Slitherine

Here's the situation: It's June 17th 1942. I'm playing as the Axis (against the AI) and have conquered Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium all in the normal historical . Then I took my own detour, I took Paris in the summer of '40 rejected the armistice, and managed to conquer the rest of France by the end of '40.

I used the summer of 1941 to launch Sealion and to take Yugoslavia, I've managed to push the Brits to Northern Ireland, and the Yugo campaign was over in 2 turns.

My Italian strategy has been to take Tunis, Algiers, Oran, and Casablanca so that the Spanish join the fight, I manage to finally accomplish this in the summer of 1941. Gibraltar falls to Franco's forces in late '41 and I'm now setting my sights on Portugal. I'm also plan on going after Greece soon in an all-Italian operation but probably won't do that until summer of 1943.

Now my issue is that in this turn the Soviets have declared war (of course the Axis move first) and I'm not quite prepared for a successful full-scale Barbarossa as the majority of my Armor is being transferred from the UK to the East but aren't quite there (in the Low Countries refitting, and unloading from transports). I have a strong Northern Army group but besides that it's pretty light with infantry corps along the entire border with the USSR. In the South I have Hungary, Rumania that will likely just hold the line and be offensively-challenged.

German Oil: 696
Manpower: 1139

What should I do here?
-Launch Barbarossa piece-meal (not excited about that..)?
-Launch a controlled offensive into the Baltic States?
-Hold fast, destroying what comes at me and waiting until the Armor is ready to go?

(Suggestions for strategies are greatly appreciated).
Thanks!

Not realizing the Russian DOW was coming is a big problem. Against the AI if you plan a '42 Barbarossa you should be ready to DOW yourself by this point & have a good sized army ready for it.

That said, the AI isn't all that good, so attacking is the way to go. You should be doing a WW I style, grinding offensive (killing troops, not taking ground being the priority) until the arrival of the main army.

Any reason you didn't take Greece when you hit Yugoslavia? Those are a one-two operation for me.

One more question. Have you taken Iraq yet? (or are at least ready to do so shortly. By this point the Iraqi revolt usually holds both oil against the AI for me). If not, it's going to be a tough slog in the east without the oil.

Good questions all around. I was preparing myself for Barbarossa however I merely ran out of time. A lot of my armored units were in the UK mopping up the Brits. I have enough Luftwaffe units ready for the attack, and just about the right amount of Infantry to attack it's just he armored units that are missing (The mech Infs are in position). Still, I think your conclusion of a grinding WWI style conflict at least until the armored units show up is going to be the case for this game, especially in the south with the Hungarian and Rumanian forces.

As for Greece, I usually avoid Greece in most of the games I play. I just think Greece is too treacherous and usually leave it to the Italians when I decide to go after it. I've never used German forces to capture Greece because I'm too focused on prepping for Barbarossa. It seems like too much of a pain for 5 PP. What are the pros to conquering Greece?

As for Iraq, I do control their oil at the moment. Just getting ready to capture the Kirkuk Oil Fields.

Greece gives Italy a 5 point bonus (same as Suez). Plus, IIRC 2 extra Bulgarian Corps (and the more infantry you have, the easier Russia is. Garrisons eat up a LOT of manpower in the east). I usually use 2 Stuka, 2 BB, one Italian Inf and one German Mech. 2-3 turns.