Osttruppen ammunition heavy strategy discussion

This thread is my attempt to call out for Ostheer players to improve a strategy I have been working since two days ago. I'm not the greatest tank player, and to be honest I loathe using high value units because of the high stakes. Especially since I have to deal with the terrible 2 second lag in every game I play. Thus, tactics that are more infantry heavy are what I enjoy. It is "relatively" more forgiving and does not have the capping disadvantage that most armor heavy play have.


Keep in mind I usually play 2v2 or higher (usually 2v2)

The ammunition heavy strategy that I use is based around faust, MG bunkers and shrecks (maybe the occasional railway artillery). Any Ostheer unit can build bunkers, and with numerous Osttruppen squads as well as ample amounts of ammunition, I intend to cover grounds by slowly building bunkers, forming a defensive line. Osttruppen are low pop units, and have small penalty if I spam 4-5 squads. Less manpower penalty means I will have extra manpower most of the time, which I shall convert all into MG bunkers.

Early sequence: Tier 1 buildins > Osttruppen > MG42 > Osttruppen x3

The MG will be to secure spots for safe bunker building as well as the occasional tool to push lines. Osttruppen squads will form firing lines to cover MG moving or squads building. Ideal state would be forming a strong firing line composed of MG bunkers and Osttruppen.


Mid-game: BP1 > Pioneer > Tier 2 > 221 Scout Car > 251 Halftrack > PG x 2 > Pak40 x2

On the assumption that the firing line is formed, Double PG with shrecks means a mobile AT team that can go back and forth from the firing line to destroy any armor that attempts to break through. It is likely I might leave one squad un-upgraded to keep my anti-infantry up to level in case there are infantry charges that manages to get around the MG fire. Eventually I will get double PG shreck teams though. Pak is to further reinforce any likely tanks that attempt to charge the firing lines. Osttruppen at this point is only to draw fire and steal resource points when opportunity is given. 251 halftrack will help reinforce any squads as well as move them to and fro from the firing line quickly. Scout car is great anti-infantry and eventually will be used to kill mortars. If I manage to keep all units alive, my manpower income will significantly be short. Pioneers are there to maintain bunker and vehicle healthiness.


Late-game: Wait, there's a late game? Well, the likely armor spam meta is definitely going to break the firing line eventually, thankfully with amount of available fausts (Osttruppen), the tanks can be decent targets for both pak and shrecks alike. If I really feel cheeky, I'll make my scout car drive up to their base and drop railway artillery. Because two of those can destroy tier buildings (US have theirs so bunched up it makes such a godly easy target), and surprisingly the skill is low cooldown. The munition is not a problem because of resource conversion.

Available counters to this tactis: A lot to be honest. Mortars are going to be the go-to for most static defenses. Scout cars could work, but I would honestly say its still not that effective because there is the threat of being destroyed before forcing the mortar to retreat. Fortunately, I build more bunkers than they can ever hope to blow up, and pioneers make sure the bunkers can take more hits before going down. "Don't worry, we'll just build a new one."

Shock troops. These guys are the bane of Osttruppen. Scout cars and multiple PG are the only answers I have in mind. If I manage to get the defensive line up before the Shock troops arrive, then the threat is not as significant, but they usually arrive a lot earlier than that. Thus, scout cars or the MG42.

Decent Tank squad. Sure I got a few paks and shrecks, but one heavy tank supported by a few medium ones would mean game over for any defensive line. "KV-8 is OP!"


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I'd appreciate feedback of any sort. I really would not mind those who pick the strategy apart into pieces and call it crap. I can see all the flaws that way.

Thanks for spending the time to read this and have a good day.

This sort of thing works even better with Close Air Support - if you can get it now


Really if I have 4 Shreked PGs I won't worry about Paks, but in this I might get a couple anyway


There are always tellers that will stop armour in front of the paks, it is not like this build is short of munitions.


With the cooldown on fuel to munitions and railway artillery being so short you can basically call in railway artillery more or less continously, the hard part there is spotting

I use a bit more cheesy build in 3v3 / 4v4s with them. My feedback would be:
A plain early Gren spam works better. It's not like you can't afford LMG upgrades and constant Fausting / Rifle Nading. Just get one or two Osttruppen for initial capturing, or later for scouting.
Late game it's funny to combine this with Assault support > strafing run into enemy base > railway gun. A couple of Tigers will pretty much deal with anything that's mobile.
Also: mines, mines, mines, and bunkers for everyone!

I once tried to use the doctrine just for the conversion and the railway arty. And I must say that it is quite terrible: 200 ammo, only 3 shells, slow, inaccurate. Plus once you use it once they will know it is the same arty over and over again and therefore just move out of the way. I thought it could be a redeeming factor, how wrong I was.

Partisanship, do you play with randoms? This strat sounds really... awesome to see. 6 man German squads, bunkers everywhere, munitions for everyone to just pass around and spit into the dirt like its candy... must feel good

Keep in mind that im almost always playing 1v1s. I have used osttruppen since release and i still find them viable. If you blob 3 osts, murica will have hard time closing the gap.

My buildorder is very different.
3 osttruppen, retreat capping pios for T1, mg, ost. I usually never get bunkers before midgame, where i might get 1 or two. When i get T2 i get a fast pak or if I feel daring I go for shrecks. From here it is very situational. I also often get a gren /w LMG for anti-rifle play.

I was never a huge ostheer fan. But with this tactic I win more than I lose

Very interesting strat. I haven't tried it out yet but i too prefer an infantry heavier strat the same reason you do.

How is the resource conversion ability ? Sounds fun having a munitions heavy game especially in 2vs2, could still make fuel caches to share with your teammate for a tank heavy game then simply convert the rest of yours into munitions for extra mines, arty, nades, shreks etc.

I once tried to use the doctrine just for the conversion and the railway arty. And I must say that it is quite terrible: 200 ammo, only 3 shells, slow, inaccurate. Plus once you use it once they will know it is the same arty over and over again and therefore just move out of the way. I thought it could be a redeeming factor, how wrong I was.

Rail arty will spell insta death for any static artillery piece, it works quite well against KV-2's also. I've never used it outside of that though.