My best T1/T2 back tech, this time for IS2

I played this guy literally the match before he beat me, lost to many engineers couldn't back tech or tech up. I guessed he was going to play me the same way, Grens with early hard push along with Jaeger command squad and OST T2 skip into Ostwind.

I go with engi/x3 penal opening, since all his units have snare I decide to skip clown car and focus on beating him when he rushes me. He aggressively caps left side of map and attempts to swing around. I notice area blinking so I pull Penal back to try and catch him out of position. He brings 3 grens to right side of map I have 2 engi and 2 Penals, I push him back hard but lose a engi squad(not again). I decap his points and get his cutoff also to slow him down. He ends up doubling my penal with 2 grens but I threw down satchel which he didn't notice in time and I get a wipe. Game is going my way hard at this point, I get shocks and T70 out and keep pressure up, force some retreats and get lots of map control. He is pretty much holding on to get his Ostwind out.
I build T2, get MG out to control middle building so I have sight to rotate as needed. I save up MP for AT gun since his medium should be hitting about now.

And I fuck up BIG, I mis-clicked and built another MG but don't notice until I see his Ostwind and I am wondering why the FUCK I have 2 MG. I start to Panic and he pushes me hard, I was way ahead in Kills which he quickly starts to catch up. I finally get AT gun out, push where ever his Ostwind isn't and try to slow down his capping. I get out 2nd At gun and decide it is to late for KV8 since I am close to 11 CP and got close enough gas wise. I end up having to stall reinforcements but get out IS2 and quickly get back to playing aggressive. He has Ost/P4 but due to T2 skip he can't push me reliably so I try to bully him as often as I can. He builds a Stug, so we play tag a couple times until I catch his Stug with a PTRS Penal get the snare off and push with IS2, I kill it and the P4 but get snared and he kills it with Stuka dive bomb. Not a bad trade, but not a good one either.

I decide to stall for 2nd IS2, I still got T70 and 2AT guns so I can afford to wait it out. He commits to killing my T70 with his Ostwind, which I promptly kill as well, he dive bombs my At guns, 1 survives and he beats up most of my army. I get IS2 out but it is a lot of work from here. I play it safe and injure his squad and force some retreats, he gets P4 and Stug again. We prod each other but I am struggling with bleed and map control, IS2 is really helping but I start to build T34 to help stop bleed. He catches my IS2 on its own against At gun/Stug and P4 and he rushes me. I reverse to keep frontal armor and beat him up on retreat, I kill the P4 but I am 2 hits away from dying. I manage to get behind him for a second and beat up his stug he gets free hits me. 1 more hit and its dead.

MY lord and savior hits the field, the almighty T34 comes in and the double team kills him before he can get the IS2. Armor has swung my way, but I am still low on infantry. I have less than 50 points but I slowly start to build more shocks to deal with all his MGs, I get wipes and eventual a few more wipes which he can't afford. IS2 eventually gets Vet3 and I pretty much take over. I end up winning on the back of the IS2.

IT was a great game, lots of momentum swings and was interesting using Shocks instead of airborne for the back tech strat. Airborne LMG allow for a lot less bleed and I feel are overall easier to keep alive. However for that late game no vet durability nothing is beating shocks which also get smoke to help with decaps and just being a nuisance. Ambush worked ok, doesn't really feel like it should be a whole command point but double AT guns make short work of mediums so it is understandable. The flame call in is ok, works great against support units trying to hold on to point but you can't really control how it falls. Overall, everything is useful with the back tech strategy.

Thanks for reading and please give it a watch if you have a chance.