Oil or Russia?

[Schnurri]

I relatively new to the game though have now lost a number of games. Mainly played Axis and either lack of oil or the Russians have always ended it for me, usually in 43. Some advice needed for current game.

Am about ready for Barbarossa but have had a really successful Med campaign. Just took Port Said and the way is clear to Iraq where I expect to find 2 corps and possibly 2 FTR - took Malta and had overwhelming air superiority.

My question - do I delay Barbarossa and secure the oil fields first and then launch a late but really powerful Barbarossa in August (June 22 now) or Barbarossa now. The only other time I got close to Baghdad I almost had it though my troops were exhausted and then the Russians came in and turned the tide and I didn't get a drop of oil If I divert my resources now to Russia I'm afraid this will happen again and they can delay me long enough that the US will intervene.

Any thoughts - I am in the best position I've ever been in and don't want to blow it.

[afk_nero]

My advice is go delay Barbarossa until August and continue to build a massive strike into Russia.

This will have a few benefits -

1. No Russians coming into the Middle east in time
2. Oil from Russians (to help with the excess oil consumption happening in the Med)
3. No distractions from your main campaign

There are a few things you need to be aware of for Barbarossa -

Ensure you have an understanding/plan on what you are going to achieve before winter hits (naval landings at key ports will help secure objectives.
Don't go crazy in Russia only to be hit by a winter counter.

The other point to worry about is the US - use subs to try to stop any reinforcements going to the middle east. The US could counter more effectively then the USSR

If you do secure the oil then you have a good chance of winning - you can produce oil units (mechs, a few armour and air). This will save on manpower the other big German drain and should help in battering the Russian hordes.

I would also suggest reading a few of the excellent AAR's for hints and tips on the Russian campaign.

Good luck.

[Plaid]

My advice is to delay declaration of war on soviet union to late september and don't do any offencive things on the east in 1941.

Instead prepare good border defences, entrench, assign commanders. Maybe it will be worthy to take border city or two, but don't go deep into USSR.

Saves many resources , and you will not be hit by SW, you will also minimize soviet war effort. (starts to increase after country at war).

You can produce lots of forces and start eastern offencive in 1942.

[Blathergut]

While I'm still horrible with this game, I have come to think that the Germans should not be in a rush anywhere. Much better to take some extra time and destroy things systematically and thoroughly.

[Schnurri]

Thanks for the replies - I'll give you a postscript once the implications of the decision are made. Can anyone guide me to an AAR that describes a successful Med operation leading to oil, preferably in a timely fashion? It is such a long and hard slog and I was only able to get as far as I did due to a rapid fall of Malta which was only due to massive TACs (alternating pairs of attacks) and the entire RM and the one BB that got an extremely lucky 4 step attack. Is it really worth it to go after the oil? Honestly when I first set it up with TAC's in Sicily I was really just hoping to lure my opponent into a death trap with 6 TACs, 3 subs and the surface fleet all supported by FTR's, so I could inflict some pain on the RN - from reading other's experiences it didn't seem likely that Malta would actually fall.

[zechi]

Look here: viewtopic.php?t=19188&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Its a 2.00 Beta game and it was aborted in 1943, but I took the Middle East despite my enemy sending in Soviets and US forces and in 1941 I did a weak Barbarossa, but in 1942 I got a good German offensive going in the south (getting Grozny and Maikop oil fields + Stalingrad).