How to Deal with Riflemen

I've been playing a lot of Ostheer recently, and in Ost/US matchups I find myself struggling a lot early game due to the superiority of Riflemen to Grenadiers. Keeping map control is very hard when it seems like I have to keep 2 units together to beat any 1 of his (except REs obviously). I would like advice on build orders to deal with Riflemen. At the moment I usually go for a Gren-heavy BO (like 3/4 grens followed by T2), but I wonder if it would be better to mix things up with MGs and Mortars. What do other Ost players build early against USF?

i can only speak for 2v2 but vs usf going gren/mg/gren/mg/gren into p4 works kind of good. you need to keep your grens close to the mg. dont over extend, just slowly creep forward. it is better to hold a certain territory like fuel, mun, vp and 1-2 strat points for sure, rather than trying to get more map and failing.


micro your mg, most of the times he will attack you with 2-3 riflemen from different angles. once your mg surpressed 1 squad make it turn its turret to fire at the other squads. use your grens to fire at the already surpressed squad. surpressed units under fire take longer to retain their normal status.

An early sniper works well for me, but is map dependant. I managed to get 54 kills recently in a 1v1 (Semosky Winter), but yeah, it was hard nevertheless and I had less map control than he did. I saved the replay, but I guess it doesn't work anymore after the last 2 patches (at least it's not in my replay list anymore ).

I think you should go for mech. Assault doc and get Assault grens.They work well against mostle all unit.They also have stun gren.(with T1) and running.

I've been playing a lot of Ostheer recently, and in Ost/US matchups I find myself struggling a lot early game due to the superiority of Riflemen to Grenadiers. Keeping map control is very hard when it seems like I have to keep 2 units together to beat any 1 of his (except REs obviously). I would like advice on build orders to deal with Riflemen. At the moment I usually go for a Gren-heavy BO (like 3/4 grens followed by T2), but I wonder if it would be better to mix things up with MGs and Mortars. What do other Ost players build early against USF?

Buff your inf, hold them in Long Range and they will kill USF Infantry!
Grenadiers are the best inf in the Game. Stronger with lmg42 .. very...strong and especially with the arty officer

Buff your inf, hold them in Long Range and they will kill USF Infantry!
Grenadiers are the best inf in the Game. Stronger with lmg42 .. very...strong and especially with the arty officer

Grenadiers lose at all ranges to rifles.

Austerlitz, I think he is talking about when Grens have been given the LMG upgrade, which genuinely makes them pretty effective against Rifles. However, I'm more concerned about the early game (T1, early T2), and how to maintain decent map control.

4 grens + 1 hmg, mortar or sniper. You'd only want a PAK from T2. So after that get an extra T1 support unit.

It keeps enough pressure and lmg grens can focus fire squads down really well in pairs.

Grens in pairs work well in all matchups. Having only 3 Grens means that you have less opportunities to have grens in pairs.

Sad to see that noone has suggested going fast T2 with 222 or Pgs. These should be good and natural counters to rifles but isnt thanks to horrible balance.

Honestly, your base chance is to Get a few grens, and at least 2 mg's. Keep every unit almost right next to eachother, and micro the MG's to face on coming threats. Have one MG slightly back a bit more, so it can cover if you happen to get pushed back. Usually works out pretty well. If there are buildings, ALWAYS get them before the rifles can get to them. It will help you soooooooooooooooooo much in this matchup.

Whenever I'm playing as the US against Ostheer, I always try to get in close with my rifle squads when fighting grens. That being said, use cover to your advantage when fighting rifles. If your gren is in green cover at full health, and the rifle squad is in yellow cover, I would hope to the RNG gods that your grens win. If your opponent wants to engage at close range, make him run over a road or open ground - I do the same against sturmpios and it's super effective.

In the first five or ten minutes, if you find yourself in a 1v1, gren vs. rifle, try your best. Don't lose your squad, but try to kill 1-2 models and/or get the squad's health down low.

I like going 3-4 grens, then double MGs. (Gren Gren MG Gren MG) Sometimes I'll get a mortar instead of one of the MG42s, but often times I just get the mortar HT.
Sometimes, I get a sniper instead of the second MG. Well microed snipers, even in urban maps like Semoskiy, can do some good work. Don't underestimate the stun round. I used it for the first time against an airborne squad. I took out the last three men with one shot. Fucking awesome.
In that particular game, my sniper had 45 kills the last time I checked. He got gibbed by a zook from the Captain squad

I've just only recently started building two scout cars 221's to counter Rifles. Micro intensive cuz AT nade but just micro the range and rifles melt. Seems to be working.