Curry Posted August 29, 2003 Share Posted August 29, 2003 Here is an option I am toying with. Why not just evacuate as many French units out of France as you can. I have played with this and figure out that I can evauate about 4 French armies and 2 corps plus a French HQ before the Germans take Paris. (WIthin four turns). France is going to fall anyway. The biggest disadvantage I see is time. Germany in four turns takes France. The advantage is now as the allied player you have a nice sized strike force to play with during the traditional quiet period. With the UK Navy and three aircraft carriers you have a French strike force with an HQ. Options are many - Norway - Restrike France - The Med - Port/Spain (which would cause the axis minors not to join) - Defend the UK with the French and send the Brit's Navy into the Med. Two questions for those with much more experience. 1) Why not do this? What is the big disadvantage? 2) If you did it what would you think of doing now with the allies. You have a healthy British Navy with three carriers (bring the brits out of the med) and 4 French armies, two to three French corps with a HQ. What would you do with it? Thanks for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leopard Posted August 29, 2003 Share Posted August 29, 2003 Originally posted by Curry: Here is an option I am toying with. Why not just evacuate as many French units out of France as you can. I have played with this and figure out that I can evauate about 4 French armies and 2 corps plus a French HQ before the Germans take Paris. (WIthin four turns). France is going to fall anyway. The biggest disadvantage I see is time. Germany in four turns takes France. The advantage is now as the allied player you have a nice sized strike force to play with during the traditional quiet period. With the UK Navy and three aircraft carriers you have a French strike force with an HQ. Options are many - Norway - Restrike France - The Med - Port/Spain (which would cause the axis minors not to join) - Defend the UK with the French and send the Brit's Navy into the Med. Two questions for those with much more experience. 1) Why not do this? What is the big disadvantage? 2) If you did it what would you think of doing now with the allies. You have a healthy British Navy with three carriers (bring the brits out of the med) and 4 French armies, two to three French corps with a HQ. What would you do with it? Thanks for the feedback. 1. I would say that the premise that France will fall anyway is incorrect. France represents the first oppurtunity for the Allies to win the war, and the better players as Allies will often win the war by summer or fall 1940 with their spirited defense of France. Rambo is the best I have played for an agressive French defense. 2. Also, even losing France doesn't mean it cannot be a decisive Allied victory. I have lost several games in which I have taken France as Axis, because of the critical time delays which can occur. Also, fighting for airspace in France will bleed the German armies and airfleets of their experience, which can be very important. 3. Every turn France stays Allied means the 115 MPP go to the Allied cause, and not the Axis one. Each turn fighting costs Germany MPP to re-inforce, and keeps them from adding weaker nations to their MPP supply pool. 4. The experience gained by the UK airfleets, navy and HQ is important to the later fights. 5. The French that were evacuated will be low-tech for the duration of the war. The French troops value if evacuated would be mostly for an enhanced defense of the UK or Egypt. They could be used for an eventual liberation of France or in Spain or Norway, but they are defending a much more important nation when they stay in France. I now believe in a robust defense of France, just short of the cliff of over-commitment of the UK. Determine what the UK cannot afford to commit, and hold back those units only, not a corps less. The defense of France will determine the winner of many if not most games of Strategic Command. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyJohn Posted August 29, 2003 Share Posted August 29, 2003 Curry What you're suggesting here is actually one of the oldest strategies! There have been numerous posts concerning this issue and no doubt there will be many more of them; you'll note that the one of the options is to turn the Free French OFF! That's because the whole idea of sending French units out of the country so they can fight another day is historically absurd. French soldiers wanted to fight in defense of their own country and IN their own country. As Immer Etwas has pointed out innumberable times, The Free French formations were neither very large nor very important till after the Liberation of Paris in the Autumn of 1944. Having said all that, I've got to add that, as the Allies, I try to evacuate as much as I can, the air fleet and at least one army if possible and any French HQs that might have been built. But I do it under protest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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