How does one go about invading occupied one hex islands?

[HansBolter]

I'm struggling to understand the mechanics of how to invade an occupied one hex island.

It seems to be impossible.

I can't unload because the hex is occupied.
I don't seem to be able to attack the beach from the transport.

Bombarding with ships attacks the base without reducing the garrison.
It appears that only aerial bombing can reduce the garrison.

I'm referring to Lemnos.

How do I go about taking it away from the British?

[mdsmall]

Strategic Command World War One uses the same game system as their World War Two titles, so you have to use the same techs as you would use playing War in Europe or War in the Pacific: namely a combination of air power to reduce the entrenchment of defending units, naval bombardment to reduce the supply level of the resource the defender is sitting on to zero, and amphibious tech to attack and destroy the defenders completely before unloading onto the hex.

But since this is World War One, both sides start at zero in Ground Attack Weapons tech - which you need for effective aerial attack - and only the Entente starts at 1 for Amphibious Tech for the UK and France. So, the Central Powers would have to make a significant and long-term investment in both techs in order to reach the level where they could take occupied Lemnos back from the Entente. I can't really imagine a game in which that would be an effective use of the time and resources for the Central Powers versus all the other things you have to do to win.

Amphibious invasions were a minor aspect of World War One (unlike World War Two) and Gallipoli was the only major campaign which revolved around an amphibious invasion (and look how that worked out...). In the game, amphibious invasions are a useful tactic for outflanking a defender along a long coastline e.g. Russia in the Baltic, or forcing a defender to defend coastal resources from capture by amphibious attack e.g. the Ottomans in the eastern Mediterranean, or Italy versus Austria-Hungary across the Adriatic. The limited range of amphibious transports restricts their usefulness.

As the Central Powers I would simply ignore a British unit on Lemnos and garrison Smyrna and Gallipoli with detachments to make sure it can't take either of those resources in an amphibious invasion. Sometimes I buy an Ottoman airship and use it to check to see if Lemnos is still occupied - often the Entente player gets bored and moves the British marines elsewhere leaving it empty. In that case, I then send a CP detachment to seize Lemnos itself using amphibious invasion. If you feel you have sufficient naval superiority in the Aegean, you can place two naval units beside the port of Lemnos, reduce it below level 5 and prevent the Entente from being able to move the occupying unit off the island. But ignoring it is probably the most cost-effective strategy.

[HansBolter]

Thanks for the reply.

Frankly, I don't have anything better to do with my resources.
Russia has surrendered. The Ottomans conquered Egypt long ago. I'm two hexes from Paris and have purposely stalled the drive to prevent the game from ending so I can engage the newly arriving US and declare war on neutral Italy to give the AustroHungarians and Ottomans something to do.

I'll prioritize the amphibious tech or simply swarm the island with every bomber in the inventory of both countries.

[BillRunacre]

Thanks for the reply.

Frankly, I don't have anything better to do with my resources.
Russia has surrendered. The Ottomans conquered Egypt long ago. I'm two hexes from Paris and have purposely stalled the drive to prevent the game from ending so I can engage the newly arriving US and declare war on neutral Italy to give the AustroHungarians and Ottomans something to do.

I'll prioritize the amphibious tech or simply swarm the island with every bomber in the inventory of both countries.

You can always prevent the game from ending while you await the American forces by going to Options -> Advanced -> Scripts and deselecting the Victory scripts.