Free French Faction Design

Time to evaluate the Free French as a faction.

Normally, I don't give much historical background to the designs, as they're self evident or could be found elsewhere. With this faction though, I will leave this note. The faction has its origins in Armée d'Afrique, which was under Vichy French control in Morocco before switching sides upon the American landings of Operation torch. The army fought along side the US and Brits in the Tunisian campaign, using largely their original French equipment with some donations from their new allies, until the defeat of the DAK. After that, these forces were outfitted with US equipment and transformed into Corps Expéditionnaire Français (CEF), which was then sent to Italy and fought there until the landings in Southern France. This faction is more or less concerned with that timeline, drawing on equipment from both periods and not really using equipment that was only used in mainland France, either in 1940 or from 1944, as I feel both of these periods are out of step with the other Mediterranean factions. Where exceptions are made, I will highlight them. This style basically copies the Brits, which in Coh3 largely uses equipment from Africa but also draws on equipment used in Italy.

Description

What I wanted to achieve with the design of this faction was flexibility taken to its utmost limit, in this case, you can go for any tier from 1-4 as your starting tier, but while stalls are possible, they're heavily disincentivised. Within the HQ, your first starting units consist of Tirailleures and Sapeurs, which are your mainline infantry and engineer units respectively. Also within T0 is the 25mm SA 34 ATG, which is a light ATG solution, somewhere within the realm of LG40 power level or less. It requires either T1/T2/Tier Alpha and adds flexibility to your build orders by always offering you at least some AT. Finally in T0 are the Chausseurs, which are your mid game infantry and require Tier Alpha, filling the same niche as PGs and Jägers in Wehr. They can be upgraded to either be anti infantry or anti tank, again add flexibility to your build orders.

T1 has the Hotchkiss Mle 1914 MG, which is your standard HMG, and the Brandt Mle 1935 60mm Light Mortar, which is your early game indirect fire solution. However, once you tech Tier Alpha, which is a shared tier with T2 and also unlocks T3&4, you get access to the Hotchkiss 25mm AA Gun, which is essentially a more potent Flak 30, and the Marmon-Herrington Mk.III Armoured Car. The latter is armed with a Boys AT rifle and an MG, making it both effective against infantry and light vehicles, however it also has a 25mm SA 34 upgrade, making it better against vehicles but removes it's effectiveness against infantry, somewhat like the 221s equivalent upgrade.

Over in T2, we have the Tireur d'élite, which is your sniper unit. Unlike Wehr and US though, this sniper would be 2 man and have less DPS than a regular sniper, therefore scaling down the unit's fragility and lethality (making it less of a glass cannon). How is this achieved exactly? Essentially, being 2 men, its twice as durable; that's the fragility issue sorted. For the lethality, the sniper would no longer have a 100% chance to hit. Against units that are stationary, its hit probability would be 80% and against moving targets, this would drop to 25%. What this should mean in practice then is that snipers are still effective at dealing with stationary units, units in cover and team weapons, but would be woeful against moving targets. Therefore, as an opponent against snipers, keeping your units mobile should be basically act as a soft counter to snipers and snipers would be less effective against massed infantry strats, being basically unable to run and gun. It more thoroughly specialises snipers as an anti camp tool. Incidentally, I feel all snipers should function like this.

Also in T2 is the Laffly V15R, which serves as your early game capping and harassment vehicle. It would be able to transport squads clown car style. After Tier Alpha is purchased, you can get 75 mm mle 1897 Modifié 1938 Field Gun, which fills the role of your standard ATG solution, and then also the Laffly S15. The latter is your standard reinforcement vehicle, but can also be upgraded with either an AA mount or to the Laffly S15TOE APC. This upgrade gives the vehicle an MG and more armour, basically converting it to something closer to a 221 scout car in effectiveness.

Supposing that Tier Alpha has already been purchased, you can then tech to T3, which can be described as a mid game tier. The Somua 35 would be a medium tank somewhere around the Crusader in performance, whereas the Canon Conus Armoured Car would be a fragile mobile tank hunter, filling the same role as the Marder. Relative to a Marder, it would be less armoured and have less health, but would be more manoeuvrable, have a 360 degree revolving turret and could potentially be either cheaper or have a lockdown mode. Finally, there is the towed Canon de 105L mle 1936 Schneider, which is your lategame indirect.

That brings us to T4, which has the M4A2 Sherman and M10 Tank Destroyer, as well as the Canon de 90 mm CA Modèle 1939. The latter is your Heavy Anti Tank solution, equivalent to the Flak 36, and anchors the faction in the lategame (ie solution for dealing with heavy tanks).

The faction allows for a lot of diverse build orders while also being robust. Rush and stalls strategies are very much open to players while also not being overly risky, you'll always have access to an ATG and back teching is cheap and strongly incentivised.

Battlegroups

Thoughts on the Free French Faction

Originally, I dismissed the Free French as an uninteresting US clone, but having done some research, I feel there is potential here for a unique faction, assuming emphasis is placed on the less US ingredients available. Campaign wise, I feel Operation Torch where you play starting off from the Vichy French perspective trying to prevent the US from landing, then switching sides and basically being a duet between the US and the Free French for the campaign would be a lot of fun. You could even include the invasion of Syria as a prelude if you wanted, there's a lot of potential there. Battlegroup wise, presuming Relic doesn't go beyond 6 per faction, there would be enough material to work with.

Having said that, if I was Relic, I wouldn't touch this faction, as an expansion to the Pacific, to my mind, is such a no brainer that I wouldn't think twice about it. A faction like this would mostly appeal to a niche audience of mostly Europeans, the Free French don't loom in the imagination of major WW2 faction candidates like the USMC and Japanese would. If factions could be hipster, this would be it. The majority of Coh players, the last time I checked, come from the US, who I imagine would much rather role play The Pacific TV series than play around with French crewed Shermans. Relic would probably double the player base of the game in a single expansion, if they went to the Pacific, I couldn't see that happening with the Free French. For me, the only advantage of doing say a Free French, Italian expansion, over a Pacific one, would be the development cost saving on creating new map assets and new maps, as well as the seemingly low political risk of releasing European NATO member historical representations.

Or they go bankrupt, there's that...

Some Historical Accuracy Notes

Off beat factions like this need a slight bending of the rules to make them balanced and varied, in this case:

- For the Hotchkiss 25mm AA Gun, I've seen reports of it being used in Africa and photographic evidence of it on trucks or in fixed positions but not as the mobile carriage we have here. I have seen photo evidence of the carriage from France however. This also applies to the Canon de 90 mm CA Modèle 1939 and the 75mm M.1936 Towed AA.

- I've seen reports of the Brandt Mle 1935 60mm Light Mortar being used in Africa but haven't seen photographic evidence. This also applies to the 47 mm APX, the AMC Schneider P 16 and the Char D1 Medium Tank.

- For the Canon de 105L mle 1936 Schneider, M36 Mines and Schilt Flamethrowers, I haven't seen photographic evidence or reports of their usage in either Africa or Italy, but they're necessary elements of the faction, so for the benefit of the doubt, an exception should be made.

- For the GMC (CCKW 353) Bofors 40mm, as far as I can tell, this was first used in 1944 in France and not in Italy, but its quite cool so...

My Other Designs:

- Soviet Faction Design.

- Ostheer Proposal.

- Hungarian Proposal.

- USMC Proposal

- Commonwealth Burma Proposal.

- Japanese Proposal.