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From what i've seen and read you hate being aggresive early so interesting to see how far you go with early warmongering
 
Carnage Al Dente

Chapter I - Setting up











Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan*2, UK, France, Poland, Soviet













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January, 1939

Ok. New game. First time playing Italy in MP. I must admit, I haven’t played Italy much in SP and not FTM at all. Still, I have played against Italy several times as UK and have seen what I believe is serious mistakes by my opponents. So I have been dwelling upon how I could play Italy better. Also, after playing UK, then GER and then UK again, I can need the break of a slightly smaller country and leave the majors to others.

I have, of course, made a very detailed plan of how I want to play Italy and it fits together nicely with the overall Axis plan. As said many times before, Italy can’t just follow their own agenda but must be a firm support of especially Germany. Being used to be faction-lead, it will be a new thing to play the supporter. But I look forwards too it.














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March, 1939

The Germans and the Russian made a dark pact. On the other side of the world, the Japanese empire crushed one of its minor opponents. A storm is building up.














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April, 1939

The modern battleship Vittorio Veneto has been launched with great festivities. It has become the pride of the new Italian navy. With it, the Regia Marina will be a force to reckon with in the Med. The so called Allies will not be able to sneer at them now.

Simultaneous, but much stealthier, an entire Army Group, actually more than half of Italy’s army, has assembled outside Genova. Officially, it is a war game including five divisions. In reality, it is five full Army Corps and the preparation for something far away from being called a game… or it could possibly be called the Game of Dominance… Anyway, with all eyes on the festivities around the Vittorio Veneto, this gathering of troops slipped by rather unnoticed.

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More coming shortly, but this was end of first game session
 
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Carnage Al Dente

Chapter II - Initiating Wars












Human Players: Germany*2, Italy, Japan, UK, France, Poland, Soviet
The extra player on Japan (von Rosen) changed to back Germany up










Recap: Germany and Italy has been reparing for violence. It is time to let slip the dogs of war...














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May 1st, 1939

On May the first, Germany declared war on Poland and Denmark and became in war with France and United Kingdom as well. World War II has started. Italy, however, has other plans than getting mixed up in Germany’s furious thrashing about (well, except giving them an expeditionary force consisting of two divisions – in line with the house rules).














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May 2nd, 1939

The aggressive acts by the Germans did not go unnoticed. Three commonwealth countries chose to join up with the Allies in the struggle against the Third Reich. Germany, however, stood alone. The Italians saw no gain in joining this coming carnage. They simply saw no gain in it. They had their eyes on a dish slightly easier to digest….














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May 2nd-4th, 1939

The fall of Denmark took four days. The Danes could not mount any significant defense had hadn’t even time to fill up their ranks.

The Axis had expected Allied naval counter measures in Öresund, but managed the whole amphibious operation without Royal Navy interference. Perhaps the Allied leadership feared being locked within the Baltic Sea if Denmark fell quickly – which they did.














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May 3rd, 1939

While Germany attacked Poland and Denmark, tucking at the attention of the Allies, the Italian lashed out against their former friends in Spain. Franco had been a disappointment and with the world-turmoil coming out, the Italian leadership needed someone they could trust in Spain.

The first blow fell in southern Spain, around Malaga. The land was weakly defended and in the western Alboran Sea there was a shorter naval skirmish – obviously won by the superior Italians.














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May 7th, 1939

A motorized units quickly reached as far as Ronda, feeling safe after taken the mountainous terrain. However, a fierce Spanish counter-attack was thrown against them. The average Italian soldier had been drilled into the belief they were greatly superior to the Spanish, but even though they had good defensive grounds they could not hold on when the Spanish came in force. Ronda was eventually lost.














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May 5th, 1939

The German leadership reported an Allied amphibious assault in Bremerhaven. It consisted of about three British divisions. What their operational target was is unknown, but maybe they was going to try to cut off Wilhelmshaven and Emden. Be as it may, the Brits got stuck on the beach and the assault was cancelled. The German deployment had proved efficient.

Authors note: Allied team are invited to shed some light on the idea behind this attack














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May 17th, 1939

It was obvious the war did not come as a surprise to the Allies. Whether the failed attack on Bremerhaven had come as a shock or not to the Brits, it did not change the powerful thrust they launched over the Maginot.

In three weeks they had managed to throw back the German defenders and tear a mighty gap right into the core of Germany. They were on the brink of taking Köln (by the red lines), which would have threatened to cut off a chunk of the Heer’s Western Army Group, but a last hour paradrop stopped that disaster. The German paratroopers landed in and around the city and were immediately engaged by the British light armor and motorized infantry. The skilled paratroopers used the city to their benefit while the Brits had the river hampering their progress.

Rather quickly, the Brits called of the attack and gave the German leadership a well needed breather. Still, Germany was far away from comfortable in the West.














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May 19th, 1939

In the East, however, progress was steady. Poland would fall, albeit not tomorrow. The West would have to do without reinforcements from the East a while longer.





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Two small chapters before the end of the year as asked for. I live only to serve. Happy New Year on all of you!
 
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the attack on spain is a brilliant idea because it is going to allow you to lock up one entrance to the med without having to fight the Royal Navy when (if) you join the axis
 
The attack on Bremerhaven was probably just a distraction. If it had succeeded it would have meant another opening in the German front. As it is, the Germans need to speed up the defeat of Poland to free up forces for the west. However, the Italian attack on Spain implies that the Italians can not throw in much support for the Germans if the need should arise. As it is, the Allies have the upper hand currently, though at this stage everything is open.
 
Ah, of course. A bold opening move, as always! :D

A strong Allied push in the West, with many armoured divisions. It looked like the Allies invested heavily in tanks. They have much oil, so it may be a good idea. On the other hand, it probably means that they will not have as many inf divs or air units as they usually do in France. Considering that they will have to fight on three fronts there, there is a chance that France will fall quickly, even if you do not conquer Paris that fast.

Obviously, Gibraltar should be your top priority target. Do you plan to conquer Spain or create a puppet there? The UK will probably try to land there sooner or later.
 
Taking Spain certainly opens up the chance to take Gibraltar. The question is, if the British are determined enough, can Gibraltar be defended?

Not alone, Italy is not spread as thin, and can afford pumping in much more. The only way to hold Gibraltar is deploying a force sufficient to run the Italians out of Spain entirely, but at that point you'll have Germans coming down from occupied France. Better to poke and prod at occupied Spain, killing a div here and there, to force the Italians to divert much needed forces from other theatres and strike from Africa towards the European underbelly instead.

As to the Francoe-German front, that amount of panzers surely must mean a lack in some other vital area. My guess is they have been cheap with the ships, hoping for an early victory or much prolonged fight in France will cost the Germans too much time and IC to contemplate a Sealion.
 
Awesome start. I will follow this one closely :)

I am very interested to see what the cunning CptEasy can do with the weakest of the great powers.

Taking Spain shouldn't be hard, but holding it against the Allies will be hell. On the other hand securing Gibraltar is a good step to prevent the usual undefendable naval invasions against Rome.
 
no yugo! aggggh what are u doing!
 
An interesting start. A blitzkrieg attempt by the Allies foiled by a mere paratroop division? Does France have too many reserves on the Italian front? The Franco-British forces should have had sufficient units to go through Wuppertal to complete the encirclement of German forces against the Dutch and Belgian borders.

Happy New Years! And many games to come!
 
I'm a little sceptical about the Axis ability to hold Spain on the long term. It only creates more shores to defend and more opportunities to attack for the Allies. I'm not even sure you will be abble to take Gibraltar, southern Spain is all mountainous with low infrastructure, with relatevely few troops the British could set up a good defensive position there, from Sevilla to Malaga.
 
I'm a little sceptical about the Axis ability to hold Spain on the long term. It only creates more shores to defend and more opportunities to attack for the Allies. I'm not even sure you will be abble to take Gibraltar, southern Spain is all mountainous with low infrastructure, with relatevely few troops the British could set up a good defensive position there, from Sevilla to Malaga.

Not in 1940. UK has 3 places to defend: Africa, India and Med. After fall of France, because before that they have no strategic reserves at all. They have forces to defend 2 of them. So if they decide to defend Spain, they have to abandon some other critical places. In 1942-1943 there may be Allied landings, but not before. So it is 3 years of manpower/IC to Axis. Or they may even puppet, but we all know how useful puppets are. If it would have been possible to diploinvite Spain to Axis, more people would choose this option.
 
The idea is downright brilliant by cap ,what he realises is -

1]The war will be won or lost in europe,africa without the strategic canal is a useless liability.

2]He can't concentrate equally on both navy and land so he focuses mostly on land.

3]But still he has to do something about the med or he is wide open to invasion on the mainland.Rather than shifting the theatre east which wouldn't reduce the threat to the italian mainland he shifts it west meaning any invasion attempt would have to come all the way around africa if he manages to take spain.
And if he manages to take spain then he could eventually take yugoslavia as well giving him two flanks on italy's mediterranean position.Also spain is a good place to fight a defnsive war in as u can always fall back on the pyrenees defensive line if ur losing and hold it with inf vs tanks,and also link up with the german troops in france.Also if the brits launch invasions of spain it is unlikely they will have much to spare for another simutaneous one in france,meaning italy can hoold until german reinforcements arrive.

4]Italy needs foreign manpower and ic to be competitive with the great powers.

Spain provides a great solution to most of these problems provided he manages to take it.
It also totally breaks the french defensive situation as they are usually secure from italian attacks by the alps but now are attacked on 3 fronts if spain is taken.

One thing i noticed was germany declared war on denmark along with poland ,a very decisive and important move and one that shows that the lessons of last games were absorbed by the german player .The quick conquest of denmark gave the axis a secure baltic coast and freed up troops without the ability of allied intervention.
Nice going axis.
Looking forward to more.
 
I'm wondering whether the Axis should go with the historical French surrender in that game. If Italy manages to conquer Spain, the Axis will be in good position to conquer whole France and North Africa. Italy could demand several French regions and with Gibraltar and western North Africa in Axis hands, the UK would be put in a very difficult position.
 
Spain can be a trap, too, if the Allies resort to hit and run tactics. That way they can thin out the rather small Italian army. Yugoslavia will not help securing Italy per se but it's riches will contribute.

The DoW on Spain should have raised the Axis threat, though. They need to watch out for US entry levels.
 
For what we know , this is the only italian DoW , yugo can follow of threat allows it , starting in 1339 means Germany hasn't as much threat than a 1936 start.