Red Army 2v2

So me and a freind have been playing Soviets 2v2 alot lately and we are having alot of trouble on winter maps. I will usually go 4-5 cons and cap while he goes mortar and ziz but we have alot of trouble up against smart MG play, my cons are slower in the snow and cant flank properly while the MGs are constantly moving and supporting each other to dodge mortar fire. we lose out on well defended fuel points and cant beat the PIV rush.

We recently tried both going T1 scout cars with flame penals and that had more success, the mobility and attacking power of the combo allowed us the better of the early game map control but as soon as an MG gets vet1 AP bullets we lose the mobility and get pinned far away from our base and then the games play out as our previous strat

Do other Sov 2v2 players encounter this strong MG play and how do you beat it?

My partner and I have been seeing a lot of this lately as well and it's very tough to counter without a bit of luck and some good planning. I think it's become more prevalent now with the change to pinned MG teams as of the last patch. That change flipped the tables on the Maxim/MG42 battle so the MG42 comes out on top every time now. Since the MG42 pins so quickly, and the Maxim takes what seems like an eternity to pin, it pretty much hard counters the soviet MG forcing you to retreat even if the MG42 walks into a setup Maxim.

I don't have a foolproof counter for you but I can tell you some thing we've found to help.

We were going a similar build for a while, but we found that 4-5 cons for one player in 2v2 doesn't work as well right now as 1v1. The MG's backed by grens pretty much shut you down. We go more of a mix with me focusing on MG's and a mortar or two two guards while working towards T70 and T34-85's. I also make sure to get a ZiS or two out. He'll get a couple of conscripts and ZiS with a possible MG or mortar and go for shocks and SU-85's / KV-8.

Holding the fuel is definitely the tough part, that's where a couple of MG's and a mortar come into play. You need to know where you want/need to defend and get the MG's there ASAP. The mortar should help if they meet you with an MG. If you're lucky you might be able to get the second Maxim into position to help on the MG42. Be sure to use some of those conscripts and a flame engi or two to help hold the point.

It also helps significantly if you can OP a strat point or two for fuel. It doesn't seem like much, but they extra fuel income adds up fast and if you're good with the T70 you can take back ground fast. Even if you end up losing the fuel, if you hold on enough you can usually get to the T70 and push with it to take back the fuel.

The big thing with the P4's we found is multiple ZiS'. For a while, we were going a build where I didn't make any AT's and it put too much pressure on my partner to be cranking them out and getting them into position. When we split AT duty we're much more effective and it makes it harder for the P4's to get around. Along those lines, lay LOTS of mines. Can't stress that enough. Put them in major pathways and flank your AT's with them. We've found this to be one of the best ways to spend muni's. They pay off in spades when those flame HT's and eventually the P4's start to run into them and our AT's are wracking up kills. I also find upgraded Guards to be useful to button the German tanks and let your AT's and later SU-85's get finishing shots.

Ive had some success with penal bat with flamers as an early shock troop befoe moving to the real deal and then a kv8 shock troop su 78 army, are they ever in your BO?

I've taken to Mortars and ZiS against MG play, since smoke+consripts (molotov) is really good vs MG. Also Mortars and ZiS are good vs MGs in structures. My preferred path at this point is T2 > Guards > T3 (while my ally goes t4). This helps to give us access to halftracks for frontline reinforcement, the mobile T70, and SU85s for ramming and/or screening for SU85s.