1st Edition Question

Morning Knp.
The Italians had no inclination to fight the British and even less the Americans, when they joined the war.
There was also a massive class divide between Officers and the enlisted man. This made morale very low and did not help create a fighting force. Italians were happy to be left alone.
The Italian army was also a foot one. Hardly any units were motorised and that would prove a problem in the vast expanses of desert and the seesaw nature of the campaign.
The British were lucky when they attacked in Dec of 1940 as they had only had limited objectives. The advance was so uncontested, that they kept going until they had Benghazi and Tobruk.
Being Italian, I love to laugh at my WW2 army’s dismal performances and unwillingness to throw their lives away for someone else’s glory.
When the Italians switched sides, however, things got very bloody as civil war broke out amongst the Fascists and Communists. Many Italians proved they were not afraid of dying once they had a real cause and future in which they believed.
My dad’s dad was in Africa, Russia and later ran and hid from the Fascists in Tuscany.

Submarines may go through the Gibraltar strait regardless of who controls Gibraltar. This is the only exception. Just in case you didnt know.

@goalievogel:

Can planes scramble on Japan against lets say… American subs as long as they have subs or destroyers themselves?

I believe that per the wording of the rules, aircraft can scramble in response to ANY combat move that ends in the adjacent seazone.  So they can scramble against subs.  But they cannot hit them.  So there’s no reason to scramble.

Also, if japan has subs, they wouldn’t help Japanese aircraft hit american subs.  Only a friendly (in this example a Japanese, German, or Italian) destroyer would allow the defending scrambled planes hit attacking subs (as friendly destroyers assist in combat - this is obviously not the case on attack).

No.  Transports may not be loaded (or unloaded) in a hostile sea zone.

Just Italy vs UK.

As I suspected….damn. Thank you sir.

No, they can also be used in regular sea battles.

Each unit may be paired with only one other unit in the same turn phase, but it may be paired with a different unit in another turn phase.  In Miker49’s example, the tank may be paired with the mechanized infantry in the Combat Move phase, then be paired with the tactical bomber in the Conduct Combat phase.  In Jeffdestroyer’s example, the tank may be paired with the mechanized infantry in the Combat Move phase, then be paired with either the mechanized infantry or tactical bomber in the Conduct Combat phase, but not both.  See the Combined Arms sidebar on page 16 of the Rulebook.