I haven’t actually finished the game, but it’s about 5-6 rounds in and the Allies really seem to be winning this one. The US has taken France, the Allies totally rule the Atlantic, the Italian Navy just got whacked and Russia is building steam on the Eastern Front. Plus, the US and Britain have strong invasion forces ready to go on England and their transports are out of range of the Luftwaffe, or what’s left of it. I figure another 3-4 rounds max and the Axis will be finished.However, I don’t think this has to do with the turn setup. Rather some pretty decent strategy on the Allies side and a few rather unlucky dice rolls for the Axis (particularly on the Eastern Front).
As for placing Italy after Russia in turn order, I don’t think it really made much difference in the overall Axis gameplan. With this game, Italy is not really affected by Russia and mostly tangles with British forces, although I did manage to send a few Russian units to back up the British in North Africa. Also, except for the island of Crete and Morocco, Germany really has no presence anywhere in the Mediterranean and they spend their time duking it out with Russia while trying to keep the British at bay.
My next idea would be to put Italy after England and before the USA. With England getting the chance to move first in North Africa and the Med, that would probably drastically change Italian strategy. I don’t know when I will get to try this though since AAE40 is released now and my copies from FMG are already with UPS and on their way here. So, I’m going to be busy with that for a while, not to mention trying out the massive Global game.
By the way, that is another interesting idea you had about Germany and Italy sharing a portion of their IPCs. Italy could sure use that since even starting with 10 it is not much to build forces with. Their only advantage is that it is hard for Britain to get more troops and equipment down there. It seems to me though that Germany has too much trouble with Russia and needs ALL of their money to fight that battle.
