This week we played a game with me and a friend as Germany/Italy and Japan. He had come up with a plan to make Sea Lion work and I want to get everyone’s opinion on the efficacy of the move. So here is how the game went.
G1: Took Bulgaria, Yugoslavia (with a few too many tanks), wiped the UK fleet except in Canada, LOST IN FRANCE due to BAD dice, took N/B. Built CV/2Trans
UK1: Shucked units to UK, took back N/B, Built Mass Infantry.
J1: Attacked Russia, China. Built MIC in Schezwan
I1: Saved Germany from shame by taking France, SF.
G2: Sank UK-Canada fleet, Landed 6 Inf in Scotland, built a Transport and some land units
UK2: Retook Scotland with 8 Inf/1Art and planes, took Holland, Bought more infantry in UK
J2: More attacking in China/Russia building for UK attack J3
I2: Took N/B and Holland, began building to attack Greece
G3: Mass invasion of UK, BAD Dice AGAIN but eked out a win with one tank left. Built more land units and air force, and flush with 81 IPC to spend next turn. Soviets now sweating.
UK3: Retook London with their Scottish Forces, Egypt looking quite scary without Italians to keep them down.
J3: Massive attack on South East Asia, wiping the Brits and US from the islands.
I3: Finally takes Greece and looks to deal with the soon arriving Americans.
G4: Retakes London with minimal land units, again leaving only 3 in the UK. Non combat move all land units off the USSR border except 1 infantry. USSR has no major infantry forces on the border and will have to attack Germany with one infantry and Tanks/MI to take anything. Another turn of 83 IPC at the end. Major investment in Luftwaffe.
USSR4: Screams across the border with small expensive forces, but cannot get NO with a German sub sitting in 125 and Japan in Russia.
UK4: Moves the remnants of their fleet off Morocco to merge with the US fleet
J4: Continued pushes in SE Asia, as a new fleet forms near Japan
I4: Shucks into Syria to prepare for a push into Egypt.
US4: Moves their fleet to Morocco to threaten Rome and N/B
G5: Counter attacks Russia and takes out the Navy they had built earlier near Leningrad. Declines to build in London since 3 Units built there + 3 already there cannot hold UK and instead transports out behind Denmark.
USSR5: Musters enough forces to take Romania but size of German forces elsewhere prevents an offensive. Starts pushing back against Japan.
UK5: Waves at the GI’s that will soon liberate them and moves their fleet off London
J5: Engages in a apocalyptic sea battle with the UK in India, leaving their fleet hurt but intact.
I5: Moves their Egypt Attack Fleet back to Rome to defend against the threat of a US invasion.
US5: Takes an evacuated Truk with their Pacific War Fleet, retakes London.
G6: Crushes the Southern Russian Army, repairs their enlarged fleet and reinforces with many submarines.
UK6: Begins building forces in London to defend the Home Isles and gets some reinforcements in SA now that London can only produce 3.
J6: Rolls massive forces into Truk but Dice again FAIL the Axis, resulting in terrible terrible damage. Only new purchases forestall a possibility of a US invasion of Japan.
I6: Now free of US threat Italy lands forces in Trans-Jordan and moves up to Alexandria to pincer Egypt. Reinforces in SF and France.
US6: Lands their reduced forces in Manchuria, destroying the MIC just built there. Begins building a new fleet in the Atlantic to take the fight to the Axis and lands troops in N/B
G7: With a giant Luftwaffe (2 turns of 80+ IPC!) and a Navy with subs to take hits, Germany rolls out into the Channel to face down the combined US/UK fleet. The odds are good and the Axis prevails, risking their transports and enough land units to crush the UK in London for the third time and a third turn of 80+ IPC income. German Army moves to pincer Leningrad next turn when the Luftwaffe becomes available. Allies concede at this point.
Overall a game with bold moves. The US might have moved faster to save London, but the threat of a join air/navy attack was always there. I know the board has stated that Sea Lion is dead, but if the UK player makes a mistake in splitting their forces on UK2 to deal with Scotland Lion, then Germany has an easy shot to pull off G3 Sea Lion. After that you leave UK alone, since it would be tough to defend it with a Minor IC. If luck holds you’ll get another shot at it later. To counter your weakness on the eastern front, I thought it was wise to do what Russia does and let them take regions that they can’t hold in order to get them to spend their expensive tanks there. The US and UK might have some counters for this but this gambit still forces the UK into spending their money buying infantry in London as well as moving the US fleet out very early and at a very weakened strength. If they do this, you should be able to transition on G3 back into a Barbarossa style attack if the bait in Scotland is not taken. Also note that Axis won here in VERY difficult conditions by losing in France G1 and making Italy spend most of the game playing a slow expansion in the Med. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this idea though.
