Alternate oil rules

[joshuamnave]

I typically don't play with the oil rules in CWiF for two reasons: a) the resource/production manager interface is frustrating enough as it is and b) although it certainly makes the game more realistic it does so at the cost of a lot of extra work as a player that I don't find enjoyable.

However I remember that an earlier version of WiF used a different set of oil rules (or maybe it was an optional rule) that limited your builds according to the amount of oil that was available. It's a cruder approximation of the need for the axis powers to secure oil resources, but requires a more palatable amount of micro managing for my tastes. I'm thinking about using that a house rule in my solitaire games (self enforced) but can't find a copy of those rules anywhere. Does anyone happen to remember them?

[paulderynck]

I've heard of this but can't locate a copy. I believe it was that if you build an oil dependent unit, you have to use one oil resource for that build. Might only have been land units though, as I can't imagine Germany having the oil for Stukas, FTR2s and subs otherwise.

[brian brian]

I just poked around and also couldn't find a trace of it online. It might have been in an issue of "Lines of Communication" or even earlier in the Candian Wargamer's Journal. Or perhaps it was an optional rule in 4th edition that wasn't brought forward to 5th edition. I don't remember that it was very popular as the amount of oil you controlled had no correlation to the amount of oil requiring units you currently operated.

It definitely required that you had to have an oil resource to build an ARM. I can't remember what else was on the list, though I am thinking it might have only been HQ, STR (LND-4), TAC (LND-3), NAV, and SUB, though that is just a guess. (There were no LND-2 or FTR-3 in WiF5 before Planes in Flames came out). The list was not the same as the list of oil dependent units used today, I'm fairly sure.

It was the first pass at differentiating the oil and regular resources, iirc. The second attempt had a lack of oil make the first Offensive Chit rule cost more to use, I think, which can still be seen in the final WiF5 rules. I did find those, and even an errata dated May, 2007.


Even Axis & Allies adds an optional rule to consider the effects of Oil on WWII. Not using some Oil rule just makes for a completely different game with far less connection to the real WWII. I can't think of any rule that gives so much extra boost to the Axis when not in use. A totally different game, and WiF's HQ-A units zipping around the map already would quickly make WWII staff officers laugh at this game.

[joshuamnave]

I'm fairly sure the rule we used was post PiF, although it may very well have been a house rule or optional rule. I agree that playing without the oil rule is a bit silly, but I just don't have the energy to force the production planner to do what I want with the resources without the oil rule and adding in that extra level would make the game not fun for me. So I'm looking for some sort of compromise.

[brian brian]

I understand that … but can't think of much of a work-around, unless you had a very good idea how many oil each MP would typically use each turn with the current rules, and then could simply not use that much oil in production.

It was a published rule for the entire WiF community to use, not a House Rule somewhere. I think it was probably in the 4th edition rules. The list of units covered was short (there weren't MECH units then); possibly as short as ARM, STR, and SUB.

I think WiF8 will be published in 2015 finally and maybe you could use the rule in MWiF somehow by simply not using the oil needed under that rule (the math is simple), though I suspect you would end up with a map cluttered with saved oil.