Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi – Judging the World as the French

Ever since the first Hearts of Iron my impulse was to play Germany. A quick look at the community shows that a lot of players tend to do this. Not because we actually would like the Nazi Third Reich to actually win World War II in real life (well, a minority might want that) but because the losing side always presents the toughest challenge. Of course, we could all play Puerto Rico and try and take over the whole of Latin America but when taking a look at the world in 1936 Germany is the only defeated power that has (at least in part) the resources needed to take on its enemies and win. There are plenty of After Action Reports and articles on Hearts of Iron III and how players handle the fights against the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States.

But there's are deeper challenges that the game offers, among them that of the major power and Allied member who lost it all in 1940 to the power of the Reich. France was the nation which stood as the big counterbalance to Nazi Germany and despite its industrial base, colonial empire, good generals and significant fortification fell to the innovative tactics of the Germans faster than anyone expected at the time. France is a challenge because, with hindsight, we know what the leadership and the army should have done to stall the German advance but Hearts of Iron III makes it difficult to actually do what's needed to win, which basically means stopping the German panzers and rolling back their advances. The country has limited industry, limited leadership and pretty bad commanders, especially coming over from Germany, with its ready for war industry and superb corps leaders

I'll try to work within those limitations and see if France, without doing anything too gamey like garrisoning only Victory Points cities or trying a paradrop on Berlin, has any chance of resisting the initial assault and taking the fight back to the Nazis.