Beat that Soviet MG + T2 spam! Replay Included

Hey all!

Ok so a lot of us have been facing this as of late. Im talking about the Tier 2 MG/Mortar opening from Soviets.

Basically the Soviet will open with up to 3 MGS using them to cap and hold the map...often overlapping 2. The speed with which they set up makes this a very potent opening. Good players will follow these up with either conscripts or Guards or Mortars. To Get the kills in.

Later comes the Tanks....more often than not T34s. These will own the battlefield as the German is unable to keep hold of the map and is lacking in resources.

Well I think I have something that might beat this quite well!

Here goes:

The most important part of this strat is your opening. Most of the time you will have up to 2 or even 3 units out before you regonize that the Soviet is going for this strat.

When you do ...YOU MUST REACT!

By react I mean : Mortars!

Opening Build goes :build straight Tier 1 barracks... Gren, MG, Gren, Mortar, Mortar....Tech Tier2

Early game:

Here you must Cap territory with Grens , while keeping them separated! Remember you are facing MGs and so you MUST NOT BUNCH SQUADS! ...so Grens are for flanking MGS when possible and mostly Capping!

You should secure a Key building for your MG! ..this is crucial! This will negate the suppression of the Soviet Mgs and Allow a safe spot to place your mortars.

Your 2 Mortars should join up with the MG (who will provide them protection) and start going to work on the Soviet MGs. Shell those bastards!! Don't be afraid to use 2 of your mortars on one Soviet MG!

I like to get a second Pioneer to build Tier 2 building right away(without retreating the first one) and upgrade both to flamers. Using them to flank Soviet MGs.

This, combine with smart Gren play should give you back map control.

Now your Tier 2!

I always go Tier 2 nowadays. I think it is a mistake to skip it.

I will build one or 2 scout cars here. I want them for map control and to harass the soviet mortar and its MGS. Warning : BE CAREFUL OF THE SOVIET AT GUN!. As the soviet uses Tier 2 building to get MGS so can he quickly produce the AT gun. (you will see in my replay, I am caught off guard and lose my scout car...terrible move!)

Mid game to late game:

This part is reactionary. Part of my strat uses the Joint Operations Doctrine(I will talk about it at end ). This is my favorite Doctrine right now and works wonders against this Soviet MG build. Use the first ability which is recon flight to scout the enemy base.

If you see more Tier 2 coming out. Feel free to go for P4s and PanzerGrens.
If you see Guard squads go for Pgrens.
If you see Shocktroops go for MG42s.
If you see Tanks go for PAKgun plus P4s (in that order)

Your final Army comp should consist of more or less : 2xGrens,1 MG42, 2xMortars, 2XP4s, 2xPgrens....any additional units are reactionary to what your opponent does.

Use your P4s wisely, Use the Pgrens Aggressively.


Doctrine choice : Joint Operations.

This is an Artillery Based Doctrine: It has Recon Flight, Arti Officer, Light Artillery Barrage, Howitzer, PAK43.

I mostly use Munitions on Recon Flight for early to mid game scouting or to get line of sight to use Light Arti barrage. You should be conservative with your munitions throughout game ( I usually DO get LMGs on my Grens as they are too good to pass up)and keep them for Light Artillery Barrage. It is great. Harder to see red smoke on Blizzard maps and it will destroy most infantry remaining under it. It is also relatively cheap at 120 (you will see I am able to spam it in included replay)

The choice between the Howi and The PAK43 depends on how the game goes. Howi is defensive and better vs Infantry. PAK43 can be both aggresive or defensive and is obviously better vs Tanks.

Ive included a replay. I am unsure of the opponent skill because of current ranking system...he is lvl 61 so I must assume he has put some time into the game and is no noob.

Find replay here: http://www.coh2.org/replays/4794/beat-that-soviet-mg-t2-spam

I don't really see what's different here except for the double mortar, and that's only one mortar more different than most players.

With only 1 pio and 1 gren, you're going to be really slow at capping. By the time you have G/MG/G your opponent will have two MGs on the field and a third walking towards the front. Both of those MGs will easily force retreats on any unit they run into short of your MG in a building, which is easy to avoid.

I always upgrade an engineer with a flamer with my first 60 munitions, which can be used to force enemies out of buildings very early.

Scout Cars are useless IMO- Guards easily force them away. I don't see why Soviets would use a Maxim spam build without guards since it makes your mid game vulnerable to flammenwerfer and you don't need any more AI firepower as it is.

120mm mortar also wrecks German mortars. More range, larger AoE, more damage = death to German crew in often a single barrage.

I do think artillery is effective against a Maxim heavy build, but the question is whether you can live long enough to use it.

Get 1 mortar out, smoke the maxims and burn them with pioneers.

Try getting 2 flame HT and just watch sovs rage about OPness