Originally posted by SoulBlazer
But what time scale would we be talking about here? I guess you COULD do the whole WWII but it seems to make better sence to have the earilest campaigns start after the Fall of France and to end after the end of 1943, when the Allies had pretty much won total control of the Med.
Sure, I'd love to command Operation Torch and send Patton driving through Africa.
Well, it being the UV system, there'd have to be the one day turn option (yeah, I know, I'm an idiot, I'll never finish a single game of WITP as long as I live and I'm asking for another monster - still, there's not much else to do here in the institution, eating our nuts, saving our raisins for Sunday ...).
Seriously, I think it's a great setup. It might even turn the UV perception on its head and make short scenarios more popular than full campaigns (the short, sharp fights centered on the Malta convoys being the primary example). Multiple campaigns (including "mini-campaigns") seem likely, too, with starting times like:
-Outbreak of the war, September, 1939 (suppose Italy had come on board from the very beginning)
-Italy declares war on France, June, 1940 (historical, with variant campaigns based on different historical circumstances)
-Crete (what more need I say?)
-Afrika Korps and Desert Rats, March, 1941 (UV scenarios delete portions of the theater for detailed treatment of one aspect of the fighting: how about ignoring events in Europe - except as they have an effect on the North Africa campaign - and focusing on the desert war and associated naval and air operations, including Malta and resupply of Axis forces)
-Torch (one word says it all)
-Husky (ditto)
-Avalanche (ditto)
Various ahistorical campaigns suggest themselves, as well. For example:
-France reneges on Polish sovereignty (France is neutral in 1940, but enters the war later)
-England and France say "no" to German and Italian aggression, 1936 (in response to Italy's attack on Ethiopia and Hitler's re-militarization of the Rhineland, war begins with no one prepared)
The heart of the game for me, though, would be the historically-based campaign running from Italian entry into the war in mid 1940 through Italian defeat in 1944 (or earlier or never happening, depending on game events, in which case, there would have to be a fixed "game over" date).
Political and other-theater war events affecting the Mediterranean would have to be modeled (and treated pretty thoroughly, I think). By point of comparison, such things are usually handled in paper-and-cardboard strategic simulations with random variant draws using "DRM" continuums ("on a roll of 6-9 on a 10-sided die, Germany and Russia declare war on each other in August, 1940. +2 to this die roll if ... -1 to this die roll if ..." - "Unusually mild winter allows Wehrmacht greater success on Russian front. On a roll of 0-4, ...). Computer simulations tend to hide all this rigmarole and present the situation and outcomes in more sophisticated ways, of course. The bottom line is that reinforcements, replacements, and required force withdrawals would be uncertain to a degree, and this would add a very interesting "wild card" effect.
As has been suggested, Italian command incompetence would have to be treated. Do I hear "leadership values?" Is this a chance to make "naval HQs" actually have a function? Variable German fuel release to the theater would be part of it, too (this could be variable based on successes or failures elsewhere - suppose a major German breakthrough on the southern front in Russia resulting in capture of the Caucasus oil fields ... even more tantalizing, suppose a Rommel breakthrough in Egypt leading to the same result ...)
One last comment in respectful response to an earlier post: yes, this campaign would show air and naval forces acting in support of a land campaign. That's what air and naval forces do, even in UV. You can motor around the lake and fly over the island in the middle, but, until your land forces have taken the ground, it has all been for nothing.
C'mon, boys, gimme this sucker ...