Possible free For All?

@SuperbattleshipYamato I like the ideas/rules you mentioned. I will follow through on triple a.

@hengst If this feels too strong for the Allies, move the SZ 96 cruiser & destroyer to SZ 81. Otherwise, it forces the UK to choose between prosecuting the war against Italy & liberating the Vichy boats. If they don’t turn them all Free French, they may have a serious issue on their hands on G2. Similarly, it forces Germany to decide: do I want to kill French ships or force the UK to make a play for them.

After that, France will be a very minor yet present actor in the campaign for North Africa & eventually the retaking of Europe. If the UK ensure to liberate Syria, they may also fight in the defense of Cairo.

I haven’t seen somebody gamble on a Vietnam play, but that is also possibly in the cards.

Don’t tempt me SS.  You know that French swear words are not included in the forum censorship.

Hello there.  I’ve really enjoyed reading up on those these rules and I’m sure I’ll have fun implementing them as well.  A couple questions though.  With the Free French I read that they’ll be implementing the “China mechanism” where I get no industrial complexes are used.  My question is “does that mean they can only place infantry and artillery?”  Also i assume that Germany can collect tribute IPC’s from ANY Vichy territory with German units occupying it.  Thanks for any clarifications.

@knp7765:

That is a good idea about limiting the Japanese Kamikaze use until they are kind of pounded down to a low income. The Kamikaze was a weapon born out of desperation after all.

Yes, and in addition to the pressure of Japan being in such a desperate situation, there was another related factor at play: the more the war progressed, the fewer top-notch pilots Japan had at its disposal.  Japan’s training philosophy prior to the war had produced an elite corps of pilots, which gave Japan an initial advantage but left it in a worsening position as the years went by and their casualties mounted.  The US Navy, by contrast, figured out that training large numbers of competent pilots was a better investment than training a small number of superb ones (especially since the US could produce enough aircraft to take advantage of its abundant pilot supply).  When Japan’s situation became dire enough in late 1944 for it to consider extraordinary measures such as kamikaze tactics, one element which worked in favour of the kamizaze concept was that it required very little pilot training: the pilots basically just had to learn how to take off, how to fly to their targets and how to go into a steep dive.  This kind of rudimentary flight instruction was the opposite of the elite-oriented training philosophy Japan had followed prior to the war, so it would make sense to have a rule saying that Japan can only make kamikaze attacks late in the game once Japan is on the ropes.  Maybe this could even be seen as a kind of tech – a capability which isn’t available at the start of the game, but which becomes available later when certain conditions are met.  With a normal tech, you need to invest money to gain the new capability; in this case, kamikaze attacks (a kind of reverse tech because it reflects a training downdgrade) would become available when Japan’s economic and strategic situation drops below a certain threshold.

Preface: I’m somewhat new here, so I’m sure there are other house rules for this topic that I’m not aware of, but this is my attempt at what makes the most sense to me.

Vichy France and Free France House Rules
(To be used with appropriate markers from Historicalboardgaming.com, http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Custom-Roundel–Free-Vichy-French_p_369.html)

Capitulation and Armistice

If France and Normandy fall to the Axis, immediately remove any units (Allied or otherwise) from Southern France and place a Vichy marker on the territory. Place a Vichy marker on the IPC production chart on “3” (the value of Southern France). Place 4 alternate colored infantry units (old versions of Germans work well) on Southern France and an extra Minor Industrial Complex in Germany* (As part of France’s capitulation, Germany took over 2 million French soldiers as laborers). Vichy France is controlled by the German player.

*I know technically, no more than one IC can be in a territory, and practically, Germany will not produce 13 units in the same zone, so I’m open to suggestions on how to represent the French laborers.

The Colonies and the Free French Movement

At the creation of the Vichy France government, roll a die for each French territory on the map.

An “even” result means the territory joins De Gaulle’s “Free French” movement. Place a Free French marker on the territory and on the IPC production chart on the value of the territory. Move the IPC marker up for any additional territories that join the movement.

An “odd” result means the territory remains loyal to the Vichy French government. Replace any French Units with equivalent alternate colored units. Move Vichy’s IPC marker up for each territory that joins.

Roll for each French fleet on the map, and replace all units in a fleet if they choose the Vichy government.

The units in England remain Free French.

Every turn, Free France may convince one unoccupied Vichy colony to join their movement. Roll as before, and place a marker if the territory turns.

Special Rules

When a territory is “liberated” by the Allies, it becomes Free French.

When a territory is “liberated” by the Axis, it can either become Vichy or be occupied.

Vichy France may collect IPC income, but can only purchase Infantry, Anti-Air, transports, and destroyers. It must also give 1D6 of its IPC income to Germany every turn (Germany required the Vichy government to pay for its troops in the Northern Occupied Zone).

Free France may collect IPC income, but may not purchase or place any units until an Industrial Complex is built in one of its territories.

Vichy France may not move units into any territory in Europe. It may move units out of Europe via transports, and it may attack and move normally in the colonies.
Axis troops may move through Vichy France and its colonies freely.

Collapse of the Vichy Government

If Vichy is attacked by the Allies directly, it will defend as if it was a member of the Axis. If, however, Normandy and France are taken by the Allies, all Vichy units in Southern France disband, and control passes to whatever Axis units remain in the territory. If and when Southern France falls to the Allies, all Vichy units abroad disband and control of all colonies passes to the Free French.

@gredert:

One of the realism rules I want involved in some home brew rules Im working on is to have russia place 1 infantry in each of their northern territories leading to moscow the turn Japan invades, to represent the partisans rising up to pick away at the invaders, slowing down the final attack on moscow.

Can’t we all just play the game and not make things up as we go?

I like the China mod Idea, would like to give it a try.
However, I think these might be some possible options for the House rule.

1.  China can only purchase Infantry and artillery,  perhaps add a new unit, Cavalry!  at 2,1,2,4?
2.  U.S. is and Russia can fly aircraft to chinese capital, on subsequent turn they become chinese.
3.  Japan should start with a bomber and an extra sub or destroyer in 41 and an extra carrier and f2 fighters in 42 to balance this out.