How to counter sealion attack

[Jennifer]

As far as I see it, there are two options when London falls to Germany.

1)  Japan goes b@lls to the walls after Russia, possibly tossing a major complex in Korea so they can start blitzing along the northern route.  This maneuver forces Russia to pull out of Europe and protect their flanks, but it gives up China to the Chinese and the DEI to the Indians and Australians.  Of course, this also means that the United States can focus hard on Italy either through N. Africa (preferred route) or C. Africa (less idea, but not horrible route.)  Eventually you should be feeding US reinforcements into Russia from the middle east.

2)  Japan focuses on winning in the Pacific which probably entails taking out China, India and the DEI.  In this scenario the United States has to follow a more traditional strategy, but it also means the Russians can beachhead SE Europe.  In this case, the United States should probably bypass any assaults on S. Italy, and instead focus on dropping reinforcements into SE Europe to bolster the Russians.  Russia, meanwhile, has a prime location to move into the Middle East if need be (through Turkey) or just chew up German real-estate and make booku bucks.

The biggest threat really is a potential German invasion of Arkhangelsk or Leningrad.  Both could be countered with a build or two in Moscow (and keeping in mind Russia should have Romania, Greece and Bulgaria as permanent holds, trading Albania, Yugoslavia and Hungary for an income of 48 IPC.  W/O Japan in NE Asia anyway.)  I would also expect the American Air Corps and/or Submariners to take out those Transports pretty early in the game and end that threat to Russia.

I guess really my thoughts on Sea Lion are thus:

Germany spends 2 full rounds of income to take 13 IPC worth of income.  (England - 6; Scotland - 2; NO - 5)  and it costs them at least 16 ground units, at least 2 or 3 air units and round 1 and 2’s expenditures when the Americans come to sink it all later.  With as hard as it is for Germany to take out Russia without doing Sea Lion, I just don’t see it being any easier after they do Sea Lion.

[theROCmonster]

Japan going all out against Russia I feel like can only happen if US puts all her money against Japan, but even then I think it is a bad move. Japan always needs to take the Islands and have her fleet south.

Another big issue for sea lion is when does Japan attack? If he attacks T1 it is really hard to sea lion because US should be able to punish that, and if you wait till T3 then UK and Anzac should be really strong making a Pacific victory nearly impossible.

So IMO the second worst part about sea lion, Russia being rich is the worst problem, is that it really hampers Japan.

Your math is a little off on how much Russia would have. Russia should have gotten Iraq T3 as well. If Russia takes Yugo, Greece, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Iraq that would mean he is making  37+29=66.

[Jennifer]

No, I did not include the middle east for Russia.  I didn’t include Sardinia or Sicily either…

[knp7765]

Hey all. I was looking over the starting setup and realized that a G1 Sealion is impossible unless you roll dice for all combats and the UK gets incredible bad dice and Germany gets incredibly good dice.
Okay, say Germany rolls for tech and gets Paratroopers (which is the ONLY possible way a Sealion could happen on G1).
So, Germany could take 2 infantry as paratroopers from their airbase in W Germany. They could also take 1 fighter from Holland/Belgium, 2 fighters and 3 Stukas from W Germany and 2 Strategic Bombers from Germany. That is the most they could take against England on round 1. The Norway fighter can not get to England and have a landing place. Neither can the Stuka in Germany.
Facing this German attack would be 2 UK Infantry, 2 French Infantry, 2 UK Fighters, 1 French Fighter, 1 UK Mechanized Infantry, 1 UK Strategic Bomber and 4 UK AA Guns.
Total unit count is Germany = 10 units, UK = 13 units.
Total hit points are Germany = 31, UK = 23.
I used Low Luck to figure this out. This is going with the assumption of NO AA hits for UK. (If the UK got any AA hits, that reduced Germany’s chance dramatically)
First round of combat: Germany - at 31 hit points that would be 5 hits and roll 1 die for a 1. UK - at 23 hit points that would be 3 hits and roll 1 die for a 5. I am assuming 5 hits for Germany, 4 hits for UK.
Casualties = Germany - 1 infantry, 2 fighters, 1 Stuka. UK - 4 AA, 1 infantry.
Second round of combat: Germany - at 19 hit points that would be 3 hits and roll 1 die for a 1. UK - at 21 hit points that would be 3 hits and roll 1 die for a 3. I am assuming 3 hits for Germany and 3 hits for the UK (giving Germany the benefit of the doubt).
Casualties = Germany - 1 fighter, 2 Stukas. UK - 1 UK infantry, 2 French infantry.
Third round of combat: Germany - at 9 hit points that would be 1 hit and a roll for 3. UK - at 15 hit points that would be 2 hits and a roll for 3. Even going out on a limb for Germany and saying they rolled a 3 while UK did not, that results in Germany - 2 hits, UK - 2 hits.
Casualties = Germany - 2 Strat bombers, UK - 1 UK bombers, 1 UK mechanized infantry.
This would result in 1 German infantry facing off against 2 British fighters and 1 French fighter.
Even if you counted the two times Germany had to roll for a 1 as hits, that would still be 1 German infantry against 1 UK fighter. There is no way an attack @ 1 unit defeats a defend @ 4 unit.
However, I guess it would be technically possible so perhaps a G1 Sealion is somewhat possible. The following simply has to happen:
Germany has to roll for tech, get a breakthrough and roll Paratroopers.
UK has to get NO AA hits on German planes.
Every time that Germany had to roll a die for the remainder HAS to be a score.
Every time that UK had to roll a die for the remainder HAS to be a miss.
Then Germany could take over London on round 1.

Of course, if you don’t use Low Luck and roll dice for every battle, I guess it is possible that ALL UK and French dice come up 6s and all German dice come up 1s. Imagine that, Germany taking London on round 1 with no casualties at all. If I were playing the Allies, I would concede defeat and pronounce the German player a Warlock.

[ItIsILeClerc]

@knp7765:

(…)Of course, if you don’t use Low Luck and roll dice for every battle, I guess it is possible that ALL UK and French dice come up 6s and all German dice come up 1s. Imagine that, Germany taking London on round 1 with no casualties at all. If I were playing the Allies, I would concede defeat and pronounce the German player a Warlock.

With dice in the A&A combat system, everything is possible (I got slapped in the face in France at several occasions -and I am attacking France with everything except aircraft)!
I’ve read Larry wanted to rule out any British gambling in Rome UK1, so I wonder why hasn’t this German gambling in London GE1 been ruled-out…

Anyway, I’d indeed believe my opponent has sold his soul to the devil but I wouldn’t pronounce warlock… More like a lucky pig  :wink:.

[theROCmonster]

I believe most people play delayed tech. I wouldn’t ever play a game of immediate tech as there is no way to defend against someone getting a tech.

[knp7765]

According to the rules, tech developments are available immediately. I have not heard of playing with “delayed” tech.
My only problem with doing it that way is that I like to use the fancy HBG pieces for tech developments. Like if Germany gets Jet Fighters, there’s the Me262. If Japan got Super Subs, I would use the I-400s.
Because of my little quirk, if they get a tech I have to take time replacing all the existing pieces on the board with the new tech pieces.
One cool way to work tech into the game is to have the new tech pieces be available at a different price so you can use both new and old units. Also, this does away with the silliness of existing units suddenly transforming into new tech units (Me109s sitting on the board suddenly turning into Me262s). Were we mentioning something about sorcery earlier?

[theROCmonster]

Imagine any of the countries starting with LRA. Would be really nice to be able to use it first turn :)

[Jennifer]

Wouldn’t be much help to the United States to have LRA round 1…

[theROCmonster]

Most IJN players attack T1 now a days, so getting LRA could be huge. Imagine killing those transports that Japan just purchased.

[knp7765]

And it would be possible as well. Most times when Japan attacks round 1, it involves all the ships leaving SZ 6 and all the planes leaving Japan, so there would be nothing to defend those shiny new transports.