Operation Sealion - Rocketman vs. AI

[RocketMan]

I haven't played the Operation Sealion scenario yet so I thought I would give it a try and do an AAR for it since there doesn't seem to be any AARs for Operation Sealion yet.

I have played around with the scenario a little to understand the rules and for those of you who haven't played it yet, here are a few things you probably need to know.

1) The Germans don't start out with any combat units. They have to play a card and select a hex on the British coast to land units.

2) According to Bartheart, the symbols on some of the coastal hexes inside a circle represent cliffs. German units will suffer additional casualties if they invade those hexes.

3) All cities with a red circle on the map that are on the coast are ports even though there isn't a port symbol by them.

4) The Germans start with 40 shipping points (SP) and get 20 more per turn (10 during rain turns and 0 during storm turns). To land an infantry corps costs the Germans 20 SP and it costs 40 SP for a mechanized corps (Panzer or motorized infantry). None of these corps include artillery which must be shipped separately at the cost of 6 SP per unit or Engineer units which must also be shipped separately at the cost of 4 SP per unit or Flak units which must also be shipped separately at the cost of 5 SP per unit. The Germans can land two Airborne divisions that don't cost shipping points but they must be landed on two separate turns and each of them costs 10 PP. Each German corps consists of two divisions with three regiments each. See this post below for a list of the German corps and their commanders.

5) The Rules state that the Germans only start with 30 PP, but they actually start with 40.

I have decided to play with no options selected for either side and with very slow AI speed. The lack of a "Successful Corridor" for the Germans will probably seriously hamper the German supply in the mid to late part of the game.

[RocketMan]

To win the Germans must control 24 Victory Points (VP) by the end of turn 20. Since they already control 3 VP in France, they need to capture 21 from the British to win. My plan is to capture the VP inside the red line in the screenshot shown below, because this will minimize the ground the Germans need to capture even though it means fighting a battle in Urban London. Note that for the Germans to win the game without taking any of the four VP hexes in London, they need to take all but one of the rest of the VP cities on the map.

My initial plan calls for an airborne landing to take Eastbourne as shown with the arrow, followed up by landing an infantry corps in the city. If the Germans land one of their amphibious corps in a city with British units in it, they suffer casualties (usually a regiment lost and another seriously damaged and left with no Action Points (AP). The rest of the landing force suffers a 50% readiness hit as well as an integrity hit and are left with only enough AP to move one hex). By taking the city with an airborne division first, the infantry corps can be landed with just an integrity hit but they will have full readiness and AP.

[RocketMan]

Here is the card I will play to land the 7th Flieger Division and the hex I will select for my target. Note that the odds of one of the regiments of the Flieger Division actually landing on that hex are not 100%, but I don't know the actual odds. If one of the regiments actually does land in that hex, it will displace the British unit I know is there and take casualties. If one of the regiments doesn't land there I will bombard the city with the Luftwaffe followed up by an attack with all three regiments of the 7th Flieger Division to hopefully take the city so I can land an infantry corps unopposed.

[RocketMan]

Success! Took Eastbourne and will now land the XXXVIII corps commanded by Erich von Manstein. Note that even though the landing is unopposed, the German units still took losses from the Royal Navy and Air Force.

[RocketMan]

I will now use the newly landed 34th Infantry Division to attack the British Home Guard unit that the 7th Flieger Division knocked out of Eastbourne. I have also captured the two bridges over the Cuckmere with the 7th Flieger Division. There is only one more bridge in my area of operations that I will need to take to complete my plan (over the Adur, on the coast, between Worthing and Brighton) so I doubt I will ever even land an engineer unit.

[RocketMan]

The 34th Infantry Division broke the British Home guard while only taking 300 casualties in return.

[RocketMan]

I will end the turn with 20 shipping points left so that, baring a rain or storm turn, I can land the XIX Panzer Corps commanded by Heinz Guderian next turn.

[RocketMan]

This is out of order, but I forgot to post it above. These are the German messages at the start of turn 1.

[RocketMan]

And here is a list of the German commanders, they type of corps they command, their rating, number of stars and the action cards they get along with their percentage chance of getting them (if no number is shown the chance is 10%).

[RocketMan]

Turn 2 - Messages.

Clear weather turn so the Germans get the 20 SP they need to land the XIX Panzer Corps. The shipping corridor is still intact and will be for one more turn.

[RocketMan]

Turn 2 - Start.

Where are the British?

Note that the numbers in the sea hexes in the screenshot below are the supply the Germans losses in that hex. This turn it totals 65, but the Germans get 6,000 Supply Points (SP) per turn and at this point don't have a lot of units, so these losses are insignificant for now. They will get worse when the shipping corridor closes though.

I'll expand the bridgehead as much as I can this turn with the 26th and 34th Infantry Divisions in the XXXIII Corps and the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions in the XIX Corps. I will also send the 7th Flieger Division towards Brighton and Worthing.

The Germans won't be doing a lot of attacks until they get more units landed.

[RocketMan]

Landed the XIX Panzer Corps in Eastbourne. They took the same 15% losses from the Royal Navy and Air Force as the XXXVIII Corps did in their landing last turn.

[RocketMan]

End of turn 2. Expanding the bridgehead. I won't play the 22nd Luftlande Division (the second German Airborne Division) card this turn. I'll wait to play it in a situation where I can isolate some British units. I also made no attacks this turn.

[RocketMan]

Turn 3 Messages.

Another clear turn, giving me 20 more SP. I will land another Infantry Corps in Eastbourne this turn. This is the last turn the German corridor will be open though.

[RocketMan]

Start of turn 3. The British are driving towards the coast with the major elements of the XI Corps consisting of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, the 55th Infantry Division, the 2nd Armoured Division, the 13th French Legion Regiment and some supporting assets. They are also putting pressure on the German flanks.

[RocketMan]

I am going to try and pocket the Allied units as shown below. The northern part of the encirclement will be by the 22nd Luftlande Division. I just hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew.

[RocketMan]

The encirclement starts off with an air attack against one of the regiments of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. The Germans only lose one Bf-109E in the attack.

[RocketMan]

Next, the two Panzer regiments of the 2nd Panzer division attack. The Germans only lose 1 unit (5 tanks) of Panzer Is.

[RocketMan]

Next, the 22nd Luftlande Division is landed with the highlighted hex selected as their target point. Notice how spread out they are, but at least they will be able to reach their assigned positions.

[RocketMan]

Now the XIII Corps under Gotfried von Vietinghoff and consisting of the 17th and 35th Infantry Divisions is landed at Eastbourne.