Help vs Blober friend

Hello, whenever I play vs my friend the same patter occurs which is that; I am beating him so, he roams around the map in a blob of 3-4 rifles and just goes for squad wipes then wins, can people whatch this replay and give me some advice. Thanks.

http://www.coh2.org/replay/37606/game-play-advice-please-vs-blober-friend

I think the biggest mistake you made where the techchoices. You went Kübel ->T2 -> Flaktrack -> Puma -> T1 -> Jagdpanzer, and later you rebuilt jagdpanzers and pumas when you lost them. Let us review your decisions in order:

Kübel: Kübel openings are generally ok, however if I would build Kübel, I would build it as the first unit. It loses its shockvalue fast. Also, when it hits the fiel early, you can drive to their fuel and camp the pathway they usually take. You pin the squad walking to their fuel, so your opponent has to retreat it, loses caping power and has to commit troops to dislodging your Kübel. As you noticed, having a Riflesquad with Vet 1 on the field makes the Kübel's life already hard.

T2 -> Flaktrack: This is a perfectly valid openig as well. I generally liked your flaktrack play, but I prefer setting it up on the move with stop instead of with attack move. With stop, you can set it up very far from the enemy, giving them no chance to riflenade. With A-move, it drives next to them sometimes. Losing it to a mine was really hurtful. If you see M20, get minesweepers. If you see M20 planting mines, GET MINESWEEPERS. Generally, I did not like you using convert to fuel, the munition would have been better used in mines, as you pushed back the opponent often, and sweepers.

Puma: Puma was a really bad techchoice. Your opponent only had an M20, which was no threat apart from mines, everything else was riflesquads. You can try to kite riflemen from afar with the puma if you deactivate focus vehicles, which deals some damage, but you can get rifle naded and in any case its not a good investment for 70 fuel. The only case where it would have done something if your opponent goes flaktrack after M20, which delays his tech. However, you can fight that with schrecks and maybe a raketen, and you can always build a puma in reaction if you have to.

T1 -> Jagdpanzer: Going T1 after T2 is classic for OKW, as you need the regen and you can use the Jagdpanzer against medium tanks. You should have done that immediately after Flaktrack, no regen really hurt you. You could have built the puma after T1 if your opponent would have fielded stronger light vehicles, but I would have skipped it. I think you could have just gone T3 after T1, as your opponent was quite far behind and only got is first Sherman at minute 20.

What would have been really strong would have been a Luchs. As long as you avoid mines, you can chase harassing riflequads or blobs all day long, forcing your opponent to tech at least bazooka, setting him behind in tech. T2 -> Flaktrack -> T1 ->T3 -> Luchs is slow, but in this case it would have been the right call.

Now lets look at your micro. I often saw you retreat late in fights, making you lose Vet schreck squads. When I see a battle, like 1 Riflesquad vs. 1 shrecked up Volkssquad in close range, I immediately think about wether I can win that fight. In this case the answer is no, as Rifles are generally stronger and are good at close range. So I hit retreat at once, not after I have lost 2 models and the others are low. I dont need to see again that this fight is unwinnable. Sometimes you even walked with one squad into fight. Its better to run and fight another day.

I think you really lost the game when you set up your T3 aggressively. You had not much to scout in front of it, so you did not see the rifleblob coming. Your opponent made the right choice and drove all his tanks into the fight, killing the truck and setting you back in tech. Better set it up safely in base if the battlefield chaotic, tech is more important that the gun.

Concerning the Infrantry Support Gun use, the ISG is much better in direct fire than indirect fire. You should put it at the end of long lanes or open fields where your opponent often attacks through. Then it is much more accurate, and often pins blobs and forces them to retreat. I think your ISG made like 5 kills all game, because you used it as a mortar.

I hopes my critizism is not too harsh and helps you. If you have more questions, feel free to ask them.

I think the biggest mistake you made where the techchoices. You went Kübel ->T2 -> Flaktrack -> Puma -> T1 -> Jagdpanzer, and later you rebuilt jagdpanzers and pumas when you lost them. Let us review your decisions in order:

Kübel: Kübel openings are generally ok, however if I would build Kübel, I would build it as the first unit. It loses its shockvalue fast. Also, when it hits the fiel early, you can drive to their fuel and camp the pathway they usually take. You pin the squad walking to their fuel, so your opponent has to retreat it, loses caping power and has to commit troops to dislodging your Kübel. As you noticed, having a Riflesquad with Vet 1 on the field makes the Kübel's life already hard.

T2 -> Flaktrack: This is a perfectly valid openig as well. I generally liked your flaktrack play, but I prefer setting it up on the move with stop instead of with attack move. With stop, you can set it up very far from the enemy, giving them no chance to riflenade. With A-move, it drives next to them sometimes. Losing it to a mine was really hurtful. If you see M20, get minesweepers. If you see M20 planting mines, GET MINESWEEPERS. Generally, I did not like you using convert to fuel, the munition would have been better used in mines, as you pushed back the opponent often, and sweepers.

Puma: Puma was a really bad techchoice. Your opponent only had an M20, which was no threat apart from mines, everything else was riflesquads. You can try to kite riflemen from afar with the puma if you deactivate focus vehicles, which deals some damage, but you can get rifle naded and in any case its not a good investment for 70 fuel. The only case where it would have done something if your opponent goes flaktrack after M20, which delays his tech. However, you can fight that with schrecks and maybe a raketen, and you can always build a puma in reaction if you have to.

T1 -> Jagdpanzer: Going T1 after T2 is classic for OKW, as you need the regen and you can use the Jagdpanzer against medium tanks. You should have done that immediately after Flaktrack, no regen really hurt you. You could have built the puma after T1 if your opponent would have fielded stronger light vehicles, but I would have skipped it. I think you could have just gone T3 after T1, as your opponent was quite far behind and only got is first Sherman at minute 20.

What would have been really strong would have been a Luchs. As long as you avoid mines, you can chase harassing riflequads or blobs all day long, forcing your opponent to tech at least bazooka, setting him behind in tech. T2 -> Flaktrack -> T1 ->T3 -> Luchs is slow, but in this case it would have been the right call.

Now lets look at your micro. I often saw you retreat late in fights, making you lose Vet schreck squads. When I see a battle, like 1 Riflesquad vs. 1 shrecked up Volkssquad in close range, I immediately think about wether I can win that fight. In this case the answer is no, as Rifles are generally stronger and are good at close range. So I hit retreat at once, not after I have lost 2 models and the others are low. I dont need to see again that this fight is unwinnable. Sometimes you even walked with one squad into fight. Its better to run and fight another day.

I think you really lost the game when you set up your T3 aggressively. You had not much to scout in front of it, so you did not see the rifleblob coming. Your opponent made the right choice and drove all his tanks into the fight, killing the truck and setting you back in tech. Better set it up safely in base if the battlefield chaotic, tech is more important that the gun.

Concerning the Infrantry Support Gun use, the ISG is much better in direct fire than indirect fire. You should put it at the end of long lanes or open fields where your opponent often attacks through. Then it is much more accurate, and often pins blobs and forces them to retreat. I think your ISG made like 5 kills all game, because you used it as a mortar.

I hopes my critizism is not too harsh and helps you. If you have more questions, feel free to ask them.

Thanks mate, I agree with everything you said and will take it on board but the things that pissed me off was how all my at nades even vs the m20 bounced that game cause he should have lost all his armour several times over