France Overseas, 1940. A two player alternative history wargame that
examines the possibilities inherent in the campaign that could have occurred in
northwest Africa late in 1940 if the French had resolved not to give up. The
assumption is they instead chose to evacuate as much of the French Army as
possible to Tunisia, Algeria and French Morocco.
Both sides’ orders of battle are historically based. That
is, the German force in Spain is what they had intended to use for the invasion
of England around this same time. The assumption there is, if they believed
they could lift that force across the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar
would have presented less difficulty – eight miles wide vs. 21 at the Pas de
Calais – once Spain had been dragooned into joining the Axis.
The Spanish divisions are the two corps of their Army of
North Africa (the original supporters of Franco). The rest of their ground
force is assumed to be invading Portugal, as was their plan had things gone
this way. During the game the Allied player will have to cope with decisions
made ‘above his head’ in London in regard to fleet commitment and the BEF’s
initial landing site. That arbitrariness is reflective of the Allies’ historic
inability to create smoothly operating joint service headquarters during the
war’s first half.
Each game turn represents half a month. Each
hex represents about 10 days. Each hex is
20
miles (32.4 km) from side-to-side.
Units are
divisions.
22 x 34-inch map and one counter sheet of 176 5/8-inch
counters.