If Germany is doing a sealion, is a destroyer necessary to protect Germany’s naval fleet from the sub in sz127? Assume it has moved to sz125
I think probably, though Germany should have at least 1 escort ship in their massive transport fleet, Soviet submarine or not.
@superbattleshipyamato I am thinking of doing a sealion but in two different waves G3 and G4 instead of just one. Scottland round 3 and UK round 4. I was going to transport in 7-8 full transports on each turn with bomber buys to take out the UK factory each round. Have you ever tried this? If you have, are there any drawbacks to this strategy?
Hmm, here are my thoughts:
Owing to my rule of only using pieces, the German transport fleet wasn’t the biggest so had to be brought piecemeal to the UK. The fleet was smaller than yours, so it took multiple turns until the Soviets came in. Luckily I didn’t lose.
Note:
If my memory serves me right, this could also have been a game where the Soviet Union was part of the Axis. Still, the point is that such a tiny fleet wouldn’t work in an average game.
Luckily yours is bigger and if you’re only doing 2 turns of movement it mitigates the problems I experienced. Worth a try.
After I got more transports from Historical Board Gaming, I had enough men for an assault. The main problem is that Germany spends more on transports.
The thing is, if you want to knock out the UK before the Soviets or Americans declare war, if the UK spends all IPCs on fortifying itself, you’ll have a hard time coping with the Soviets. It depletes your men too much.
But every game is different. Have fun!
There is a name,(Scotch broth or something)for this sealion method.So some drawbacks may include,
#1 your transport fleet is vunerable in sz 111 after dropping off the 1st wave in scotland.
#2 If allies park a surface warship in sz 112 on non-combat,you can,t load your 2nd wave .I’m assuming your troops are coming from West germ or Norway…Maybe Italian air can deal with this .
#3 USA gets one more turn to build more units to destroy your fleet after you take london.BTW remember to take Eire from scotland .It takes away a possible landing spot.
Good luck and watch out for the USSR.
@ampdrive Thanks for the response.
#1 I was planning on buying two destroyers and a bomber g1 and a carrier and transports g2 before landing G3. I think that coupled with the cruiser might be enough to survive an assault from UK. It would wipe out their air force if they tried it. Maybe couple that with a strategic BS retreat g1 if it worked out that way? #2 Your right any blocker could be dealt with by Italy air I think. #3 I think America is the hardest to play. I know my opponent is very weak at playing America in this version. I will look to take advantage of him by putting pressure on him in the Pacific. #4 Russia is what worries me the most. I normally focus on Russia and I feel most comfortable with marching to Moscow (my opponent is expecting me to) but we will see if things work out favorable to sealion in the early rounds. A bomber and destroyers purchase allows me to change my mind.
So my thinking is this. With two trips I will have 32 -36 ground units plus let’s say 8-15 planes attacking Britain round 4 with a decent navy. Each infantry will be paired with something. Britain will be bombed each round to the max starting turn 2 so they probably only buy 6-8 infantry after their initial buy. I think I could probably take it keeping most of my tanks and planes. With my navy intact I can easily swap out my tanks with infantry just in time to fight the Russians.
I tried it and it may not be a good idea to bring too much heavy equipment. Inevitably infantry units will be killed and then it won’t be as easy to ferry the army back to the mainland (it’s at least not efficient) to face the Soviets.
@superbattleshipyamato My impression is if you send 32-36 land units at london plus air you ought to take london fairly easily.This will likely leave you thin on land units on your east front.You had better build a carrier or airbase in normandy G4{make sure some fighters survive sealion attack} to ptotect yout trannies.
So putting on my USSR hat,I see your G2 buy,I gear up to attack you and/or get aggressive with Japan.I’m guessing I could be hittig poland R4 with about 35inf/art+12 tanks/mech +air.I’m almost tempted to buy a navy to threaten everything in the baltic with transports.
What do you have Japan do with it’s massive fleet for 3 rounds?I don’t think you want them bringing the USA into the war early.Maybe you are hitting soviets hard in siberia.Not many ipcs in that.
I see. I never use aircraft to attack London. Obviously Germany’s hard pressed.
As I said, Germany should have at least the cruiser at the start of the game to fend off any attacks.
Britain, if they see a Sealion, don’t bother to build a navy but only build ground units, so I won’t need to buy an escort force.
The Soviets are too weak to matter.
Yes, Germany will be weak in the east so Germany should produce ground units. Asking Italy to help out works wonders in their southern flank. New German units bought after capturing London usually can’t counterattack in Romania so Italy is required.
As for Japan, Japan uses their army to crush China and the Soviets. The navy meanwhile prepares for a rapid advance. Japan never seems to have enough transports to resupply China and assault the Pacific. The Kiangsu minor industrial complex always seems too far from the south.
The US always does a stupid move, moving their entire Pacific fleet to sea zone 35 (around the Philippines), and scrambling their aircraft. After Japanese preparations this puts most of the US navy and air force to be destroyed at Japan’s leisure and it’ll take a few turns for the US to rebuild their fleet, allowing an advance into the Dutch East Indies.
Overall, if Japan gets past the initial troubles of resupplying on the mainland and capturing islands, the Allies usually fall (the US often makes the mistake of sending their fleet out before it’s big enough to challenge the IJN, allowing the US navy to be defeated in detail).
The US always makes a lot of mistakes allowing Japan to win.
Also, the Soviets may not give a lot of income but if they concentrate their far eastern armies in Amur, it certainly takes many ground units and aircraft to destroy them. I sometimes like to do amphibious assault on the northern coast, although bombardment and landings are often necessary against Amur.
@superbattleshipyamato I ended up not doing an early sealion. Instead I opted for a mid game sealion and got it round 5 I think. I did a J1 attack and took Calcutta J3. China was taken J5 as well or close to it. I had incredible rolling during this game. I was able to take out all of uk Europe boats which allowed Italy to grow. I even took eastern us with Italy because they weren’t paying attention. Too busy trying to buy a naval fleet in the Pacific. In the end they couldn’t stop me when I took Sydney. One of my best games.
Great! I played a few games recently on TripleA too.
Anyways, for some help on detailed Sealion, these game principles should help:
