653Nv1.7 Axis AAR

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Italian Review - positions in west and east Libya:

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Italian Review - Sicily and southern Italy:

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Italian Review - Albania:

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Italian Review - Sardinia and Rome:

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Italian Review - Yugoslav border:

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Italian Review - French border:

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The historical Italian OOB contained the following units:

Celere Army Corps ["Fast" Divisions, mixed cavalry and motorized]:
1st "Eugenio di Savoia" Division
2nd "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di ferro" Division
3rd "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" Division

Armored Corps:
101st Trieste (mot) Division
102nd Trento (mot) Division
132nd Ariete Armored Division
133rd Littorio Armored Division

Motor Transportable Corps:
9th Pasubio (mot) Division
10th Piave (mot) Division
52nd Torino (mot) Division

Centauro Armored Division [in Albania]

After France fell, and the debacle in eastern Libya, the Italians did a little reorganizing into the following corps:

Celere Corps ["Fast" Divisions, mixed cavalry and motorized]:
1st "Eugenio di Savoia" Division
2nd "Emanuele Filiberto Testa di ferro" Division
3rd "Principe Amedeo Duca d'Aosta" Division

XVII Motorized Corps:
52nd Torino (mot) Division
Centauro Armored Division
16. Division (mot) Pistoia [formed June 1940,
motorized October 1941, sent to Libya in July 1942]

XX Motorized Corps:
101st Trieste (mot) Division
132nd Ariete Armored Division
9th Pasubio (mot) Division

XXI Motorized Corps:
102nd Trento (mot) Division
133rd Littorio Armored Division
10th Piave (mot) Division

The corps are historical, the unit compositions are slightly changed for 653N.

Up until now I have not spent any Italian MPP's. I want to get these two Motorized corps built. They will be needed in Africa. The Italian economy is so bad that it takes many turns to get enough MPP's for these two units to be built. The reason these units are not in the OOB at start is because almost all of the units in Africa are lumped into the one 10º Army unit, and I don't want the human player to be able to reinforce them there with these units because that would be unfair.

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Decision time ! I'm going to say YES to this, although I often do not as paying the 180 MPP's gets under my skin. Sometimes I feel that the 20.Gebirgs Army can be put to better use than wasting away in Norway.

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Ok, Norway is captured. However, a few Norwegian guys on this desolate island in the North Atlantic decided not to surrender. Later in the game it will become an Allied ASW Base to help protect the North Atlantic Convoys moving thru the area [if Opie - Opponent, Programmed - sends any subs up there!].

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I'm not as ready as I want to be, but the weather is good so let's go into BeNeLux and France, Panzers forward !

I've switched the HQ's to Manual in order to get the best out of the Air Units. It's a pain but must be done. I've been wondering what it might be like if Hubert made it so that all units were treated this way. Would make the game more interesting, more management needed, more realistic supply situations, maybe too difficult.

The OOB at this point is exactly historical, although the setup is not. Going thru Sedan and hitting the coast doesn't cut anybody off from supply, instead its just the same to knock out BeNeLux then hit the French.

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After my moves. BeNeLux surrenders, total Plunder = 135 MPP's, woohoo !

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The BEF is running away, and the French are in disarray as their plan to form a line in Belgium is ruined.

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The French catastrophe continues as 6e and 10e Army's are quickly formed to protect Paris.
Guderian's XIX Korps is on its' way to the Swiss border.

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The UK is trying to interdict my iron ore coming from Narvik. Hopefully the KG.40 will drive them off.

[Enemy units adjacent to or in one of these cross-hatched hexes at the end of a turn will result in convoy losses]

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Paris is almost surrounded, as Guderian takes Besancon.

Nancy is one of France's Industrial Centers, along with Lille, Paris and Lyon.

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If you didn't know, Hitler and Mussolini had agreed in the 'Pact of Steel' in May 1939 that neither would start a war until 1943 [both countries were gearing up their mobilization and industry, which wouldn't be finished until the end of 1942].
I wonder if the UK, France or USSR would have been much better off by then ? Well, the UK wasn't actually in bad shape overall, they just had a small manpower pool. But France and the USSR had serious problems that weren't revealed until after major battles had been lost.

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Decision time:

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I'll say NO, which places the HQ near Tripoli, because I have plans in Africa but not in Italy. But my plans are in the east, and because it would take it forever to march there, I'll have to pay to ship the HQ over to Tobruk [:@]

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I hope France surrenders, but I guess not because their Morale is still pretty high. They don't have much left.

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I guessed wrong, she folded! +744 in Plunder.

I will say YES to Vichy.