Interesting, vonLettow… I never played original Europe…
Cow, you’re absolutely right. It does not have to have logic and rationale backing it up. Gameplay purposes is good enough reason.
It’s hard not to wonder about things like that, because in some ways Axis and Allies games are very true to history. It teases me to want more. Sometimes when something really ridiculous happens in a game (or every single game :-P) it just kind of… spoils it sometimes.
In RPG gaming terms, it ruins “immersion”… You’re getting all into it and it’s really cool, and then something crazy happens, and it’s just like, oh please. Some people like me just don’t like it when the rules cause some of this immersion breaking ridiculousness, like Russia getting 3 IPC’s per turn for controlling Italian Somaliland… :roll: Think about it… the CAPITAL territory is worth 3 IPC’s!!
But again, you’re absolutely right. We tend to forget that it’s a game and it’s about fun and gameplay, not a historical re-enactment… Sometimes we’re hoping for both at the same time - fun game and fairly historical - but I fully realize that’s never been the purpose of A&A - that is, to be realistic historically…