Does anyone else like using house rules with Italy?

How about this.
1. Italy’s first National Objective is raised from 5 IPC’s to 10 IPC’s. (I felt this objective should be split into two or increased in value since it requires both control of land territories around the Mediterranean and elimination of all enemy surface war ships. Thats alot for one Objective. Keep in mind 10 sounds like a lot but Russia also has a National Objective that gives them 10 IPC’s for one Objective.

2.Italy gets a bonus 8 IPC’s to spend before the game starts. It can be anything but must be placed in Italy or Sea Zone 14(where the fleet starts). For balancing reasons Russia gets a destroyer placed in the Black Sea before the game starts (I always felt Russia was missing it’s Black sea fleet). That way both the Allies and the Axis both get 8 IPC’s added to their respective sides.

How do these sound to you. Is it playable, not playable? Should Italy just stick with what it has and become the permanent banker/beer fetcher while everyone else takes their turn.

Time and again I find Italy to be too under powered in my local Axis and Allies games. Moreover if their is a six person game Italy is always the last one to be picked. I believe Italy needs a little more to make it playable. I would like all of your opinions on how to achieve this goal without a major game balance issue please.

So far I have only a few Ideas of my own.
1.Italy gets an extra 15 IPC’s to place units before the game starts. (most be placed in Italy only or adjacent sea zone)(This number could be lowered to 10 for balancing reasons)
2.Why does Italy only have 2 National Objectives? Lets give them a third. The conquest of Italian Africa aka Ethiopia. It would read if any Axis power controls Italian Africa and the beginning of Italy’s turn then collect 5 bonus IPC’s.

They could both be given to Italy or just one of them depending on what doesn’t break the game

Any thoughts? Thanks for reading.

Would your group ever consider playing against my group from Sonoma, California? Sonoma is only about an hour away from Sacramento. My small group of players have 7+ years of experience playing axis and allies plus we have a access to a public rec-room which we use to play every time. The group I play in usually has 5 people in it but my idea would be to have you and two others from your group and vs. me and two of my best players. Do except the challenge?

Here is my take on paratroopers using some of the fine ideas from previous post.

PARATROPERS
Description: These specialized units have the ability to drop behind enemy lines and disrupt enemy defenses.
Cost: 4
Attack: 1 (2 when supported by artillery)
Defense: 1
Move: 1 (2 if attacking by air)
Special Abilities

Infiltration: When a paratrooper unit makes an attack by air it lowers the defense of one enemy unit by -1 for the first round of combat. (The attacking player may choose which unit to target)

Supported by Artillery: When a paratrooper unit attacks along with an artillery unit, the paratrooper’s attack value increases from 1 to 2. Each paratrooper must be matched one-for-one with supporting artillery. Paratroopers can only receive the bonus from artillery if they making a normal attack from the ground.

Airborne Tokens: Every time a paratrooper unit makes an attack by air it must discard its airborne token. Airborne tokens cost 2 IPCs. Airborne tokens are bought during the purchase phase and placed under paratrooper units on one-to-one bases during the place unit phase. Airborne tokens may be placed under any paratrooper unit as long as its in a territory that’s been held for one turn.

Notes

1. Like many people have mentioned previously, paratroopers are lightly armed so that justifies making them attack and defend at 1. The paratrooper’s most powerful weapon against an enemy is surprise so this would equate to an enemy fighting less effectively not adding greater firepower to the paratroopers.

2. I felt that paratroopers are elite units so their numbers need to be indirectly limited somehow. Instead of limiting a player to just one purchase per turn I just made every special airborne attack cost additional IPCs. This way you can make as many paratroopers in the game as you want but its going to cost you.

3. Since the airborne tokens are representing transport plains and possibly gliders as well there deployment movement should be treated just like bombers and fighters. OOB rules state that no air unit can land in a territory that was just captured that turn. Thus airborne tokens can only be placed in a friendly territory that has been held for one turn.

4. I am still a little worried that paratroopers will be abused even with the IPC cost for each airborne attack. I don’t want capitols to be taken by just paratroopers as this would not be historical. Paratroopers where almost always supported by conventional ground forces. With this in mind I was considering banning paratroopers from being able to take enemy territories with out ground support. Then again this might be to extreme.

5. I choose paratroopers costing 4 because when you add the 2 IPC airborne token, it adds up to 6 IPC’s.(One more than tanks)  In my opinion training men to jump out of plains behind enemy lines and having the right amount of plains/fuel for transporting a entire division by air would cost more that building one armor division.