(This section is split into two parts due to steam's stupid 8000 character limit)

Squad 44 or as it will always be known to those who have played it for years, Post Scriptum, is to me at least, the best World War Two first person shooter to release since Red Orchestra II. Started as a mod for its surrogate game Squad, it would evolve into a standalone project, seeing support from early access from 2017 onto its final full release in August of 2018. Unfortunately, its start was rough, very rough with horrendous optimisation, terrible balancing issues, and a host of other teething problems which it would likely be an omen for what the future of the game had in store. Nonetheless those dedicated few stuck to the game and proved to be the life support that drip fed a sense of community and nourished the game update by small update, each one slowly repairing the poor release. Fast forward to around May of 2019 and things were looking up, a new map in the form of the Bridge at Grave, gore was finally implemented which would truly create one-of-a-kind moments that you simply do not forget, however it wasn’t the boost this game needed, in terms of player count, still remaining around the 300-400 average player mark. Yet the end of 2019 offered new light for the game, an update to the core game engine. November 2019 and the 4.21 engine update breathed desperately needed life into the game with new visual effects, audio, animations, weapon models, lighting, foliage etc all of which really made the experience more immersive and importantly, smoother as it vastly increased average FPS on all maps which was a constant sticking point of the older version.

The updates didn’t stop there however as just a few months later in January 2020 would see the arrival of an entirely new front, faction, and era, that of Chapter 2 Plan Jaune, the 1940 Battle of France and the Low Countries. It added a totally new faction, the French Army and a 1940 Wehrmacht with two maps (and a third that would remain in limbo until 2022). This was frankly impressive as no other game had really covered this important aspect of the war and it kept in line with its historical theme of covering aspects of WWII rarely seen in general media (Chapter 1 being Operation Market Garden). However, 1940 France would not remain a long-term destination for future content, as was hoped by many players like they did with Market Garden and its eight maps. Instead, they would ride the high of the injected player count (at least for January, this declined from ~1000 average players to ~600 by February) and only four months later would we see the introduction of June 6th, 1944, Chapter 3 Day of Days and its three maps of Utah Beach, Sainte-Mere-Eglise and later Carentan. It was at this point where issues began to return. Chapter 3 was rushed. The maps were poorly optimised and low FPS was common. Pair this with the inherent issues that still plagued the game and it made for essentially non-existent player retention. Chapter 3 caused the largest spike in player numbers ever for the game at the time (~1200) but those intrinsic issues meant that many of those potential players left the game shortly after. New content was not the fix for this game’s low player number. It was more inherent meta and gameplay imbalance, paired with rushed maps that forced new players away.

There would be attempts to remedy some of these problems with the introduction of a Trello board in which community members could suggest changes through the official discord which if voted highly would migrate to the Trello and in real time the community and developers would work in tandem to mitigate issues within the game. At least on paper this is how it should have worked. In reality it was slow to see changes, many of which would never actually appear, due to a small dev team it would take a long time to see them implemented and overall, it never worked to its fullest extent and would eventually be scrapped by the devs. The community wasn’t exactly helpful either as suggestions were often poorly prioritised or repetitive and weren’t administered well which led to bloat and simply too much stuff for the team to focus on. Perhaps if it were more streamlined and better organised into realistic goals instead of almost random and unrelated suggestions at times then there might have been progress. The removal of the Trello board was in hindsight likely a sign of the content drought that was to come. Most of 2021 was spent on the ‘Armour Overhaul’, basically self-explanatory, an overhaul to the core gameplay loop of tanks and AFVs in the game, an attempt to make them more realistic and authentic, with changes to armour penetration, internal damage, spalling, component damage, crew damage, driving, gear systems etc. In short, War Thunder in Post Scriptum. Simply put, the ten months it took to develop were simply not worth it for the unfinished product it created and the players it haemorrhaged. It was a mistake. I say this as someone who loves playing armour, but it was a mistake to prioritise what is essentially a maximum of sixteen players in a full server compared to the sixty-four others that make up the majority of gameplay loops in infantry squads and logistics. Still to this day at time of writing there are massive balance issues (e.g. APHE vs solid shot hull break) and flatly broken systems with the armour gameplay that have not been fixed officially (though modders have done so, like every game in existence I salute you guys). It would get worse. Much worse.

June 2022 would bring another update to the core game engine, from 4.21 to 4.27. This has been considered by many community members to be one of the worst updates in the history of Post Scriptum. Bluntly it basically broke the game for months, and many of the issues birthed of the update are still present in the game, directional and general audio issues, sound effects not playing or severely delayed, VOIP radio filters crashing the game and being forced off indefinitely, changes to foliage that looked much worse than previous incarnations whilst also somehow offering much worse performance, generally abysmal FPS performance that still resides today, though not as bad, changes to lighting which broke ambient occlusion, shadows on grass and introduced distracting fog that basically made ranged engagements impossible and a whole host of other issues including changes to in-game UI which where objectively worse than what had existed previously. These would for the most part (at least the major ones) either be remedied or reverted but scars still exist to this day. The final major update for Post Scriptum was September’s Chapter 4, Wacht am Rhein, the Battle of the Bulge, which introduced Foy and Hagenau and would later add the final official map of the Periscope Games era, Colmar. Once again, its initial release was poorly optimised but this would eventually be fixed, but even still Foy suffers from pretty bad FPS due to the number of trees mixed with the poorly optimised snow textures.

Yet despite this new content, in December 2022, something terrible happened. The game died suddenly. The dev team was fired and there was no communication from the CEO about the decision or why it had occurred. Nothing. Radio silence. It would remain this way for an entire year. Nothing. Only that the dev team was fired for seemingly no reason. It was frankly quite sad and its suddenness, without warning, nature hurt even more. Most of us just assumed that was it. Great run and some amazing memories, people and content experienced but all things come to an end, even the best things. The game continued on of course with its very small, but very dedicated community including a continuation of modded content that unfortunately would rarely see the light of day on most public servers, a sadly consistent issue with community content. But just as suddenly as Post Scriptum had died, it was revived. Genuinely when I saw the news it was baffling, but exciting, very exciting. In November 2023, Offworld Industries announced that they had acquired the rights to Post Scriptum and it would continue development. In a twist of positive irony, the very game Post Scriptum stemmed its own identity from, returned to save its life. It’s strangely poetic really. Now to escape its troubled development past of confusing decisions and poor prioritisation, it has rebranded. Post Scriptum is Postmortem, and now exists anew, as Squad 44, attached to the Squad name and franchise, making stakes for OWI higher, meaning that it cannot and will not fail again. Luckily the development team taking the reins are the highly talented and historically invested Mercury Arts team who have already given us maps on the Greek island of Crete, as part of the Chapter Mercury mod turned base content. The future of Squad 44 looks bright, and with experienced devs who know the game and importantly the game’s community, there is so much potential to be filled. The future is bright.

This section deals with nearly every single infantry class in the game for every faction barring some which see no changes between early and late war and the recently added Crete factions because they are very similar already. There will be a general description of the class setup, inventory and equipment alongside advice and pointers as to how to play them.

Gruppenführer- For in depth explanation of squad leading, refer to the section Squad Leading. The German squad leader is one of the lucky ones in the overall composition of the team. He has access to a really solid and easy to use SMG, the Austrian MP34. He is lucky because this is one of the very few automatic weapons that will be available to the entire German team, mainly comprised of the bolt-action Kar. 98k and thus it is of importance to remember this and place yourself at the front of most engagements, and to take the lead in close quarters. Automatic weapons will be a consistent theme for SL weaponry and it is deliberately so in order to incentivise you to push forwards, at the front of your squad clearing buildings and positions with the convenience of fully automatic 9mm. No other class apart from leadership roles have access to this. It has virtually no recoil, and has impressive range for a 9mm SMG. Apart from this he has a mostly standard loadout consisting of a Luger for backup, 2x Fragmentation grenades and 2x smoke grenades. However arguably his most important kit is his binoculars. Squad leading tactics will be further discussed in a separate section but in short, if you aren’t shooting, you should have your binos out and marking targets for your squad and team. Information is key in Squad 44 and binoculars are a convenient and effective method for gathering such information.

Schütze - The good old standard infantry rifleman, the backbone of every army, and every squad. You have two jobs. Engage the enemy first and foremost, and secondly provide friendly weapon specialists with ammunition. There really isn’t too much to say about the German rifleman, he gets access to the K98k, a pretty standard bolt-action, five round, stripper-clip fed rifle. It is beloved by many players and has top contender for the most satisfying weapon in the game when you land that first-shot 300m headshot but apart from its aesthetics, it really isn’t much to write home about. It has a mediocre fire rate, mediocre reload speed, bad sway which must be corrected by focusing and crouching, an ideal tactic before engaging a target as it allows for the most stable firing position in the open, but it does have an excellent muzzle velocity making it one of the best choices for long range engagements, something the German factions across the board accel at. Generally, take it slow, be deliberate with your shots, as missing often allows the target to get into cover or worse kill you, and its ability to suppress is simply non-existent compared to contemporaries like the British Lee Enfield. Because of this, in close quarters German riflemen are often dependent on their Squad Leaders and other weapon specialists like Machinegunners to do most of the fighting, whilst they support as best they can. However there is one element that can make them extremely dangerous, that is the one-time-use ammo box they carry. Essentially with an ammo box whatever ammo loadout you have becomes doubled, ideally this should be reserved for specialists like anti-tank, Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck, in which resupplying them can mean that one AT specialist can fire four rockets, doubling his capability. But there is a useful trick for when this isn’t needed and is especially useful in attack, the ability to double your own grenade count to 4x frag and 4x smoke, which allows swift employment of frags to route out enemy positions and smoke to create a large screen of concealment. Include multiple other riflemen in this and you get a lot of grenade spam. This makes the rifleman a very versatile class to play and it really is the best way to learn infantry gameplay. You also have access to U-Shaped sandbags which honestly kinda suck, they’re good for blocking doors and stairs though so there’s that…

A side note is that every rifleman class has access to a Kodak 35mm camera which is capable of taking nineteen black and white screenshots which can be found in SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Post Scriptum/Screenshots. It can be reloaded with the R key by default. It’s pretty cool.

Sanitäter- The Medic. This role is pretty self-explanatory, you heal and revive downed teammates. Every class has access to one revive syringe but the medic has access to an infinite magic syringe which can revive as many players as you can find wounded. He secondarily has access to fifteen bandages which can heal injured players to a full, 100HP. Normal soldiers can only heal themselves and others to a max of 60HP. Your role is further emphasised by your overall loadout, that being a relegation to the standard K98k but with the bonus of a semi-automatic ten-round Mauser C96 secondary, one of the best pistols in the game. With low recoil and relatively high stability it allows it to be used almost as a primary weapon in close quarters allowing the medic to get into the fight where his wounded buddies are. You are a combat medic after all, so don’t be afraid to kill some people to save some others. The rest of his loadout consists of the standard 2x frag/2x smoke but also carries binoculars, which can supplement the SL in spotting targets or helping your friendly MG engage the enemy. Medics can often act as pretty self sufficient recon troops if fighting is relatively quiet and the need for a medic is low. But always remember, you are a medic first and foremost, let people know you’re going to pick them up so they don’t give up and waste tickets, but most importantly, understand when it is and when it isn’t a good time or place to attempt a revival. Sometimes, simply, people go down in terrible spots, that will result in you joining them if you try, so use your brain, make sure the area is clear and safe before going for the revive. Use your situational awareness and you’ll get by fine. Honestly good general advice.

MG-Schütze - The machine gunner is one of the most vital elements of the squad, especially for the Germans who lack consistent automatic weaponry. In 1940, the Wehrmacht get two options, both with specific uses, the MG-34 and the Czech made ZB-26. The MG-34 is one of the best machineguns in the entire game, paired with its later brother the MG-42. It allows for much longer term suppression through a 100 round belt-drum (erroneous for gameplay purposes, should be 50 rounds), meaning less reloading but sacrifices this for poor ergonomics, it is too awkward to be shoulder fired and thus it must be emplaced via use of the bipod (C Key by default) onto a wall, window or the ground before you can aim down sights. This does not mean you cannot shoot however, as it is possible to still hip fire the weapon but beware that recoil is high and so the best method if forced to fire from an undeployed position is to crouch (reduces recoil by around 25%) and fire in short bursts. Do not be mistaken however, it can still be utilised dangerously in close quarters where the downsides of hipfire are reduced significantly by the simple fact of distance to the enemy being much lower. Room clearing is absolutely practical with this weapon and one should practice hip fire regardless as many times you will be caught out of position and must return fire and doing so (relatively) accurately is vital for a good machine gunner.

The second option is the ZB-26. This is a much more conventional weapon, it fills a role more closer to that of an assault rifle rather than a typical machine gun like the MG-34, but it can still reliably do so. The ZB-26 is shoulder fired meaning you can aim down sights at all times making it more forgiving than the MG-34. It should be used in the same role you would use an assault rifle, ideally in semi-automatic to save ammo and fire more accurately at range, it excels in hyper aggressive pushes too so make sure you are up there with your SL clearing enemy positions. In general for both weapons they should be used firstly to watch sightlines, hotspots and angles in which the enemy is expected to either come from or be within. On an attack you should fire at suspected enemy positions to suppress and kill them (think windows, bunkers, trenches etc). Good positioning against an enemy push can oftentimes result in a total squad wipe due to the high fire rate of the MG-34 for example. Generally however, utilise short 3-5 round bursts and shoot at what you know is there otherwise you make yourself an easy target and waste ammo by spraying in long bursts. But always remember to relocate after a while, the enemy can see your tracers and hear your very loud gun. They will kill you eventually if you stay in one place too long. Don’t get caught up in the multiple kills because I promise you that there is an angry riflemen stalking you and he will find you. Relocate or die.

A third option is also available in the form of the MG08/15, a WWI era, not-so-light-machinegun. It functions in practice the same as the MG-34, just with a slower fire rate.

Funker - The radioman is the second most important person in the squad next to the squad leader himself. The radioman’s primary purpose is to stay close to the squad leader at all times for he is the maintainer of the squad’s primary spawn point, the rally point. Usually the SL will require two other members of the squad, however he can bypass the requirement and create it with just the radioman. This means that not just your SL but other SLs in the team can use your radio to place a rally. Always be aware of the next move by your SL and work in tandem with him to provide well placed and consistent spawns for your squad and you’ll be perfect.

Another important but often underutilised role of the radioman, is supporting your Platoon Leader. Your PL requires a radio in order to call in fire support and having you alongside him, in a mobile and versatile fashion can make the PL’s reaction times extremely fast between spotting targets and calling in support. Well timed artillery can absolutely stop a push in its tracks or dislodge a defending force and win matches if utilised correctly. Take initiative, if you think your squad will keep the rally where it is, then inform your SL that you wish to support the PL in the meantime. Your commander will greatly appreciate it. In terms of weaponry the 1940 Funker is basically a rifleman with binoculars, use them to spot and call out to your SL for marking on the map.

Panzerabwehrshütze - The German anti-tank rifleman is very unique in game, however it really is more of a funny gimmick than a genuinely useful weapon. Your primary weapon is the Panzerbüchse 39 (PzB 39), a high pressure anti-tank rifle that uses a standard 7.92mm round with an enormous cartridge filled with powder to propel the round to extreme velocity of 1200m/s, enough to penetrate most lightly armoured French vehicles you will come across, however the Somua S35 the Matilda needs something bigger. For targets like the Renault R35, it can be penetrated basically anywhere but the Somua S35 must be engaged from the side or rear but even still it will struggle. Because it is a kinetic penetrator and a really small one at that, you must aim for specific areas like the engine or crew members.

Ideally you should focus to immobilise the threat so better specialised AT guns and tanks or a bombing run can finish it off. It really isn’t a particularly effective anti-tank weapon but where it shines is in its ability to obliterate enemy infantry at extreme ranges with a bloody mess. It is actually a very good sniper rifle and comes with sixteen total rounds in two boxes of eight rounds. It is breech loaded thus only one round can be fired at a time with an excruciatingly slow fire rate but it will kill or damage what it hits. It can be effective against soft skinned vehicles like logistic trucks, AT gun trucks or Mobile Spawn Points. It is similar to the MG-34 in that it can’t even be fired let alone aimed if not deployed so unlike the MG-34 where it can at least be fired from the hip, the PzB 39 MUST be deployed to function. As a result, use of your secondary Mauser C96 is a good habit to learn. Luckily to make up for the rifle’s mediocre AT capability you have access to 2x Geballte Ladung, a WWI style anti tank grenade(s) consisting of multiple M24 grenades bundled together to form a roughly 1kg explosive device, capable of destroying tank tracks and if you manage to land one on the engine deck it can destroy the engine and potentially start a fire that the crew must put out. It has the secondary use of general anti-infantry or fortification duty as it is a big ♥♥♥♥-off explosive it is heavy and is this limited to 15m-20m maximum throwing distance so be careful not to throw it too close to yourself or friendlies. This does not replace your normal frags so you have quite a good amount of explosive utility on your person so use it wisely.

Pioneer - this loadout is honestly pretty boring in 1940, it is for all intents and purposes a rifleman with a 3kg explosive charge that has a nine second fuze time and can be thrown a maximum of roughly 10m with an explosive kill radius of 10m and a wounding radius of 15-20m. It should be used to deal with fortified enemy positions, enemies inside buildings or enemy armour specifically to immobilize such as tracks but can cause engine or fuel fires if lucky. It is also semi-responsible for finding and destroying enemy spawns. German MSP trucks have camo canvas and their FOBs are beige whereas the French MSPs are camo with a roof and their FOBs white teepee tent. One 3kg thrown inside or next to the MSP or FOB will immediately destroy it.

Leichter Mörser - The German ‘light’ (it weighed 14kg in reality) 50mm mortar is one of the most underrated classes in the arsenal, mainly because by 1944/45 it is overshadowed by more interesting and frankly useful classes such as the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck but it has its shining moment in 1940. This 50mm mortar fires only high explosive rounds and does not have access to smoke like its British counterpart. Nevertheless it is capable of providing effective indirect and semi-indirect fire from 5m to 240m. It is best used coordinated with someone with binoculars, ideally the SL so he can utilise 3D markers in real time for you to adjust fire. It has a decent learning curve however and thus experienced players should use it for best effect, however it can be utilised in an essentially direct fire role by going prone and watching the rounds land with your own eyes and adjusting from that however this makes you more exposed to do so thus there is a trade-off. This class should be utilised to support an attack by suppressing high priority enemy positions like MGs, AT guns, or general fortifications. In defence it should be used to suppress common areas of attack like bushlines or main roads. It is an area denial weapon firstly so deny the enemy vital areas. A note to be aware is that the natural dispersion of the rounds is basically non-existent so you must manually disperse the rounds by moving the mortar left and right so a wider area is affected. Finally, be aware of friendly movements on the map, try not to commit fratricide.



Scharfschütze - Finally we come to the marksman. Now at first glance one may think this class to be a mere rifleman with a scope, but you would be sorely mistaken. In actuality a marksman with good situational awareness, communication skills, positioning and in the end good aim, can lock down entire areas of a map. The marksman’s 4x optic allows him to out-range most enemy infantry he comes across. He can also better identify who and what he is shooting at allowing him to more consistently spot high priority targets like enemy commanders, SLs, MGs and of course other marksmen. Just be aware however of the high standing sway values for all rifles in game that is exacerbated by the magnification which makes shooting targets past 100m very difficult if you aren't in a supported/rested position. The Kar98k’s high muzzle velocity makes it highly accurate at range and it is one of the easier rifles to learn. However one main issue is that each time the bolt cycles you will lose sight picture which can make accurate follow up shots slower or sometimes not possible. As a marksman you should act as forward recon and use your scope to spot targets, monitor enemy positions and relay this information back to your SL for him to mark on the map and alert the team and if you feel confident engage said targets.

One especially useful trick is to find enemy spawn points like rallies, MSPs or FOBs and snipe the enemy as they spawn. This can be a good method of draining tickets if they are frankly stupid enough to continue respawning but be aware that you only possess five rounds total and must load each individually making you very vulnerable to return fire. Generally, pick targets wisely and shoot only when you know you will hit and make a habit of topping off every so often so you don’t have to reload all five rounds but rather only two. And finally, always relocate, just like the MG example before, there will always be that one rifleman looking for you and only you, so relocate and be unpredictable. A competent marksman is so much more than a rifleman with a scope, he is a pain in ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ my ass.

Gruppenführer - For in depth explanation of squad leading, refer to the section Squad Leading. 1943/44 saw the introduction of the MP43/44, eventually changed to Sturmgewehr or literally assault rifle, the first of its kind to see noticeable scale combat service. This is represented as the StG. 44 available to the SL at a squad size of seven or higher. Objectively, this is the best weapon in the entire game. It has the power and range of a rifle, the controllability and fire rate of an submachinegun and a thirty round capacity paired with select fire makes it a jack of all trades and extremely versatile. It is best utilised in semi-automatic for accurate ranged fire and full-auto for groups of enemy infantry or general suppressive fire, however due to its low magazine pool of four + one loaded this is only recommended in specific circumstances. However this weapon is still very rare and only a maximum of four will ever be seen. Instead it is the MP40 that fills the niche of primary automatic weapon for the Germans. The MP40 is available to you with two other squad members present and it is one of the best SMGs in the game. Clear iron sights, controllable on full-auto and at range and has a nice magazine pool of six + one loaded giving you high volume of fire. Same as before, you should use these weapons to lead attacks with your squad utilising controllable and accurate automatic bursts to suppress enemies and storm buildings and positions with overwhelming firepower that a bolt action simply cannot provide. It is your responsibility as an owner of an automatic weapon to burden the brunt of close quarters engagements because your K98k armed teammates will suffer.

Scheißbecher - The rifleman gets an explosive upgrade. Literally translated to ‘Shooting Cup’ this class turns a regular rifleman into a deadly short to medium and even long range grenadier via the attachment of a 30mm grenade launching device. This class trades its ammo box and one of its handheld frags for 3x 30mm impact detonated, rifle-launched fragmentation grenades and 3x HEAT AT Grenades for light anti-vehicle duty. This class is extremely funny and satisfying (Vade would definitely agree, go watch one of his videos to see how to really use this thing). If you get the aim down you can wipe entire squads who bunch up too close with the added advantage of impact detonation so if you land true, they have no time to react. They simply die in a mess of viscera and flying limbs. It’s best used as medium to long range fire support and if paired with a logistics built ammo crate or even a one time use rifleman ammo box it can lay down immense firepower in very fast succession. In a way it is a more versatile 50mm mortar trading ammo count for mobility and it fits perfectly in game. Definitely one of the most enjoyable classes in the German roster.



Funker - For class usage guide, refer to Funker under the Germany 1940 Continued section. By 1944 the German radioman gets a needed upgrade in terms of weaponry, his loadout remains consistent with 1940 but he trades his bolt-action K98k for a semi-auto Gewher 41 if playing as Wehrmact and Gewehr 43 if playing as 9th SS Panzer. The main difference between both is that the G41 is fed via stripper clips, the same way that the K98k is, except it holds ten compared to the K98k’s five. The G43 is magazine loaded meaning a faster reload at all times plus one round in the chamber equaling eleven total rounds. This rifle will be one of the main counters to allied infantry especially US M1 Garands so use it well. The role responsibilities do not change.

MG-Schütze- The role remains essentially identical to 1940 except the ZB-26 has been replaced with the infamous MG-42. This means the class gets access to both the MG-34 and MG-42. In practice they are essentially the same weapon and it really is just personal preference between one or the other but notable differences include the MG-34 having semi-auto which is maybe very rarely useful at long ranges but it has a fire rate of 900 RPM compared to the MG-42’s 1200 RPM which means it conserves ammo a little better with the MG-34 having slightly less recoil than the MG-42 but in practice it’s hardly noticeable. Same as before, requires setup and should watch main avenues of approach with attention brought to repositioning every so often.

Schwere and Leichte Panzerabwehr - 1944 sees a substantial increase in capability for German anti-tank. This section will describe the ideal ways to engage enemy armour with these weapons and it is universally applicable to most AT classes give-or-take particular equipment. The Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust are the shining stars in the German AT arsenal. This faction is one of the only ones to be granted two dedicated AT launchers that can be played simultaneously and even be in the same squad and have up to three total team-wide (2x Panzerfaust, 1x Panzershreck). Essentially your main focus is to engage enemy armour. Both the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck have 2x rockets available from spawn. Pair this with a rifleman buddy and it increases to 4x. A good rule of thumb is to find a rifleman, pair up with him and go hunting for enemy armour.



There are two main methods of play here. The reactive method or the proactive method. Both are good, both work in their own right and the skill is being able to determine which one is right for the situation at hand. Generally, if your team is getting its ♥♥♥♥ pushed in, focus on infantry duties first and foremost and only deal with armour if it comes to you. However if you determine that your team is doing pretty okay as a unit, defending or attacking well, then get permission from your SL to pair up with a rifleman, another AT or Pioneer and go out hunting for amour, the proactive approach. When you come across a tank first and foremost prioritise immobilizing it. If it can’t move it can’t escape. Too often players will try to go for centre mass not understanding that AT weaponry was balanced not to easily kill armour (it absolutely can kill tanks you just need to know how), but rather disable it so larger assets like friendly tanks, AT guns, or a bomb can finish it off. This means aim for the tracks, the engine (which is almost always in the rear) or the transmission which is in the front of all tanks except the British Cromwell and Churchill.

Secondly be aware that infantry AT is has varying deviations and accuracy issues which means that you should ideally be ambushing from relatively close range, 50m or less, (anything more and deviation might hamper you). The Panzerschreck has a flat trajectory up to about 100m and you can push to 200m but deviation can kick in at that range. The Panzerfaust has really high deviation and is will struggle to hit accurately past 50m. It trades accuracy for reload and speed whereas it is the reverse for the Panzerschreck.

Next, call out to your squad that the tank is disabled and where on the map it is in relation to your position. SL will mark it and it might get bombed. In the meantime relocate because the tank is now looking for you. If you have a rocket left, try to set the fuel tanks or engine on fire (roughly a 50/50 chance it burns or is just destroyed), this will force the crew of the tank to get out to deal with it or else risk burning down, the clock starts ticking. Shoot the crew who try to exit the vehicle. Throwing preemptive frags can also kill crew taking cover on the other side. You also have access to both a magnetic mine and one Geballte Ladung AT grenade. The mine can stick onto the armour but it can be a little finicky to get right especially if the tank or turret is moving, generally however it will instantly kill whatever component it is attached to. I recommend sticking it to the gun barrel if you possibly can, this will castrate the tank’s combat effectiveness by removing its primary weapon. If you can’t reach the gun, attach it to the transmission or an un-damaged fuel tank for a chance of fire or generally where the turret or where the turret meets the hull to take out the horizontal traverse mechanism. The Geballte Ladung is effective at destroying engines, tracks and transmissions if tossed underneath or on top of the tank.

Remember: Three destroyed internal components and the tank will be hull broken/destroyed.

This means that it is technically possible for one AT infantryman to destroy a tank, i.e. by placing mine on the gun barrel/mantlet, Geballte Ladung under transmission and a rocket to the engine but pulling this off in a live match is extremely unlikely and relies entirely on the crew being situationally retarded and void of friendly infantry assistance. It is possible, not practical, but not impossible.

IMPORTANT: All infantry HEAT rockets fired from Bazooka/PIAT/Panzerschreck/faust will automatically bounce on a 15 degree vertical heading and 30 degree horizontal heading. In practice you cannot penetrate a Sherman or a Panther frontally for example. Always go for the FLAT FLANKS. Panzerschreck/faust/Bazooka all have a maximum penetration of 130mm whilst the PIAT is 150mm. None of this is realistic but it is for game balance purposes. This paired with the occasional projectile accuracy issues really emphasises the need to get close for best chance of success.



Pioneer - The Pioneer, like the Funker gets a weapon upgrade, his K98k is replaced by an MP40, which much better suits his role as a stormtrooper. He also gets access to the magnetic mine found on the AT classes which increases his AT ability but not to the extent of the dedicated classes. He retains his 3kg charge but he also has access to a repair wrench which can come in useful for helping friendly armor that might be damaged and require faster repair with multiple crewmen and a pioneer aiding in this. He can also repair the damaged engines of soft skinned vehicles like the commander’s kubelwagen, logistics trucks, and importantly MSPs allowing it to fulfil once more the ‘mobile’ aspect of its spawn point job. Overall, he should be played as an assault class, with a powerful and ergonomic MP40 paired with a 3kg charge that can obliterate enemy positions which can then be mopped up the MP40. Once again the Pioneer can also be used to hunt enemy spawns, like MSP trucks or FOB tents. German FOBs are beige in color and their MSPs are canvas camouflage opel trucks. Allied FOBs are green and their MSPs are trucks without the canvas bar attachments. On Chapter 3 maps, a Ford GMC with a grey/green canvas on the back.

FG-42 Shϋtze - This is the last of the German weaponry and it’s unique to one specific sub-faction, that of the 6. Fallschirmjäger Regiment, which can be found in Chapter 3 maps like Carentan and certain Utah Beach layers. The automatic rifle is available to both the Squad Leader as a replacement for the StG. 44 and is available to a specialised class known as FG-42 Shϋtze. It is similar in performance and use case as that of the StG. 44 or previously mentioned ZB-26. The difference is that it has a twenty round detachable box magazine instead of the thirty rounds available to the StG. 44 and MP40.

Its main strength is that it offers the Fallschirmäger ever so slightly more additional automatic firepower that their Wehrmacht and SS counterparts are missing. It allows them to engage American infantry on a fairer basis, especially in close quarters on urban maps like Carentan, this is of great use. The only downside to the dedicated FG-42 rifleman is that it counts as a specialist class, and thus takes up a slot that would realistically be better utilised by a Pioneer or Panzerschreck/Panzerfaust. Nevertheless it has its use cases and it is up to your discretion as to whether or not the situation calls for its use.

NCO - For in depth explanation of squad leading, refer to the section Squad Leading. The US Squad Leader gets access to arguably some of the most famous weapons of the entirety of WWII, the .45 ACP M1A1 Thompson and the 30-06 M1 Garand, the latter described by General George S. Patton as, ‘the greatest battle implement ever devised’. This statement holds up in game too as the M1 is the standard rifle of the entire team. A semi-automatic, eight round, en-bloc clip-fed, one-shot-killing machine sure to strike fear into the German rifleman who just missed his shot on you and your entire squad as he is mercilessly gunned down in a hail of eight separate ‘CHACKCHACKCHACKCHACKCHACKCHACKCHACKCHACK PING’.

This paragraph was originally dedicated to trashing on the Thompson as one of the worst SMGs in the entire game and it was correct. However with the recent 'Reign of Steel' update the Thompson had it's main issue fixed - the god awful sway that made aiming a chore. Finally, the Thompson is now a generally better option over the Garand for the average engagement range within Squad 44 of 0-300m. It has a fast fire rate which means you usually out DPS your MP40 wielding opponents and controllable recoil paired with a 250m range top notch sight making it surprisingly effective at medium range suppression and even killing if you have good enough aim. I would argue this is the best SMG in the game currently and it perfectly complements the large quantities of semi-auto rifles and carbines available to the US infantry so as a US SL, be AGGRESSIVE and it will pay off.



The US NCO also gets another nicety in his loadout, he has access to 4x smoke grenades. 2x white and 2x red. This means that you can seriously increase the concealment on the field before an attack or the red smoke can be used to mark enemy positions for surrounding friendlies to be aware of. The ability to block line of sight is very important in game so use it wisely. Like every SL class you have access to binoculars and the ability to 3D mark in real time so utilise this power to enhance your squad and team’s situational awareness whenever you can.

Radioman - For class usage guide, refer to Funker under the Germany 1940 Continued section. The US radioman has a universally similar job to that of the Funker except the main difference is the beloved .30 cal M1/A1 Carbine. This is one of the nastiest primaries in the game. It has fifteen founds, low recoil, and a high semi-automatic fire rate meaning you can spam fire this thing in CQC and at range and there is very little a German soldier with a K98k can realistically do except wish he decided to squad lead for the StG. 44. You have access to seven magazines plus the one loaded which gives you a large ammo pool. It is by far one of the best weapons in the game as it can one shot down enemies up to 150m then it requires two shots past that as it is still a pistol calibre, albeit an overpowered one. The gun also has a spammy nature, being able to empty fifteen rounds in about three seconds. Obviously not ideal for ammo conservation and should only be reserved for the highest of ‘oh ♥♥♥♥, oh ♥♥♥♥’ panic moments, but those fifteen rounds can really take you far. If you conserve your ammo you can rack up kills before ever needing to reload.





Machinegunner - John Moses Browning, one of the most influential firearms designers of the 20th century. The name Browning, is basically synonymous with his .50 and .30 calibre machine gun and automatic rifle designs (and a host of others) and it is these specifically that are available to the US MG class, the .30 cal M1919A6 Browning MMG and the M1928A2 Browning Automatic Rifle, BAR. This is a very similar case to that of the 1940 German MG choice, the 1919 is better suited for deployed firing, it must be in order to aim down sights, however it has a much more controllable hip-fire recoil and spread compared to the MG-34/42 and thus can legitimately be used on the move once you get down the barrel placement. However its full potential is unlocked with deployment on a surface, windowsill, wall, the ground etc. The use case is the same as the MG-34/42, lockdown areas of enemy attack or potential positions where defenders may be holded up, bunkers, windows, trenches, bushlines etc. Main differences from its German counterpart is its slower fire rate of 600 RPM which makes it much easier to control in all circumstances but also has better ammo conservation. The only downside to the low fire rate is hitting targets can be a little trickier as there will overall be a lower volume of fire and thus the statistical chance of the same target multiple times or a moving target accounting for lead is lower, but either way it only takes one round. It is a solid MG and very consistent.

The BAR is another classic of WWII. In game it essentially acts as an assault rifle. Twenty round box mag, fast reloads, relatively controllable recoil however a little ‘bouncy’ for lack of a better description. The twenty round capacity may make you believe it has a low suppressive ability and you wouldn’t be wrong, but you wouldn’t be right either. If shoulder fired then yes, it’s no 1919 in terms of sustained fire, however once deployed via the bipod, its reload speed becomes extremely fast, with a tactical reload of two seconds, which means that gaps between fire are extremely short. As to which is better? Neither really. It’s preference, they can both fulfil similar niches however the shoulder fired nature of the BAR can be a little more forgiving if caught out of position and it does have a slight edge in overall versatility compared to the 1919, but both are solid additions to the squad roster.

Medic - The US medic is pretty similar to his other faction counterparts except for one single thing, he has access to 3x smoke grenades instead of the regular two. This is likely to emphasise his role as combat medic who may need to move into inconvenient positions which lack hardcover and thus the ability to put down more concealment than your counterparts can help your ability to revive your teammates. Apart from this aspect there really isn’t much different in the way you play. You can be more aggressive in general as you have access to the M1 Garand which is great at all ranges, especially close against bolt-actions. Otherwise, the same advice applies, prioritise reviving teammates, call out to them to hold their spawns and that you are coming for them. Patience is important but simultaneously retain your situational awareness and don’t get yourself killed because you didn’t clear the area or decided to run into the open. Use your brain or lose it.

Sapper - The US Sapper is very similar to the German Pioneer except he is better suited to anti-tank duties alongside his anti-fortification duties also. His loadout consists of an M3 ‘Grease Gun’, named as such due to its resemblance to the garage tool, one TNT Satchel charge statistically equivalent to the German 3kg, a 1kg High Explosive anti-anything-it-hits No. 82 ‘Gammon Bomb’ and a sticky No. 75 ‘Hawkins’ AT Mine. The M3 is fine as a primary weapon. It’s no MP40 but it does okay. It suffers mainly from an abysmally low fire rate that can be outclassed by most semi-automatics and suffers similarly in issues of felt-sway but not as bad as the Thompson. It’s a usable personal defence weapon but your main purpose lies in the explosives you carry. The satchel charge works as an anti-fortification weapon, throw it into a building with enemies (like Hotel on Velmolen) and you’ll insta kill anything within a 10m-15m radius, both vertically and horizontally, through walls too. It can also do immobilization on enemy armor. Tossing it under a tank will likely take out its tracks at least and at most destroy the transmission or engine. Either way it’s an immobilization tool.

Your secondary explosive, the ‘Gammon Bomb’ trades slightly less explosive mass for more range (50m overhand) and an impact fuze. It’s a multipurpose tool. It can be used against enemy infantry, fortifications or armor. If it hits a component on a tank it will instantly destroy it with a direct hit. It also has a 40% chance of starting fuel/engine fires. This makes it very good at ambushing armor with essentially no audio or visual cues for the crew to react to, meaning you can stealthily stop a tank in its tracks. It can also destroy the gun barrel if you are really proficient in aiming but it is always of better use to immobilize the tank first and foremost. Finally your Hawkins mine. This works in the same way that the German magnetic mine does, you stick it to a tank component and it will instantly kill it (SOMETIMES SERVER DE-SYNC CAN CAUSE IT TO DO NO DAMAGE). The obvious drawback being the fact you need to get up against the vehicle which isn’t always possible. The other use case like the German Pioneer is FOB hunting, as it takes just one satchel charge to neutralise an enemy FOB or radio with the shovel digging down the rest. Overall the American sapper is a pretty solid anti-vehicle class and has versatility that can make him prevalent in either assaulting with the satchel and gammon or he can turn to disabling enemy armor with the added Hawkins mine.

Bazooka - The 60mm M1A1/M9A1 Bazooka was the first large scale infantry manned recoilless anti-tank rifle put into service starting in North Africa, 1942. It would mark the basis of basically all prevalent future infantry AT weapons, like the Panzerschreck (a literal copy scaled to 88mm), Panzerfaust and post war Soviet RPG-2 that would eventually evolve into the world renowned RPG-7. There are two variants in the game but in overall practice they function the same. The 4th Infantry have access to the older M1A1 which possesses iron sights ranging from 100m-300m. Like the German Panzerschreck the Bazooka has a relatively flat trajectory within 100m but past that deviation and drop angle begin to factor in increasing chance of miss or ricochet. Stay within 100m ranging and ideally engage within 50m or less for ideal chances of hitting what you aim at.

The M9A1, has an optic attached to it which replaces the iron sights of the M1A1. The M9A1 also has more ranging options than the M1A1 from 100m-500m. However in practice it is still best to engage within 100m-50m but it is technically possible to engage past that at tank sized targets. Once again, stay within 50m for best chances of hitting your target. This is not to say that it is impossible to hit at longer ranges, just that there is simply too much left to chance and random, unpredictable and unaccountable deviation both horizontally and vertically to warrant risking a miss at longer range. If it’s your only option then by all means try but do not be surprised if it lands short even when correctly ranged. At the end of the day close enough is often good enough, you are hitting tank sized targets afterall. Your only other method of AT is a single Hawkins mine. This means that compared to the Germans, the American infantry AT is basically split between the Sapper, Bazooka, and Grenadier so they often must work in tandem to defeat armoured threats. But do not forget your riflemen, their ammo can allow AT to double their potential damage so always seek one out.



Grenadier - The US Grenadier class is somewhat similar to his German counterpart except he has much better versatility. The US grenadier is another one of those overlooked and underutilised classes and is just as fun as the German counterpart, but frankly more useful overall too. He gets access to 3x rifle launched M17 Frag grenades (literally just Mk. II frags modified for impact detonation), 2x M9 HEAT AT grenades and 2x M22 White Phosphorus (smoke) grenades whilst retaining his two other handheld smokes. As this class you can really do anything that needs doing. You can supplement your rifleman duties with ranged explosive firepower with your rifle frags, or blind an enemy position instantly and from range with the white phosphorus or assist your Bazooka or Sapper in engaging enemy armour with your M9 HEAT grenade. Note that this has pretty poor penetration (roughly 50mm) so you are essentially required to go for the flanks of vehicles but it does respectable damage if it does penetrate. Once again, immobilisation, in this case especially going for tracks, you can hit the engine but there is a chance it might bounce or not penetrate sometimes so this is the safest option to ensure disablement of a tank. The M9 was a relative failure in reality but in game it acts as a functional AT weapon in a pinch and adds onto the capabilities of the more dedicated classes. The M9 shines in its ability to kill soft skinned vehicles like MSPs which can really help your team. Overall, it plays like a rifleman with more bang.

Marksman - Go see the German Scharfschütze section because apart from some minor differences, in practice they play and perform identically to one another.

Rifleman Last but not least we have the US rifleman, the best in his class. This is down to one single aspect, the M1 Garand. He plays like very other rifleman in his overall role, i.e. spotting, engaging and killing the enemy, capturing or defending positions and re-arming his specialist teammates but he does it better simply because of his eight round semi-auto battle rifle. The M1 allows you to play more aggressively than any other bolt action wielding counterpart and this is how you should play. In CQC the US rifleman makes the German rifleman cry. Miss your shot? Who cares you've got seven others you can immediately and swiftly fire. This allows entire squads of American infantry to provide heavy and effective suppression in areas that their other faction counterparts simply could not do. The only people who can really counter you are enemy radiomen with G41 or G43s and Squad Leaders and Pioneers with MP40s or StG. 44s. The vast majority of the rest of the German team won't be able to win against the Garand on even terms so get in close. The Garand really lets US infantry dominate and aggression should be a prime method of play.

Section Leader - For in depth explanation of squad leading, refer to the section Squad Leading. The UK Squad Leader is similar to that of his German counterpart, he has access to both a .303 Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk.1 and a 9mm Sten SMG. The Enfield is a good choice for if you find yourself engaging primarily at range, usually in the defence, but for the most part you should stick to the Sten. The Sten is almost identical in performance to the MP40 except for a slightly faster rate of fire. It has basically no recoil, allowing you to dump entire mags at range without issue. The only downside to the Sten is similar to the M1/A1 carbine, the peep sights. which can sometimes obscure your target.

One unique aspect to the UK infantry is the smoke grenades it has access to. Instead of the conventional pin-based, slow burn/rise smoke canisters like the US M18 or German M39, the British instead use the No. 77 White Phosphorus grenade. I would argue that these are the better smoke grenades for two reasons. Firstly, they are impact detonated which means they explode on any surface they hit and instantly provide a full screen of concealment. The downside is that it doesn’t last as long (~25 seconds) as the M18 or M39 (~1 minute) but it’s long enough. Secondly, because they are WP it means that they possess an incendiary effect. This means they can be used against enemy infantry as a pseudo-impact grenade, the initial explosion deals minor damage and if they stay in the initial cloud within five seconds, they will lose health over time, eventually succumbing to burns both externally and internally. It also means that you can block off enemy line of sight instantly, and force them to relocate. Really good against windows or bunkers. However this incendiary effect goes both ways, so be mindful of where you throw these, do not kill your teammates in an attempt to provide them concealment. Overall this means that one squad, each with 2x WP can create an almost instantaneous wall of smoke whereas other squads would have to wait at least thirty whole seconds for it to fully bloom and a lot can happen in those thirty seconds. This means that British infantry are capable of being significantly more aggressive in their pushes which is complimented by their higher number of Stens, per class, each Radioman’s M1A1 carbine and the standard rapid fire Lee Enfield for the rest. As a British NCO, be aggressive.

Radioman - For class usage guide, refer to Funker under the Germany 1940 Continued section. There was a time a few years ago where the British Radioman had access to the Sten. This meant that on average there were a large number of SMGs within the team. However one update switched loadout compositions of the classes, giving the Radioman’s Sten to the 2-inch mortar class (historically accurate), and replacing the Sten with an M1A1 carbine. This addition of the M1A1 was a confusing one, and came out of what can only be described as erroneous interpretations of faction balance by a minority of individuals within the community. Not to mention the historical dubiousness of implementing a weapon that was never officially adopted by the British Army and only saw small scale, if any use at all with British Airborne and SAS/SBS forces. What this did was remove any individuality that the class once had, and made it essentially a carbon copy of the US Radioman. Functions basically identically to the US Radioman.

Rifleman - The British rifleman will have a better time in most engagements than his German counterpart because of his standard rifle, the Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.1. This is by far the best bolt action rifle in the entire game and some may argue of the war itself. Ten rounds, a bolt that requires only 60 degrees of rotation to rechamber a round and a short bolt throw, meaning a much faster rate of fire with the retention of sight picture. On average to empty five rounds in immediate succession, the Enfield takes around four seconds versus the K98k of 6.3 seconds. In practice, you will get two rounds off before he finishes rechambering his second. The amount of times this fire rate has saved my ass after suddenly running up on a German, missing my first shot out of shock but nailing him on the second is too many to count. Hey maybe that says more about my first shot aim but it expresses the point well. It is an extremely reliable primary weapon. Not to mention a whole squad rapid firing their Enfields can actually create a decent suppressive effect, which is a lot harder for German riflemen to practically achieve. However it is still a bolt-action and will generally lose to G41/43s MP40s and StGs but it can actually hold its own in close quarters unlike the K98k. It also holds ten rounds with an empty reload of 6.6 seconds compared to the K98k of 6 seconds, which is still impressive considering it loads two clips vs the one by the K98k. Overall you have a very effective weapon in your hands so don’t be afraid to get aggressive with it and spam a few rounds, you have the fire rate and the capacity to do so. As for your duties, the same applies to all riflemen; spot, call out, shoot at and engage the enemy first, provide ammo to your weapon specialists second. Also the use of a personal ammo box for a total of 4x WP smoke can come in real handy for attacks.

Medic - Basically plays identically to the German counterpart, except you have a better primary weapon and a six-shot revolver instead of an eight-round handgun. WP smoke comes in handy for creating instant blocks in line of sight making your ability to revive friendlies in awkward spots easier. Otherwise the rest of the advice stays the same, see the Sanitäter section for more advice.

MG Support - The Bren gun is one of the best assault rifles in the game. You might be wondering, ‘well doesn’t it say MG Support?’ and you would be correct weird little voice in my head. But it also has a secret. You want to use the StG. 44 but don’t feel like playing Germany or taking up responsibilities as a squad leader? Well this is the solution for you. The Bren Mk. III is one of the most versatile weapons in the entire game. It can be used as an aggressive assault rifle, used to clear buildings and close in enemy positions, or it can be used as a long range designated marksman rifle if switched to semi-automatic and finally it can be utilised in its primary intended purpose, a suppression tool. The Bren is top loaded via a thirty round detachable box mag, meaning it has a very fast tactical reload both when standing and deployed on a bipod, similar to the BAR in that sense meaning that it actually retains a decent sustained rate of suppression. The magazine can however block much of the right side of your screen so be aware of that but otherwise it is mainly only positives. Not to mention it can be shoulder fired thus doesn’t suffer the same negatives to that of the heavier GPMG style MG-34/42 or M1919A6 of requiring deployment before aiming. Overall the Bren fits right into the playstyle of the British forces, it can fill an assault niche or medium to long range accurate fire support. Versatility is the main strength of the Bren.

Marksman - For class usage guide, refer to the Scharfschütze section under Germany 1940 continued. Quite simply, the best bolt-action rifle translates into the best marksman rifle in the game. It has a large sight picture and high field of view creating really good situational awareness. Ten rounds mean you don’t have to reload nearly as much and you can technically get ten kills before reloading. But the main advantage of the No.4 (T) is the ability to retain sight picture with every rechamber. This means that not only do you have an extremely fast rechamber speed, you don’t even need to break sight picture meaning rapid follow up shots to takedown multiple targets at once is very possible and common with this rifle. In the hands of a skilled shooter this marksman rifle is one of the most powerful tools on the battlefield. The one drawback is the fact that ten rounds take a bit of time to reload especially because they must be loaded individually as stripper clip use is blocked by the top mounted scope.



Sapper - The British sapper is similar to his US counterpart in that he can act as pseudo AT infantry, except his ability to do so is significantly increased from the US because he has access to two important differences. His TNT bundle is lighter than the satchel charge of the US or 3kg of the Germans. This means that it can be thrown much further than both, (around 15-20m) and it still retains the same explosive yield, making it the best of its kind in the demolition charge category. It fills the same niches as before, defeating fortifications or enemies in buildings, destroying enemy FOBs or MSPs, and immobilisation of enemy armoured vehicles. It can do all of this whilst being able to be thrown further allowing the operator to remain safe at all times. It also makes it possible to throw into second storey windows, which can really catch any occupants totally off guard. You also get access to one Gammon Bomb which is a great tool for dealing with groups of infantry, fortifications, enemy rally points, MSPs, armour. Really anything that’s unlucky enough to find itself targeted. He also has access to 3x Hawkins mines (Driel Polish variant has 2x) which gives him extra AT capability, being able to attach one per component, including the gammon bomb and TNT and the Sapper is an extremely effective (if close quarters) AT specialist.

Light AT - The British dedicated AT specialist utilises the PIAT - Projector Infantry Anti-Tank. A spigot launched projectile with a rocket propellent booster it is unique in that it is the only one of the AT weapons to not produce any backblast which often reveals the position of the operator and can get them killed easily. Because it uses a spring to launch the projectile the overall sound signature is much less than that of a Bazooka or Panzerschreck meaning it is much easier to be stealthy. The PIAT does have less overall accuracy at range than its counterparts and should be used within ideally 50m, but can reach 100m if required. The closer the better. Again, go for a disabling shot first, the engine, the transmission or simply the tracks to keep the armour in one place and make it much more vulnerable to successive attacks. And once again do not forget your riflemen, their ammo box can make or break whether or not a tank is destroyed or not, so use them.

Grenadier - The British grenadier is similar to his German counterpart except he really puts the grenade into ‘grenadier’. His loadout consists of 4x rifle launched frags but instead of having two normal handheld frags, he replaces them with 2x Gammon Bombs. This means that not only can he launch frags from range but he can also be utilised as a pseudo lightly equipped AT specialist too. These Gammon Bombs are best utilised for supplementing friendly sappers or PIATs to help immobilise or destroy enemy vehicles. They are also important for dealing with soft skinned trucks like MSPs and armoured cars and can also complement your four rifle grenades for dealing with large groups of enemy infantry. Essentially should be played like a rifleman with a lot of bang.

Light Mortar - The British light mortar is one of the best support roles in the whole game. His mortar has access to both 15x HE and 15x WP Smoke. It ranges from 65m-250m. Pair this with its high fire rate and you can lay down either an extremely large smoke screen covering a wide and deep area for an advance over poorly covered ground, or pound specific enemy positions with the accurate 2 inch HE rounds. Pair this with a Sten SMG for supporting the assault into CQC and two WP handheld smoke and you have an adept ability at making any attack two times more convenient. It is often overlooked but in the right hands, with intelligent use it can turn the tide of an objective. Use it wisely.

Chef d’Escouade - For in depth explanation of squad leading, refer to the section Squad Leading. You know I could make some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ joke about cooking but I shall refrain, the French get it bad as it is already. The French squad leader, on the other hand, gets it quite good with access to one of the most unique firearms of the 20th century, the MAS-38. A compact and lightweight, 7.65x20mm submachine gun built in less than 2000 numbers (the majority of which for German service in occupied France) so probably anachronistic to have in game, but nonetheless it gives the French some much needed automatic firepower in a fiery little package. In terms of performance it is similar to that of the British Sten, with a decently high rate of fire, easily controllable at range with the option of ranging to 200m (this is basically never of use but it’s good to have for suppression either way). There isn’t a whole lot more to say, it’s just a solid personal defence weapon and helps a lot in close quarters, something quite common on the 1940 maps. His longer range option is the MAS-36, five round clip fed bolt-action rifle, very comparble to the K98k in terms of overall handling and performance. In reality you’ll almost always be better off with the MAS-38 instead because it will emphasise your role as SL and thus by proxy often the first person into the objective so having that solid automatic firepower is a must. Leave the ranged engagements up to your squadmates, you should be using your binoculars anyway.



Fusilier - The French rifleman is very similar to his German counterpart. The difference is that he reveals the obsolescence of equipment of the French army by 1940. Unlike his squad leader, utilising one of the most recent additions to the arsenal, he instead retains his Great War and even older rifle choices. The Lebel 1886 and Berthier 1892 M16 (WWI Carbine modification). In game these models don’t really translate the same issues of age as they did in real life but they remain unique nonetheless. The Lebel was the first service rifle to utilise smokeless powder but apart from that, it retained an eight round tubular magazine, similar to that of a shotgun. This means that you have three more rounds than a K98k at the expense of a painfully long reload time. The sights are also quite clear and thus it is a surprisingly effective rifle for hitting targets at range even given its antiquity. It is also one of the longest rifles in the game so use indoors and in tight streets can be a little restrictive.

The secondary option is the more conventionally mechanically recognisable Berthier M16, with a five round, internal clip feeding mechanism. In practice it performs as any other bolt-action in game but has the added benefit of being short, meaning it has slightly better CQC ability as you are less likely to barrel stuff a wall but it is still a bolt-action and thus the relatively slow fire rate is still a hindrance. The French also have access to a White Phosphorus smoke grenade which has a conventional fuze instead of impact like the later British No. 77. It provides an almost instantaneous smoke screen with a secondary incendiary effect. Can supplement frag grenades to damage enemies and block their line of sight but you must be careful as to not hit friendlies because it will hurt and potentially kill them. The rest of the loadout is the same as any other rifleman. Note that there is another class called ‘Recrue’, this is a rifleman class without the ammo box or camera. Do not use it.

Opèrateur Radio - For class usage guide, refer to Funker under the Germany 1940 Continued section. Plays like any other radioman, apart from the MAS-36, it is essentially identical in practice to the Funker in 1940.

Médecin de Combat - Plays basically identically to the German counterpart, armed with a MAS-36 and M1935 Semi-automatic handgun. WP smoke allows for near-instant visual screenage to make revives in the open faster. See the Sanitäter section.

Fusilier Antichar - The French Anti-tank rifleman takes what his German counterpart does but with a significantly better primary weapon, the British Boys .55 Cal AT rifle. This weapon is a conventional bolt-action with a five round detachable magazine that must also be deployed to even fire. This means that your rate of fire for follow-up shots is significantly faster than that of the PzB 39, and importantly it doesn’t rely solely on velocity for armour penetration but mass too, as the round itself is 13.9x99mm vs the 7.92x94 of the PzB 39. The Boys has around 25mm of base penetration. Unfortunately though, even with the bigger round, it doesn’t fare much better against German armour. It is really only reliable against armoured cars or light tanks and can penetrate the sides of the Panzer IV but cannot for the Panzer III.

However it is still a relatively small kinetic penetrator compared to an AT gun thus aiming for specific components or crew is once more advised. The engine is usually your best bet, a few shots from the side, rear or above from a window will usually destroy it, if not severely hamper its efficiency. It is technically possible to kill a tank with death by a thousand needles but in practice you’re better off immobilizing it and waiting for crew members to attempt to repair whilst larger assets like AT guns, friendly tanks or a bomb finishes it off. Like its PzB 39 counterpart it excels at killing infantry and soft skinned vehicles like trucks and MSPs but does it better simply due to its more conventional design. Your secondary is an eight round semi-auto M1935, similar to the P38 in performance, you’ll use it a lot when you can’t deploy your AT rifle. Overall the kit is a good anti-vehicle disruptor and infantry sniper but it will be more limited due to its only other viable weapon being a pistol, try not to get into too many CQC fights if you can help it.

Automitrailleur - The French have access to two varyingly different automatic fire support weapons. The ancient and infamous Great War Chauchat, and the slightly more modern in concept MAC 24/29 LMG. The Chauchat is not hampered in game by its exposed semi-circular magazine. Instead it acts as a really accurate pseudo designated marksman rifle with twenty rounds. Really good for picking people off at range and is okay in CQC, though it has a really low rate of fire on full-auto that you can actually fire faster in semi. Utilise it like a twenty round DMR and it’ll prove true. The other option, the MAC 24/29, plays basically identically to the ZB-26 or Bren. This makes sense as they all hail from the similar concept of the 1920s top-fed LMGs and thus work well as pseudo assault rifles, or decent fire support with fast reloads when deployed. Works in both CQC and at range and can really compliment your squad leader’s MAS-38 and support the slower bolt actions in close engagements. Aside from these two weapons his loadout remains the same as his squadmates except for the U-Shaped sandbags he gets which are situationally useful at cover, better used to block doors or stairs. He also gets a shovel which is rare for most MG classes.

Tireur d’ Élite - For class usage guide, refer to the Scharfschütze section under Germany 1940 continued. The French marksman will be familiar to those of you who have played the beloved WWI shooter Verdun, because it is precisely the marksman rifle used by the French in WWI. Are you starting to see a pattern? Moral of the story is don’t let bureaucracy and national umming and ahhing get in the way of decent and efficient procurement of modern equipment and weaponry in numbers large enough to actually matter, especially when it looks like your neighbour is soon to try invading again. Overall the kit is pretty unremarkable. Its optic is a huge chevron reticle which is a little difficult to use and not as conventionally understandable compared to the T-reticle or cross of its contemporaries. The scope itself offers absolutely no situational awareness as it blacks out the periphery unlike the others, and it also requires the user to be totally stationary, crouched and fully focused to get a steady sight picture. It does have a decently good rechamber rate but this is offset by the need to lose sight picture as to not hit yourself in the face with the bolt. The real advantage this rifle really has is the eight rounds it has, meaning you can engage targets for a little longer than the K98k but overall the rifle and kit more generally are not really worth it over some other choices.

Mortier Léger - The French light mortar, unlike the German equivalent actually is light, coming in at just under 4kg. However it too like the German 50mm is limited to only HE rounds. No smoke. It is rangable from 20m to 420m which outranges the German equivalent by almost 2x (even though it should actually range to 500m but that is a consequence of it being such an old weapon in-game it never got changed). For play style, see the Leichter Mörser section.

He also has access to the rare (and probably unhistorical honestly) RSC 1917 semi automatic, five round battle rifle. This gives him a nice fire power boost over the German riflemen. It acts like any other semi-auto. I suggest ranging the sights to 200m because the iron sight is significantly easier to see than the base 100m.

Sapeur - Functionally identical to the German equivalent apart from the TNT bundle can be thrown further like the British one. See Pioneer under Germany 1940 section.

Chef d’Escouade - This is where things become wild. The 1944 French fell under mainly American command and supply, thus a lot of their weapons are American in nature. However they also retain some of their 1940 equipment and have a little dash of British weaponry too. Really this is one of the most interesting factions in the game and possesses incredibly strong infantry. As for the SL he gets access to the Thompson, M1 Carbine and Sten. In basically all cases the Sten is better than the Thompson however the M1 provides an interesting choice. Really there is no correct pick, they both work well in most situations but you will probably get that extra range benefit without losing too much in CQC with the carbine, the range really coming into play as Colmar is quite a large map with long open sightlines, broken up with intermittent forests or villages so the carbine offers like the best versatility as it can reach into all of those different combat aspects without losing too much in the way of competence.

Fusilier - Carbon copy of the US Rifleman. Has access to either M1 Garand, Lee Enfield No.4 or 1903 Springfield. Choose the Garand it is objectively better. See US Rifleman.

Opèrateur Radio - See US Radioman. Same class, swaps out M1/A1 Carbine for M1 Garand.

Antichar - The French 1944, AT is pretty powerful and they get a lot of it. There are three choices, all of which are counted as separate classes like the Panzerschreck and Panzserfaust. They consist of the Boys AT Rifle. Pointless. By 1944 the most you can do is harass tanks and deal with some armored cars and soft skinned vehicles and infantry but you are much better off with the other two choices. The first choice is the M9A1 Bazooka with a MAS-36 as your personal defence weapon. Same use case at the US equivalent however you gain access to 2x Gammon Bombs, unique to this particular class. This gives you a lot of anti-tank/vehicle power in a single life. You can use your Gammons to immobilize the vehicle and then use your Bazooka to hit particular parts like the ammo rack or turret, really focusing on killing the vehicle.

The second variant comes with the M1A1 Bazooka instead and the Lebel 1886. The main difference being iron sights instead of the optical reflector of the M9A1. This class is slightly weaker as it trades the two Gammon Bombs for one Hawkins mine. Honestly not a great trade. Either way the strength lies in the fact that these are separate classes meaning that the overall AT presence on the field can be really high. Remember aspiring tank killers, find those riflemen and keep them close. They will come in very handy.

Automitrailleur BAR - See US Machinegunner section for information on the BAR. Identical class.

Tireur d’ Élite - Identical to British Marksman barr secondary revolver and M18 smoke instead of WP. See UK Marksman section.

Mortier Léger - Two options available, either the French Brandt 50mm or the British 2 inch. Take the 2 inch as it has access to smoke rounds. It also has access to the M1 Garand as a primary weapon, versus the Lebel for the Brandt. See UK Light Mortar section.

Sapeur - Another somewhat unique hybrid class. This is a perfect compliment to the already prominent AT capability available to your team. The French sapper here gets access to an M1 Garand, it might not be an SMG for getting into those aggressive CQC fights but it does the job considering the open and long terrain of Colmar. It once again has access to the light TNT that can be thrown up to 15-20m alongside 2x Hawkins mines. This allows you to do some real damage to both enemy spawns and vehicles. Recommend saving the TNT for FOBs you come across and the Hawkins for attaching to engine compartments of vehicles. A generally unknown tip: if you place a sticky/magnetic mine onto the fuel tank of an Opel Blitz or Morris truck it will blow it up in one explosion compared to if you stick it anywhere else, the most it would do is destroy the engine. This can let you save your TNT for a FOB tent or tank later down the line.

The smallest scale of spawn point. This is available to your squad. It can be placed down by your squad leader with either one radioman OR with two other squadmates within 8m. The rally will look like a small tent. They appear as a yellow Wi-Fi icon on the map.

Identification

If it is German it will be a green and brown splinter camouflage pyramid.



If it is Allied (US, UK, French) it will be a flat brown elongated pyramid shape.



Rules

An SL can also use other radios to place rally, such as other squad’s rally points (this risks losing two at once if it is destroyed but in a pinch it is useful), the Platoon Leader’s car has a radio you can use. A good example is to get in his car and flank the enemy, with a rally placed via the onboard radio. Other Radiomen not belonging to your squad or even dead friendly and enemy radiomen.

Rallies can be placed every 120 seconds (WiFi icon). They exist until replaced or destroyed.

The SL needs to find a radio signal of any kind (tower icon on the top left), hold down T and click ‘place regroup call’.

The radioman can help by providing a personal mobile radio for the SL.

If enemies are present within 25m of the SL then he will not be able to place a rally. The timer will reset and you must wait 120 seconds to try again. If enemies come within 10m of an already placed rally it will become ‘hot’, it will show as red on the map and will be unspawnable until enemies are cleared from the position.

You can detect rally points audibly from about 20m. They emit a radio hissing and if you get within proxy range you will hear a beeping sound indicating that it has gone hot and is no longer spawnable. If there are any enemies belonging to that rally they will likely be looking for you. Call out that you have found a rally and where it is in relation to you on the map. This is important because you could die before destroying it so it is good for your SL to mark it on the map.

The rally can be destroyed with explosives of all kinds or dismantled when holding the interact key for 15 seconds.

On the map you can see the status of your own rally (yellow) and friendly rallies (blue).

Placement

Try to place your rally in a relatively covered and hidden position, in a house, barn, bushes but never in the open. The only restriction placed upon them is that they cannot be placed inside of an object cap radius (when the objective is visible at the top right of your screen). This means that you can technically place them really close to objectives which is useful for immediate reinforcement however makes them more susceptible to being proxied and destroyed by the enemy due to their proximity to the objective. This is a fine balance and experience is the only way to figure this out.

Mobile spawn points are one of the most important assets to your team. They are what they sound like: a team-wide spawn point in the form of a specialised truck that can move from place to place. It must remain stationary in order to activate. There is a ‘red zone’ spawn restriction on the map. Every player can see the redzone on their map. Do NOT drive the MSP into the redzone unless you intend on bypassing it for a flanking placement somewhere outside of it. Entering the red zone will make it deactivate even if stationary and thus essentially useless. Play smart, go around the red zone. They appear as a blue rectangle with a wagon wheel in the centre when deactivated and a yellow downward arrow when activated.

Functioning MSP - Happy MSP


Non-Functioning MSP - Sad MSP


Remember to TURN THE DAMN ENGINE OFF when you have found a place to park.

MSPs are the lifeblood of your map presence and thus placing them in good positions is vitally important. Do not place them in the open if you can help it. Hide them behind buildings, in crevasses, behind bushes, inside thick forests. Concealment is of the utmost importance. If the enemy finds it, move it elsewhere as soon as you can. Once spotted by the enemy team it is likely called-out, marked accurately and on a timer. It will be destroyed. Move it. Do not place them too close to the objective either. That is what rally points are for.



They CAN be destroyed in a number of ways:

• A LOT of MG and rifle fire into the engine
  
• TNT
  
• High Explosive grenade (Gammon or Ladung)
  
• Magnetic mine to the fuel tank
  
• Rocket launcher
  
• Commander strafing run
  
• Commander bombing run
  
• Tank fire
  
• Anti-tank fire
  
• Anti-tank mines

They CANNOT be destroyed by:

• Fragmentation grenades of any kind
  
• Small calibre weapons (9mm, .45 ACP, 7.65mm etc)

Identification

German MSPs are Opel trucks with Brown/Green camo stripes and a green canvas cover on the back.



French MSPs are Laffey trucks with Brown/Yellow camo stripes with a roof.



UK and US Chapter 1 MSPs are black Morris trucks with an open bed and no canvas bar attachments.



US Chapter 3 MSPs are Olive Green GMCs, with a grey canvas back and empty inside.



NOTE: Currently the French Laffy and US GMC have the same model for both their IST and MSP counterparts. Check map for differences and the back of the truck for supplies inside if IST.

FOBs are another method of team-wide spawning. However, unlike MSPs they are static in nature. They can be built by any leadership class, but are usually handled by the Logistics squad members. They require a radio placement (150m build radius/300m exclusion radius). They cost 500 building points and must be built up with the use of the shovel inside the radio range. This means that one logistics truck that carries 2000 building points can build four Spawn Tents in one run. More will be expanded upon on the dedicated Logistics section but in short, FOBs can be utilised to assist in defending an objective by building a team-wide spawn inside Both defenders and attackers can build them. Attackers will usually utilise them as hidden spawns for flanking operations behind enemy lines and to prepare for attacking the objective next in line. They appear as a yellow tent icon on the map.

FOBs can become inactive when a minimum of two enemies enter a 20m radius of the tent. This increases by 10m per extra person capping at 9 people at 90m. This means that a single individual can walk up to the tent without giving any warning. When spawning on a FOB, it is good practice to look around and make sure no one has found it.

A total of EIGHT can be at once built:

• They cannot be built in redzones. (Invasion gamemode redzones still don't count)
  
• The radios require 300m spacing between each other.

Identification

They take the form of a large field tent.

NOTE, these images are of the old FOBs. Spawn Tents are generally empty and the radio is a separate asset

German spawn tents are BEIGE in colour and the radio emits a voice line in German.

Tent


Radio (10 tickets)


Allied spawn tents are GREEN in colour and the radio emits a voice line in English

Tent


Radio (10 tickets)


They can be destroyed in a number of ways:

• 2x TNT or satchel charge (1x TNT will deactivate but not destroy the FOB)
  
• Commander bomb
  
• Shovel (around 2 minutes for one person)
  
• Spawn will DEACTIVATE when TWO enemy players get within 20m of the tent. This scales by 10m per person until a max of NINE. 3=30m, 4=40m....9=90m.

Try to locate the radio itself. Destroying this removes the tent and repair crane around it plus costs the enemy 10 TICKETS. Removing the first stage of the radio makes the FOB unspawnable. Digging down the tent to remove the tables inside makes it unspawnable too.

Main Base is the default starting position for your team. It is where all of your assets spawn. Logistics trucks spawn here under green tarp, they will have a sign indicating this.

Infantry transport vehicles will spawn the same way. They have a 'deck' system similar to armor.

Tanks and AFVs will spawn on large wooden platforms. They have a card deck system and are finite resources. A maximum of three can be spawned at a time. Each weight class has a dedicated spawner meaning that you must move your newly spawned Sherman off the platform in order to spawn a Cromwell.

This is also where the MSPs and Platoon Commander personal vehicle spawn. There is a radio always at spawn, usually under a very large crane. Here the commander can call in support like artillery and air support. However it is best to use your car for more situational awareness of the battlefield. See Platoon Leading section for more detail.

Main Base cannot be shot at or entered by enemy players. You however cannot shoot from here either. It is generally of poor etiquette to kill people leaving their main base, but many players still do nonetheless. Don’t be that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Let people play the game.

Main Base cannot be captured. This is not Battlefield Friends.

The logistics squad or ‘logi’ for short is one of the most important elements within the team. The squad consists of four total individuals. The roles remain the same per-faction with only differences in equipment but the overall goal of each class is the same. Logistics have access to 2x logistics trucks, both carrying 2000 build points each. They take 210 seconds to respawn after destruction.



Logistics NCO - The logi SLis responsible for one major task: the creation of the team’s static spawn point, the Forward Operating Base (FOB). Apart from this he is in practice identical to other infantry squad leaders in his loadout except for that he has access to a shovel to construct his buildable materials.

NOTE ALL logi members can build radios/FOBs without the need of a person nearby

Anti-Tank Engineer - Pretty self explanatory, he is equipped with AT mines which can be placed on the ground. Designed primarily to immobilise tanks but can quite easily obliterate any soft skinned or lightly armoured vehicles. Be aware that they can be pretty buggy at times and you very well might see a truck drive over, detonate them, and continue on its merry way. This is down to a mixture of broken damage models and poor netcode. Speed of which the mines are run over also dictates the amount of damage dealt too. Overall they will immobilise tanks pretty handedly, usually taking out their tracks, but sometimes also the transmission or engine depending on the angle. You might get really lucky and start an engine fire.





Place AT mines on major avenues of logical approach for a tank. Especially ones where they can’t go around like a town street. Even if the crew sees them they will be forced to either change route or get out and remove them, perfect for ambushes.

Remember to remind your teammates of AT mines, where you placed them and to check their maps for a little yellow skull icon. Fratricide sucks, but sometimes stupidity trumps prior warning.

AT mines must be removed with a shovel. Explosives do not work.


Anti-Infantry Engineer - Same deal as the AT Engineer, the difference being you have access to multiple anti-personnel mines. These are a lot more trouble than they are practically worth. Try not to place them in objectives or anywhere near friendly positions because your teammates are liable to step on them and trust me it doesn’t matter how many times you remind them to watch their feet, you are gonna get a lot of team kills.





Instead look for enemy approaches, away from friendly positions and place them there. If you are attacking for example, a nasty trick is to drive to the next objective, behind the current one, and place mines randomly there so when the enemy goes to set up on point you can get a few with the mines. This will make them constantly second guess their movements and can distract them from setting up sometimes. However in practice you are better utilising either the AT engineer or HE engineer instead.


High Explosive Engineer - This class is kind of similar to the sappers and pioneers of the infantry except it is more limited. The HE engineer only has access to a single TNT explosive best utilised for destroying enemy spawn points like MSPs or FOBs. Otherwise he is best kept alongside the SL to help construct defences.


Medic - Logi squads have access to a medic. Pretty obvious what he does but generally as logi you won’t (usually) see enough combat for his medic abilities to come in handy. His main use are the binoculars he has access to which can help a lot as a forward observer for the fall of mortar rounds. With enough practice and communication with the mortar team you can ruin the day of any enemy unlucky enough to fall within your vision.

There are two logistics truck types. Dedicated logi trucks that can only be driven by logi squad holding 2000 build points. Infantry have a smaller version holding only 1000 and usable by them only. All Squad Leaders of any type can build FOBs.

• To build a FOB you will need to:
  
• Drive the truck to the desired location
  
• Grab ONE person (if infantry, logi can do solo), and select the FOB radio from the T-Wheel menu
  
• It will show a blue print. If green you can place. If red you cannot.
  
• Place radio in relatively hidden/covered spot
  
• So long as supplies are inside the radio range (150m) you can place the SPAWN TENT (500 build points) anywhere inside that 150m radius.
  
• Once placed build up with shovel until completed.
  
• Now you have a team wide static spawn called a FOB (Spawn Tent).

Allied Radio


German Radio

• Radios are worth 10 tickets and will de-spawn specialised buildables like Spawn Tents or Repair Cranes if lost so make sure to hide them and cover them well.
  
• Eight MAXIMUM radios can be placed at once. Digging down your own radio does not cost tickets.
  
• Radios have a 300m EXCLUSION zone which stops placement of other radios within.
  
• It will tell you on the left hand corner of your screen if you are still inside previous radio exclusion zone and by how many meters.
  
• Radios CANNOT be placed in REDZONES and neither can ANY buildable.
  
• Radios CAN be place in OBJECTIVES and often objectives come with pre-spawned 1000 build points.

Tip: each 300m grid is 425m from diagonal corners.


Attacking FOBs

Building FOBs on attack is an entirely different experience to that of defense. Generally, you want to keep them hidden and further away from the objective compared to MSPs. Building a FOB to act as a base of fire doesn’t really translate well in game. Instead they are best utilised as forward spawns in preparation for the next objective in line, to flank the current objective or to be used to wreak havoc behind enemy lines. Same rules apply to attackers as do defenders.

Oftentimes however distance is a defense within itself as the enemy will unlikely be looking for it unless you give them a reason to. This means hide them in forests, depressions in the ground, thick bushlines, or certain small urban areas out of the main directional approach of the enemy so they don’t accidentally stumble upon it. The trade off for stealth is often increased distance to relevant map areas so keep this in mind and strike a balance. Especially since vehicle tents do not exist anymore.

Well placed forward FOBs can grant the attacking team an enormous head start against their defending opponents and in the current meta as of writing (still useful in July 2024), this should be the primary method of FOB placement, whilst the MSP supplements the more direct approaches and rally points, the most aggressive of spawns. This is the case for the OFFENSIVE and INVASION gamemodes but not FRONTLINE.

Defensive Structures

FOB Radios have a radius of 150m. Within this radius you can build all types of weapons or defences so long as there is supply within the FOB. This can greatly increase the chances of holding an objective. Here are some very generalised tips for building on defense.

Prioritise usage of the better defensive items like sandbag logs, bunkers, and sandbag barricades. These are all relatively large defences that can span a lot of ground. Use them to supplement areas with less overall cover but good sightlines. Use surrounding terrain and infrastructure like walls or dirt mounds to compliment these fortifications. For example if you see a building wall that stretches out into an open field, attach a line of sandbag logs to elongate the wall and then push into the field, creating a long sandbag line that covers what used to be open ground.

An overall rule for fortification placement is to build what isn’t already existing. Houses, sheds, walls etc all already act as cover for defenders to use, but the open street, or field? Those need filling. Its ground that can be should be accessed by the defender and the way to do that is to make it covered. Build long lines of sandbag logs or a bunker to cover the field. Look at the overall geography and ask yourself, ‘Where would I attack from?’ and then place your fortifications facing those directions. This is something that is difficult to really fully explain within a text format as is this, but just keep these basic ideas in your mind and it’ll usually work itself out. Once again, logi, like many aspects of this game, is heavily experience based so don’t be afraid of trial and error, it’s the only way to know if something works.


*This is an idealistic example to visualise how to build around pre-existing terrain. Do not expect to normally do this in live matches

Another rule, defense in depth. All too often defensive logi will make a single line of walls and call it a day. Do not be this logi. You must create two to three separate lines of defense for your team to fall back onto. Now this isn’t nearly as complex as you might think. You aren’t Zhukov. It really translates into something as simple as having an open field on the point, placing lines of sandbag logs, maybe a bunker, and then repeating the process every 30m-60m backwards. You can also, if time is short, do staggered lines, like a zigzag pattern without the zag. In short, there should be depth, you should be able to fall back without losing any cover. Logi defense has no real strictness to it, each objective is different, and timings are different. Time isn’t always on your side, so don’t think too hard about it. The main thing is to make sure that there are good amounts of cover spread out over a decent portion of the cap, not already occupied by pre-placed structures or covered terrain.



Try to block off main areas of approach like a street, road or alleyway that is more likely to be used by enemy forces than friendly forces. Basically, blocking off approaches is fine but if it ends up meaning that friendly armour has no way of getting onto point or other vehicles that need to utilise certain roads to help the defense then don’t block it off. Usually what to block and not block is often pretty obvious, i.e. don’t block off the road closer to your side of the map but do so for the one closest to the enemy etc. once again, trial and error. See what works and what doesn't.

Important Note: Structures CANNOT be built next to areas of running water such as canals or rivers. This was added a while ago to attempt to combat issues of bridge blocking/camping however was lazily implemented and essentially made it impossible to create any meaningful defenses for certain objectives next to these bridges. Examples include Veghel Road and Rail Bridge and Best Road Bridge. This does not count however for maps with large and tall bridges like Driel Rail or Arnhem Road bridges but will still affect the smaller pontoon defenses nearby.

The commander has access to great fire support assets like 105mm artillery or air support. However these are situationally used and have large cooldowns. Thus there is an in-between - fire support weapons.


This includes:

• Mortars ranging from 60mm/81mm/107mm
  
• Field Guns ranging from
  
• 20mm FlaK 38,
  
• 37mm (M3 and PaK 36)
  
• 47mm APX
  
• 50mm PaK 38
  
• 57mm QF-6
  
• 75mm LG-18
  
• 88mm FlaK 36

Logistics have access to one of the most powerful weapons on the battlefield, the mortar. Some things to note:

• All mortars have the same blast/damage effect of roughly 10m kill and 15-20m wound.
  
• All mortars have natural dispersion which roughly correlates to the size of a 33m grid.
  
• Smoke rounds have a minor amount of HE filler which can injure and kill.
  
• The French in 1940 use UK 3 and 4-inch mortars and in 1944 use US M2 60mm.

8cm Granatwerfer 34 - Germany’s primary mortar tube. Fires 81mm 20x HE and 25x Smoke. Ranges from 100m-1400m. Fires one round every five seconds.

60mm M2 - The best mortar in the game. Fires 60mm 30x HE and 30x Smoke. Ranges from 100m-1400m. Fires one round every three seconds.

3-Inch - Functionally identical to the German 81mm.

4-Inch - 107mm mortar without much in the way of improvements to the 3-Inch. It has more range, 2500m but you’ll usually never need that much. It has a slower fire rate, one round every six seconds, has higher dispersion, a longer flight time of 30 seconds and is more expensive. It does get more rounds however, 30x HE and 30x Smoke but it unfortunately does not have increased blast to its smaller counterparts. Situationally useful. Just use the 3-inch.



How to Use Mortars

First you should know the maximum range of your mortar, (this is usually 1400m).

The new logistics update made it so all building materials must be placed inside the radio range (150m). This includes mortars. A mortar costs 500 points to build and 300 points to resupply. Make sure to build your mortar FOB far from the current fighting as to lessen the likeliness of an enemy hunting you and killing both your mortars AND FOB radio worth 10 Tickets. BE MINDFUL OF MORTAR PLACEMENT.

Now that you have your mortar pit emplaced, alert your team via command comms or team chat that you have mortars up and ready to fire, and to give fire missions when they see fit by marking locations on the map. There are two methods to getting rounds on target.


The Boomer

First is the old fashioned way - a map, compass and radio. Figure out the distance between the mortar and the target via use of the grid lengths on the map. 33m/100m/300m. Numbers to remember: The largest grids are 300m horizontal and 300m vertical. This means that the diagonal hypotenuse is 425m. This is trickier because it is not exact. You will also require a forward observer to watch the fall of your rounds and adjust accordingly. This FO can be anyone with binoculars and direct communications back to the mortars. Ideally your SL but he can be busy with FOBs so you can have your Medic do so instead. To set the mortar up for engagement you will use your mouse. There are two units of measurement relevant to ranging. The compass at the bottom of your screen, which shows the heading in degrees and the vertical measurement, milliradians or ‘mills’. For mills all you need to know is that mouse-up DECREASES range and mouse-down INCREASES range. There is a helpful table on the left of your screen when aimed in, visible at all times to aid in this. Have your squad leader mark a target on the map with an attack marker, use this as a reference to line up the horizontal bearing (this might take a few tries, the marker has a tendency to fade quickly). Once aligned exactly with the marker, you must range the mortar. When you think you have your target ranged roughly in fire one or two rounds and hold fire. Wait for the Observer to watch for the fall and adjust from there. Usually adjustments will be in meters for vertical adjustments (use the range table to help) and degrees for horizontal. Example: “Adjust 50m, left 2 degrees”. Once dialled in, fire until told to stop.


The Zoomer

Now that you have learned how to accurately range and hit targets on the map with the tools available to you in game I am going to tell you that it’s basically not required. Yeah sorry. It’s a good skill to have, don't get me wrong but it’s kinda like a manual versus an automatic. You should know how to drive a manual but let’s be real, an automatic is just easier to drive. Same deal here. There is a third party website called Post Scriptum Mortar Calculator. This name might change in future but as of writing it remains. This tool is incredibly convenient and probably overpowered honestly but all good mortar teams should use it nonetheless. Its use is simple. The advanced setting also allows for placement of FOB icons that show both 150m (inner circle) build radius and 350m (outer circle).

• Open the website, pick the map you are playing (note that not all maps are available thus the manual skill is useful to have) find where the tube is specifically on the map.
  
• You do this by standing right next to the mortar because the icon for the tube isn’t accurate to its actual position on the map.
  
• You input the tube position to the same location in the calculator
  
• Find your desired target on the map
  
• Click the same location on the calculator
  
• Look at the bottom right to see the input values for the target
  
• Values will be Horizontal degrees and vertical Milliradian
  
• Input into mortar and fire
  
• Welcome to the 21st century ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Note that squad markers are useful but this method is exactly precise in comparison.

Target Advice

Pay attention to the map, where your target is marked and where friendly players are in relation to that marker. The battle is not static and often your mortars can clear a hole for friendlies to exploit. Be constantly aware of not hitting friendly troops. But also account for the simple stupidity of some teammates, even with fair warning, fire mission map markers and the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mortar rounds exploding you will still have the occasional moron with zero self preservation or apparent situational awareness who proceeds to gift you a teamkill. Especially keep in mind that your rounds are DELAYED BY AN AVERAGE OF A 20 SECOND FLIGHT TIME FROM TUBE TO TARGET. This means that you can stop firing but rounds will keep landing for some time after. This is why it is so important to be mindful of the map at all times.

Secondly to this, if your team is not giving you fire missions, make your own. Look for points of interest, buildings, likely avenues of approach or reinforcement, the objective more generally or infantry markers, suspected spawns etc. Putting rounds in these areas will force the enemy away from them and into other areas. This is where the really complex stuff comes into play. You can be really cruel with mortar gameplay if you have multiple tubes and an experienced forward observer. Always be ready to shift fire. The best mortar teams adapt to a constantly flowing situation.

NOTE THAT UPDATE 'GREYHOUND' ADDED RANGE ESTIMATES TO SQUAD MARKERS MAKING MORTAR RANGING/FIRING MUCH EASIER

Mortars are blind. They fire indirectly and thus will never see where their rounds are landing. As such they require another pair of eyes with direct communication back to the mortars in order to adjust fire accurately and to hit relevant targets. You don't want to pound dirt unless you're trying to provide area denial.

Ideally the FO should be the Squad Leader but in practice the logi SL is often too busy to do this. Thus the logi medic is best suited for this role as he is the only other class with access to binoculars and direct comms to the mortars via squad channel.

Your job is simple. Spot targets for your mortars and adjust fire of said mortars to hit said targets.

How to Forward Observe

Step 1: Find a target. The easiest and most obvious target for a mortar is the enemy objective if attacking and if defending, large areas of obvious enemy approach/attack such as treelines, roads or bushlines.

Step 2: Hit the target. You do this by using one of the two methods of target acquisition and engagement listed in the previous section on 'Mortars'. We will use the much easier version for convenience sake. Use the third party 'Post Scriptum Mortar Calculator'. See that section before continuing in order to familiarise yourself with the tool.

Once target has been set up and the mortars are ranged, fire off one round to see where it lands. If it lands directly on the intended target, perfect, fire for effect. If not you must adjust. In order to do so you must know where the mortars are in relation to you.

For example:

• Your target is a farm house 100m infront of you. This target is directly west of your position.
  
• Your mortars are directly south of you. Thus they are to your left.
  
• This means your mortars are to the south east of the farm house target.
  
• You fire one round
  
• The round lands in the orchard around 50m to the left of the house
  
• Tell your mortars to adjust right 5 degrees (they will use their compass to do this)
  
• Fire another
  
• Horizontally on target but too short (forward/back Z-Axis)
  
• Tell your mortars to adjust 20m forward (they will use the range table on their mortar to do this)
  
• Fire again - Hit on target, fire for effect until ordered to stop.

This is kinda difficult to explain in just words but I hope this makes sense. It isn't nearly as complex as you might think, it really is just possessing basic situational awareness and cardinal direction, being able to draw a line between you and your mortars and the mortars and the target. This is one of the higher level skills but if you can master it you can ruin the enemy's day and be a singled handed killing machine. You see someone and they will die by danger rain.

There are a number of field guns of varying types. These are usually built by logi but will sometimes spawn on certain layers in pre-defined locations like Velmolen AA. They are also very expensive (800-1000 build points) and are limited to FOB radios, 4x AT guns and 2x 20mm. HMGs are limited to 10. They cannot be towed on vehicles as of writing and thus usually remain stationary or can have some very localised movement if they are wheeled. Otherwise they should be treated as emplaced weapons.

They can be extremely powerful if placed in intelligent spots, watching main avenues of approach, sitting in the flanks or unsuspected areas. Range is often an important aspect to keep in mind as to lessen the chances of being spotted organically. Cover is equally important, both visual and physical. Bushlines, inside forests or behind walls, buildings, or an alleyway. Usually most AT-guns should be prioritised to ambush and hunt enemy tanks and AFVs but can act as effective firesupport with HE rounds. They can also be rearmed via a logi truck or supplies that have been dumped nearby so as to not run out of ammo and be useless. Positioning can often be limited by FOB placement so be mindful.

20mm FlaK 38

• 250x AP-I - 35mm max penetration
  
• 250x HE

Currently the only autocannon in the game as of writing, the 20mm is an extremely deadly weapon. It has two variants. Stationary, built by logi or sometimes spawns as a map emplacement on certain layers (Velmolen AA or Grave Bridge South). Its secondary layout is on the back of an Sd.Kfz. 7/1 halftrack flatbed. This is a mobile 20mm and is spawned in the specialised transport spawner at the main base. The logi one is only static however it is best suited for saturating areas with 20mm HE rounds which will obliterate any enemy infantry unlucky enough to be on the receiving end. It is one of the best anti-infantry weapons in the game. Even its AP-I rounds still work even with a bit of aim, the suppression is usually enough and the enemy is unlikely to notice the difference or care to find out. It is also capable against light armoured recon cars like the Daimler, Staghound, Greyhound and even M5 Stuart and sometimes Cromwells from the side. Its main weakness is that it is static and thus an easy target for air support, which ironically you can’t defend yourself against. That and if anything bigger than a Stuart finds you, it’s game over.



37mm PaK 36

• 45x APHE - 47mm max penetration
  
• 20x APCR - 86mm max penetration
  
• 45x HE

The PaK 36 was Germany’s first majorly produced and fielded AT gun. It is present on the 1940 French maps. It is a neat little gun. Its regular AP round is pretty lacking but will deal with R35s perfectly fine alongside any armoured cars or trucks. The APCR round is extremely effective however and should be your primary AT round as it has a high velocity, flat trajectory and penetration that is capable of defeating all French armour, including the Matilda if you hit the flat front plate and sides. It also has a fast fire rate of roughly 5 seconds meaning you can dump multiple consecutive shots into the target ensuring it is quickly destroyed. Its HE round is also quite effective (all HE is the same explosive effectiveness of 75mm, regardless of actual caliber. It’s strange) because of its high rate of fire you can saturate an area very effectively with this gun. Very effective infantry support weapon if placed on a dominating terrain position.



47mm APX

• 45x APCBC-HE - 62mm max penetration
  
• 45x HE

Similar in practice to the PaK 36, the French APX is an extremely deadly AT gun considering most if not all German armour in 1940 is vulnerable frontally to this thing. Place it on a main road and the enemy armour is going to suffer badly. There isn’t a single tank or AFV the APX can’t effectively deal with. It also retains the fast reload of 5 seconds, but it can be outclassed by Panzer IIIs with 3.5 seconds or autocannons on account of…y’know the auto part. Place in major avenues of approach and so long as you get the first shot off, you’ll usually be fine.



50mm PaK 38

• 25x APCR - 128mm max penetration
  
• 40x APC-HE - 83mm max penetration (should be 102mm)
  
• 30x HE

The PaK 38 is a decent AT gun but it is generally worse than its Allied counterpart, the 6-Pounder. As of the time of writing its main APC round appears to have been nerfed. It is only 82mm maximum penetration which should be around 102mm instead. Either way you have access to 25 rounds of APCR, a much better round. Unfortunately, APCR rounds have similar automatic ricochet curves like AT rockets, and will bounce at a 30 degree vertical heading which in practice means you cannot penetrate the upper front plate of a Sherman BUT CAN penetrate the lower transmission housing and turret mantlet.

The armour mechanics and balance are confusing, that will be elaborated more in the dedicated armour section however. Overall it's a workable AT gun capable of dealing with most allied armour but it will struggle against specific targets like Shermans frontally, or god forbid a Churchill but will kill most targets from the side. Use it primarily as an ambush weapon. Remember it can be relocated as it has wheels. Its fire rate is six seconds per round.

57mm QF-6 Pounder Mk. V/M1 57mm

• 30x APC - 114mm max penetration
  
• 15x APCBC - 132mm max penetration
  
• 8x APDS - 190mm max penetration
  
• 45x HE

Think PaK 38 but better in basically every way. This is by far the best tank killer out of all the field guns, arguably better than the 88mm. Its fire rate is average, at six seconds per round however the array of AP rounds it gets makes it one of the biggest threats to German armour, even the Big Cats, excluding the King Tiger and Jagdtiger. Funnily enough, APDS is not hindered by the same automatic bounce curve that APCR has, thus it can go clean through the UFP of a Panther and not bounce. Truly a wild and wacky balancing decision but anyway. Even without APDS its APCBC can still penetrate the front of a Tiger I up to 300m consistently and 500m inconsistently, and can penetrate the turret and lower front plate of a Panther from most ranges.



88mm FlaK 36

• 30x APCBC-HE - 165mm max penetration
  
• 40x HE

The infamous eighty-eight. Its infamy is granted if a little overstated. Nonetheless it should be feared by every allied tanker and prioritised for destruction by every allied commander in range of a radio. Simply put, there is not a single allied tank capable of withstanding a hit from this thing. The FlaK 36 is an excellent armour sniper that can usually kill the target before the target even knows where it's being shot from. The only downside is that the logi built 88 has no gun shield compared to its pre-placed counterpart. Thankfully it has a very thin silhouette making it quite hard to hit. Add extra distance into the mix and by the time the enemy armour can accurately determine the range and return fire they’re likely already dead. You should try to build this thing far away, watching long open sight lines, making it harder for enemy marauders to sneak up on you. It is also quite tall which means that it can be possible to build it behind burns, walls or inside gun pits which can further conceal and cover the gun, allowing it to fire in a ‘hull-down’ position. The best field gun available to the German team. Use it wisely.

75mm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 (le.IG-18)

Ammo
• 10x HEAT - 50mm max penetration (all ranges)
  
• 40x HE of four separate charge weights

One of the mainstays of early war German company level direct fire support, the IG-18 offers a simple yet effective short range howitzer for German teams to help assault or defend positions. It has a basic HEAT round for self defense but it will struggle against basically anything that isn't a light tank by 1944/45. Ideally do not engage armour with this.

Instead, utilise it's large quantity of HE to engage soft targets like infantry. It comes with 40 rounds, 10 per weight class. These weights are important for the indirect fire mode it has available. If you want better range, use a lighter round for the trade-off of less explosive mass and vice versa.

The indirect fire mode functions similar to a mortar with a similar range table. It is relatively obvious and shows you how the numbers correlate.

It can be wheeled around and is relatively small.



M3 75mm M1897A4 Gun Motor Carriage

Ammo
• 12x APCBC - 102mm
  
• 8x AP - 90mm
  
• 18x HE
  
• 5x WP

An early attempt by the US Army to create a tank destroyer. Utilising the widely available 75mm gun and M3 halftrack chassis these proved decent mobile fire support assets in North Africa but often struggled against German armor due to a lack of a turret and their relatively poor armor compared to their lacklustre mobility making escape difficult however the 75mm proved capable against the average German armur asset in theatre but as time progressed it became relegated more to mobile howitzer duties than dedicated TD work.

In-Game it acts as a cheap, mobile fire support platform hampered by a small forward arc of fire and awkward halftrack mechanics. It has an good enough APCBC for dealing with Armored Cars and Panzer IIs to IVs but anything heavier will require flanking shots or simply running away.



Sd.Kfz.251/22 mit 75mm PaK 40/3 L/46

Ammo
• 20x APCBC - 140mm
  
• 16x HE

The Germans ended up fielding a host of PanzerJäger of various chassis and types. This included their main mechanized transport the 251 series of halftrack. Simply put this is a normal 251 with a PaK 40 75mm AT gun strapped to it. It has a limited forward arc of fire and decent but not stellar mobility. If you get hit you will likely die so use its relatively low silhouette to hide in ambush and snipe at targets. You are a glass cannon. The PaK 40 will deal with all but the heaviest allied armor and bear in mind it doesn't get APCR so some such as the M4A3E2 Jumbo or Churchill VII will need flanking hits to penetrate.

Squad Leaders are the backbone of every team. They are the gravitational core of the team’s coordination and cooperation. Without good SLs, the team simply collapses. At their most distilled and basic form, a Squad Leader provides a mode of spawning. The rally point. This spawn point has been discussed in further detail in the Spawn Point section but in short: they are a five minute squad-only spawn point that must be refreshed so as to not bleed out. However in reality the SL is much more than a spawn point mule. He is the brain of the squad. Playing SL is really more like playing an RTS with FPS elements. You should be spending a lot of time on the map, in command comms, and squad comms. You should also be using your binoculars when you aren’t in immediate combat.

Squad Leaders are the eyes and ears of the Platoon Commander, and by extension the rest of the team. Marking what you see on the map and audibly communicating it to both your squad and platoon is REQUIRED. This allows your entire team to be on the same page of information. Accurate information allows for accurate planning, and accurate planning creates higher likelihood of favourable outcomes. Basically, if your info is flatly inaccurate or just plain false, your ability to lead your squad competently is much harder. If you see something, say something. Saw a truck full of guys flanking your east? Call it out for ♥♥♥♥ sake I don’t want be flanked by an entire enemy squad with a rally because you didn’t say anything. Even if the info will be outdated by the time you finish calling it out, it is at least something, and you can give rough predictions as to where they might be going.

Communicating straight away once either A: Creating a squad or B: Inheriting a squad from the previous SL, is very important. Keeping your squad engaged with you and each other in communication is the most important element of retaining effective or at least existent squad cohesion. If you aren't talking, the squad is usually aimless, they don’t have someone to follow. Your planning and relaying of that plan to them will give your squad at least some confidence in your ability to actually lead them. Thus at the beginning of the match you should do as follows:
“Okay, spawn on objective, we’re gonna get a rally over here *mark on map*, radioman come with me the rest of you get setup over here facing EAST-WEST *mark on map*. Radioman, keep rally refreshed until it’s destroyed.”

If attacking, alternatively:
“Okay spawn main, grab the first MSP, we’re gonna drive it to this point *mark on map*, then move across this treeline, and get a rally here *mark on map*. Try not to get spotted or engaged until the rally goes down. If you see enemies, call them out but don’t shoot.”

If you have inherited the squad and wish to lead it make the change clear to the squad:
"Okay looks like I’m your new squad leader, the other guy left. Radioman just keep rally refreshed for now, the rest of you we’re gonna reposition over here *mark on map*, and help out Squad 4, they are getting hit really hard., Marksman and medic stay here for now, the rest of you follow me”

Making these changes immediately clear to the squad and keeping them updated on the grander situation really improves their situational awareness and makes them feel engaged, if your squad isn’t engaged they will perform poorly together. This engagement is easily fostered by simply keeping them audibly engaged, talking to them, calling things out, getting them to do things, and keeping them aware at all times. An engaged squad is an active squad, and an active squad is an effective squad.

This is doubly important if playing with multiple friends on discord or god forbid teamspeak in a squad with randoms. The worst thing you can do is make the randoms feel isolated. If you are talking about in-game events or happenings, DO IT THROUGH SQUAD CHAT AND NOT DISCORD OR TEAMSPEAK. The amount of times (sorry Bagel) that I’ve had to tell my friends to call out in squad chat instead of discord is too many. Calling out in discord means that I (the SL), need to relay that information to the rest of my squad, information that could be time sensitive and information that you could have called out in squad chat anyway. Talk to the randoms. All too often I’ll see squads of four to six clan members or friends with the rest randoms and they just do not talk or if they do it’s very rare. Do not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ do this. It is frankly rude, and makes the rest of your squad feel really isolated. It’s pointless and frankly arrogant behaviour and does not belong in a game like Squad 44, where communication is the most important element of the game. ALWAYS ENGAGE WITH YOUR SQUAD.

All squad leaders should be in constant contact with one another and with the platoon commander, relaying information, figuring out squad positioning, requesting assistance etc. There are four different channels you might engage with on the platoon level. There are also methods of communicating directly to an SL or the PL via the direct comms keys, located on the num-pad by default but these can be changed in controls. The numbers 1-9 correlate with the squad number you wish to talk to, 0 being the commander. These are great for when you want to mention something specific to an SL but don’t want to clutter up general command chat.

Platoon Commander

In most public matches, especially with random commanders, the only time you’d ever really talk to command is to request support assets of some variety, an example is as follows:
*using direct comms num 0 default* “Hey command, do you have any artillery/a bomb/smoke/strafes? I need a bomb (for example) on this FOB marked exactly as POI 48”

However if you have a more skilled and competent commander who has the confidence to actually use his intended role as commanding the team’s movements and positioning, then lucky you, ask him for orders if you aren’t sure of where you should go or are needed. However this is rare and usually only happens in clan matches, or if you have someone you know commanding the team. Generally in most cases, the buck stops at the squad leader level and SLs are much more independent than their real-life counterparts.

Infantry Squad Leaders

Infantry squad leaders are the most common form of squad leader. When playing infantry yourself, talk to them about where they are going to place their squads and rallies, and work off that information to try and spread out covered ground. Too many squads in one place for defense especially will leave too many other areas under-covered or not covered at all. Spread out your squads, use Point of Interest markers to make clear where you will be covering or operating. You can also ask for assistance if a situation on your end gets too hot or the enemy has broken through. This is why making sure each squad is spread apart but not too far as to not be able to support one another if ♥♥♥♥ gets difficult fast. Remember, you are a platoon sized element, support one another as such, especially when defending and you’ll be able to hold off the enemy much better. Teeming up with another squad is also a great way to bolster your numbers by a factor of two, which can seriously increase the likelihood of a breakthrough on attack with effective use of smokes and suppression with MGs and fire support weapons, but be aware that bounding tactics and leapfrogging are really difficult to pull off effectively with random players, and are really more reserved for coordinated and intune squads, but if you can pull it off, it does work decently well in-game.

Logistics Squad Leader

Generally speaking the main thing you’ll ask of logi will be to place FOBs and potentially ammo. However I would like to make something clear. Logi SL is already severely overworked, he needs to place at least two FOBs on the map, place defenses for the next objective if defending, and build AT guns or mortars and potentially seek targets for those mortars. Give him time and don’t pester him like a child. Remember your rallies and MSPs should be good enough for most points until logi can support. Generally a good logi SL will tell you that he’s gonna place FOBs and where he will place them. Still it’s okay to ask and sometimes logi SLs do forget. Another thing you will often request from logi are ammo boxes to be built in and around the objective. A good logi SL and his team should do this without being asked, but once again it’s a good idea to remind them politely if it appears they forget.

Another thing is to check the map and directly ask to see if they have built mortars. Usually if they have, they will sometimes make this clear on command comms and you can ask for fire missions by marking fire points on the map. However do be aware that logi can often have their own internal target acquisition in the form of a Forward Observer so don’t worry if it appears logi is ignoring fire missions, there’s a chance that they have their own and they are likely just as relevant. However a good logi should leave at least one mortar available for friendly tasking if need be.

Tank Commanders

Infantry and armour exist symbiotically. Armour supports infantry against large groups of enemy infantry, fortifications, strongpoints, vehicles, and enemy tanks. Infantry supports armour against flanking infantry and AT infantry or sappers. Thus you should constantly be updating your friendly armour on any news of enemy armour, by marking it accurately on the map, type classifying and giving a rough direction of travel if so applicable. If you see friendly armour supporting you on the objective, take the initiative and place your squad close by and around the tank to ensure it doesn’t get snuck up on. If you can keep your tank alive, it will keep you alive. Make clear to friendly TCs that you are going to try and keep them covered and that they should warn you if they decide to reposition or fall-back. As an armour player, having competent infantry support is a godsend, and it is well appreciated. Tanks (usually) want to help you, so help them. Simply having a tank on point or close to it forces enemy infantry to reposition or take different routes. And it’s just kinda cool too.

Rallies have already been mentioned in their own dedicated section but they are again relevant to mention here. Rallies are important for retaining longevity of squad presence close to or around current objectives. They are usually capable of being placed in highly aggressive spots. They are also relatively easy to hide when compared to their team-wide bigger brothers like MSPs or FOBs. They are also (so long as the rest of the team spawns are good), somewhat expendable. Placing a rally isn’t rocket science. It ain’t that deep okay? All too often I’ll watch the cogs churning in real time as my SL decides which specific bush to place it in. Don’t do this. Time is of the essence for rally point placement, just make sure it’s hidden, in a bush, building, behind something. Just not in the open for all to see if you can help it. Rallies are really easy to put down compared to MSPs or FOBs, only requiring two squad members or a radio of some kind, so don’t worry too much about losing it. Just get it in a concealed and or covered position and you’ll be fine.

Some tips:

• Don’t shoot from the rally, it’ll draw unnecessary attention
  
  
• Try not to run in a straight line from the rally to the objective, intelligent enemy players will quickly trace this pathway and find the rally. Be creative with your approach, especially if the rally is behind enemy lines or on a strong flank
  
  
• Do not use grenades to clear the rally of enemies, you will risk doing the enemy’s job for them
  
  
• You can use other SL Radiomen or rally points to place your own rally, but be aware this risks losing two spawns at once, in practice this removed a total of eighteen players from that area. Only do this if no other option is available.
  
  
• Move them every so often to keep the enemy on their feet

Infantry have available to them smaller versions of the dedicated logistics trucks known as 'Infantry Supply Trucks'. These are lesser capacity logistics trucks that allow infantry squad Leaders to place down FOBs. This is supposed to help dedicated logi in their workload. Two spawn at main. They carry 1000 build points, enough for two FOBs. To see how FOB building works check the dedicated section in the Logistics section for more information.

They are also basic transport from moving A-B. Try to keep these vehicles alive and do not throw them away to the enemy. If you lose them and the enemy captures one (to lessen your FOB building potential), it is better to destroy it than spend manpower and time recovering it. Have commander strafe it or friendly armour blow it up.

Note, these trucks look very SIMILAR to MSPs but are NOT the SAME


German IST


American IST


British IST


French IST


NOTE THAT US GMC AND FRENCH LAFFY HAVE IDENTICAL MODELS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE MSP MODEL. CHECK MAP FOR ICONS AND THE BACK OF THE TRUCK FOR SUPPLIES TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

Okay the only definitive rule I will suggest to squad leading is to understand the importance of improvisation and understanding that planning is only ever a general mode of conduct and not a definitive rulebook. You have to be able to realise when something isn’t working, admit the mistake, learn from the mistake, and try another method instead of bashing your head against the same wall hoping it cracks before your skull does. All too often lazy SLs will just send their squad head first into the point over and over again, taking the same route, and haemorrhaging tickets in the process. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for brute force and with enough players it can work, it just doesn’t always work and it sure as ♥♥♥♥ shouldn’t be your go to tactic.

Spawn Killing

Wanna know a secret? This game isn’t an FPS, it’s an RTS where your main goal is destroying enemy spawns. You can kill as many infantry as you’d like but they’re only gonna keep coming back. You gotta cut the flow at the source. That means figuring out the direction of the most common enemy approach, then flanking that direction, getting your specialist classes like sappers, marksmen, even radiomen, or just good old riflemen, to hurry their little legs over there and (ideally) covertly find the spawn. Once accomplished they can destroy it themselves, with a frag grenade if its a rally, or a shovel if its a FOB. Ideally, this is why you use your sappers because they have big ♥♥♥♥-off explosives that can destroy or severely damage any and all spawns they come across, including FOBs and MSPs. If they can’t destroy it, then mark it on the map as accurately as physically possible with the aid of whoever sees it, and have it bombed or strafed by the platoon commander. Alternatively you can be real cruel and have logistics endlessly mortar it to continuously kill morons who insist on spawning on it over and over.

Only then, once the spawns have been eliminated will you have breathing room to start wiping the rest of the enemy from the cap and taking it. Repeat the process until victory.

Squad Placement

You know how I keep saying that SL is like an RTS? Well this is why. Oftentimes if you’ve determined your squad members to be competent enough to listen to more than intermediate instructions then you can start micromanaging the squad. Now generally if you have these players they probably already know what they’re doing and will position themselves in the best possible spots anyway but for the sake of the guide I will explain anyway.

You’ll want to utilise your specialist classes as scouts as much as possible, this includes Marksman, Sapper/Pioneer, Radioman (sometimes) or even AT infantry. Have them wander up front, or onto particular areas of interest you see fit on the map and ask them to hover around those areas and report and act upon any enemy movement. Marksmen and Sappers/AT can really do a number of early pushes by an enemy who otherwise believes themselves to be safe. Essentially, use them as human early warning systems. However you should focus on keeping most of the squad together, the riflemen, medics, radioman, machine-gunner should all remain close to you at all times, as your manpower isn’t very high with nine man squads. Around six-seven at least, any less and you will often struggle against larger forces. This number gives you enough individuals to utilise in a flank, spreading them out on defense. Have MGs watch main avenues of obvious approach like a pontoon bridge, or road. Have your AT go forth and ambush enemy vehicles coming from known areas. Keep your riflemen close to you and one with the AT and MG for ammo resupply and keep medic(s) further back. Try to make sure your squad doesn't give up too much and allow the medics to actually do their jobs. You for the most part should be utilising your binoculars, spotting targets in real time and directing the entire fire of the squad. The Squad is your weapon.

As for the rest of it? Experience. I’m not gonna tell you how to attack every objective in the game because I would end up hanging from a rope. But there are general guidelines, like:

• Stay in cover or at least concealment for as long as the enemy will let you as you push towards the point. Use smoke only when the enemy knows you are coming, otherwise they give away your position (they can be used to trick the enemy sometimes).
  
• The shortest route isn’t always the best, long flanks can be pulled off but you aren’t the Long Range Desert Group so reel it in a little.
  
• Try to surround the point as best as possible, multiple squads push in from multiple angles, this forces defenders to split manpower and turn backs against some of the attackers.
  
• If defending, have at least one squad present inside the capture zone at all times. It might be boring but tough ♥♥♥♥, someone’s gotta make sure we don’t get ninja-capped. If in doubt? Be the SL who defends the point because sure as ♥♥♥♥ no one else will
  
• Have the rest of the squad push out of the cap and onto more forward areas of approach, buildings, watching main avenues for the enemy. Have the specialists, AT, Sappers, Marksmen, push further out.
  
• Don’t overextend. Be constantly aware of your ‘lines’ and be ready to always fall-back to point if it gets hot.
  
• If driving MSP, park it around 100m out of point in an area with decent concealment or cover available for the approach. It ain’t that far to run, you have rallies anyway.

Those are basically the most important aspects to note for squad leading. Also, the most obvious one is only coming to me now but it’s a good idea to learn most of the maps and especially infantry classes at least, before you decide to squad lead. Everybody’s gotta learn some day though and I would bet money (if i had any) that your first experience as SL will be when your previous one either disconnects or makes a squad for the marksman kit. If he does the latter kill his fa- I mean kick him from the squad and report him to the admin.

Main advice? Try not to let it bother you, anxiety is normal and I sometimes feel similar when playing SL after a break even after 2000 hours. But trust me, it’s nowhere near as difficult as it might appear. Just give basic direction, place rally points every so often, keep most of the squad together and talk to them, and the rest will fall into place. From there you just gotta keep doing it. Find your style or niche and harness it. Trial and error baby. Ask questions too, most people are willing to help you. And in the end, the best teacher is experience, so get experience.

Platoon Leader is the most powerful single person in Squad 44. In the right hands, it is a position that can single handedly shift the tide of a battle into your team's favor. It isn't a role to be taken by those inexperienced with the game. You are expected to have the knowledge to guide your team through any rough patches that they may experience on the road to victory. With that being said, how should you play Platoon Leader?


While many see the Platoon Leader as someone who should stay back at main, constantly looking at the map and giving their team orders, I see this as a rather ineffective way to play. I refer to these Platoon Leaders as “Turtling”, and while there are times it is the best thing to do, or even cases it can be effective, this is rare. So how should you play the Platoon Leader for maximum effectiveness?
In my Opinion, there are two distinct play styles for the Platoon Leader that are Effective, The Frontline Commander, and The Saboteur.

My preferred way of playing and the much more fun way, the name is quite self-explanatory. Get stuck in with your squads, fight with your rifle as much as your artillery and get in the objective. With the Platoon Leader costing two tickets per death instead of the usual 1 ticket for every other person on your team, some are hesitant to get into the action and risk dying. This risk is more than worth it however when you look at the upsides.

(There is one important warning with this method however, only use this method if you are competent enough with gunfighting to be able to hold your own. If not, The Saboteur might be a better fit.)

Drastically Increased Situational Awareness

Being on the frontline, you can get a MUCH better idea of what is actually going on. While squad leaders can be very helpful with painting a picture, they are busy leading eight other people and can't always be relied on to give prompt or even accurate information. Using your own eyes will allow you to make much more efficient and proper use of your fire support, as well as coordinate your team much better. Looking at marks on a map is great, but being in the battle will allow you to diagnose threats much better and determine if it's something you yourself could just go mop up on your own with your rifle, if it needs a quick little barrage to sort out, or if you need to redirect the whole team to it.

Major Cap Influence

The Platoon Leader has a somewhat secret passive ability, they have a significant influence on the capture of an objective. To put this into perspective, with no enemies on a point, a regular soldier can capture it fully in two minutes. With just the Platoon Leader on the point, you can cap it fully in just one minute. While defending a point, a Platoon Leader on the objective can significantly slow or even stop the capture of a point with his influence. To not put this ability to use when possible is wasting a valuable tool in your team's toolkit.

The Saboteur takes a step away from the frontline and shifts his focus to disrupting the opponent's rear. Using their own personal command car to get behind enemy lines, they support their troops on the front by taking away spawns and spotting enemy equipment. When using this playstyle, there are a few major things to make sure you are doing.

Destroy Enemy MSPs and FOBs

By going around and blowing up the enemies team wide spawn points using strafes and bombs, you can seriously slow an attack to a halt. Having experience will make this job much easier as you will know the location of common spawn placements.

Spot Tanks for your Armor

While you are on your cruise through the French/Dutch/Belgian/Greek countryside, you are likely going to run into some enemy armor on the way to the battle. By informing your own armor of where this threat is and if possible the type of armor, you will give your own armor crews a massive advantage.

Reconnaissance

Generally, what is the enemy doing? Giving you squad leaders a heads up on the likely direction of a new enemy effort, calling out a mass movement of soldiers, etc.

In this section, we will be going over everything you need to know about the fire support available to the Platoon Leader. We will be going over some of the mechanics of each call in, and the situations you should use them in to avoid wasting valuable assets.


Artillery

Mechanics - High Explosive

• Fires 4 -12 Rounds
  
• 60 Rounds available
  
• Min Spread of 75m , Max Spread of 175m (Note: Spread is the DIAMETER)
  
• Does no damage if it isn't within the target's line of sight of explosion (Ex. Completely ineffective against people in buildings unless they are standing by a window or door)
  
• 12 round Barrage Last 24 Seconds, Time between each round is 2 seconds
  
• Cool Down for 4 Round Barrage = 5 Mins
  
• Cool Down for 12 Round Barrage = 10 Mins

When to use High Explosive arty:

• Squad or more of enemy infantry either…
  
• In the open
  
• In a trench network
  
• In a forest
  
• In a pinch on an MSP
  
• On an area with a suspected nest of enemy spawns (Like a group of rallies)

When NOT to use High Explosive arty:

• Less than a Squad of Infantry
  
• In a city (Can be useful, but save it if you can as buildings will prevent most damage)
  
• On a tank (As of now it will only track it, just use a strafe instead)

Mechanics - Smoke

• Fires 2-5 Rounds
  
• 20 Rounds available
  
• Min Spread of 50m , Max Spread of 125m (Note: Spread is the DIAMETER)
  
• IS WHITE PHOSPHORUS Will kill people so dont drop on friendly's (Not a good substitute for HE rounds when it comes to killing enemies however)
  
• 5 round Barrage Last 10 Seconds, Time between each round is 2 seconds
  
• Cool down 2 round barrage = ~2 mins
  
• Cool down 5 round barrage = ~7.5 mins

When to use smoke arty:

• Before an attack on a position to block LOS and deal some damage
  
• Place NOT in front of BUT on top of the defending enemy to completely blind them

When NOT to use smoke arty:

• As a substitute for HE

Strafes

Mechanics

• Calls in Fighter Aircraft to strafe from point A to B
  
• The Run is about ~66m long (two of the smallest grid squares in length)
  
• Time from Call-in to Guns firing is 30 Seconds
  
• Cooldown = ~10 Mins

When to use a strafe:

• On a rally you want to destroy
  
• On MSP’s that are adequately in the open
  
• On a tank in order to double track it (Usually in prep for a followup bomb)
  
• On a single person who has been sitting in a bush too long (Very Personal)

When NOT to use a strafe:

• In a city (Not too effective, just like the other assets)
  
• Besides that, just dont willy nilly waste them too much, not much else to say

Bombers

Mechanics

• Calls in Dive bomber to drop a bomb
  
• Bomb is 100% accurate
  
• Absolute destruction of everything within a sphere shape that has an EXACTLY 33m Diameter (if you are even 1cm outside of this range, you will be perfectly fine, there is no in-between)
  
• Bomb will kill through cover
  
• Bomb will Insta kill people
  
• Bomb will Insta kill light vehicles
  
• Bomb will insta kill all armor
  
• Bomb will obliterate Logi built structures
  
• Time from Call-in to impact is 55 Seconds
  
• Cooldown = ~15 Mins

When to use a bomb:

• On an FOB
  
• On an MSP, but you don't have a strafe / the strafe is too hard to get off
  
• On immobilised armor, or on armor that is staying still too long (use strafe first if possible to immobilise the tank)
  
• On a building infested with infantry (Ex. Hotel on Velmolen)

When NOT to use a bomb:

• On any infantry that is not packed in a building / tightly packed defenses (Seriously, don't waste a bomb on infantry unless they are packed in an area)
  
• On an MSP if you can strafe it (If not, then use a bomb)
  
• On rallies (Use strafe instead, 99% of the time not worth bomb)
  
• On Armor that is moving consistently

Okay before we get into the specifics and details of each tank, AFV and vehicle we need to preface something important. The 2021 Armour Overhaul fundamentally changed the mechanics of the armour and vehicle systems. It changed armour penetration, driving mechanics, added a transmission system, with throttle percentage and gears for specific speeds, internal damage models like spalling, crew damage and death, ammo fires, added more modules and components to be damaged, changed how tank and anti-tank ammunition functions, how AT infantry weaponry and equipment functions. It changed everything. It was also never finished, nor was it ever really polished beyond one or two minor updates. Just beware that you WILL encounter frankly ridiculous moments that simply don’t make any sense. The armour overhaul when it works is really a fun experience…when it works. We will get into the specifics later but for now expect the occasional BS and try to live with and work around it if you can. Hopefully with new development, and especially considering modders have fixed most of these issues already, that these problems will be remedied in the future. Hopefully.

The main purpose of a tank no matter the class, weight, type etc is in its purest essence, to be a mobile gun platform. That’s it. Everything else is secondary to a more specific purpose. At the end of the day, if it has a gun, it can support friendly infantry or kill vehicles, whether it be an M5 Stuart or a Jagdtiger. They can all do it, just to various degrees of success. Thus a tank is nothing without its gun, and a gun needs ammunition to fire.



High Explosive

Arguably one of the most succinctly described names for an ammunition type. It does what it says on the tin, or brass. It explodes, highly. It is especially good at blowing up soft and squishy targets, like infantry and their assortment of soft skinned transport vehicles. It will often do it in spectacular or horrifying fashion depending on if you’re doing the shooting or the one being shot at. Use against infantry in the open, behind cover, inside buildings. Really wherever you can. Is useful for instantly killing soft skinned trucks, halftracks but does NOT work on light armoured cars unfortunately.

High Explosive Anti-Tank

The tank barrel fired HEAT of WWII was first primarily utilised by the Germans in the form of Hl.Gr. 38A/B/C. It proved quite useful against heavier French armour where APCR was not available for the 75mm L/24 used by the Panzer IV C/D and StuG III A. It worked well against early heavy tanks but the rifling twist hampered its potential penetration and this wouldn’t improve until the introduction of HEAT-Fin Stabilsed post-war.

HEAT in-game however is pretty terrible for its intended purpose. Just like its AT infantry equivalents, tank fired HEAT also bounces on 15 degree vertical headings and 30 degree horizontal. Hl.Gr.38A has a penetration of 50mm used only by the Panzer IV D, the StuG III A and later Panzer IV H and StuG III G have access to Hl.Gr.38B with 80mm of penetration and Hl.Gr.38C literally does not penetrate armour. It should be 100mm but instead it functions almost identically to the High Explosive round. Except for that tank HEAT is actually better against fortifications compared to HE so do with that what you will. I did say the armour overhaul wasn’t finished. In practice it should be used only as a substitute for HE (ironic considering this is actually the main reason why it stayed in German tank ammo compositions until the end of the war).

Armour Piercing

Once again, another self explanatory label. AP, usually takes the form of a solid slug of steel, designed to penetrate the armour of enemy tanks and AFVs. It can also penetrate materials like walls, buildings etc. When penetration occurs there is an effect called ‘spalling’. This is essentially internal shrapnel. The physical destruction of the armour plate or wall will inevitably send dozens of tiny or large fragments or chunks of what was previously the armour plate and the penetrator into the fighting compartment of the tank. This will inevitably damage or kill crew, components, like ammo, fuel, the engine, turret ring, the gun etc. put enough of these into a tank and it will suffer what is called a ‘hull break’.

There are AP-HE rounds that have hollowed out cores and within them small amounts of explosive filler predominantly to provide incendiary effects against ammo or fuel and to bolster pre-existing spalling via fragmentation of the shell casing which produces conical spall within itself and further increases the range of previously formed spall via the initial penetration. It is not a 360 degree nuke like War Thunder would suggest. In reality the post-penetration effects of similar calibre rounds both solid shot and APHE were relatively similar, with solid shot usually retaining its overall structure whereas APHE provided ever so slightly better damage against soft targets, like crew, ammo or fuel. However currently there is a stark difference in performance between the two types in game.

APHE can be used to kill infantry inside buildings by penetrating the wall.

In-game solid AP produces spalling upon penetration. APHE produces no spalling upon penetration but instead uses its explosive filler to create fragmentation. This distinction is both unrealistic and frankly confusing.

Sub-Calibre

These consist of APCR, HVAP (which is just a renamed APCR) and APDS. In short these are full calibre shells with a tungsten or hardened steel core surrounded by a softer steel outer shell. APDS takes this concept but removes the outer shell upon leaving the barrel, these are called 'sabot'. The premise is similar, dense, small projectile, the difference is in delivery. These rounds are capable of penetrating significantly more armour at the cost of worse angled performance (in game it's worse than real life). APCR/HVAP bounce at 30 degree vertical and horizontal headings (APDS does not for some reason). In game this translates to a high velocity, relatively flat trajectory and high penetration and damage at the cost of comedically bad angled performance. Best used against flat surfaces like Cromwells, Churchills and Sherman sides. Will one shot kill light vehicles.

There are two main types of AP round in-game, Solid core shot that has no filler, and hollowed core shell filled with explosive filler, also known as AP and AP-High Explosive. Solid shot includes APCR/HVAP, APDS and British AP/APC/APCBC rounds. In the infinite wisdom of the balancing decisions made for the Armour Overhaul, one was taken here, to separate solid shot and APHE as mechanically different rounds. I would like to mention one thing first, a major aspect of the overhaul was to remove the health based damage system that had existed prior to the overhaul. The previous system whilst consistent (the same can't be said about its replacement) was pretty gamey for lack of a better word. It was a simple case often of penetrate two-three times to kill and if you had the slower rate of fire you simply died.

The overhaul was stated to remove the health-based system in favour of a component and crew damage system. Essentially you needed to kill three critical components to destroy the tank and within this rulescape you could kill crew, start fires, take out the gun etc and there was overall a lot more depth and knowledge of component and crew positions per tank required to win engagements. However the issue arose when it became clear that this health based system didn’t entirely go away. All solid shot rounds deal massive damage to both components and the hull, this includes APCR, APDS and British AP/APC/APCBC. Explosive filler based rounds, (German PzGr. 39 series, US M61/M62) did not get this same massive damage increase against hull health. This ends up creating a binary imbalance where most allied armour simply only needs to penetrate the interior of a tank a few times, killing the tank through means of depleting its overall health pool.

This is simply not possible in the same manner with APHE, as the hull damage it does is miniscule in comparison forcing you to aim for specific components, like was always intended. In-practice, one side doesn’t have to aim for components but the other does which defeats the entire point of removing the health-based system in the first place. The greater irony is that APHE, when it does hit components, or crew or even ammo, is a total gamble as to whether or not anything significant happens because of the random and inconsistent post-penetration effects. Solid shot on the other hand will damage what it hits every single time, and will usually kill it in the first shot. For example, solid shot will detonate ammunition with one hit, but APHE will provide a 50/50 chance of starting a fire and will require a second shot to detonate (provided the ammo isn't already damaged). This is all the while the enemy tank continues shooting back at you because for some reason only known to God himself the loader is capable of reloading when the ammunition is literally ON FIRE. What this does in practice is that it forces German tanks to use solid shot if they wish to compete head to head against allied armour, but the only solid shot available to German tanks is APCR, the same APCR that is subject to 30 degree vertical automatic bounce curves meaning that you cannot engage Shermans from the front reliably.

So we have come back full circle to the same gameplay that existed before the Armour Overhaul except now, one side has to use an artificially nerfed round to fully compete. Truly a confusing set of decisions that never needed to be implemented in such a way and has created endless arguments and discussion as such. Ten whole months by the way, really the history of this game’s development in a microcosm. Ideally, the best fix would be to bring APHE up to the standard of solid shot so that it provides similar damage, has penetration spall, with a little extra fragmentation and incendiary effect. That’s it. The two round types did not perform THAT much differently in real life to warrant the large gap in consistent performance present in-game.

All Armoured Fighting Vehicles in game have both component health points and an overarching hull health. This hull health is tied to penetrating shots and or spalling which impacts the interior of the hull. Solid shot does a lot more damage than APHE and thus depletes hull health very quickly. However if three major internal components are destroyed, the tank becomes hull broken to simulate the eventual loss of overall armour and structural integrity. This will force the crew to bail out or go up with the tank. The gun cannot be fired, but the vehicle can still move around for a little bit if the transmission and engine are still intact, and tracks of course.

The most immediate sign of a hull break is a loud pop alongside a large puff of white smoke pouring from the barrel and smoke from the engine; other miscellaneous pieces will fly outward too. Not to be confused with a simple cannon barrel destruction, which can appear similar but is not the same. Once you see this, hold your fire and move onto the next target or whatever you plan on doing.

If using APHE, focus on the engine, or ammo. Engine and fuel fires are useful as they force the crew to get out and extinguish the fire or else it’ll spread to the rest of the tank. This gives you the opportunity to kill the crew getting out and it usually sets in panic for inexperienced tank crews, especially if they are random and don’t know each other well. Multiple shots into the turret might take out the gun or gunner too which castrates the target, making it an easier kill but this is unreliable. Aiming for crew on paper should be a good strat but the mixture of weak and inconsistent damage output plus the lack of any visual feedback to crew death means this is a much less viable tactic.

If using a solid shot, aim for the ammo if you know where it is, usually it’ll instantly explode when hit. Otherwise multiple generalised penetrating rounds centre-mass, especially into the turret will quickly destroy the tank.

Fire spreads. Fire burns. Do not let fire spread. There are two fire types; fuel/engine fires and ammunition fires. Fuel.engine fires can be dealt with, ammo fires cannot. There is however a stupid caveat to ammo fires, they do not stop you from firing and reloading the gun until total a catastrophic explosion. This means for tanks with very high fire rates like the five seconds of the M4A3 or Panzer IV H, they can fire two or sometimes three rounds before exploding, which absolutely can kill you. I have died a number of times to an enemy tank that by all means was dead to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rights, and have done the same to the enemy but this massive oversight forces trades anyway. Like I’ll keep repeating, the armour overhaul was never finished, nor particularly polished.

Fuel and engine fires on the other hand, can be extinguished. Each crewman has a fire extinguisher in their inventory. When a fire starts there will be multiple signs, one on the UI icons on the left of the screen, you can hear it, and there will be a minor vignette on your screen. Deal with this as fast as possible because it can spread quickly otherwise. Have ideally the least important crewman to the tank’s overall operation like the Commander or hull machine-gunner get out. Extinguishing fires can be a little finicky but you want to get as close as possible to the burning component, aim at the component and hold down Mouse 1 for as long as you can, don’t let go, trust the process. DON’T CLICK, INSTEAD HOLD. It will sometimes look like it isn’t working but it is, the process is pretty poorly communicated to the player. You will know the fire is out when the component smokes up and hisses. It will need full repair but it is not burning anymore.

Combat vehicles take damage. Strange really. Anyway there are two ways to repair damage.

Magic Wrench

Each crewman, logistics member and sometimes sappers/pioneers carry a repair wrench. This wrench appears to hold magical properties which allow the user to mimic the tightening of an invisible bolt on any damaged or destroyed component and slowly repair its health points back up to 100%. It takes 15 seconds to repair each fully destroyed track and 30 seconds for major components. However the one thing that can’t be repaired is the commanders sanity after the third instantaneous ammo rack death in a row. Only kidding, he killed himself some time ago. The overall hull health of the tank will require something bigger. A crane.



Repair Crane

There are two kinds of repair cranes. The one in the main base and the ones built by logi in the field. All SLs can build these inside FOBs for 250 build points. This can be built without logi. The tank commander needs to get out, place it down and have one of his sla- I mean trusted and beloved crewmembers dig it up. Once active the crane will show a repair timer. This timer can be interrupted if the tank takes damage or has recently taken damage. It shouldn’t last too long but it exists to stop the old exploit of sitting next to a repair crane and essentially being semi-invincible. Remember to turn off the engine when waiting else you will be heard from 300m or less. Repair cranes also restore full ammo.

Generally there are two methods to armour gameplay: infantry support or tank destroying. Both are useful, but you need to be able to determine when it is and isn’t a good scenario to choose a specific method. Luckily there is usually another armour squad playing alongside you. This means that roles can be split, or conjoined. And at the end of the day, it’s often which method you prefer and feel most confident doing.

Infantry Support

Since their conception, the primary purpose of a tank is to support infantry. It does this with its main gun, capable of firing HE, sometimes smoke, and for most tanks they will carry more MG rounds than an entire infantry platoon is allotted. Most tanks will have ammo compositions which reflect this, usually carrying large amounts of HE rounds and multiple belts for the hull and coaxial MGs. Do not be afraid to use this ammo, it is there for a reason. This requires close cooperation with the friendly infantry around you. Make sure they know you are there to help.

Call out that you will be doing infantry support and that the infantry should make genuine attempts to watch your flanks and keep them clear of enemy AT specialists. In turn you will help suppress enemy strongpoints, windows, bunkers, trenches, foliage etc with your immense mobile fire power. This is an idealised example because sometimes you get unlucky and the supporting infantry is either lazy, too busy or simply not capable of keeping you covered, for a multitude of different potential reasons.

This is important to note that you should place yourself in some kind of cover when you can because if you just sit in an open field you cannot expect friendly infantry to help you if they have no way of reaching you without cover. Try to be constantly aware of your own position and how it relates to both your friendlies and enemies. You do not want to get overrun after the friendly infantry was killed and you have been too tunnel visioned to notice, the same goes the other way, try not to extend too far out of friendly infantry’s realistic and practical reach. It’s a balance that needs to be struck and isn’t always possible. Once again, trial and error. The only way you will learn is through experience.



One main flaw with this playstyle is that it leaves you vulnerable to enemy armour as they will know where you are likely before you know where they are due to the enemy constantly marking your position. This means that you must be constantly vigilant for enemy tanks creeping up on your flanks, with your eyes, ears, and listening to comms, asking about enemy armour and overall keeping your head on a swivel. A final note is to not stay still for too long, else you risk being bombed by enemy aircraft called in by the commander.

Overall, a good tank crew in tune with each other can really rain hell on the enemy which can often lead to infantry breakthrough into the objective or the blunting of an attack. Likely the best playstyle for when you are learning how to play armour.


Tank Destroying

This is a more situationally useful method of tank gameplay. It is also much more likely to be successful if your crew is experienced and has decent map knowledge and prediction abilities, of which come with time. This playstyle essentially involves bypassing the current objective to go behind enemy lines and hunt for armour coming to reinforce the point, enemy logi setting up spawns or defenses, MSPs leaving to set up near point, and already placed spawns like FOBs or parked MSPs. Oftentimes it will involve picking a particular ambush position with good coverage of a suspected route of advance for enemy vehicles, or if you have forward logi scouts or recon cars, marking enemy armour movement on the map you can go to intercept.

The primary advantage of this playstyle is that it removes enemy assets, particularly armour from the map or delays them getting to the current objective to aid in the attack/defense, increasing the chances your team can take the objective.

However it has one major flaw, there will be a lot of downtime involved. Essentially, you are going to spend a lot of time doing what amounts to nothing in practice. Sure you might be driving around the enemy backlines but the ratio of time between engaging enemy armour or more general assets is so small versus that of time spent driving around not encountering anything. You will spend five minutes, sitting, waiting, or driving around and maybe 30 seconds to a minute shooting at something and then repeating the process. The shooting part is obviously very helpful but at the end of the day you aren’t supporting your infantry who very well may be getting their asses kicked by the enemy. Another issue is that because of how large many maps are, and the fact that there is no reason to stick to roads due to a lack of an off-road mobility nerf, often times you can wait in a spot and have the intended target simply bypass you accidentally like ships in the night making your entire reasoning for being there void.

I’m not saying that this method of gameplay is a waste of time, because it isn’t, it does have its uses when performed competently, it's just that your time is probably better spent being constantly relevant to the battle, by supporting your infantry close to or on the objective, especially if you have less experience with armour. This is especially true if you are the only armour squad active in the team. Too many times I have seen the only available tank squad simply piss off into the boonies and have basically no long term game influence but will celebrate when they kill an MSP and scout car from the enemy main, whilst their infantry is being ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ by the enemy defenders. This method of gameplay should be reserved for when there are multiple armour squads running at the same time, so you can split duties. But leave the spawn hunting up to the Logi, Commander, Pioneers and armoured recon cars. Use your mediums and heavies to engage the objective.

Specialised vehicles have a unique method of spawning. In main base you will find three large wooden platforms with a sign next to them showing light/recon, medium and heavy. There can only be a maximum of three AFVs on the field at once.



These are the three class types of armour in game. When you walk up to any of the signs and interact with them you will be shown the armoured card deck available to you for that match. The weight class options are randomly chosen out of a number of premade decks. Below are in-game examples of three different decks, each on the same layer and map.







This system means that you can get really good decks and other times horrible, no-good, downright impossible to utilise decks. It’s not the most balanced system but it forces you to work around it and really can test your skill as a tanker. Sometimes you’ll just get a terrible deck whilst the enemy will have an amazing one. Accept this reality and try to work around it. The best tankers deal with the cards they are dealt. The most important part is that once you lose a tank or armoured car, it is gone for good. Your armour assets are finite. Do not waste them.

This game is not Battlefield. If you want to crew a tank you are going to need at least two people, three for good situational awareness and four for extra support in spotting, repairing and covering. There are four roles, all important in their own right but some more than others. This section will give a generalised description of the purpose, expectation and job of each position as they are the same universally in every tank.

Some might argue (I am some) that the driver is the most important position in a tank. Quite simply, a tank lives and dies by the skill of its driver. Ask any Panther crew in WWII - wait you can’t because they died after their sixteen year old driver backed-up into a ditch and blew out the final drives. The point is that the driver needs to have both initiative, and situational awareness. A good commander trusts his driver (and his crew more generally) to make the right decisions and sometimes overruling his directions can save the tank. Having fast reaction times especially in tanks that rely heavily on their frontal armour (like the Panther) and the ability to quickly turn and face the enemy, to make decisions that rely on information unbeknownst to any other crew member can save the tank, such as spotting infantry AT and pivoting to face it for a non-penetrating hit.

The driver must also be ready to change direction or totally reposition at a moment's notice. Reading the map in downtimes and looking for ideal avenues of travel or escape are also important skills to have. He must always scan the road ahead for obstacles, AT weaponry or mines that might be of threat. Finally, simply practising the actual driving mechanics, learning when to shift gears, the intricacies of each vehicle, which tanks have strange exploitable transmission mechanics (like gear-spam speed boosts), what gear is ideal for cruising without losing too much fine control of the tank and the ability to instantaneously react to the sound of an incoming bomb and avoid certain death are all invaluable skills. Essentially, your driver will keep the tank alive by staying mobile. A strength often overlooked in favour of the main armament.

The bow gunner or hull machine-gunner is probably the least important to the immediate function of the tank out of the four crew members but he still has a useful job that can only be a benefit with his addition. He is in the end an extra hand, pair of eyes, ears and he can cover the front of the tank within a roughly 30-45 degree cone of fire with his machine gun. He can get out and dig down mines, fill in for the commander if he dies or gets out to act as forward recon, and replace any of the necessary crew slots if something happens to any of them. Generally a very versatile spot that can fill a variety of roles and niches.

If the commander is the brain of the tank and the driver its legs, then the gunner is the huge oak wood cupboard about to fall onto the soft, under-developed skull of the toddler staring stupidly up at its inevitable demise. Your job is simple in theory. Shoot the big gun. Load the big gun. Shoot the small gun. Load the small gun. You are both the gunner AND the loader. You choose what rounds to load by using the number keys on your keyboard by default.

Know your ammo types. This is extra vital because each round has a separate function or mechanical place in the game. Often in Allied tanks you’ll be given multiple AP rounds and you need to know what is better. Generally, capped (APC) and ballistic capped (APCBC) rounds will have overall better penetration. Prioritise the better rounds first and only use the lesser when out of ammo. So when your commander orders you to load ‘AP’, be sure to load the best one that isn’t sub-calibre.

HE rounds are for killing infantry and soft targets. They DO NOT work against armoured cars.

HEAT is basically HE that trades explosive mass for penetration. Good against buildings, fortifications and lightly armoured vehicles but will suffer 15 degree vertical and 30 degree horizontal auto-bounces so they kinda suck against armour but can one-shot-kill armoured cars like APCR/HVAP/APDS.

APCR/HVAP and APDS are for the heaviest of armour your normal AP cannot penetrate. APDS and HVAP should be used against Tiger IIs and Panthers predominantly. APCR should be used against the sides of Shermans, and front of Cromwells and Churchills. Remember APCR/HVAP bouces on a 30 degree vertical heading. If it's sloped. It will most likely bounce. AIM FOR FLAT PLATES.

APCR should also be used to one-shot-kill armoured cars.

Knowing what your ammo types are, their exact penetration and overall attributes is vital to becoming an experienced gunner. Being able to quickly switch ammo types on the fly is vital as you never know what might come round the corner.

Knowing your targets and how to best kill them is arguably the most important skill for a gunner. At the end of the day it is the gunner’s job to engage the enemy and he is the only one who can engage other armour. This is the longest part of learning how to gun because you need to know each tank, its internals, armour thickness, your round penetration all of which comes from experience. The ‘Armour School’ level in the main menu is very helpful for learning these intricacies but theory must always be put into practice and practice is where and how you truly learn. Once again I recommend playing with a group of friends or people you know, with dedicated assigned positions because it is time consuming to learn a lot of this info.

Some generalised pointers:

• Transmissions are in the lower front (rear if British)
  
• German and British tanks have right hand side gunners. American tanks (Sherman) on the left. (if facing you).
  
• Prioritise turret penetrations. Destroying the gun or traverse is the safest way.
  
• If ambushing a target try to hit the engine to immobilise and start a potential fire.

Ranging is an important skill to have. Being able to hit the first shot on an unaware target is extremely useful in ending the engagement as fast as possible before the target can even retaliate. Thus being able to judge distance without the help of your commander is very important because sometimes your commander can be wrong. You can pair this good eye for distance with the sight ranging mechanic. Hold X and mouse wheel up or down and you’ll hear a clicking and see the sight changing. Line up the desired number (100m increments) with the arrow or tick mark or crosshair and then you’ll be ranged to the correct distance. In my experience this is usually not even required once you figure out the ballistics and intricacies of a specific gun you can usually just know how to aim for what range without using the ranging mechanic but it's there if you wanna anyway I won't stop you I'm not a cop.

Weak spots are important to understand. Very generally, the front plate and front of the turret will always be the strongest spot. The lower front plate will sometimes be weaker. The sides and rear will almost always be weaker and significantly so for certain vehicles like Panther, than that of the front. This does not mean you cannot penetrate the front as many guns by 1944 have either the right ammo type or simply good enough ballistics to penetrate the front of most tanks. For example a match up of Sherman 76mm versus Panther A. The 76mm APCBC cannot penetrate the Panther’s UFP but can go through the turret face and LFP. Another example being the Panzer III F versus Somua S35. The Panzer III's main AP round will suffer against the front of the Somua, but switching to APCR allows to to penetrate the majority of the front surface barring a few odd angled areas of the casting.

Generally, in 1940, French tanks have better armour (Somua S35 and Matilda II) whereas German armour is relatively weak but they have better ergonomics and overall versatility.

In 1944/45 most tanks can kill each other from the front with a few exceptions such as the King Tiger or Jagdtiger and even then the King Tiger is vulnerable in the turret face to 76mm APCR, 57mm APDS and 17-Pounder APCBC. All allied armour is vulnerable frontally to most German guns. However in the case of the Panther and Tiger and eve King Tiger, the 6-Pounder is capable of dealing with them in the turret, LFP and front hull of the Tiger I with simple APCBC or APDS.

At first glance the commander just appears as the guy who spots for targets. This is one of his main jobs, yes, but there is so much more involved than simply spotting targets. The commander is the brain of the tank. He tells the crew where they are going and what they are doing. He should create a plan of action in his head and form a rough timeline of ideal events he wants the crew to be aware of and carry out. He should also be in constant radio contact with friendlies, this includes, logistics for repair cranes and overall recon duties, sister tank squad for potential pairing plays or to relay information of their general location, status and any information they have that would be of relevance to know. Further you should be constantly asking every few minutes for the infantry and general team to firstly call out enemy armour when they see it, what type, where it is currently, where it is headed if moving and to keep tabs on it. Inform infantry of your own movements, if you will move to support them directly, if you plan on flanking the armour.

Secondly you should always call out major engagements such as enemy armour contact,
example:

“Enemy Tiger I spotted EAST of Hotel Zwitserland moving NORTH on tank mark, we are engaging….Tiger I is destroyed”

You must also be ready to make a swift plan up on the fly, especially if a situation has become seriously unfavourable seemingly instantly. An example would be if you are engaging enemy infantry and you hear a call on the radio that there is another tank flanking you from your right, example:

“Gunner load APCR, Driver, reverse back and hard left into this garden we have an enemy Cromwell flanking us from the east, keep gun at 12 o’clock, he’ll be coming from the left of these houses”

Being able to quickly, succinctly and clearly comprehend a callout in command chat, see where is on the map in relation to your position, think of potential scenarios in you mind and then make a plan of action accordingly is a REQUIREMENT to have any longevity in the survivability of your tank and crew. Most of all, DO NOT PANIC. EVER. Keep your cool, an assertive and clear tone is useful but screaming your orders will scare the ♥♥♥♥ out of the rest of your crew and will spread mild to major panic. And frankly it's just annoying. If this happens your effectiveness will deteriorate and you may not be able to reliably deal with an incoming sudden threat. This also goes the other way, of making sure your crew members don’t panic themselves, if you stay calm, even when everything is really ♥♥♥♥♥♥, they will be more likely to also stay calm, and anyway, make sure to keep them calm and give them assurance. It might sound silly but genuine leadership skills directly translate into this game. It is a game of communication and with armour there is a lot of trust involved. This is why I strongly recommend playing armour with friends or people you know. It’s simply too much of an intimate (for lack of a better word) style of gameplay. It’s not like infantry where you can squad lead eight other randoms and likely get the job done, armour is much too punishing if mistakes or hesitation are involved. You need to know and trust your crewmates.

The final job as mentioned previously is to spot targets. You have the best visibility of all of your crew, with a cupola with multiple viewports, sometimes a fully or semi-rotating periscope and the open hatch with eyeball defilade for if things get a little hotter. Unless there is enemy infantry close by you should always be outside the hatch with your binoculars to have the greatest possible visibility. You are the brain but you are also the eyes and ears when outside the hatch. Constantly scan your full view and look for obvious areas of possible approach or ambush. Think if you were over there, what direction or location would you choose, then start from there. Have your gunner use his periscope to help spot if it can move but if it is fixed, have him scan the turret left and right slowly so as to not interfere too much with your own scanning. If you spot a target, call out as follows:

• Tank Name
  
• Round to load
  
• Distance (roughly, use the map prior to estimate ranges based on landmarks if you have been stationary for some time)
  
• Location in relation to an obvious landmark
  
• Direction if moving
  
• Use 3D marking T-Radial menu or hotkey

Example:

• Panzer IV
  
• APC
  
• 200m
  
• Right of those red houses
  
• Right to Left
  
• *Attack Marker*

Remember to use your 3D markers to mark exactly where you are looking by holding T then selecting attack or observe marker. Ideally, BIND OBSERVE/ATTACK MARKER TO A HOTKEY

In the meantime while your gunner is engaging mark the tank on the map and call out to your teammates:
Enemy Panzer IV spotted NORTH of FACTORY headed WEST from marker, we’re engaging.

Revert attention back to what your gunner is shooting. Watch the fall of his rounds, and tell him to adjust if he needs to.

• Too high-right, slightly lower and to the left
  
• Close, slightly higher
  
• Good Hit, fire until dead

If the tank is destroyed, congratulations you just engaged in effective teamwork. Call out the kill on command chat so there is no confusion later as to the whereabouts of a ghost tank.

If the tank escapes or rolls into cover you can either wait for it to come out if you believe you have an angle that can do so. Or you can either reposition or give chase. There is no rule here, use your own discretion. In the meantime call out on command chat that the tank escaped and where roughly it is or where it was headed. Always mark on the map.

Forward Recon

The commander has two very powerful tools, binoculars and hot-keyed 3D marking. You can seriously exploit this with a good gunner. Get out of the tank and try to get on a roof, or some kind of vantage point. You can place 3D markers on spotted enemy positions or tanks, and so long as the physical space between the barrel of the gun and target is clear, no matter if the visual line of sight is blocked, your gunner can engage the targets without seeing them himself. I have killed countless enemy tanks by having my gunner fire on them through three bushlines and kill them. It’s blatantly overpowered obviously and there is basically no realistic way to counter it if you are on the receiving end but it is important to be aware that you can do this and it does work.

Also it is a good habit if you are unsure of what is in front of you to simply stop the vehicle, turn the engine off, get out and look for yourself, especially if your infantry is being extra uncooperative this is sometimes flatly necessary. Only stupid tank crews move into areas blind and unaware, and stupid tank crews end up dead tank crews. Don’t be stupid. Do a little personal recon first, before charging through that bushline or over the crest of that hill.

Updated for Reign of Steel bar like a few vehicles

Armoured vehicles are divided up into three broad categories which generally insinuate the use cases of each vehicle, light/recon, medium and heavy.

These vehicles are lightly armoured, usually quite mobile and have access to small/medium caliber 20mm/37mm/40mm or 50mm cannons. They are not supposed to engage targets head-on but rather utilise their mobility and often smaller silhouette to flank the enemy, hide, do recon duties and harass the enemy rear. They can also function as surprisingly effective tank destroyers when utilising their superior mobility to get around the weaker sides and rear of heavier targets, even capable of circling and out-running the turret traverse of the target. In the case of the 20mm vehicles they act as really effective but cheap infantry fire support, capable of ripping apart groups of infantry and suppressing the rest, however are vulnerable to most armoured targets and most AT equipment. The 37mm+ equipped vehicles often have access to surprisingly effective sub-calibre APCR or high velocity rounds that can easily penetrate the sides and rears of most armour. Use intelligently and you will see great success.


German SdKfz. 222 and 232 8-Rad


Allied M5A1 Stuart and Daimler Mk. II AC

Most medium tanks combine decent armour with decent and sometimes excellent mobility. These tanks are capable of brawling other tanks and engaging enemy infantry directly. Often equipped with 50mm or 75mm guns they are more than capable of defeating armour within their own weight class and sometimes heavier vehicles too. Use them as jack of all trades type vehicles, support infantry where it’s needed then move out to engage spotted enemy armour and come back around to continue supporting. Without a doubt the most versatile AFVs in the game.


German Panzer IV H and StuG III G


Allied Cromwell Mk. I and Sherman M4A3 75mm

Heavy tanks are the largest and most heavily armoured* of their species. Designed to tank (hehe) rounds from most guns, they are capable of withstanding damage but usually for a trade off in mobility. However some heavy tanks are actually mediums in disguise such as the Panther. These are often best used at range or with some separation from potential enemy infantry because of the lack of great mobility their reaction times can often be slow. The range also decreases the effectiveness of incoming kinetic AT rounds which increases the effectiveness of the armour. Use your armour to help with breakthroughs into point but back up and get some distance when on the defense. Your armour is your strength sure, but all good tank crews try their best to avoid being hit in the first place.

*Some tanks in this category are placed here due to firepower reasons more so than actual armour values such as the M4A3 76mm and 17-Pounder Firefly, and to an extent the Panther can be considered like this too as it only has effective front armour with weak sides and rear.


German Tiger I E and Panther A


Allied Churchill Mk. IV and M4A4 Sherman Vc Firefly

*Ammo penetration lists maximum possible at 0m and 0 degrees, for more detail visit the armour school level in the main menu and check the board.

*Front Plate refers to line of average sight thickness in mm. Will mention sides and rear if worthy enough.

Daimler Mk. II AC

Gun - 40mm 2-Pounder
Ammo* - 65 total, 450 coax.
30x APCBC - 82mm
17x HE
Reload - 3.5s
Front Plate* - 10-15mm
Traverse - 30deg/s
Crew - 3



T17E1 Staghound

Gun - 37mm M6
Ammo - 103 total, 2750 coax, 3250 hull
38x AP - 61mm
25x APC - 74mm
40x HE
Reload - 3.5s
Front Plate - 15mm-25mm
Traverse - 25deg/s
Crew - 4



M8 Greyhound

Gun - 37mm M6
Ammo - 80 total, 1500 coax
25x AP - 61mm
20x APC+ - 88mm
Reload - 3.5s
Front Plate - 30-35mm
Traverse - 11deg/s
Crew - 3



These are the three mainline scout cars available to the allied side. The Daimler and Staghound saw British service whereas the Greyhound, only American. These are arguably some of the most busted ass overpowered rat like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you will ever come across. You will learn to fear these skittish freaks of nature barreling around the place at Mach 1 seemingly impossible to hit and more resilient to penetrating hits than they really ought to be. Stay fast, stay agile, hit the flanks of enemy armour, your speed is your life, if they can’t hit you they can’t kill you. All three play very similarly.

M24 Chaffee

Gun - 75mm M6
Ammo - 64 total, 3200 coax, 3200 hull
16x AP - 91mm
16x APCBC-HE - 104mm
24x HE
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 45mm
Traverse - 24deg/s
Crew - 4

Basically a baby Sherman. Fast, mobile, with a little more armour and fire power than its baby brother Stuart, but still a light tank. Currently only seen on Chapter 4 (Battle of the Bulge).



M5A1/Stuart VI

Gun - 37mm M6
Ammo - 147 total, 3500 coax, 3250 hull
30x AP - 61mm
47x APC - 74mm
70x HE
Reload - 3.5s
Front Plate - 40mm
Traverse - 24deg/s
Crew - 4

The Stuart plays essentially the same as the scout cars except it has much more ammo and is tracked. It can act as effective but light and relatively vulnerable infantry fire support and can do decent tank hunting duties and recon with its responsiveness and speed. Versatile but vulnerable.



M18 Hellcat

Gun - 76mm M1A2
Ammo - 45 total, 735 .50cal
11x AP - 149mm
7x APCBC-HE - 149mm
5x HVAP - 190mm
18x HE
4x Smoke
Reload - 7s
Front Plate - 30mm
Traverse - 24deg/s
Crew - 3

The M18 in the right hands is one of, if not the best TD in the game. Extremely fast, manoeuvrable, with an excellent 76mm with a good array of ammo and effective AP rounds. Should be used to hunt enemy armour via ambush and hit and run using mobility but can do light infantry support with HE and top mounted .50cal fire if needed. Prioritise not getting hit as you will be killed. Glass Cannon.



Renault R35

Gun - 37mm L/21 SA 18
Ammo - 105 total, 2400 coax
35x APHE - 13mm
12x APCR - 36mm
58x HE
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 35mm-60mm (odd casting shape)
Traverse - 15deg/s
Crew - 2

Overall this thing is pretty terrible. Its main AP round has less penetration than a .50 caliber so don’t even bother using it. The APCR is serviceable but will still struggle against even the flanks of most German armour, specifically Panzer IIIs, but will deal with the rest okay. It really is terrible there isn’t much else to say. It is good at harassing infantry with its MG and HE but it doesn’t even have good enough mobility (25km/h top speed) to warrant flanking. Use this when you have lost your Somua.



Panhard 178

Gun - 25mm L/72 SA 35
Ammo - 150 total, 3750 coax
150x APCR - 49mm
Reload - 3s
Front Plate - 20mm
Traverse - 20deg/s
Crew - 3

This is objectively better than the R35 in every way apart from armour and lack of HE but the 178 makes up for it in mobility. The 25mm isn’t automatic but its fire rate is faster than most German 37mm so you can usually get a few rounds off before they react. Drive like any other light vehicle. Do not engage head on, ambush and flank. Good tank destroyer for 1940.

Tetrarch Mk. VIII/Little John Muzzle Adapter

Gun - 40mm 2-Pounder
Ammo - 50 total, 2250 coax
30x APCBC - 82mm
20x HE
Little John Adapter
35x APSV++ - 146mm
15x APSV - 125mm
Reload - 3.5s
Front Plate - 15-20mm
Traverse - 30deg/s
Crew - 3

Essentially a Daimler on tracks thus it has slightly worse mobility. It makes up for this however with the 'Little John' muzzle attachment which allows it to fire sub-calibre sabot rounds which have much higher penetration than the base 40mm APCBC. Can engage all German armor from the flanks and some from the front. Use as a cheap TD/Infantry support vehicle. Note the Little John has no HE rounds and only coaxial.





AEC Mk. II

Gun - 57mm QF-6 Pounder Mk. V L/50
Ammo - 60 total, 3375 coax
25x APC - 114mm
15x APCBC- 132mm
20x HE
Reload - 5s
Front Plate -
Traverse - 18deg/s
Crew - 3

Likely the best armored car in the game and one of the best tank destroyers too. Relatively fast, good mobility and great main armament. Think everything that makes the Daimler great and then give it one of the best cannons in the game and you have a recipe for making axis armor's life hell. Use your mobility to cross the map quickly and get into flanks against enemy armor and infantry.

M4A3 75mm/M4A4 Sherman V

Gun - 75mm M3
Ammo - 107 total, 3200 coax, 3200 hull
30x AP - 91mm
25x APCBC-HE - 102mm
45x HE
7x Smoke
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 90mm-100mm
Traverse 25deg/s
Crew - 4

The quintessential allied medium of the war. Arguably the best tank in the entire game it can do anything with the right crew. Best suited to slugging it out for long periods of time against enemy infantry positions and acting as general infantry support, it is more than capable of dealing with most German mediums, Pz. III/IV, StuGs frontally, and anything else (including King Tigers) from the side or rear. Excellent mobility, excellent reload speed, excellent turret traverse. Extremely versatile. I would say it’s the best tank in the entire game. However there is a close runner up, the Cromwell.



Cromwell Mk. I (Gone but not forgotten, this description is here for posterity...RIP 2018-2024).

Gun - 57mm QF-6 Pounder L/43
Ammo - 77 total, 4950 coax, 3150 hull
20x APC - 114mm
24x APCBC - 132mm
3x APDS - 165mm
30x HE
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 65mm flat
Traverse - 20deg/s
Crew - 4

The Cromwell much like the Sherman has tied place for best tank in the entire game. Fast top speed, high acceleration, easy to drive, arguably one of the best tank cannons in the game capable of killing even big cats frontally, fast reload, responsive turret controls. To be honest the only real downside to the Cromwell is its relatively weak armour that can be penetrated by basically all common AT weaponry. Thus staying mobile is your best asset. It's a menace as a flank machine and can cover large portions of ground faster than most German armour except their armoured cars. It is also generally less frequent than the Sherman due to its strengths. An extremely versatile tank, but where the Sherman 75 leans more closely to infantry support, the Cromwell acts as a better overall tank destroyer but fills both niches adequately.

Cromwell Mk. IV

Gun - 75mm OQF-Mk.V
Ammo - 64 total, 4950 coax, 3150 hull
21x AP - 91mm
15x APCBC-HE - 104mm
21x HE
8x WP
Reload - 5.3s
Front Plate - 65mm flat
Traverse - 20deg/s
Crew - 4

Essentially a Cromwell I with a 75mm identical to the Sherman. Uses the same ammo and has the same statistics. It trades overall ammo count and armor for greater mobility and speed. The 75mm is not as capable of the 57mm at tank killing so utilise your mobility to flank and your gun to support infantry.



M10 Wolverine

Gun - 76mm M7
Ammo - 54 total
17x AP - 149mm
25x APCBC-HE - 149mm
12x HE
Reload - 7s
Front Plate - 65mm
Traverse - 3.5deg/s
Crew 3

The M10 is basically the poor man’s M18 or M4A3 76, take your pick. The gun is really good but the chassis is an M4A2 with less armour. The open turret is only hand cranked meaning the traverse is so bad you will often need to aim the entire hull like a fixed assault gun to get on target, though this is less of an issue at range. It also has poor ability to take rounds apart from infantry AT rockets bouncing the front plate, sides and turret due to the 15 degree auto-bounce feature. It lacks a coaxial or hull mounted MG so defense against infantry is a lot harder. Otherwise it’s a backup for when you lose your Shermans. It’s not terrible but it’s not top of the food chain either. Great gun, everything else is mediocre. Good ambush predator or cheap infantry support.



17-Pdr M10C Achilles

Gun - 76mm QF-17 Pounder
Ammo - 50 total
30x APCBC - 190mm
5x APDS - 218mm (currently uses 77mm value, 17-Pdr should be around 280mm)
10x HE
5x Smoke
Reload - 7s
Traverse - 3.5deg/s
Front Plate - 65mm
Crew - 3

Take everything said about the M10 and change the main cannon to be a significantly better tank killer and that's the review. Basically an M10 with a much better AT gun but still suffers the same issues of no coax, open top, sluggish and poorly armored. Great TD. Mediocre tank. Looks cool as hell though.



M36 Jackson Gun Motor Carriage

Gun - 90mm M3
Ammo - 49 total.
35x APCBC-HE - 173mm
4x APCR - 287mm
10x HE
Reload - 7.5s
Traverse - 7.5deg/s
Front Plate - 65mm
Crew - 3

The final evolution of US Tank Destroyers of WWII, the Jackson is an up-gunned M10 with slightly better mobility and turret traverse. The 90mm is a significant upgrade from the M10's 3-Inch, not so much in the APCBC department but rather the obscenely powerful yet very limited M304 APCR round it has capability of dealing with even Tiger IIs frontally. The APCBC is good, but not firefly levels. Nonetheless it will easily deal with all German armor in the game. Same advice applies as the other M10s.



Somua S35

Gun - 47mm SA35 L/32
Ammo - 50 total, 3300 coax
20x APC - 62mm
30x HE
Reload - 7s
Front Plate - 50mm-80mm (casting varies)
Traverse - 10deg/s
Crew - 2

The best the French have to offer all round. Overall the S35 is a solid tank. The APC round will deal with all German armour frontally without issue. It’s decently mobile for what it is. Has effective frontal armour capable of withstanding 37mm and 75mm fire. The lower plate is a weakness but the odd angles of the casting make it difficult to get good snapshots in. German crews will struggle to kill you if they are inexperienced. Overall good infantry support tank with more than capable tank killing potential.

M4A4 Sherman Vc Firefly

Gun - 76mm QF-17 Pounder
Ammo - 84 total, 5000 coax
18x AP - 171mm
11x APC - 171mm
20x APCBC - 190mm
28x HE
7x Smoke
Reload - 8s
Front Plate - 90mm (add-on armour can up this drastically sometimes)
Traverse - 16deg/s
Crew - 3

The Firefly is everything you love about the Sherman except now it has a gun rivalling that of the Panther’s KwK 42 in performance. The 17-Pounder is the most powerful AT gun available to the allies capable of killing all German armour, including the Big Cats frontally. Its main round, APCBC, goes clean through the Tiger I at all ranges, Panther’s UFP within 500m or less, and easily through the turret and can go through the hull MG or turret face of the Tiger II from within 100m but still best to hit it from the side. One of the best tanks available to the allies, can be used similarly to the M4A3 but with extra tank killing potential and a slower fire rate.



M4A3E8 Sherman 76mm HVSS

Gun - 76mm M1A2
Ammo - 71 total, 3200 coax, 3200 hull
20x AP - 149mm
17x APCBC-HE - 149mm
6x HVAP - 190mm
23x HE
5x Smoke
Reload - 7.4s
Front Plate - 90mm
Traverse - 14deg/s
Crew - 4

The Sherman 76 plays almost identically to its 75 counterpart with the primary difference being the gun. The 76mm is the same found on the M18 and offers anti-tank performance similar to that of the Panzer IV’s KwK 40. It has access to HVAP which will up its penetration performance to similar levels as the 17-Pounder however still hindered by the 30 degree vertical auto-bounce mechanic present for APCR rounds, meaning you cannot penetrate the UFP of a Panther. Stick to the basic AP, it does more damage than APCBC-HE and has the same penetration values, only downside is that it is slightly more prone to bouncing due to the lack of a ballistic cap for angle normalisation. You can deal with Tiger Is frontally, Panthers in the turret/LFP and King Tigers at very close range with APCR to the turret face but still best to engage side-on. It drives a little worse than its 75mm counterpart probably because it was artificially nerfed due to being classed as a heavy tank. Still decently mobile but is paradoxically sluggish even when it should be the most mobile Sherman.




Valentine Mk. XI

Gun - OQF-75mm Mk. V
Ammo - 45 total, 2700 coax
15x AP - 91mm
10x APCBC-HE - 104m
15x HE
5x WP
Reload - 5.5s
Front Plate - 60mm
Traverse - 15deg/s
Crew - 3

Relatively unremarkable tank by 1944. Mediocre armor, terrible mobility and speed (25km/h), mediocre gun handling. It's only saving grace is the 75mm which is a good infantry support gun however the tank does not get nearly enough ammo to have any longevity. Avoid this if possible and use it as a last resort. It kinda looks cool I guess.



Challenger Mk. VIII

Gun - 76mm QF-17 Pounder
Ammo - 48, 3750 coax
23x APCBC - 191mm
7x APDS - 218mm (Should be 280mm)
15x HE
3x Smoke
Reload - 6s
Front Plate - 65mm flat
Traverse - 30deg/s
Crew - 3

The British really, really liked the 17 Pounder and thus made many attempts to implement the gun onto whatever chassis they had lying around. The Challenger (not the modern MBT) was one of these designs. Taking a Cromwell hull and attaching a specially made turret to it created the Challenger, a surprisingly effective albeit ugly as hell and vulnerable tank destroyer. It was generally more successful and preferred than the Sherman Vc or 'Firefly' as it had a turret specifically designed for the 17-Pounder.

The turret is both a strength and weakness. It is very tall and very flat at only 100mm RHA it will not withstand hits from most German AT weapons. However on the flip side it has an excellent traverse of 30deg/s and reload of 6 seconds. Pair this with the fact that it's on the Cromwell hull, albeit a little heavier it nonetheless has excellent mobility and speed. Utilise it as a TD first, and then a support tank once most German armor has been dealt with. The main downside for support operations is the relative lack of ammo compared to the Sherman Firefly.



Comet Mk. I

Gun - 77mm OQF Mk. II HV
Ammo - 61 total, 4950 coax, 3150 hull
28x APCBC - 160mm
3x APDS - 218mm
25x HE
5x Smoke
Reload - 6.5s
Front Plate - 75mm flat
Traverse - 21deg/s
Crew 4

The Comet is a direct descendent of the Challenger and would be the ancestor to the famous early Cold War Commonwealth MBT, the Centurion. In game it is similar but in many aspects worse than the Challenger, mainly because it has a different main gun of the 77mm HV, a shortened 17-Pounder designed to fit into the turret. This means it has lower muzzle velocity and thus noticeably worse performance in terms of armor penetration. The 77mm APCBC is akin to the 76mm M1 of the Sherman with around 160mm base penetration for it's main APCBC round. It does have access to a great APDS but only three so use them wisely.

A notable nicety is the relatively high gun depression at -12 degrees allowing you to hull down and better utilise terrain for cover which may be necessary considering the mediocre armor of this tank at only 75mm front RHA. Either way its main gun will go through most German armor bar the Tiger II and Jagdtiger which require flanking shots. Overall think of the Comet as a direct upgrade to the Cromwell I/IV and a sidegrade to the Challenger.

Churchill Mk. IV

Gun - 57mm QF-6 Pounder L/50
Ammo - 95 total, 9450 coax, 3150 hull
26x APC - 114mm
30x APCBC - 132mm
3x APDS - 190mm
36x HE
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 90mm flat (odd multi-layering can increase effective thickness)
Traverse - 15deg/s
Crew - 4

A lumbering beast with a max speed of 20km/h this thing is slow. The armor is somewhat lacking compared to its bigger borther the Churchill VII however it makes up for it with a good AT gun in the form of the 57mm 6-Pounder. This vehicle is strictly infantry support as it simply lacks the speed to do anything else. Because of its low speed it is often never taken out of spawn or if it is usually at the end of the match when the objective is closer to the spawn for defenders and vise versa for attack. Great infantry support, with a good AT gun capable of defending itself against even the most heavily armoured threats. The L/50 (longer) gives it better penetration on the APDS round up to 190mm allowing you to (barely) penetrate even Tiger IIs frontally in the hull MG or turret face.



Churchill Mk. VII

Gun - 75mm OQF Mk. V
Ammo - 84 total, 9450 coax, 3150 hull
28x AP - 91mm
18x APCBC-HE - 104mm
28x HE
10x WP
Reload 5.5s
Front Plate - 150mm flat
Side Plate - 95mm
Traverse - 15deg/s
Crew - 4

Take everything about the Churchill IV and give it more armor than a Tiger I and the gun of the Sherman 75 and you have one of the best infantry support tanks in the game. This thing is a behemoth that will be able to take shots and survive from most German AT guns except the most powerful. Add some basic angling into the mix and you can get values that pass into 200mm+. It's as slow as the IV but makes up for it by having much more armor. Utilise to support infantry on objectives. You are a mobile bunker. This is the quintessential heavy tank of WWII.




M4A3E2 Sherman 75mm (W) Jumbo

Gun - 75mm M3
Ammo - total, 107, 3200 coax, 3200 hull
30x AP - 91mm
25x APCBC-HE - 104mm
45x HE
7x WP
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - ~150mm
Side Plate - 80mm
Turret - 150mm-300mm (casting varies)
Traverse - 14deg/s
Crew - 4

The infamous Sherman Jumbo. Take the already excellent support tank of the M4A3 and give it frontal armor akin to a Panther and turret armor all round higher than a King Tiger and you have an extremely dangerous infantry support tank on your hands. In a sense it acts as a better Churchill VII for the Americans. It's extra weight means it trades some mobility and gun handling for significantly higher armor protection to the point where even KwK 42 and KwK 43 will struggle to penetrate you if they don't know the weakspots. Think Sherman 75 with really high protection. Utilise it in the same manner for supporting infantry in both assault and defense.



Matilda Mk. II

Gun - 40mm QF-2 Pounder
Ammo - 93 total, 2925 coax
93x AP - 72mm
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 75mm-140mm (very angular front)
Side Plate - 75mm
Rear Plate - 75mm-125mm
Traverse - 10deg/s
Crew - 3

The Matilda will be the bane of most German tank crews. It in practice cannot be destroyed by anything other than an extremely lucky HEAT round from a KwK 37 L/24 or commander bomb. A 37mm APCR round might penetrate the sides but it’s not exactly likely. However it has 75mm of protection or more frontally, on the side and rear. Attempt to track it and bomb it but facing it on a one versus one will likely see you lose. As for playing it, you're not invincible per-se but you’re pretty damn close. You don’t have any dedicated anti-infantry round, only solid AP and an MG so your infantry support is lacking but still possible. The 40mm is more than capable of frontally killing all German armour in 1940 so you’re best utilised as an extremely slow tank destroyer.



M26 Pershing

Gun - 90mm M3
Ammo - 70 total, 3200 coax, 3200 hull
40x APCBC - 166mm
3x APBC - 209mm
2x APCR - 308mm
25x HE
Reload - 8.6s
Front Plate - 140mm-190mm
Traverse - 15deg/s
Crew - 4

The Pershing is one of two American heavy tanks in game. It is roughly analogous to the Panther in protection, mobility and firepower. The main 90mm APCBC will service most targets more than perfectly but will struggle against super heavies like the Tiger II and Jagdtiger frontally. Luckily it has access to only 2x APCR, with an insane 308mm RHA penetration more than enough to frontally penetrate all German armoured vehicles including Tiger II and Jagdtiger (baring in mind the auto-bounce mechanic). It also has access to 3x APBC which has noticeably better penetration than its APCBC counterpart (209mm vs 166mm respectively). A great all rounder. Only available on Chapter 4 maps.




Char B1 bis

Gun - 47mm SA 35 and 75mm ABS SA 35
Ammo - 50 rounds for the 47mm and 74 rounds for the 75mm, 3300 coax
47mm Gun
20x APC - 62mm
30x HE
75mm Gun
74x APHE - 58mm
Reload - 7s for 47mm
Front Plate - 60-100mm (casting differs and angles can increase it)
Traverse - 10deg/s
Crew - 3

Think bigger Somua with a 75mm in the front. Great armour for most threats but be aware 37mm APCR can penetrate you frontally in the driver port and turret face but most crews likely won't know this. Lots of ammo, highly durable, great support tank. Go read about the Battle of Stonne please.

SdKfz. 222

Gun - 20mm KwK 38
Ammo - 180 total, 1050 coax
60x API (6x10rnd) - 35mm
120 HE (12x10rnd)
Reload - 3s
Front Plate - 15mm-30mm
Traverse - 14.5deg/s
Crew - 3



SdKfz. 232 8-Rad

Gun - 20mm KwK 38
Ammo - 200 total, 1200 coax
50x API (5x10rnd) - 35mm
150x HE (15x10rnd)
Reload - 3s
Front Plate - 15-20mm (front shovel protects against HEAT)
Traverse - 12deg/s
Crew - 3



Panzer II C

Gun - 20mm KwK 30
Ammo - 180 total, 1800 coax
60x API - (6x10rnd) - 35mm
20x APCR - (2x10rnd) - 65mm
100x HE - (10x10rnd)
Reload - 3s
Front Plate - 20mm-40mm
Traverse - 12deg/s
Crew - 2



These vehicles function in practice identically with minor variations. They have the same 20mm with a predominantly HE heavy loading which emphasises your role as light infantry support. The 20mm API round has mediocre penetration of 35mm meaning you won’t even be able to side shot later war allied tanks. Stay clear of enemy armoured targets mostly, however you can kill other allied scout cars and soft skinned vehicles but note that if a Daimler or Staghound get a shot off you’re dead. The Panzer II gets access to 20 rounds of APCR with 65mm max penetration allowing you to go through the sides of Allied mediums but this shouldn’t be your main goal. Stay fast, mobile, support infantry on attacks with the devastating 20mm and exploit your speed to commit hit and run tactics on enemy spawns, like rallies, MSPs or spotting FOBs. If played right the 222 and 8-Rad are an absolute menace. Their very angular bodies also force a lot of AT rockets to bounce off automatically which is so stupid but hilarious when it happens (to the enemy) three times in a row and you get out unphased. You can also sit at a distance and snipe with the 20mm unsuspecting enemy infantry on maps like Driel Rail Bridge. Great support vehicle, limited in long term, heavy engagements.

SdKfz. 234/2 'Puma'

Gun - 50mm KwK 39 L/60
Ammo - 52 total, 1050 coax
22x APC-HE - 83mm (should be 102mm, might be fixed in future)
8x APCR - 128mm
Reload - 6.5s
Front Plate - 45mm (angular body bounces rockets, the side boxes despawn HEAT penetrators)
Traverse - 10deg/s
Crew - 3

The Puma used to be a very overpowered vehicle back in the day but nowadays its just good and not much else. It’s predominantly hampered by its average reload speed, poor turret rotation and mediocre main gun. The main APC rounds have gimped penetration right now so you will struggle against most things frontally. The APCR is really good for what it is but is limited by only 8 rounds and the 30 degree bounce mechanic.

This is best played as a sniper. Use your excellent mobility and speed (110km/h max) to flank enemies and get into good sniper positions. The reason for this is because your reload seriously limits your ability to fight on an equal footing so you need to have some distance and ideally concealment, in order to get enough rounds off to kill the target before it spots you. Essentially play this vehicle like you would its allied counterparts but with the constant reminder that you have a slower rate of fire and less effective ammo which forces you to make each round count. Overall, a pretty unforgiving vehicle if you make a mistake, so always be ahead of the enemy.



Panzer 38(t)

Gun - 37mm KwK 38(t) L/48
Ammo - 90 total, 2400 coax, 2400 hull
46x APC-HE - 62mm
8x APCR - 86mm
36x HE
Reload - 4.3s
Front Plate - 25mm
Traverse - 14deg/s
Crew - 3

Panzer 38(t) my beloved. One of the best tanks for the Germans in 1940 and actually surprisingly competitive in 1944/45. It has a decent amount of firepower in a small, unarmoured package. Decently manoeuvrable for what it is, this little (and it is small) guy can act as cheap but highly effective infantry support with a lot of MG and HE ammo, high rate of fire, and even has the ability to defend itself against more modern enemies from the side and sometimes front with the APCR round which it can usually out-reload the enemy with.

Obviously it’s not designed for the later war environment but many people sleep on this thing. It is somewhat slow but honestly most German mediums are pretty underpowered by this point of the war so it doesn’t matter as much. Play as cheap early game infantry support mainly with the ability to kill some tanks if you get the drop on them. Its small size allows it to move through tighter alleyways and streets that would force other tanks to go around, and really allows you to get into some tight spots which can and can’t be useful sometimes.



Sd.Kfz.234/4 'Stummel'

Gun - 75mm K51 L/24
Ammo - 52, 1050 coax
22x APCBC-HE - 52mm
8x HEAT C - 118mm
22x HE
Reload - 4.3s
Front Plate - 45mm, angles can increase it somewhat and occasionally bounce rockets.
Traverse - Fixed 30ish degrees
Crew 3

Essentially a Puma with a 75mm close support howitzer instead of a 50mm. Utilise as light infantry support and recon that can hold its own if need be. Fights against armor however it should be avoided as much as possible due to the lacklustre anti-tank performance of the short 75mm and relatively thin armor of the 234 chassis.. Luckily it has excellent forward and backward mobility an speed allowing you to escape danger and reposition quickly. Best used as cheap and reactive infantry fire support.

Panzer III F (1940)

Gun - 37mm KwK 36 L/45
Ammo - 125 total, 2700 coax, 2100 hull
60x AP-HE - 41mm
15x APCR - 86mm
50x HE
Reload - 3.5s
Front Plate - 30mm
Traverse - 10deg/s
Crew - 4



Panzer III G (1944)

Gun - 50mm KwK 38 L/42
Ammo - 99 total, 2700 coax, 2100 hull
40x APC-HE - 81mm
15x APCR - 116mm
Reload - 4.5s
Front Plate - 50mm
Traverse - 10deg/s
Crew - 4



Both the Panzer III F and G are in overarching practice, the same vehicle. The G is better than the F but not enough to warrant giving it a separate section. The F is only present on 1940 maps. The F is good for 1940, the base AP round is pretty bad but will deal with R35s, H35s or Panhards, anything bigger and you’ll need APCR. The APCR will deal with even Matildas from the side and Somuas from the front. It has 10 gears and I swear like half of them don’t even help which makes driving it hellish. The armour is nothing special but will withstand AT rifle fire.

The G is better, but it is also now 1944. It has a short 50mm with better penetration overall but it will still struggle against contemporary allied armour head-on. The armour is upped from 30mm to 50mm but overall it’s meaningless. The Panzer III's rear is a mess of angled shapes so it’s surprisingly good at deflecting AT rockets and it also has really buggy damage reception from the rear so sometimes hawkins mines or gammon bombs won’t do any damage if placed there. It’s mainly relegated to infantry support but can defend itself if need be, just don’t count on it. It’s a decent tank but honestly nothing special.

Panzer IV D

Gun - 75mm KwK 37 L/24
Ammo - 95 total, 2700 coax, 2100 hull
35x APCBC-HE - 52mm
12x HEAT - 52mm (all distances)
40x HE
8x Smoke
Reload - 4.3s
Front Plate - 30mm (90mm on middle angled plate)
Traverse - 14deg/s
Crew - 4

The early war Panzer IV D is featured on 1940 maps and is strictly an infantry support tank (its initially intended design role) and should be played as such because its anti-armour capability is mediocre or just bad. The short 75mm can deal with R35s and Panhards fine but will struggle against Somuas and is totally ♥♥♥♥♥♥ against a Matilda. The APCBC round can go through the lower plate of the Somua but not much else. The HEAT round is also pretty bad because it will auto-bounce on vertical headings of 15 degrees or more meaning you can’t really penetrate the front of the Somua. Either way it’s the Gr.Hl. A (first version) and so has identical penetration to the APCBC. Use HEAT against fortifications, light vehicles and infantry as a substitute for HE. Because you are infantry support you get access to 8 smoke shells which are great on open objectives often common in 1940 maps. Good support tank but will suffer against enemy armour. Side is vulnerable to AT rifle penetrations.



Panzer IV G/H

Gun - 75mm KwK 40 L/48
Ammo - 87 total, 2400 coax, 3200 hull
35x APCBC-HE - 140mm
15x APCR - 166mm
7x HEAT - 80mm
30x HE
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 80mm flat (angled 20 deg can up to 100mm)
Traverse - 14deg/s
Crew - 4

Panzer IV G/H my beloved. Simultaneously amazing and pathetic. I’m gonna cut to the chase, this thing has basically no survivability because the Panzer IV is covered with ammo racks and fuel. The floor plate isn't physically modelled meaning spalling will almost always enter the fuel tanks under the floor and ignite them. The ammo will constantly explode and catch fire because it is EVERYWHERE. If you get penetrated (and you will, you are a flat box) there is a 90% chance you will die in the next 5-10 seconds. HOWEVER, it has amazing firepower. The Panzer IV G/H is great at killing other tanks with its excellent main gun and very high rate of fire allowing multiple follow-up shots on target. Unfortunately the gun is really the only thing that makes the Panzer IV G/H tolerable, as driving the tank is difficult, the vehicle is simply too underpowered for its weight and you will feel it. It’s sluggish to accelerate, not greatly responsive and has a top speed of around 40km/h and will often struggle to reach it.

The H model comes with 10mm (5mm IRL) thick steel side skirts which span the length of the hull and turret and are in game surprisingly effective as spaced armour. They will fall off when hit but can save you from an otherwise fatal hit from an AT rocket or gammon bomb. They will also sometimes prematurely detonate APHE rounds which can save you too and by god the Panzer IV needs everything it can get in terms of survivability. Overall the Panzer IV is perfectly capable at either infantry support or anti-tank duties but be constantly aware that any penetrating hit will likely mean your death, so don’t get hit. It is an exceptionally average tank.

StuG III A

Gun - 75mm KwK 37 L/24
Ammo - 39 total
8x APCBC - 52mm
5x HEAT - 80mm
20x HE
6x Smoke
Reload - 4.3s
Front Plate - 50mm to 75mm
Traverse - 20deg/s (fixed gun)
Crew - 3

Honestly a pretty mediocre vehicle and extremely limited. It doesn’t have an MG to defend against infantry. The main gun isn’t great but if you get a lucky hit with the HEAT round you can deal with most French armour frontally but practically it’s hard. The smoke is nice but the Panzer IV gets that but with more ammo, a turret and two MGs. The StuG A really isn’t very useful and is hard to utilise well but it can act as cheap infantry support from a distance. Basically take what makes the Panzer IV D a good support vehicle and remove like half of its attributes, that’s the StuG III A.



StuG III G

Gun - 75mm StuK 40 L/48
Ammo - 54 total, 600 coax
10x APCBC-HE - 140mm
10x APCR - 166mm
6x HEAT B - 80mm
20x HE
8x Smoke
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 80mm to 120mm
Traverse - 20deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 3

The StuG III G takes everything about the A and improves directly upon it. Better gun, functionally identical in every way to the Panzer IV H. Surprisingly good frontal armour for the most part with a few weaker areas. It gets access to the side skirts also which improve its survivability against infantry AT, which is desperately needed as it has no turret as it is an assault gun. The G can do great infantry support with twenty HE and eight smoke rounds, but it is much better suited to anti-tank ambushes with its low profile and great weapon ergonomics and performance you can fire off two-three rounds on target before they even know where to look. The StuG is basically a self-propelled AT gun so use it as such. However this version has access to the MG34 as a coaxial mounted secondary which instantly gives it more versatility against enemy infantry. Very versatile vehicle but sometimes suffers as a turretless assault gun, so make sure your gunner and driver are in tune with one another because you’ll suffer if they aren’t.



StuH 42 G

Gun - 105mm StuH42
Ammo - 40 total
20x HEAT - 100mm
15x HE - 60mm
5x Smoke
Reload - 11.2s
Front Plate - 80mm-120mm
Traverse - 20deg/s (fixed)

The StuH 42 was an attempt by the Germans to create a heavy assault howitzer for dealing with enemy fortifications and fighting potions on the Eastern Front. Essentially it was the terminus of the idea in German Army debate of the assault gun being infantry support and operated by the artillery branch. It sports a 105mm howitzer capable of doing massive damage against enemy positions even when dug in thanks to the penetrative quality of both the HEAT and HE shell it has. However it suffers the seam flaws of the other StuGs in that it is turretless, lacks a machinegun for self defense and doesn't hold as much ammo as a tank. Use it as an infantry support gun by firing from a distance at the enemy and don't get too close. Avoid armor combat as unfortunately there are no over pressure mechanics present in game meaning that you will struggle to defend yourself with a long reload an mediocre HEAT round, you will likely be killed by most tanks if they find you.




Jagdpanzer IV L/48

Gun - 75mm Pak 39 L/48
Ammo - 79 total, 1200 coax
16x APCBC-HE - 140mm
12x APCR - 166mm
20x HE
12x HEAT B - 80mm
15x Smoke
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 95mm (120mm for late war version)
Traverse - 24deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 3



Jagdpanzer IV L/70

Gun - 75mm PaK 42 /70
Ammo - 47 total, 1200 coax
18x APCBC-HE - 192mm
12x APCR - 228mm
17x HE
Reload - 7s
Front Plate - 120mm
Traverse - 24deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 3

The Jagdpanzers are an interesting bunch. Very similar to their brother the StuG, these are basically the StuGs of the Panzer-arm. They function very similarly except they trade reload speed and mobility for extra tank killing potential and armour. There are two major differences between the variants. The L/48 has the shorter gun, which operates identically to the StuG III G. It also has about 30mm less LoS armour thickness. The L/70 has the much longer KwK 42 (L/70) seen on the Panther and it has more armour, capable of withstanding shots from Sherman 75s and sometimes 6-Pounders but anything more it will not help. Generally you should focus as TD first infantry support second but if you find there aren’t many tanks to kill it can perform the latter function fine. One note is that the engine audio loop is bugged. It doesn’t scale with revs or throttle amount and thus is just a constant 100% revving loop which is extremely loud. It’s literally a binary choice, on or off. This is one major element holding the current Jagdpanzers back. Basically slightly better armoured StuGs with better TD ability at the cost of responsiveness and reload time

Jagdpanzer 38(t) 'Hetzer'

Gun - 75mm PaK 39 L/48
Ammo - 41 total, 700 Remote Weapon System
18x APCBC-HE - 140mm
8x APCR - 165mm
10x HE
8x HEAT B - 80mm
Reload - 7s
Front Plate - 105mm-120mm (mantlet casting varies)
Traverse - 12deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 4

Hetzer my beloved. The cutest tank destroyer. Silly little guy. Just look at him. Anyway this thing is a really small, okayishly armored, decently mobile tank destroyer. Use it for ambushes, hide in wait. Basically a StuG or Jagdpanzer IV, just smaller and sillier. Oh and it has a remotely controlled MG-34 on the roof for self defense. It's also worth noting that the interior is extremely cramped so your crew will likely be turned into soup upon a penetrating hit, so uhh, don't get hit :).



Marder III M

Gun - 75mm PaK 40/3
Ammo - 32 Total
10x APCBC-HE - 140mm
12x APCR - 165mm
5x HE
5x HEAT B - 80mm
Reload - 5s
Front Plate - 25mm
Traverse - 12deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 3

The Marder III M is the last in the Marder series of Tank Destroyer and is the opitme of a glass cannon. It is for all intents and purposes a tracked PaK 40 and is extremely vulnerable to return fire from anything bigger than a rifle. It is also open topped making it vulnerable to indirect fire and explosive or just flanking attacks. Luckily it is pretty small and thus easier than most vehicle to conceal. It has decent mobility and should be used as an ambush predator and sniper. Stay in concealment, be patient and you can do a lot of damage. It also lacks a machinegun for self defense. Just don't brawl with this or you'll die. Infantry support is possible but is better left to actual tanks or StuGs.



Nashorn

Gun - 88mm PaK 43/1
Ammo - 40 Total
22x APCBC-HE - 237mm
5x APCR - 279mm
5x HEAT - 110mm
8x HE
Reload - 9s
Front Plate 20mm-35mm
Traverse - 10deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 4

The Nashorn is basically in concept a Marder III M except on a Panzer III/IV hybrid chassis and uses a PaK 43 long 88mm gun. Use it in the same way you would the Marder III M by staying concealed, sniping and ambushing with the knowledge that you can knock out any allied tank with your 88mm.



Sturer Emil

Gun - 128mm K. 40 /61
Ammo - 15 total
10x APCBC-HE - 279mm
5x HE
Reload - 11.8s
Front Plate - 50mm-70mm
Traverse - 10deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 3

Stubborn Emil was a singular prototype built from the failed VK 30.01 heavy tank designed to destroy fortified enemy positions. It uses a comically large 128mm gun based from the FlaK cannon. It will be able to kill any allied tank it comes across but they will be able o kill you too due to the lack of armor and mediocre mobility of the chassis. Same deal as both the Marder III M and Nashorn - ambush, hide, concealment and do not brawl. Open topped makes for great all round visibility at the cost of being extremely vulnerable to even a rifleman sneaking up behind you. Play smart, snipe and you'll do well.

Panther A

Gun - 75mm KwK 42 L/70
Ammo - 79 total, 2700 coax, 2100 hull
28x APCBC-HE - 192mm
16x APCR - 228mm (jeez)
35x HE
Reload - 9s
Front Plate - 130mm
Traverse - 15deg/s
Crew - 4

The Panther is a contender for one of the best German tanks. It is a great all-rounder with mobility on par or better than its medium tank counterparts, whilst retaining an excellent main cannon similar to the British 17-Pounder alongside above average frontal armour. However the front is the only area of the tank with effective armour as both the rear and sides are only around 40mm meaning even the smallest caliber AT weapons will penetrate. The Panther also suffers from an issue which plagues basically all German armour, it is covered in ammo all around the interior. Most penetrating hits will likely hit some of the ammo. Secondarily the armour is actually not as effective on first glance. The upper front plate is fine and will protect against all but 6-Pounder APDS and 17-Pounder AP but the turret and lower front plate are actually much weaker than you might suspect. The lower plate will be penetrated easily by 57mm APCBC from most ranges which will destroy or severely damage the frontal transmission disabling mobility. The turret mantlet is also vulnerable to 57mm APCBC rounds and 76mm APCBC. Also 75mm APCBC-HE penetrates the LFP which should NOT be possible but is so BEAR IN MIND. The turret also has two relatively small flat faces on either side which can be penetrated within 100m by a Sherman’s 75mm but it is a difficult shot to make at range. The Panther also has 10mm side skirts (smaller than the Panzer IV which can protect against AT weaponry. Overall the survivability of the Panther is good but not nearly good enough to comfortably rely on unless your opponent makes a grave mistake.

The KwK 42 is likely the second best tank gun in the game second in terms of raw ballistics to the Firefly’s 17-Pounder simply due to the current damage mechanics of solid shot and APHE. It also has a slower reload of nine seconds which is actually really bad. Make sure the gunner hits what he shoots at because the ability for fast follow up shots like in a Panzer IV is simply not there. Very generally speaking however the KwK 42 seems to do overall better damage than some its counterparts and thus so long as you aim well you will usually cripple the target which allows you a chance for a follow up shot. But once again, ensure you kill the target as quickly as possible or at least castrate it by destroying the gun or turret traverse. The poor reload especially forces the Panther to avoid any engagements that consist of multiple targets because you will likely be outgunned.

Luckily the Panther is surprisingly mobile for its weight and size and is one of the easier German tanks to drive (this is saying something because it’s a rarity, looking at you Tiger II…) and it is also (likely unrealistically) fast, reaching up to 50-60km/h top speed. A good driver can really make this thing zip around if the need arises as its acceleration is noticeably strong. However, like many tanks in game it has an abysmal reverse rate of 4km/h. This can get you killed and often it’s just better to have the driver turn around and use the forward gears instead which is faster but obviously exposes the extremely weak rear so there’s a trade off. The only benefit of the slow reverse is that it allows the gunner to fire accurately on the move due to relatively good stability which allows for a (very slow) fighting retreat.

Overall play the Panther like a medium tank and remember that you sure as hell aren’t invincible but that you can also kill every single tank the allies throw at you with (usually) no issue. Use the comically large disposal of 16 APCR against Cromwells, Churchills and armoured cars and reserve the APCBC-HE for frontal engagements of Shermans.

Tiger I E

Gun - 88mm KwK 36 L/56
Ammo - 92 total, 2400 coax, 2100 hull
30x APCBC-HE - 165mm
12x APCR - 211mm
10x HEAT - 90mm
40x HE
Reload - 8.3s
Front Plate - 102mm
Sides and Rear - 80mm
Traverse - 14deg/s
Crew - 4

The best description for the Tiger I is that it is a larger Panzer IV. It has many of the same issues as the Panzer IV, predominantly that its armour is no longer particularly effective against most allied AT guns apart from the 75mm, 40mm or 37mm. It will be penetrated and it will be damaged severely as once again there is ammo all over the place. It does improve on the Panzer IV in that its armour can slightly improve with the use of angling the hull toward the enemy by roughly 1 hour (face hull 12 toward target, pivot to either 11 or 1). Angling allows you to increase your effective armour to around 120mm or 140mm but honestly it's only minorly effective most of the time. The 88mm thankfully is a very effective main cannon and will relatively easily kill all allied armour you face. It also has a faster reload than the Panther (barely) but it in relation to most allied armour is still too slow to effectively compete in most head-on engagements.

Do not rely on your armour to protect you because it likely won't. Instead position yourself in ambush positions or in areas with hard cover to allow you to get the drop on your enemy and escape. Equal head-head engagements will usually kill you with the prevalence of 57mm, 76mm or 17-Pounders all capable of ripping through your flat armour, you need to hit the enemy before they hit you. This is further emphasised by the mediocre mobility of the Tiger I in comparison to its sleeker cousin the Panther which punishes you harder for being out of position as reaction times are often sluggish.

Play smart. Like all tanks, just because you have good armour or any at all does not mean you should rely on it. Ever. Play as if every shot will kill you (in the case of most German tanks this is actually true) and you will be a much better armour player for it.

Tiger II (H)

Gun - 88mm KwK 43 L/71
Ammo - 70 total, 3000 coax, 1950 hull
26x APCBC-HE - 237mm
10x APCR - 280mm
8x HEAT - 110mm
26x HE
Reload - 10s
Front Hull - 230mm
Sides and Rear - 80mm
Traverse - 14deg/s

Now, everything on paper suggests the Tiger II should be one of the best tanks in the German arsenal but in practice it’s actually quite a mediocre tank. At its very essence, it is simply too damn slow. It does have extraordinary frontal armour making it basically invulnerable to everything except three round types: 17-Pounder APCBC and 57mm APDS to the turret face all within 100m. Otherwise frontally engaging this behemoth is highly unadvised. Do not. Instead the flanks are vulnerable. Once again, it is a moving ammo rack like most German armour. A line of ammo on both sides and a ready rack in the turret rear makes it incredibly easy to detonate the ammo in the Tiger II. The mobility is frankly atrocious and driving this thing is quite difficult and an overall pain in the ass. It is not a close range brawler. You will want to stay far from enemy tanks so you can most effectively utilise your armour and excellent main gun to the best of their capacity. The problem is that often you will be forced into close quarters due to map design often not allowing the Tiger II to fully utilise its strengths.

The long 88mm is an extremely powerful gun that is frankly overkill for the armour you will engage. It also has a poor reload of ten seconds further emphasising the need to stay away from the main fight and sit back and support. You will often die to flanking attacks or bombing runs you simply won’t be able to react to in time because of the sluggish nature of the Tiger II in both driving and gunnery ergonomics with a mediocre traverse of 14 degrees/s.

Overall, great armour, great gun. Horrible reaction time and mobility. Sniper tank mainly. You’re better off with a Panther in most circumstances.

Jagdtiger

Gun - 128mm PaK 44 L/55
Ammo - 40 total, 1950 hull
10x APC-HE - 252mm
10x APCBC-HE - 272mm
4x APCR - 351mm (???)
4x HEAT - 130mm
12x HE
Reload - 18s
Front Plate - 230mm-260mm
Sides and Rear - 80mm
Traverse - 8deg/s (fixed)
Crew - 4

Gonna cut to the chase, the Jagdtiger, like in real life was and is in game a total joke of a vehicle. It sucks. There is basically nothing good about it apart from its comedically strong frontal armour but who gives a ♥♥♥♥ when you have nothing else going for you? You might think “front toward enemy” like an M18 Claymore but good luck pivoting this 70 metric tonne, underpowered ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to keep up with the M4A3 currently getting around your rear. The once again comically large 128mm is a terrible main armament, because not only does it have an abysmally long reload time but it often won’t even one shot kill whatever you hit for some reason known only to God. You will be outflanked. You will have your tracks or engine destroyed and you will be bombed or side shot ammo racked. Once again, mobile ammo rack and it’s even worse than the Tiger II because the rounds are so much larger the entire side is ammo. If you get flanked (and you will) you are dead. Do not take this tank out unless you want to troll your team. The Jagdtiger is a free kill for any somewhat competent allied tank crew, AT infantry or quick-on-the-draw commander bomb. Just do not use it.

They should have just added the Jagdpanther instead. Not only was it actually made in higher numbers it was combat proven and overall a much more practical tank destroyer. Jesus Christ, what were they thinking?? Clown vehicle.

Okay that's it. It's over. I hope you learned something. At the end of the day the best way to learn is to do and so get doing. Go out there and play this awesome WWII game and grow to love it as I and many others have. Truly nothing else out there like it. Hell Let Loose can suck it compared to Post Scri- I mean Squad 44.

If there are any major changes in future affecting any of the contents of this guide (I am personally hoping the APHE vs Solid Shot gets tweaked but who knows) I will be sure to update the guide (unlike the other one I made). So hopefully if I stay on top of things this guide should be future proof and always relevant.

Okay goodbye I go sleep now. Here are some miscellaneous images from my time playing from the rifleman camera.