British Start

Hey all, I was just looking for some insight/opinions on what some people's starting builds have been in 1v1, I'm having quite the hard time early game.

Uh, holy shit, Albert?

Triple UC - rush cutoff and captu.. Oh right it can't capture and it's a useless vehicle.

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Wait until hotfix/next patch (not helpful I know)

Brits have like a 30-40% win rate at 1v1 atm, you're not the only one having problems

Well that makes sense, lol, I suppose I'll keep trying and hope it gets better with the next patch...appreciate the reply though!

I'm a relatively new player, and still learning a LOT about the game, but I've had more success with Brits than anyone else in 1v1.

There is no one 'right' way to build, so let me walk you through the choices I made last game. The map was Crossing in the Woods and my opponent was OKW. I didn't notice his Commanders (an error, always look!), but mine were Tactical Weapons, Royal Engineers and Vanguard. I started in the North. Here's a link to the replay if you want to watch: Link

First 3 minutes
This is a big map, and I'm opposite OKW, so I know I'm going to be out-blobbed as Brits. So my first decision is easy - take and hold my own fuel, let him have his. Next decision is the build. I risked getting a second IS before the MG. This is risky, because if he brings two Sturms against my two IS at my fuel straight off the bat, he'll win. Thankfully, he was more conservative, and I secured my fuel and surrounding area and VP with the two IS, and my MG arrived on scene just as he started to probe me with Sturms and a Volks, 2 mins in. Note how I stopped building the sand bags and got into cover, then moved back behind my MG. When it became clear, he wasn't going to assault the position immediately, I left the MG to guard the flank, and retreated my two ISs to get them back to the other side of the map quicker. Also note the trench for the MG - Brit MGs fire further once vetted if in a structure, and it gives them added protection.

Probing
After the MG was built, I teched to Tech 2, so my retreated squads reman, grab a medic kit, and start moving left. They encounter a kubel. I cover up, grab the building for increased sight, then, when I see the kubel is alone, I flank with one IS. As the kubel starts to retreat, I charge with the other IS. Dead kubel. In the meantime, I've built my first Tier 2 unit, a sniper. Probing the left VP with my injured IS, I encounter Volks in cover. I retrat that IS to reman and heal, then use the second full health IS to move up into yellow cover to get sight on the volks. My Sniper moves up to give support. At this point, my second Tier 2 build arrives, the Engineers, and I move them to prove the middle VP. My opponent flanks with his sturms, endangering my snipe, and my IS is losing in yellow vs the volks in green cover, so I pull. I'm now fully off the left. In the meantime, I've bolstered my squads to five men. The Engineers encounter more Volks in green, and try to charge them - a mistake, I take too much damage. Sturms move in, and I pull, only just getting them out...phew! It's now six minutes in, and he's leaving my fuel alone...interesting... I could pull the MG, but it looks like this OKW player is going to play defensively, so I'll leave it where it is to discourage pushes on the right, and build another MG...why? I'm going to try and take his fuel. OKW can't cache, so taking both fuels will hurt him immensely.

Smoke and Mirrors?
I anticipate the OKW guy will seek to defend where I push early, and I want him to defend the middle. Maybe I can get him to early flak base the middle. Accordingly, my two ISs and sniper push middle, force off one squad, then move to threaten the cut off. Suddenly, flak-truck. My sniper can't just blow that up, and I'm losing badly, so again I pull everything. I'm losing this... We're 8 minutes in, and that flak-truck is a pain, so I build an AT gun. Another probe to the left is easily repulsed by my opponent before my AT gun arrives. I'm definitely losing...

Combined Arms...
With my AT in support, I push the left heavily with my ISs and engineer, with the sniper and MG moving to support. I see my opponent flak basing the left, so everything primaries the base before it can be completed. My Infantry then fights off the Volks in front of me, and moves to cap the fuel, while my sniper moves to take out the MG. Mistakenly, I retreat an IS, not the engineers, who are down to 1 man, and the engineers get wiped. My opponent counter pushes with 2x Volks and decrews my AT, but my MG is on his fuel now. MY ISs and sniper drive off the volks, and I get a second engineer squad to replace the first, and to re-man the AT. I'm not sure if I blew up his falk base, or he cancelled it, so maybe he still has fuel for another...or maybe not, and hopefully no armour for a bit from him. His early move to flak-base (12 minutes in) definitely means I won't see a Luchs immediately, as he hasn't built his T3 building.

How to be SO BAD at Brits
Because I'm super special, I allow my sniper to die in the next engagement on the right. While his Volks retreat, that was totally not worth it, and I've now lost 2 squads and had an AT decrewed, while only decrewing one MG. I then lose another engagement on the left, but this time wipe some sturms, and don't lose anything in return...some good news, at last!

Turning the Tide...
At 16 minutes in, my opponent has had both the left and middle VP all match, and I'm down to 300 points. At this point, my engineers build a mortar pit on the left, behind the tree-line, but where it can hit the left VP, middle VP AND his med base, below the middle. I've seen bunkers from my opponent, so he's gone Fortifications, and is 'turtling'. The mortar pit is the obvious counter. My opponent immediately rushes my mortar pit with three shrek squads, but I get insanely lucky and wipe two of them with lucky mortar rounds. In the meantime, my opponent clears the MG on his fuel with a luchs...so much for no immediate luchs! Thankfully, he rushes the pit with his luchs, and my AT is there to kill it! At this point, my Cromwell arrives, and I surely must have tank superiority, having blown up two light vehicles, and possibly a flak base. I use the Crom to clear the middle MG bunker, then my ISs to cap it. My Crom has to pull back behind the ISs because there are now two shrek squads right by his med-base. I've teched to Anvil to ring in my heavy gun, the Churchill, but he's a way off yet, so to make sure I have sufficient AT, I build another AT gun. My opponent and I fence back and forth over the middle, but I hold the middle for a few minutes, and generally come off better.

Time to pick a commander
My opponent now builds a Puma, but my Cromwell chases him off. I chase him down the right, and find the right undefended. Accordingly, I go Vanguard, which allows me to capture points with vehicles, and start using the Cromwell to do just that, drawing his shreks to the right. [N.B. I might have selected the commander earlier, but if I didn't, i would have selected Vanguard at this point for this reason] This is perfectly timed, as my newly arrived Churchill pushes the middle at the same time. The shreks don't take the Cromwell bait, and pour fire into the Churchill, which has to back off. I'm not going to break his mid like this... My opponent rushes the mortar pit with his Puma, but my armour chases him off. I then make the mistake off poppong my smoke and repair, which means my tanks don't support my infantry in pushing the left, and my Cromwell goes forward before the Chuchill. This costs me my Cromwell! Dangit, Ragnar, stop being bad! I need a Croc...so...build a fuel cache - I do it next to my mortar, as it's a good spot to defend. The Croc arrives just before the 30 minute mark.

Armoured assault!
I use my ISs to distract the enemy to the right, then push my tanks to the middle to kill his heal base. I do a huge amount of damage here. Anyone wanting to know why opponents hat the Croc, watch this match at the 30 min mark. For some reason, my Croc is taking huge damage, and I have no idea why - is that Puma on Steroids?! I pull the Croc, covering the retreat with the Churchill, then pull the Churchill. My Cros almost doesn't make it out, and so I build a second engineer squad to help repair him more quickly, and upgrade one squad to heavy engineers (repair even quicker). I'm low on munis so decide to build a muni cache too. We then duel back and forth a bit in the middle, and I lose my mortar pit to counter-artillery, so I build another in the middle, plus a forward retreat in the middle.

It's a trap!
At about 37 minutes, after nearly losing the croc a second time to mysteriously OP Puma, I relaise it's not the Puma at all, but a PAK 43 in the middle. Doh! I'm such a nub! Right, Mr Mortar-MAn, pound that Pak back to Potsdam! I'm down to 121 points, but I'm starting to challenge the middle. That Pak is a real death-trap for my tanks though, so I'm super-nervous of advancing too far with them. Instead they settle into a defensive line, with my infantry capping the middle. At about 42 minutes I try to cap the right ammo, and discover a Panther just sitting there unsupported! I bring my AT over, but it's not enough to kill the Panther, and I pull back to the middle. On my mini-map, it looks like his Pak 43 is dead, so I probe with both engineer squads. It's still alive, but unsupported, so I decrew it, steal it, and drop my Typhoon rocket strike, hoping to kill some armour. It fails abysmally, but I suspect psychologically losing the Pak 43, even if just for seconds, will have worried my opponent!

Endgame
My opponent now used his walking Stuka rocket truck and sector artillery in the middle. He then probed with a Puma, but soon found my AT was still alive. At last, the Pesky Puma Perishes! Huzzah! At the same time, my tanks assaulted the left, discovering another Pak 43! In reality, this was the first one built, but I didn't know that until watching the replay. My croc decrewed that, and my opponent resigned. Unbeknownst to me, his infantry had been all but completely wiped, and I could have rolled him at this point.

Post-match analysis
My opponent was not awful; I was. In many ways, my opponent deserved the win. I made far too many early mistakes! Thankfully for me, I had two piecess of good fortune - the lucky mortar hits wiping 2 squads at the same time, and the fact that my opponent was playing OKW defensively, rather than offensively. Hindsight is 20-20, but I do feel there are some tips you could take from this match. Firstly, the sniper is a great counter to MGs, but try not to lose it like Useless Ragnar! Secondly, the Mortar Pit is hugely worthwhile if you can keep it alive - defend the MP, unlike Useless Ragnar. Finally, early Cromwells supported by AT are great for dominating th field - just try not to lose one, unlike, well, you know who. Finally, if you can make it to late game, even if losing for the first 45 minutes, the Croc can be an absolute game-changer.

Things my opponent did wrong/right? Well, if he'd blobbed harder, he'd probably have forced me off my fuel in the early game. Never give Brits time to set up defences! Secondly, he lost way too much in early vehicles, setting his fuel back a lot. He kept his Puma alive, but it was of limited use to him. He did build Pak 43s, which were a great counter to my heavy tanks, but he needed to support them with other things. He constantly suicided men in the middle once I had my army entrenched there - flank, friend, flank! His artillery was used well, including in conjunction with the Stuka, but too late to change the outcome.

All in all a close match, and an honour to play against my opponent, who, as I say, probably deserved the win. Hope this has helped you...it's certainly helped me to review it and see where I went so wrong!

I would not recommend playing brits in 1v1

2v2 and above is great thou