Yep.
Is Switzerland the stepping stone to victory?
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I actually think the CP should avoid Switzerland at all costs. You want to focus your attack on France, not spread it out. If Germany contests three territories in the west, they are doomed.
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The game wants you to attack Switzerland as Germany, only 2 units defending and you can bring that stack of 11 infantry from Munich into it and be in Burgundy the next round
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Agreed. Unfortunately, while Germany is suppressing Russia the nasty Allies sneak over those impassable Alps, brushing aside the hard pressed Grrmans and open up a new (German) Western Front, causing all manner of problems for those nice Germans, even contesting their original territories.
I am not a fan of the Swiss corridor: it swings both ways. -
Hello everybody,
I’ve been reading this forum for a while, but never felt much need to chime in until now. I have some strong feelings about Switzerland. I also believe it should be harder to invade, but for the exact opposite reason Kim mentioned.
Like Wittman and Texas Holders I actually think invading Switzerland benefits the Allies. Particularly in the early stages of the war when the CP’s have to focus on Russia.
In my first live game I thought I was being clever by invading Switzerland with the Munich stack and although the French player was a little stumped he soon realized that Burgundy wasn’t really at risk. The Italians in Piedmont could simply contest Switzerland on their turn while the French from Burgundy and Picardy retook Lorraine. Some troops from Paris then reenforced Picardy and that was that.
The Germans still had a sizeable force in Ruhr and Belgium, but they weren’t much of a threat to France since they now had to rush south-east to protect Munich and Alsace. After the first turn France just kept pumping units into Switzerland via Burgundy while the Brits took care of Belgium. There was little Germany could do. It didn’t have the resources to hold the Allies at bay.
After this first game invading Switzerland became a standard move fore the Allies and it was so effective that we house ruled that Switzerland would mobilize six units instead of two. That has made all the difference. Switzerland still gets invaded at some point in the game, but not on the first turn. Giving the CP’s just a little room to breathe while they’re focussed on Russia.
After two games with this Swiss houserule my group feels the game is actually quite balanced. Although playing without the Russian Revolution rules and investing in a German fleet has also helped the CP’s case tremendously. Those extra IPC’s have proved vital.
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Welcome and thank you for your first and very good post, Vondelaer.
Making Switzerland impassable or garrisoned with 6 units should put off its obvious abuse by the Allies early on.
Just need my pro-Allied opponent to agree now! -
But what if austria invades switzerland? Would this allow germany to focus its troops and italy will now worry about the axis contesting or taking piedmont.
Its been awhile since my last playthrough but maybe and austria takover may still cause more problems for the allies. Now they have two central powers to worry about, and germany hasnt spread their troops out. Even if germany takes switzerland, cant austria still shuck some troops in to support without hurting the russsian campaign? I need another playtest.
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I don’t believe Switzerland should be impassible, but certainly the terrain there made it virtually impossible to move large-scale forces through. Having the Swiss have more units than the other neutrals is a deterrent, but not really correct.
I believe a good representation of the Swiss situation would be:
Switzerland restricted terrain: Because of the mountainous terrain, no power may move more than a single unit into and out of Switzerland in their turn.
The effects of this rule would be obvious. First, whoever attacks into Switzerland violating their neutrality would send a single infantry (as required by rules) to fight the two defending troops. Therefore you could not even capture it in a single move. On your next turn you could send another unit in, or your allies on their turn could also send in a unit.
Eventually you might capture the territory, but even then you could only move a single unit OUT of Switzerland to either attack or join forces fighting in contested territories. Yes you could move one unit in and one unit out on your turn, but that’s it!
This would really represent moving troops through the mountain passes. Face it; Germany had no problem going through neutral Belgium (and Holland was also targeted) to get at the French. If moving troops through Switzerland wasn’t so difficult, they would likely have tried to out flank the French trench lines through there as well.
So now the territory in effect becomes semi-impassible. Its possible to move into, but way more difficult then the other open territories, and powers with large armies will not be able to just roll right over them.
Opinions?
Kim
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Makes a lot of sense KimRYoung.
I am all for restrictions, but as I have said it is my best friend who needs persuading.
I think he is all for making it impassable. -
I like those rules. Ill try them my next playthrough and see what happens. I predict people arnt going to be attacking the swiss in the first couple of turns.
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Switzerland is just fine exactly the way it is. It’s temptingly easy to invade, but whoever does invade will find their front too long and their forces stretched too thin. In every game we played where Switzerland was invaded, the invader regretted it.
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In our last game, we left all neutrals alone and the CP ended up winning.
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Switzerland is just fine exactly the way it is. It’s temptingly easy to invade, but whoever does invade will find their front too long and their forces stretched too thin. In every game we played where Switzerland was invaded, the invader regretted it.
If that is true, then game-balance wise there is no problem. However, the mountainous terrain should indeed make an invasion costlier/ more difficult for whoever attempts it for historical reasons (.e.g the Italians and Austrians also fought each other in the Alps without any significant breakthroughs).
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In our last game, we left all neutrals alone and the CP ended up winning.
That’s something I’ve wondered about too. It should at least have been an optional rule: neutrals are neutral (or alternately this could have been the standard rule and the optional rule to allow neutrals to be invaded).
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Or maybe allow only infantry to pass. Terrain is especially difficult for heavy guns to move trough or planes to land.
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Or maybe allow only infantry to pass. Terrain is especially difficult for heavy guns to move trough or planes to land.
You could still shove 20 plus infantry through, that’s enough.
Kim
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First of all, A&A doesn’t make any allowance for terrain. Second of all, Switzerland would be no harder to get through than the Isonzo front. It has numerous passes. Hannibal got through, Suvorov got through, Napoleon got through. The Germans could have gotten through - with their guns.
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First of all, A&A doesn’t make any allowance for terrain.
Yes they do, they have impassible terrain and they have control restrictions for moving through straits.
As for whether any nation could have, would have, or should have gone through Switzerland, the historical facts are that in two world wars they were right in the middle of it and NO ONE attacked them for whatever reason.
To overrun Switzerland every game with ease by whoever just doest seem right to me. The Sahara isn’t really impassible, just damn difficult to get thorough.
In Global 1940 Switzerland is impassible, where every other neutral can be attacked and get money from. Why didn’t they let you attack it there?
Kim
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In Global 1940 Switzerland is impassible, where every other neutral can be attacked and get money from. Why didn’t they let you attack it there?
Uhh, Switzerland is passible. It raises 6 infrantry and doesn’t give you a single point of IPC.
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Plus it makes all the rest of the true neutrals turn to the other side. This basically made it unpassable.
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In Global 1940 Switzerland is impassible, where every other neutral can be attacked and get money from. Why didn’t they let you attack it there?
Uhh, Switzerland is passible. It raises 6 infrantry and doesn’t give you a single point of IPC.
Oops, confused with the other version, my bad.
Kim
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