Sh Italy ?

Having Italy adds to game’s enjoyment factor for 5 man game, but sucks if you playing 6 guys and you have to play Italy.  We have tried once with 11 player, and one guy playing Italy on both boards, which was fun.  But buy your self it kind of sucks, IMO.

man are you asking for a debate here.

probably going to come down to personal opinions and experiences and such.  If you’ve done well with Italy you’ll like it, if you’ve long wanted Italy to be playable, you’ll like it, though you might think it’s underpowered.

If you have played as Italy and had the allies focus on you first, you’ll dislike it (the russia of the axis, eh).  If you’ve played as Italy and been ignored and swept up into Moscow or UK, you’ll like it.  If you think you should be able to buy 3 bombers each turn from the start, you’ll dislike it.

Just prepare for possible wild contrasting views on this, it’s like asking a group of strangers if you will like one game better than another, in the end it will come down to you and your attitude towards it.  If you draw Italy when you play, look to maximize it for your side and go after it.  You may not be prominent in every battle, but you can make a big difference.

as for me, I like Italy, I have seriously kicked some butt with it and have changed my friends attentions with it in games.  I’ve added Italy into revised, played the AAHRE with it and even into Europe, so it’s a nice addition to me.

As for China, they actually aren’t a separate power, they are controlled by the US and if someone wants you to play them as a separate power, you’ll need Funcionetta’s mod.

I kinda like playing as Italy because there’s always that “oh my god I’m gonna die next turn!” thrilling feeling.  I think that If you’re working with well coordinated team, Italy be a threat. But without team work Italy will probably get the boot(pun intended) early on.

Waht are the Revised Italian rules??

@LuckyDay:

As for China, they actually aren’t a separate power, they are controlled by the US and if someone wants you to play them as a separate power, you’ll need Funcionetta’s mod.

Thanks for the mention! Karma +1!  :-)

I should add that for a 7 players game, the chinese player could get bored even more than italian one. But I guess they both can sneak and eat other player’s pizza, drink their beers and play some videogame while they wait their turn  :-D A face to face game, after all, is a social game …

I don’t think there is enough to do for an Italian player. Truly they are at the mercy of the Germans in all aspects.

Russia is designed to operate on their own (and needs help from the allies but can operate without it) and even benefits from the lack of Allies on its native soil (national objective #1).

The Italians provide the benefit of being able to move after the British, however anyone would say (at least I think) the Italians would be far more effective if they could merge with the German forces and act as one nation (combats, purchases, shared IC’s etc). The separate power of Italy adds an interesting dynamic but overall I think weakens the German position as compared to Revised.

Some might argue that a beginning player should play Italy but I think you are doing them a diservice but not allowing them to deal with a full budget, or have their moves create meaningful situations.

warning: possible political incorrectness ahead!

As for a Chinese player, I would only have a stripper play China so after spending 2 minutes doing moves(maybe another 60 seconds explaining the rules and 60 seconds to actually do moves), she can get back to entertaining. Conversely, if the stripper is not appropriate maybe when the pizza guy delivers a pizza, you can have him do the moves. After turn 2, China is kind of silly (the nation in Axis and Allies, not the real world China or people of Chinese decent).

what about if Italy falls to the allies, but is then liberated by the germans, the germans get to use the italian IC?  that would be nice

@Octopus:

I don’t think there is enough to do for an Italian player. Truly they are at the mercy of the Germans in all aspects.

Russia is designed to operate on their own (and needs help from the allies but can operate without it) and even benefits from the lack of Allies on its native soil (national objective #1).

The Italians provide the benefit of being able to move after the British, however anyone would say (at least I think) the Italians would be far more effective if they could merge with the German forces and act as one nation (combats, purchases, shared IC’s etc). The separate power of Italy adds an interesting dynamic but overall I think weakens the German position as compared to Revised.

Some might argue that a beginning player should play Italy but I think you are doing them a diservice but not allowing them to deal with a full budget, or have their moves create meaningful situations.

warning: possible political incorrectness ahead!

As for a Chinese player, I would only have a stripper play China so after spending 2 minutes doing moves(maybe another 60 seconds explaining the rules and 60 seconds to actually do moves), she can get back to entertaining. Conversely, if the stripper is not appropriate maybe when the pizza guy delivers a pizza, you can have him do the moves. After turn 2, China is kind of silly (the nation in Axis and Allies, not the real world China or people of Chinese decent).

Personally I like the dynamic of Italy in the game (china too, for that matter).  That being said I do think those that think Italy should be played with becoming a major force in mind are kidding themselves.  I used to agree with you though that If Germany could just be united with Italy it would be a net gain for the axis.  The only reason why I think that just is not the case anymore is the 1-2 punch and pressure on Russia.  Russia can no longer leave a 1 inf guard to create a deadzone if Italy can even put up marginal pressure.  I have found that with moderat pressure on Russia, the USSR can only defend 2 out of the 3 territories by t3 Cauc, Kar, Mos.  One will have to fold.  That alone makes me think the axis gain an advantage with Italy in the picture