Slitherine

Well not too merry I am afraid. I consider myself a decent wargamer but when it comes to Sealion I am playing like a funny little seahorse. I play at the Colonel level and I can crush Norway in about 9 moves but England I am a dunce. If I build a lot of planes my ground units suffer, If I build ground units my airforce suffers. Between Englands navy and airforce I get decimated. I tried using tons of stukas to no avail I tried Paras, Eight of them to be precise to no avail, tried even balances between all the services and Nada, Nothing, I hate the armored train. I get close but no cigar. I would like to know what you great generals do?

Bo

Thats one way:

viewtopic.php?t=26166&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

This is probably all covered much better than I'm going to in previous threads, but I've found the following are key to beating that scenario:

***Note: SPOILERS AHEAD***

1) Don't attempt an immediate landing; dispatch the bulk of the Royal Navy first.

Trying an immediate landing brings you right in the detection zone of those nifty little RADAR installations that picket the landing zones...and this will bring the Royal Navy, Airforce, and odd ground unit swarming on your transports. It's important to stay out of the detection range of both the RADAR stations (which have a spotting range of 4 hexes, IIRC) and the Royal Warships.

To get rid of the bulk of the Warships, I've found having 2 Level Bombers and 1 Tactical Bomber works wonders, in addition to the two Level Bombers that you automatically get as auxillaries. Use the Level Bombers to take care of the heavy hitters (Cruisers and Battleships), and send the Tac Bomber after the English Sub. Line up your transports so that they're tucked in safely away from harm, and again, out of the range of the RADAR.

I personally don't ever use the deployment hexes near Dunkirk; they're too close to the Cruisers that come sailing out of the North for my comfort.

***SPOILER ALERT*** (Highlight to read the spoiler)

Destroy the Cruiser that's lurking in grid square (24,13) first, two hexes east of the port of Bexill On Sea. It'll wreak havoc on your transports until it's destroyed. I personally dispatch my most experienced Level Bomber, and shell it with the German Light Cruiser/Battleship until it's sunk.

***End Spoiler***

It's not uncommon for me to begin my landings by the fourth or fifth turn. Some of the transports will still have taken some hits from Bombers, but with luck, you'll get your whole fleet ashore without major losses.


2) Don't Send In Your Paratroops immediately.

I typically send them away from the English Coast (I send them to the easternmost German airfield near Dunkirk, still in their transports) until I've managed to damage the Royal Airforce badly, and then sneak them up to land around Ipswitch. Usually, I manage to keep the 1st German Heavy Cruiser alive, and it can aid with suppressing all the targets near the coast. That two-unit Paratroop team can then grab Ipswitch, Maldon, and the nearby Airfield without too much trouble...and that's one more objective out of the way.


3) Don't bog down all your forces at taking London, and don't overextend yourself in the city.

Once you've got your landing organized, don't plan on taking London first, and then working on the rest of the map, although it's tempting to do so. A sizeable battlegroup, heavy on infantry and artillery, should be dedicated to taking London, but at the same time, send a somewhat smaller team westward immediately to start grabbing Portsmouth, Southampton and Reading. Your surviving Cruisers and Battleship can help you to some degree with suppressing the cities along the coast, so the force doesn't have to be too large. Once you grab those three cities, you can send that battlegroup further west to take Bristol. The forces that attack London should still have enough time to head Northwest to tackle Oxford.

As far as London goes, the key here is to never put a unit where it's under attack (or potentially under attack) from multiple sides. It's better to destroy a force on a Victory Hex but not take the hex immediately than to put your neck in the noose, and have the unit wiped out. Play it safe. I almost always try to advance my units two hexes at a time, and back both up with artillery.


I hope this helps...again, you'll probably find much more detailed explanations of tactics in previous threads, but this has worked for me a few times. I was expecting the good old "Panzer General" style unopposed landing the first time I played the scenario, and got badly mauled by the Navy for being presumptuous.

Good luck!

Very,,very sound strategy

Except for a couple of twists I do the same thing

Here is how I handle Sea Lion 40 on Field Marshall

My units going into the scenario:

6 Infantry: 2 Pioniere, 2 Fallschirmjaeger, and 2 Mountain
6 Tanks: 4 PZ IVD and 2 PZ IIIG
6 Artillery all towed 150s (In these siege scenarios I prefer towed because you don't have to reload as often and this one is a time crunch)
6 Figters (all upgraded to 109F)
1 Tac Bomber (a Messerschmitt 110)
2 Strategic Bombers (a Ju-88 and a He 111)

this leaves me with two slots for purchasing (fill with what you want). I would suggest getting an 88 to help deal with the Matilda II near reading.

Basic points about your units. You need the 109F instead of the 109E because of the increased fuel and the significantly better initiative will help you go through the spitfires without any problem. You really need two strategic bombers because this along with the two you get as aux units will allow you to put one on all four capital ships in the channel. These need to be neutralized as soon as possible. You should be able to take out both cruisers on the first turn. Stukas are pretty much a waste of a slot in this game.

Deployment

I usually deploy half of my units in each of the two main deployment zones with one infantry up to the north. You will only need one infantry unit with the help of your capital ships to capture Ipswich.

Plan of Attack

So basically you have 6 major targets (Dover, London, Ipswich, Southampton, Bristol, and Oxford). Dover and Southampton are fairly simple and should fall in the beginning of the game when you land. Ipswich should be targeted by a single infantry that will land from a naval transport and this will occur somewhat late in the game with the help of all of your capital ships. Again not too hard.

London isn't hard at all but you need to dedicate four infantry and four artillery pieces and this will just take some time. Be careful and take care of the artillery and air defense around the city. I usually have two tanks with this group as well as a single 88 to tackle the Matilda II that is on the airfield near Reading. Between your strategic bombers and the 88 the matilda should not cause you any problem. Try this with just tanks and you are going to suffer a little bit.

Bristol and Oxford you really need to plan for at the beginning of your deployment. You should send your two fallschirmjaeger and the two auxiliary fallschirmjaeger to take out Oxford and you need to have two panzer IVDs and an artillery piece dedicated for landing between Lyme Regis and Southampton. Southampton should fall by turn four or five and at this time you should send another tank and an artillery piece to help at Oxford or Bristol as needed.

Thank you gentlemen one and all, I had too much infantry and not enough of the other units you had advised in your posts. England has fallen. I had the queen shot, [could have beheaded her] oh well, I was just plain aggravated by my previous failures and took it out on her. Someday when I am as talented as you people I might try it on a harder setting, again thank you.

Bo