France's role in Global 1940 SE

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@The-Janus Do you think it is worth it to protect the French units in a tournament game?

[The Janus]

@FranceNeedsMorePower
I mean, I’m no expert in that regard. My whole ethos is “a penny saved is a penny earned.”

My general experience of playing as the western Allies in these types of games is actually about projecting a large enough force that your enemy won’t attack you; if preserving French units helps with that, then all the better.

The whole thing with the western Allies is that they need to ramp up and leverage their economies, but it’s not simply enough to out-spend your opponent; you have to actually be able to out-unit them, too.

AFAICT this sort of thinking lines up with one of the more well-considered strategy breakdowns for Global40, which I was pointed towards by more than one person:
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/post/1397227
credit to @AndrewAAGamer for this^^^

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@The-Janus

Yeah, Andrew’s guide is phenomenal.

Your French moves were pretty solid. I never thought of uniting the French infantry in London with the Africa-Middle East force, but I think you demonstrated pretty well that it makes the Free French a potent force that way.

[The Janus]

This might be a really stupid question, but…

As a matter of tactics, are Allied players sending the UK fleet from SZ 98 (Egypt) to SZ 93 (Southern France), after punching through SZ 96 (Malta) with planes or whatever? (It occurs to me that the cruiser at SZ 91 can also meet up there.)

…or is does the game literally come down to “Taranto or GTFO” because absolutely nothing else works?

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@The-Janus The issue is the Italians have all of there ships left basically. You need to destroy these ships so they can’t keep re-supplying North Africa. Also, say you do that and for some reason they don’t take out your fleet out. There is the massive German Air force that can strike you down.

So in conclusion you can’t.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@The-Janus

My calculations suggest that if the British fully stacked sea zone 93 (sea zone 98 fleet+sea zone 93 fleet+sea zone 91 cruiser), without the sea zone 96 fleet Italy will only have a 55-60% chance of beating the Allies.

Germany would need 4 fighters, 4 tactical bombers, and 2 strategic bombers to have a 90+% chance of smashing that fleet. Given that Germany only starts with 5 fighters, 5 tactical bombers, and 2 strategic bombers, it’s likely that if Germany goes after sea zones 110 and 111 at the same time on turn 1 (which would likely also preclude an attempt to sink the sea zone 91 cruiser using submarines), the Germans won’t able to sink it either.

This might actually work.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@SuperbattleshipYamato I tried it in triple a and got blown to shreds three times in a row, maybe just bad luck?

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@FranceNeedsMorePower

Share me the games. That shouldn’t be possible.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@SuperbattleshipYamato The games are already gone. Is there a history list of the games you have played? I will try three more times right now.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@FranceNeedsMorePower

You didn’t save them? Can you at least describe the number of units on each side?

My game

2025-7-16-World-War-II-Europe-1940-2nd-Edition.tsvg

shows pretty clearly that Germany and Italy will have a tough time cracking that fleet.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@SuperbattleshipYamato Your game just starts with Germany, dom you have one with the part of the fleet intact? The British and French fleet. The Germans sent there planes in to blow up my stuff off the coast of southern france.

[AndrewAAGamer]

I am not understanding the purpose of going to SZ93. Is it to try and save the French fleet?

Using the typical Gibastion strategy the English fleet would have 3 additional fighters protecting it in SZ92. Therefore, in SZ 93 instead, the Allied task force has an additional DD and CA but 3 fighters less. In addition, the British cannot take the AC hit early on because Southern France cannot be used as a landing zone. Thus, the Allied fleet is more vulnerable to an attack.

If the French fleet moves out then the British fleet is very susceptible to an all out German air attack. If the French fleet stays to avoid this then you still can’t save the French fleet. So I am not understanding the purpose of this move.

In addition, with no Naval Base the Allied fleet cannot move to protect against Sealion which is why many people do Gibastion to remove the Sealion threat.

Finally, from SZ93 you cannot get back to Egypt, thus the Italian fleet is free to move against Egypt with no ramifications.

I would not say this move is impossible to do but it certainly seems like a lesser path to travel on.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@AndrewAAGamer I know I’m for supporting French units but I don’t think saving the French fleet is smart.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@AndrewAAGamer

It’s useful if the British player decided to scramble against Germany hitting sea zones 110 and 111 and the Allies lost both of those battles. In such a situation fighters wouldn’t be available for Gibastion.

You’re broadly right that Gibastion without 110 and 111 scrambles as a whole is probably smarter.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@FranceNeedsMorePower

Starts with Germany? I just followed the turn order. My game ends with the beginning of Italy’s first turn. As you can see the Luftwaffe is already pretty worn down smashing 110 and 111 with scrambles.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@SuperbattleshipYamato You really should not be scrambling the fighters any way. This may seem dumb but could you take out the 95 fleet instead of the 97?

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@SuperbattleshipYamato I see now. Even if the axis take the fleet down Germany’s air force is well basically gone by now.

[AndrewAAGamer]

@SuperbattleshipYamato said in France's role in Global 1940 SE:

@AndrewAAGamer

It’s useful if the British player decided to scramble against Germany hitting sea zones 110 and 111 and the Allies lost both of those battles. In such a situation fighters wouldn’t be available for Gibastion.

You’re broadly right that Gibastion without 110 and 111 scrambles as a whole is probably smarter.

Ahh, that makes sense. Assuming the Axis decide not to try and blow up that fleet the British can get away to SZ91 next Turn.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@AndrewAAGamer @SuperbattleshipYamato This needs to be shared with others.

[SuperbattleshipYamato]

@FranceNeedsMorePower

I looked into it, it’s not really good.

What the British can bring*:
1 cruiser from Gibraltar
1 fighter, 1 tactical bomber
1 strategic bomber

Axis:
3 fighters
1 submarine
1 destroyer
1 cruiser

W’re looking at 30% odds here.

*Hypothetically, it’s possible for Germany to declare war on the Soviet Union on its first turn, the Red Air Force to do research and get long-range aircraft, then use the Moscow aircraft to destroy the Italian fleet in sea zone 96 and land in Malta, thus allowing the units in sea zone 98 to attack 95 (which would give the Britsh a huge chanec of victory). This chain of events is near-impossible though.