To defend Sea Lion? Or not to defend Sea Lion? That is the question

It depends on the German build.  And how you feel that morning.  Tough call…

I’d rather have the aircraft to reinforce a US landing in France or Italy in the late game.

Nothing says “FU Germany, time to turn around in Russia” like the US taking a territory in France and the UK landing 6-8 Inf and 4-5 Ftrs on top of it to reinforce the remaining units.

If anything, the best bet for the UK is to filter an Inf/Art per round into S.Africa after you see the feigned SeaLion.  Take out as many Italian ships as you can early (including using that Bomber).

I send everything after SZ97 with the exclusion of a Ftr from Gib and a DD from SZ96 to remove potentially two TT from Italy.  Its a dicey game there in the Med - but the Italians have a hard time recovering lost naval units.  This opens the door for the US to get into the Med with little resistance which = Italy on the downturn, and fast.

Depending on what Japan does, you can feasibly move in aircraft from India as well in a single turn or in two turns.

London will be under Germany’s control if Germany wants it bad enough. Every time I’ve tried a sea lion, I’ve succeeded. Not matter how much they build turn 1 and 2, Germany will always get it. Its just a matter of how much they lose and how many units are then neglecting Russia.

If England wants to defend against Germany then all I can say is bring the Canadians over to UK and bring every fighter and tactical bomber you can. This would most defiantly put the German resources in a drain.

Not defending is more interesting and brings all your fighters and spare things to help America. Later on if America can do it then UK can land their fighters in their hopefully liberated homeland and then eventually France.

Each decision has pros and cons so its a matter of how the player uses their pros to cover their cons

I prefer 10 Inf in Germany on G1 - placed in Berlin.

You can still do Sea Lion from here, but it is predicated on lots of what-ifs.

How did the battles in SZ110 and SZ112 go?  
Did you kill of some or all of the aircraft stationed in England?  
Can G2 remove the remaining ships if they were not all cleared on G1?
How many Aircraft do you have left?  Anything under 2 Bombers, 4 Tac and 2 Ftr is probably a no-go.
Did the UK think Sea Lion was not a threat and make purchases that were not full defensive?

I recently ended G1 with 6 Tanks, 2 Art, 1 Inf in France after the G1 move.  I had purchased 10 Inf on G1 and placed them in Berlin.  I was successful in removing almost all of the UK ships, but lost my BB on UK2 from a UK counter from SZ109, SZ91 and a Bomber.  UK purchased a Ftr, Tac and something else, I forget what.  It appeared Germany was gearing up to move against Moscow.

Russia geared up for a defensive battle on R1 with a mix of Art and Inf, while massing up on Leningrad.

I moved my Cruiser plus all my aircraft to remove the remaining UK ships on G2 in SZ111, bought 7 Trn (42 IPC), a CV (16) and a DD (8) plus 1 Art.  I also SBR’d London with my 2 Bombers and 2 escorts against the 1 Ftr, 1 Tac the UK had there.  The SBR landed for a total of 10 on the dice plus 4 for the guarantee for 14 counters on London’s IC - ouch.

UK2 didn’t have much it could do, so it spent all its IPC on defensive purchases after having to spend IPC to place infantry.

R2 tried to be a bit more offensive, but was still wary of G3 landing in Leningrad so it tried to stack up there best it could.

G3 walked into London with 2 Bombers, 2 Fighters, 5 Tac, 6 Tanks, 2 Art, 8 Inf and finished the battle with all 6 tanks remaining.  I had purchased another 10 Inf on G3 - placed in Berlin.  I think I also added a Ftr I planned to place in W.Germany

The US had went with mass TT on US1 in the Atlantic (I was guessing to get to Egypt early) and only had its CR there for offensive units and really didn’t have an opportunity to realistically liberate London for at least 3 turns (one to get out sea units to defend the TT, another to move units to Gib/Nova Scotia and then a third to land on London).  The allied players conceded at that point realizing that Italy had collected 38? 41? IPC on I2 and was poised to really create issues for a US attempt into the Med now that London had fell and it would be at least 3 turns before the US could create issues in the Atlantic.

The fact that Russia went with a more defensive than offensive Eastern Front with a combination of German 25 land units in Poland and Hungary for the Germans led to a very early concession.  I had planned to move the big stack of Inf into Hungary to encourage Russia to stretch into Poland into a G4 move with two big land unit stacks and the TT returning 6 tanks while putting aircraft I had to land in Holland in range as well.

Just for kicks, Japan had a Major in Kiangsu, had eliminated the Russian stacks and had denied the Burma on J1, and on C1 held it which India then decided to remove the remaining artillery Japan had there allowed Japan to remove most of the allied non-US fleets from any threats on J2.  Just to note, I was gearing up for a long march into Calcutta, abusing stacks of infantry covered by Japanese aircraft - from Kiangsu.  However, with the concession, I never got to see how that would result.

As you can see, Sea Lion is all about seeing the opportunity when it presents itself.  My initial plan was to move into Moscow with Germany, but the UK got too comfortable and the result was a G3 Sea Lion.

This is why I argue for a 10 Inf purchase on G1, because Sea Lion is possible if the conditions are right.  If not, you just buy artillery and Infantry and keep abusing big stacks pushing East into Russia supported by the sizable German Airforce.  Russia doesn’t want to bash its head against 10+ Inf stacks, but it can’t stop those stacks from advancing without a huge sacrifice.

Interesting read on how you approached SeaLion.  What happened in the Med between the British and Italian fleets on B1?  Also, what is meant by “4 for the guarantee” on your SBR of London?

Thanks

@Field:

Interesting read on how you approached SeaLion.� What happened in the Med between the British and Italian fleets on B1?� Also, what is meant by “4 for the guarantee” on your SBR of London?

Thanks

Each bomber that gets through to SBR gets 1d6 +2.  So if a bomber gets through you are guaranteed 2 hits, if two get through, which they did for me - I got the guaranteed 4 before even rolling a die (which was a 6 and a 4)

B1:

Uk1 in the Med was hit SZ96 with everything and stack up there with 2 Ftr on the CV and landing the Tac on Malta.  They didn’t fly their Bomber in from London and instead went after the German BB in SZ111.  They also sent their CR from SZ91 to SZ111, clearing the way for I2 to claim the Med NO.  UK also gave up its TT to get units from Alexandria into Greece - even after I urged them to protect the TT to maintain a threat on Rome while also ferrying Inf from Persia into either Egypt on UK2 or into India.

I1 was a Ftr and I sent the kitchen sink after SZ96 with the exception of a SS that took out the TT off of Greece.

I had a bad roll overall and the UK was able to take out everything but the BB - which I ended up having to tip.  This created issues for me.  I tried to preserve the BB so that I could dump units with my 2 TT into N.Africa, but with that tipped BB and the UK Tac on Malta I had nothing to defend them with.

I kept the TT at home under the cover of 2 Ftr (one purchased, one German) and just moved 4 Inf into Albania for a NCM under the presumption I would reinforce Hungary for Germany while they removed the UK units in Greece.  Anywhere else I moved the two TT, the Tac would have been able to auto eliminate them - take note that even losing the UK ships, the UK could STILL create havoc with aircraft on Malta.

Note that on G2 Germany DID attack Greece, but again strafed and retreated, allowing Italy to take it on I2 with 4 Inf in Albania and blitzing 2 Tanks from Yugo.

France had a choice of going after two TT with 2 Ftr scrambling or removing the tipped BB.  They went after the BB and took it out, but they lost the CR.  They kept the DD because with the SS its 40-40-20 W-L-MAD for the DD versut 50-50 with the CR.

UK2 chose not to go after the TT with its Tac in Malta and I escaped unscathed - but it proved irrelevant because G3 was Sea Lion and they conceded.  I don’t know what the outcome would have been, but I’m sure as Italy I was going to gear up to harass the US as much as possible from getting into the Med while I secured it.

I2 ended up being a full invasion of Egypt - and I was able to clear the Med as well.  So Italy was able to add 10 IPC for two NO’s and was staged to get the third NO on I3 with the I2 victory in Algeria and no units left to stop its move into Morocco.

Southern Africa was a mess for Italy, but with the UK in full defensive it was a matter of time before I was able to advance units south and finish off the units there.

At the end of I2, Italy held S.France (3), Yugo (2), Greece(2), Tunisia(1), Algeria(1), Egypt(2), and Kenya (1).  It also had the clear med NO (5) and controlling 3 of S.France, Gibraltar, Greece and/or Egypt NO (5)

I think by my count thats +22 IPC for Italy from its starting 10 to end at 32 IPC on I2 with a projected N.Africa NO (5), Morocco (1), Trans-Jordan (1) and Syria (1) to end I3.  It looked like I was going to lose Kenya and Ethiopia on Uk3.  Net net I think that was Italy ending I3 with something in the range of 38 IPC to spend on I4.

Overall I wouldn’t have played the UK like that, but it is hard to validate sending everything into SZ97 with 3 Ftr scrambling over the top of it:

3 Ftr, 1 BB, 1 CR (defending) vs 2 Ftr 1 Tac, 1 Bomber, 1 CV, 1 CR, 1 DD (attacking)
60-30-10 odds battle and thats a tough battle to choose on your FIRST turn of the game

You could win spectacularly and shut down Italy for the game, or you could fail miserably and make it even harder for the US to march into the Med.  Especially considering Italy will most likely counter attack any survivors from SZ95 to include a Bomber.

Personally this is my UK move (assuming a German Ftr is in S.Italy):

Hit SZ96 with a DD, Ftr and TacB to take out the Italian DD and TT there.  Land the Aircraft on Egypt and withdraw the fleet behind the Suez.  I move the fleet around the Horn of Africa which takes multiple moves and meet up with the US landing fleets on the outside of the Med in SZ91 on UK4.

So UK1 has the fleet in SZ72.  UK2, SZ71.  UK3, SZ83.  UK4, SZ91 - can land UK aircraft at this point on the CV and you are now in place to help the US either move into the Med or support a landing in France.

Yes, it does give Italy the Med early, but with the UK playing full defensive until Sea Lion goes away, the UK now has a “free” offensive purchase sitting in SZ91 on UK4 - right in time to reinforce the first wave of US TT landing in Gib/Morocco.  Further, by utilizing those aircraft and turtling up on Egypt you can elect to defend Egypt or if you want, support an attack on Iraq on UK3.  If G3 goes by without a Sea Lion, you have the possibility of putting Sea Units in Canada that can also meet up with the fleet on UK4.

You will have 1 DD, 1 CR, 1 CV that the US can count on arriving before Italy or Germany can harass their units.  And if you included 2 Ftr throughout the UK purchases leading up to this, you will have an opportunity to land them on the CV (or US aircraft!).  Its a VERY nice late game swing in sea dominance.  Particularly if you want to stay away from German Aircraft that you don’t kill on UK1.

I’ve learned that its fast and furious early for the Allies, but that plays RIGHT into the Axis’ hands.  Its better to play for the late game moves, conceding the early economic advantages by protecting the “Free” starting assets you have.  By UK4, the economic advantage swings in the Allied favor by a good margin and its better to have more units on the board that you started with than trying to deny the early Axis explosion.