Sea Lion 40 - Decisive Victory possible?

[Limboldt]

Any hints for a good strategy? Tried it as Colonel and now as Field Marshal, but the beginning is very hard (many ships and fighters) and when I buy to many fighters and bombers myself and embark the troops to late I am to slow for a decisive Victory because especially the west was fortified to good for my troops.

[AgentX]

Some Sealion '40 tips and strategies are discussed in the thread linked below.

http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... ht=sealion

[Kerensky]

It's definitely difficult, especially on the higher difficulties, but it is definitely possible.

I personally recommend 2-3 level bombers for anti-ship duties, and at least a few paratroopers for those deep inland victory hexes.

[Fritz]

At least on General its possible. Although i had to restart the scenario 1 time. On General at my opinion you need 4 paratroopers to win. Use the 2 auxilary to caputre the city left. And use 2 of your core forces to caputure the city right above. Then you should have enough time to capture London. And then after London you take the City left above.

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Full view.

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Close view.

http://www.bilder-space.de/show_img.php ... e=original
Tactical view.

[edahl1980]

1. Paratroopers. I believe i had 3 of them. 1 was core, 2 was Aux. Secure the single airfield as this is mainly where your stukas will be early on assisting 2a and 2b Locate artillery and go for that first. They will have many turns to get their objective so take your time. Now if you secure the objective fast you can leave one behind and send the other 2 elsewhere, you have an airfield at your disposal.
*NOTE* Send fighter escort to help them arrive safely. But watch out and dont place a Ju-52 next to a British hex, even if it is unoccupied or the enemy will see your planes. And then i suspect spitfires will have a field day on your paratroopers. Land them atleast 2 hexes away from enemy forces and towns.

2a. I dont remember exactly but this was a tank heavy force Minimum 2 tanks, but preferably 3 + 1 Recon, supported by Brukepioneer(If you have).

2b 1 Infantry + 1 artillery did the job as i remember. Then joined up with 2a task force.

3. 2 infantry+2 artillery+1 tank. (Nebelwerfers is good.) Their objective was to secure London. The tank to assist 4 if necessary.

4. 1 infantry+1 artillery. This was the biggest gamble. Luckily the town wasnt heavily guarded. A battleship provided support as well.

Set a plan, and stick to it. The forces you assign to take an objective must do so, and dont waste time getting distracted with other things. What matter is to capture the victory locations. Dont spend a turn or 2 taking non-victory locations unless you have to.

It got me a decisive win on Field Marshall difficulty.

[Limboldt]

Very good an detailed hints, working at high command ?
Thank you.
Tried a mix of it with individual components:
First I tried to embark later, but finaly this costed me to many rounds to send troops in four directions.

This time I began with three cheap freshly bought embarked unists.
Two were sacrificed to secure safety of the ships and to allure the british Battle Ships (Finaly this costs less prestige then destroyed elite units or big ships...)
His destroyers in the west he left behind first, so my bombers and submarines could get rid of the Battle Ships so that ocean was safe and I could begin to embark a lot earlier.
One important point I did not recognize as strategic important: Sea lion always starts wiht rain!
So the Paratroopers can reach England without danger.
I landed four in the south east to build battle-groups of two, the auxiliary ones hit for the airport in the southwest.
Because of the well secured ocean I could send the embarked troops in different directions, that saved a lot of time.

Very intersting project You can call me now Admiral Field Marshal, Liberator of London
Fascinating, never believed that it could be so interesting to solve the riddle even if you already know what enemy you can where expect.

[Fritz]

Indeed this makes the game real interesting.

[Fimconte]

Very good an detailed hints, working at high command ?
Thank you.
Tried a mix of it with individual components:
First I tried to embark later, but finaly this costed me to many rounds to send troops in four directions.

The most you can delay is disembark your first units on the 4th turn, at that point it is very close to reach the final VP, but most of the time you can disembark on 3rd.

This time I began with three cheap freshly bought embarked unists.
Two were sacrificed to secure safety of the ships and to allure the british Battle Ships (Finaly this costs less prestige then destroyed elite units or big ships...)
His destroyers in the west he left behind first, so my bombers and submarines could get rid of the Battle Ships so that ocean was safe and I could begin to embark a lot earlier.

That's actually a interesting idea. I think the cheapest unit is 107 @ Panzer IA, that's the cost of ~5 Elite Replenishments.

One important point I did not recognize as strategic important: Sea lion always starts wiht rain!
So the Paratroopers can reach England without danger.
I landed four in the south east to build battle-groups of two, the auxiliary ones hit for the airport in the southwest.
Because of the well secured ocean I could send the embarked troops in different directions, that saved a lot of time.

Actually you were just very lucky (arguably). In my last campaign I started with Sunny. However this is not a huge problem since there are 3 hexes north of Lyme Regis that are outside the scouting range of British forces.
Also I prefer Sunny since otherwise the British Battleships have a free turn to cause havoc. With 3 Strategic Bombers in my core+2 Aux ones, that would be a lot of firepower out of commission.
For that matter I had a lot of unlucky days in Moscow 41' with almost 10 turns of Rainy/Snowy weather!

Very intersting project You can call me now Admiral Field Marshal, Liberator of London
Fascinating, never believed that it could be so interesting to solve the riddle even if you already know what enemy you can where expect.

I agree, for even more fun, replay to marginal victory and later go for Sealion 42'. The RAF has a lot of presence there to harass your landing force/Strategic Bombers.
Although, the experience bonus earned is useful for the eventual USA Campaign.

[Limboldt]

That's actually a interesting idea. I think the cheapest unit is 107 @ Panzer IA, that's the cost of ~5 Elite Replenishments.

Did not buy the cheapest ones, I was not sure if they survive an I am "forced" to use them...

Actually you were just very lucky (arguably). In my last campaign I started with Sunny.

Oh, my mistake, when I started the Field Marshal Campaign and tried decisive victorys I had alternating weather conditions
but this was IN the game, you are right, this is a saved Start point, and I thought it was Map-Design to give the Paratroopers a chance...
Ok, for my strategy good interpretation... But I learned also from this the advantages of rain, Opel Blitz can drive without being hit by spitfires...

Yes, this weather-thing.... I do not know if I like it or not... It is interesting and makes the campaign dynamic...but the advantages of rain and mud for the attacker are very very little... and I do not know if a decisive victory is alwys possible in every scenario under very bad conditions.
Bombers hit the ships a lot better when there are no clouds, a big advantage when you have many bombers and your enemy many ships...
I do not know if weather is pure chance or if a "base"-weather conditions was given to every scenario with a special amount of each type of weather, so that every player has almost the same opportunity...

Leads to the question if every campaign is a individual story and how comparable they are...but I think many people will try to win decisive.
But ok, it is a game, a bad dice roll (bad shot...) in the last round can destroy your dreams, but when the strategy is right this would not happen, because you have reserve for another shot... or a save...

[Fimconte]

Did not buy the cheapest ones, I was not sure if they survive an I am "forced" to use them...

Fair enough, I guess Wehrmacht Infantry is the best choice then, @127 Prestige, if they survive, upgrade to Grenadiers.
As a side note, while Pioniere are by far the best Infantry until 43', 43 Grenadier have 7 Soft, 8 Hard attack compared to Pioniere 43' 7 Soft, 7 Hard, so I tend to keep at least 2 Grenadiers around.
Although Pioniere do have Fortress Attack ability(ignore Fortification bonus), which make them all around best infantry (especially when you get a +1movement hero).

Oh, my mistake, when I started the Field Marshal Campaign and tried decisive victorys I had alternating weather conditions
but this was IN the game, you are right, this is a saved Start point, and I thought it was Map-Design to give the Paratroopers a chance...
Ok, for my strategy good interpretation... But I learned also from this the advantages of rain, Opel Blitz can drive without being hit by spitfires...

I think weather is rolled at the start of each turn, so if you get bad weather then you either roll with it, or have to reload from the end of the previous map.

Yes, this weather-thing.... I do not know if I like it or not... It is interesting and makes the campaign dynamic...but the advantages of rain and mud for the attacker are very very little... and I do not know if a decisive victory is alwys possible in every scenario under very bad conditions.
Bombers hit the ships a lot better when there are no clouds, a big advantage when you have many bombers and your enemy many ships...
I do not know if weather is pure chance or if a "base"-weather conditions was given to every scenario with a special amount of each type of weather, so that every player has almost the same opportunity...

I agree, my first run at Moscow 43' was foiled by terrible weather, with me reaching Moscow only a turns before the DV chance.
As for the weather chance.
In Sea Lion 40', the probability for Clouds is 40%, Rain 10% (I assume this is per turn) in the scenario editor. Probability for Clear Weather thus is 50% (100% -40% for Clouds -10% for Rain).
Sea Lion 42' however is 100% Clear Weather (Rain/Clouds both at 0%).
Moscow 43' is 25% Clouds, 9% Rain, 15% Snow.

Leads to the question if every campaign is a individual story and how comparable they are...but I think many people will try to win decisive.
But ok, it is a game, a bad dice roll (bad shot...) in the last round can destroy your dreams, but when the strategy is right this would not happen, because you have reserve for another shot... or a save...

I save at critical junctions (DV Turn, but I haven't captured the VP yet) so I can replay the other scenarios later.
Going from Sea Lion 40' to Rush To Moscow to East Coast is quite challenging since your troops won't be as experienced to tackle the Americans.

[Storyteller]

I managed to win Sealion 1940 on Field Marshal this weekend as a decisive victory. The way I did it:

1. I already had 2x Level Bombers, adding the AUX units on the map I had 4x bombers in all. This way it was pretty easy to deal with the Royal Navy.
2. I moved the whole invasion fleet up north and landed only around Dover, where I could cover my barges as best as possible. This means, I had to destroy enemy fleet elements in the north first and cover the rest with fighters.
3. Then I moved 2x AUX paratroopers plus 1x core paratroopers straight west to the end of the map, covered by 2x Bf-109s for 2 turns. I landed the paratroopers near the north-west city in turn 3.
4. The main body of my army took London relative quickly. After this I split my forces into two groups: one to the north-east and one to the north-west. This way I took those victory points.
5. The harbour (I think it's Portsmouth) I only took with 4 of my suriviving naval units (1x battleship, 1x heavy cruiser, 2x light cruisers) and 1x recon unit.

EDIT: Ah, sorry. Two paratrooper units joined the fight at Portsmouth after taking the north-west city. So it wasn't only the recon unit.

Beside the bombers I had 5x Bf-109 (including the AUX unit), 1x Bf-110 and only 1x Stuka up in the air. Only the Spitfires causes some real losses, but no unit was totally destroyed.

4x artillery (two towed, two self propelled) pieces are a good support for your ground troops, taking London.

Cheers,
Storyteller