Just got it myself. Haven't patched it yet, but I'm playing an amusing little game of Italy, with a technique I like to call "know your limits." I realized that I was fucked as far as naval improvement went, I didn't have enough Industry to be a major player, and that vast mechanized armies were too far off a goal to be realistic.
So I siezed the entire Balkan peninsula (except Greece and Istanbul) by the middle of 1936, and set about improving industry everywhere. For research, I pumped everything into improving infantry and org. In '37 I take Romania and Hungary and continue to improve industry, then I smash Greece with a frontal assault (minimal losses despite the lvl5 fortifications, thank god for pre-war tactical bombers
). By the Polish events, my infantry divisions have Max Org of 61, and then I cut back on research and pump up production.
Status of the War in Europe:
After siezing Lwow and change before the Soviets could move in, I decided that there wouldn't be a Phoney War this time. Three Italian army groups rushed accross the Alps, smashing weak French armies. Within the month the entire south of France, plus the Western coastline up to Cherbourg lies under the dominion of Il Duce, who politely holds to allow his German allies the honor of siezing the heart of France.
Meanwhile, Italian armies in Africa fight severe supply shortage (okay, so maybe I should have helped my navy a
little, I can't keep the lines of communication open
). I repulse attacks in occupied Ethiopia and move north and south along both the coast, and my troops in North Africa prove too much for the Allies, and I seize the entire line of the coast, from Suez to Casablanca.
And then... I crash to desktop and decide to share this pointless bit with you.
Lessons learned:
Well-developed infantry are very good for the short distances and high-infrastructure provinces of Europe. I repeatedly smashed French corps with minimal effort and losses. I don't know how they will perform in Russia, however.
If you intend to fight on two coasts, you actually
do need some kind of navy.
Rome lives!
EDIT:
Oh, and another good one. While sweeping North Africa, Italian war correspondents had the good fortune to witness an amphibious assault against Spanish Morocco--staged by Finland.
