Cueball said:
Except that the big advantage for Italy when joining early is the BP's, and in rules sets that allow it, abandoning Doctrines and so forth, so that Italy can go Blitzkreig. However, since Hiensen's rules prohibit abandon doctrine its not really such a big deal. That said the rules set I use prohibit Italy from Joining until after Albania.
This is because I think it is important for Italy to act as a silent threat in Africa, and in Southern France. It should be able to pounce if the Allies leave themselves open in some key areas, so that the Allies will not be able to act as if Italy is not a potential threat. On the other hand, and early entry after war starts could be disasterous for Axis, especially if Italy has not been buffed by German BP's and so on. But the potential should be there. Not allowing Italy to DOW early means the Allies get a free ride in the mediteranean, up until after Paris.
Also, if Germany is in trouble for some reason or another, then opening up a second front can break the deadlock. So for me, I say Albania.
For me the really great thing about the Aussie rules is the USA war entry date system. That is one of the most useful additions to HOI rules, I have seen.
It is a common problem with the war entry dates or requirements we have and I have advocated for making them alot less restrictive.
As like you say the allies know when to defend africa/egpyt, they know exactly when to mass there forces, how long they can keep them in france or the UK until needed in africa, which should not be the case.
It is the same with Japan and USSR not allowd to war until 1943. USSR free to mass there forces against the Germans.
Ofcourse the counter the allies do is the NAP with USSR allows Germany to mass forces against allies, but that is exactly what happened in WWII. Majority of German forces were used against allies.
It is something that certainly needs to be looked at. All games now result in UK deploying everything into France in 1939, when they should have substantial forces in Africa, middle east and Asia to counter both the Italian and Japanese threats.
If I play Japan next game I will certainly look at going to war in 1940 or even earlier to really hurt the allies, if they do not protect them selves, even better if the US is pumping IC and not units, they will be caught napping.
Italian war entry needs to be more open to keep allies guessing, and same with the USSR and Japan. Japan should be allowd to go to war aginast the USSR if they want too.