This only works if there are only Italian aricraft scrambling. I usually use two fighters from the United Kingdom terirtory, and the fighter from Malta-the fighter from Girbraltar should be used along with the cruiser off of Girbraltar (it takes three submarines to have more than an 80% chance to kill it, my normal standard to win a battle, so the submarines are usually used for easier prey in the north, especially if Germany attacks the Soviet Union in the first turn, which will nessecitate one submarine in sea zone 125) to destroy the Italian navy off of Malta. If a German aircraft lands in Southern Italy, I usually will call of the attack, as there is a less than 80% chance to win. All of this assumes Germany invades the Soviet Union in the first turn.
Turn 3 Sealion with Turn 3 Calcutta crunch. Thoughts?
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Most dedicated sea lions build a carrier and 2 transports. They then land in Scotland Turn 2. This makes it hard for US bombers to mean much of anything. That is because Germany can always just send 1 infantry from Scotland into Eire, or he could buy enough fleet to protect himself. He’ll already have a carrier 2 fighters and a cruiser as protection. If US only has 5 bombers then all Germany would need is another carrier. True that is 16 that Germany isn’t investing into land against Russia, but those 5 US bombers aren’t going to be nearly as cost effective as 10 subs would be against Japan.
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5 Bombers might not be as cost-effective as 10 subs, but since the US won’t be at war, they’d only be able to place 3 units in the Pacific per turn anyway. Early bombers also generate threat on SZ6 before Japan has the ability to build naval reinforcements elsewhere. And if Germany spends extra money defending its transports, Russia will be much more successful even though Germany can move its surviving ground back. 4 inf and an art is a huge difference when holding off the Russian horde.
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ROC, you didn’t mention a G destroyer buy. Couldn’t UK2 just build a sub for sz109 and sz110 then scramble a plane bringing the sub up, now the G trannies can’t offload. G3 vs G4 sealion can also make a huge difference when holding back Russia.
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I do build a destroyer a lot with my sea lion builds, but a sub doesn’t stop sea lion. Germany just puts 3 planes in his sea sector, so even if you scramble with your 3 planes and a sub it isn’t enough vs Germany’s 3 planes, Cruiser, Carrier, and any subs that survived.
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Good point. I was thinking as if there wasn’t a CR & CV, then the planes couldn’t hit the UK sub and the offload couldn’t happen.
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@IKE:
ROC, you didn’t mention a G destroyer buy. Couldn’t UK2 just build a sub for sz109 and sz110 then scramble a plane bringing the sub up, now the G trannies can’t offload. G3 vs G4 sealion can also make a huge difference when holding back Russia.
I thought you could only scramble planes from island airbases and the United Kingdom is not considered an island according to page 25 of the Europe 1940 rulebook. Was this changed in the 2nd edition?
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I think Sealion round 3 makes it very easy for Russia to stop round 3 Calcutta crunch.
That makes it not playable by default unless allowed to by opponent. -
@Anonymous:
I think Sealion round 3 makes it very easy for Russia to stop round 3 Calcutta crunch.
That makes it not playable by default unless allowed to by opponent.Really? That would be interesting…
I mean, I have a lot of experience with ‘surprise SL’ where Germany only buys a lot of TRS by surprise. After buying only landunits GE1, for example, to fool the allies into thinking (and acting like) Germany is going full barbarossa.
After London is taken, I know with this ploy Germany + (very crucial) Italy can barely hold Hungary -which is a better position than Poland I suppose.So yes, during a more dedicated SL, where Germany also buys ships for protection GE1 (or GE3, placing them off Normandy), I assume Germany cannot hold any eastern European area.
But does this more dedicated SL leaves Russia that much stronger that they can send troops (planes in particular I guess) to India, and still be able to contest or even permanently take eastern Europe? I’m really guessing here since it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen any German bothering a dedicated SL. I’ve seen some in my rookie-years but those don’t count. With todays knowledge, those games can be classified as irrelevant to serious strategy discussions nowadays ;-).
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@IKE:
ROC, you didn’t mention a G destroyer buy. Couldn’t UK2 just build a sub for sz109 and sz110 then scramble a plane bringing the sub up, now the G trannies can’t offload. G3 vs G4 sealion can also make a huge difference when holding back Russia.
I thought you could only scramble planes from island airbases and the United Kingdom is not considered an island according to page 25 of the Europe 1940 rulebook. Was this changed in the 2nd edition?
Yes, 3 planes can scramble from any coastal airbase. UK could actually scramble 6 planes into sz109 making it a great spot for early UK navy depending on how much of the Luftwaffe can reach it.
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Another option is build up the transports for sea lion, but then attack Leningrad first turn.
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Russia would have to put a lot in India to be able to hold it, or are you saying that the allies could hold Yunnan with Russian support?
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