Why

[WIF_Killzone]

So both France and Britain declares war on Italy on impulse #2 of first turn of global war but it does not allow either port attack or naval combat during that impulse. So much for surprise, any idea why it does not allow combat??

[WIF_Killzone]

Never mind, apparently you need to click on Declare Ware button and not just OK after highlighting the country.

[Numdydar]

And here I was already to reply 'Why not' [:D]

[WIF_Killzone]

Why not indeed, just gutted both Italian TRS and put the army out of supply in north Africa. Proud of myself but I don't think the Americans liked that though.

[paulderynck]

You must mean the second Allied impulse of the game, i.e. impulse #4 of SO39. Only the DoWs on Germany should be permitted in Impulse #2. If not, it's a bug.

BTW many times in Impulse #2, I've tried putting the CW in position to do a Taranto on Italy with a DoW and port strike in Impulse #4. Every single time, Italy has pro-actively DoW'd me in the second Axis impulse (Impulse #3), surprised me, and gone to sea and found and punished the RN. Every single time the Ark Royal has gone blub-blub. I don't do that anymore.

In other words, you never should do what you are doing against any experienced Italian player.

[AlbertN]

Not needing to be experienced for that! I understood that mechanic firsthand.

Italy has too much to lose if they get surprised - besides the port attack, the free landing in Sardinia with a division (and the subsequent loss of a resource) etcetera.
UK can force your hand to declare war on them, by doing so though, at the cost of being possibly found at sea. But after 1 round of naval combat the RN flees away and that's it - for that turn. Then the RN fights with advantage of carriers and whatnot!

[WIF_Killzone]

Yes, the second (maybe even third) Allied impulse of the game, i.e. impulse #4 of SO39.

Yes, inexperienced, I hadn't played in a while. I (Italy) naively and arrogantly moved 1 TRS each of the first two Axis impulses, one into a port and the other at sea to unload troops in north Africa without naval protection. The second move was right under the noses of the CW CV's and surface ships. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. They (me) then declared war, moved more French and CW ships to sea and performed a port strike followed by naval actions in the med. Italy lost two convoy points, one Inf, and two TRS. CW goal from the beginning was to stop the axis sealing up the Suez with massive re-enforcements early in the game, even at the cost of not sending BEF or fighters to France which they certainly accomplished. I can re-think that strategy now.

Interestingly, Germany also lost two fighters (a 5 and a 3) to one weak Polish fighter with incredible die rolls. There was no need for Germany to even engage the fighters and I had a premonition that this was dumb to engage them even at high odds instead of just letting them die in Warsaw vis-à-vis land combat only.

[:-]It was a pretty good feeling to pull off the sinking of the transports even if I am only playing with myself