Sea Lion 40

[gokkel]

So, I gave it a few tries already on Sea Lion 40 in my campaign on Field Marshal level, but I don't seem to be able to pull out a decisive victory. Actually it seems to be very close to me just getting a marginal victory. Winning Sea Lion 40 or 42 (the latter I never reached yet, since Rush to Moscow / Moscow 41 seem not much easier either) is however necessary to reach the USA levels, so I am trying really hard to deal with it.

I am not sure how to set up my army so much more efficiently as to capture all objectives in such short time, when you need already quite some turns to even get your units on the ground from your ships. Being too agressive in moving your landing ships forward causes them to get shot by enemy marine, so I try to concentrate my landing ships on the starting zone in the middle of the three, because then I can use my ships to block the ships from top and left to attack my landing ships. After several turns of landing, unloading and dealing with the stuff in the immediate landing zone, I slowly crawl through the heavily protected London city (some artilleries in there and strong infantry plus heavy anti air protection so I cannot use my Strategic Bombers to soften things up until I got rid of them). By the time I finally beat the London city, there are still several objectives left to cap (usually the ones on top right and top middle), although by that time it is already clear I don't win a decisive victory. Last time I got my marginal victory on the last possible turn only.

Paratroopers (including the auxiliary ones) don't seem very valueable in this scenario either, since they even with escort of Fighters tend to get shot down by enemy fighters on approach or even if they reach the planned location, they are not able to capture any objectives on the left side or the one on the top right corner on their own anyway since they are protected by several units including usually 1-2 artilleries, or the one in top middle is guarded by a tank.

I guess my strategy is not the right one, since obviously some people have beaten it. On an easier difficulty level (the third one) I won it already, but Field Marshal is obviously more difficult. So I thought after the latest tries I will ask for some tips and inspiration for how to be successfull on this scenario.

[brettz123]

Without paratroopers you will not win this scenario. So they are absolutely necessary. Here is what you need to do.

Hold your paratroopers back for a turn or two until you deal with the enemy fighters. You need to wipe out the british fighters as soon as possible. This means upgrading all of your fighters to BF-109Fs. You will absolutely need two of your own strategic bombers. This will allow you to put one stategic bomber on each of the british capital ships in the main deployment area. You should be building these up over the campaign so that they have three stars by this point. This will allow you to knock out the two british battle ships and cruiser in two turns.

Your paratroopers, you need at least two, to take the objective in the northwest of London.

Put an infantry, tank, and an artillery piece to the very northeast to take out the northeastern objective.

Send two tanks and an artillery piece to the west to deal with the very western objective. This will allow you to get a decisive victory.

It also helps if you have no "bad" units like AT or AA in your CORE.

[brettz123]

Also you might want a sinlge 88 to take care of the Matilda II that is sitting on the airfield west of London.

[Tarrak]

Also you might want a sinlge 88 to take care of the Matilda II that is sitting on the airfield west of London.

I would totally ignore the Matilda to be honest. It is set to defensive and won't activate until you get really close to the airfield. As it's not a victory hex it's simply not worth the effort. Bloody thing is a major pain the neck to deal with and cost you time you don't have.

[gokkel]

Hm, will have to try it again with those tips when I have time. Holding back paratroopers at start makes sense. I hope they can take the objective you mean, since there is still the tank. But maybe it will work out. Also taking out the british fighters early on might make sense, I was not very aggressive on that in my last tries and take very long to gain air supremacy. How many fighters do you think you would need for that approximately? I have before the mission only three fighters in the current campaign, because I also use two self-propelled AA vehicles. Buying new ones is no problem though (having enough prestige), they just are inexperienced.

What I wonder is if I should really upgrade all my BF109 to the F variant, since those seem to do worse against the british fighters than the E variant? I guess a mix could work here, since you can have a few fighters on the right side air fields so that the fuel is still enough.

[brettz123]

Hm, will have to try it again with those tips when I have time. Holding back paratroopers at start makes sense. I hope they can take the objective you mean, since there is still the tank. But maybe it will work out. Also taking out the british fighters early on might make sense, I was not very aggressive on that in my last tries and take very long to gain air supremacy. How many fighters do you think you would need for that approximately? I have before the mission only three fighters in the current campaign, because I also use two self-propelled AA vehicles. Buying new ones is no problem though (having enough prestige), they just are inexperienced.

What I wonder is if I should really upgrade all my BF109 to the F variant, since those seem to do worse against the british fighters than the E variant? I guess a mix could work here, since you can have a few fighters on the right side air fields so that the fuel is still enough.

Actually the F does better against the spitfires which is the important thing. I had 6 of my own and then the 1 aux one (so seven total) plus a BF-110. Pretty much ensures air superiority by turn two. Otherwise you are just going to suffer. The fuel is a plus with the F but the important thing is the initiative increase. Especially considering you will be fighting near the radar stations the F is far superior. Your Es will get mauled by the spitfires compared to the Fs.

Inexperienced fighters will have issues but I'm not sure how much of a problem that will be to be honest with you. If you are interested in having the most powerful CORE possible I would drop the AA vehicles.

[airbornemongo101]

Here's some more hints/strategies

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=30581

Hope they help

[dragos]

You can take a strongly defended city with 4 paratroopers. I took the one near the west edge of the map this way. It had two AA and two artillery (luckily not protecting each other). Two of your paratroopers can be destroyed in the process (keep reinforcing the ones being fired at if they survive) and the remaining can take the city and then let remaining AA or arty behind as they can't take it back.

[gokkel]

Ok, with your tips and some minor own improvisation I was finally able to beat Sea Lion 40 with a decisive victory (turn 15) Thanks!

I just wished I didn't lose my 2 star infantry squad to some very unlucky dice throws for the enemy, but oh well, it could be far worse.

[Tarrak]

Ok, with your tips and some minor own improvisation I was finally able to beat Sea Lion 40 with a decisive victory (turn 15) Thanks!

I just wished I didn't lose my 2 star infantry squad to some very unlucky dice throws for the enemy, but oh well, it could be far worse.

If that's the only loss you had to suffer to achieve a DV it's pretty good. All landing scenarios can turn into a real meat grinder for your core. Congratulations.

[gokkel]

Ok, with your tips and some minor own improvisation I was finally able to beat Sea Lion 40 with a decisive victory (turn 15) Thanks!

I just wished I didn't lose my 2 star infantry squad to some very unlucky dice throws for the enemy, but oh well, it could be far worse.

If that's the only loss you had to suffer to achieve a DV it's pretty good. All landing scenarios can turn into a real meat grinder for your core. Congratulations.

Thanks Well, I was pretty cautious still. I kept my landing ships out of sight range from the ships and radar stations until I could destroy those big ships which could attack me. So I didn't get much damage before I landed my units (only attacked by this stupid tank at the lower east objective point and some bomber planes taking a few strenght points away).

My infantry squad died later in London, when it was attacked by two enemy infantry units.