Vichy France and the French Resistance: This rule comes into play the first time an Axis power takes Paris, the capitol of France.
After the player who took Paris ends their turn, do the following:
The Territory ‘Southern France’ becomes Vichy (Pro-Axis Neutral), including the units on the territory. Those units do not go into the French Resistance (more later). If the Axis already control Southern France, place one new infantry unit of the controlling power on the territory.
The Territories ‘Normandy Bordeaux’, ‘French Indochina’ and ‘New Hebrides’ will stay French. Now called the Free French (Allies). If the Axis have already taken these territories no effect will occur.
All French ships are replaced with German Warships and must battle immediately if they share a space with allied warships.
For balancing purposes, setup is altered slightly.
- UK Ships: Sea Zone 91 add One Destroyer, Sea Zone 109 add one Cruiser, Sea Zone 110 add One Destroyer
- French Ships: Sea Zone 92 add one Destroyer, Sea Zone 93 remove one destroyer and add one transport.
For the remainder of the French territories still controlled by France must have a die roll to determine their side.
The French Resistance: You gain two units into the French resistance tray. In addition to those units, you may have a few French Infantry units from the territories that became Vichy (see above).
This house rule adds a Vichy French and Free French rule that is easy to comprehend and implement in any game.
It allows a semi realistic Vichy France to be in game that varies in strength as well as beef up the United Kingdom navy which helps balance it and you really get a feel of the Royal Navy being a formidable force. It is a bit of a downer when Germany turn 1 takes out almost all the United Kingdom ships.
It gives Germany some extra navy units to include a transport which helps get an Afrika Korps in the game that we rarely see in the out of box game. However, these ships are not accessible until turn 2. So, the United Kingdom has a chance to take them out.
This house rule has some play testing, but far from perfected. If you have feedback, questions or concerns let me hear them.
Perhaps it plays out differently, but just at a glance, it seems like it would weaken the UK navy in the Channel but preserve the transport and destroyer. So, Germany would destroy the bulk of the British fleet still, but the UK would retain a core to build off of, once it retreats to Canada.
Mediterranean strength is slightly improved for the Allies, I think. They lose the French fleet, but it rarely had much effect. They gain centralized power in the UK fleet, and the Italians and Germans have to split their power in the sector. Less than ideal for the Axis.
Most of all, I like the rules on the Free French gaining units over time. France doesn’t get much of a game, but furthermore, its a perpetual downward spiral. At least with a trickle of new troops, they can continue to have their tiny little victories perpetually.
Not saying these are at all perfect, but I posted about some potential Vichy house rules for 1940 a while back as well! Just thought I’d share here in case it sparks anything for you as well or anything to go along with your own!
I explain my thoughts in this post, but my hope was to avoid any massive deviations to the standard A&A game play. By that I mean, I didn’t want to go crazy adding or changing a ton of specific rules or anything that exist in the game already.
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/26099/vichy-france-global-1940?_=1688593330283
