Just a couple thoughts...

[SNorth]

Any chance for a campaign scenario variant where the Axis could attack the Soviets from the Middle-East? (Assuming an Axis victory in the Med) Or even a delayed Barbarrosa after a successful Operation Sealion? Or (dare I suggest) a scenario in which the Soviets attack first?

Just daydreaming. Hope I'm not repeating someone else.

[elmo3]

None of those will be part of the release. However the game will ship with and editor so have at it.

[Capt Cliff]

So the German have seized the middle east oil fields and attack Russia up through Iran?? Over the mountains? Who are you? Winston Churchill?? The ole soft underbelly ... NOT! [:D]

[zbig]

I think if the Germans had seized the Arab/Persian oil fields, it wiould not be critical to seize the Soviet fields.
 
I know this is off topic, but I think the Germans should have captured the Med and Middle East instead of sitting around after the fall of France for Operation Sealion which had very little chance of succeeding.

[PyleDriver]

Guys get GG's AWD, you'll have alot of fun with all those ideas. One great game!

[janh]

ORIGINAL: PyleDriver
Guys get GG's AWD, you'll have alot of fun with all those ideas. One great game!

With a 20 miles hex-scale, and the level of detail of a WiR or WITP-AE, sure! But that will be another 10 years until somebody elevates the European theater of WW2 to a level that competes or exceeds what AE is for the Pacific, just with a truely dynamically scriptable AI. Until then, AE and WiR it is. But it never harms to point out new options and ideas, else there will not be progress.

[USSLockwood]

In our current World in Flames game the Axis powers seized Gibraltar and Suez, then overran Palestine and Iraq.  As the Soviet player I felt I could not stand idly by and be encircled so I declared war on Persia (solely to liberate the oppressed peasants of course).  My attack bogged down in the mountains near Tehran so that when Barbarossa came I was fighting on three fronts (Kola, central and Persian).  Thank goodness the Japanese had been Pearl Harbored by the USA or they would have come in also.  At any rate, I believe the Axis attack through Persia has actually hurt them more than me, as it is a diversion from the main front and the terrain is very difficult indeed.

[WilliePete]

Zbig - the reason for the Germans going after the Caucasus and the Baku oil fields was not only to get oil for Germany, but also to deny these resources from the Soviets as well. Germany didnt have the manpower to attack along the entire length of the front, but they still had the job to destroy the Soviets way to wage war. The Volga was a highway to ship oil and other supplies into the heartland and the factories to keep the war machine turning. Stalingrad actually had some strategic importance. Fully controlling Stalingrad meant cutting off the Volga lifeline! Even if Germany had seized the middle eastern oil fields, they still would have had to conduct a similar operation to "Case Blue" for the campaign season of 1942...

[SNorth]

Anyone know if Leningrad is taken, do the Finns join in, advancing further into Russia?

[Great_Ajax]

Yes, they will but they do have a limit on how far they can advance. They also take a morale hit once they cross the no-attack line after Leningrad is taken.

Trey

ORIGINAL: stephenanorth

Anyone know if Leningrad is taken, do the Finns join in, advancing further into Russia?

[SNorth]

Thanks Trey. I intend to find out how far they will go when I have the opportunity.

There are so many interesting facets to explore in this game.

[koontz]

ORIGINAL: Capt Cliff

So the German have seized the middle east oil fields and attack Russia up through Iran?? Over the mountains? Who are you? Winston Churchill?? The ole soft underbelly ... NOT! [:D]

[:D] would have been an logistic nightmare for the axis and support the units that way.

[Capt Cliff]

ORIGINAL: koontz

ORIGINAL: Capt Cliff

So the German have seized the middle east oil fields and attack Russia up through Iran?? Over the mountains? Who are you? Winston Churchill?? The ole soft underbelly ... NOT! [:D]

[:D] would have been an logistic nightmare for the axis and support the units that way.

I worked with a gentleman years ago who was a locomotive engineer driving trains up into Russia threw Iran during the war. The Allies must have laid tracks early on to connect to the Soviets as an alternative to Murmansk. I remember reading that the Brit's put some units into Iran too in case they had to attack north out of Iran.

[randallw]

I think those Brits in Iran were to guard the oil fields?