Profile of Colonel0tto

I'm glad you mentioned the fuel cost. Of course another key aspect of synergy with this doctrine is the muni -to-fuel drops. You don't have much else to spend muni on, so after you get the halftrack bundle you can usually get at least two of these done before you get your first M4 sherman at roughly the same timing as a fast T34.

The call-in nature of the halftrack means it comes at a much more useful timing and that you are able to delay the manpower cost of T3 until later.

There are lots of things to spend your manpower on for sure. It's why I don't go pure penals - usually 2 cons and 2 penals into sniper works best. The tradeoff to the high upfront manpower costs for the supporting units are that you don't bleed as much and you can secure map control even against superior line (blob) infantry.

What are the benefits of this playstyle?

- Force your opponent to invest in early at (for the halftrack) and indirect fire (for the dshks), reducing their direct anti-infantry ability and delaying their tech.

- Prevent your opponent from blobbing to victory by abusing sturm offizier or through sheer numbers.

- Present a very scary timing for opponents trying to secure map control with bunkers/snipers/mgs/light vehicle by charging them with a CP3 halftrack that can be outfitted to 1-shot any of these.

- Get a medium armour advantage by popping out a M4C Sherman at a fast-T34 timing. Your 2nd, 3rd and 4th tank/tank destroyer/artillery piece will also arrive faster than your opponent.

Seems good to me!

I realise that some people would like to buy a bunch of these infantry and charge around, but I really think that would be worse design that what we have at the moment. You've got to look at the rest of the doctrine to see its viability.

The dshks enable you to lock down the map very effectively. In combination with the quadmount, you have very effective 'crowd control', which makes sniper play easier and more rewarding. On top of that you have assault guards who have serious shock value at 3 CP since another unit can be added to the M5 (such as a minesweeper, a flamer engie or a ptrs penal). When the get to vet 2 they can 1v1 pretty much any axis unit.

On current patch, the Guards are trash. Play the balance patch and test stuff out. I really enjoy the flavour of this commander at the moment since it enables some of my favourite Soviet units and playstyles.

And in terms of manpower - since the halftrack is normally 240mp 30 fuel, the Guards work out at 270mp. That is an awesome deal for their performance now.

I've done some testing of the Assault Guards today and I'm pretty pleased with their performance. For a laugh, I decided to try them up against Thompson Rangers, and predictably they lost. But they didn't lose by much. And when I put both units at vet 2, the Guards started winning reliably.

This is very impressive considering the Guards don't have to invest 90 muni into an upgrade. (If you consider their Doctrine comes with muni-to fuel airdrops, this seems like even better value). The replacement of the PPSHs with Thompson mean that the halftrack they come in is lot better at running down infantry.

Talking of the halftrack - this unit is consistently underrated. There are often scenarios where it is a better pick than a T70 because of its utility and potential for blob control when upgraded. Try putting PTRS penals in it and watch that Luchs explode. The fact that this Doctrine gives it to you without having to build T3 first is pretty cool.

I don't agree that the Guards should be separate from the halftrack. I like the synergy between the units and agree with Katitof that they have a distinctly lend-lease theme.

The Case for the Bofors

The Bofors is a meme unit. Very powerful against unsuspecting infantry, light and even medium vehicles, it can lock down an area of the map pretty efficiently. But it's always seemed to have some glaring weaknesses against both Axis factions. Long ranged AT and indirect fire are very effective counters. So the AEC is always a better choice - right?

That might have previously been the case. But the current meta might offer the Bofors a chance to shine...

What's changed since conventional wisdom relegated the Bofors to the trash heap?

1. Sturmpioneer healing was buffed, reducing the necessity of T1
2. OKW now always wants to start mechanized doctrine in 1v1 due to the power of early PII/ Puma play

Small changes overall, and not enough to require UKF players to remake the meta overnight. After all, an AEC does very well against early PII.

But it doesn't do great against the Puma.

Puma Problems

This post is inspired by watching Helping Hans's most recent replay (Scorched Faymonville - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LAzdMsN-Fg). Hans is rolling his opponent (Bob) and bullying him with his Wasp carrier. Hans thinks about acquiring an AEC, but the threat of a Puma deters him. He later buys a Cromwell, which ends up being pretty effectively countered by the opponent's Puma. The Puma, backed with hordes of infantry, gradually pushes him off the map ("This Puma is causing a lot of grief"). Hans wins the game with his Centaur and Crocodile, but it ends up being far closer than the early game would have suggested.

Few people are as good at using medium tanks as Hans. If even he is having trouble winning with Cromwells against Pumas, maybe there's an easier way.

Enter the Bofors

If the enemy gets a Puma, buy a Bofors. Put it on your cutoff/fuel and protect it with engineers as you upgrade your infantry. You can now use your AT guns aggressively to push, instead of having to keep them near MGs on a cutoff. And you don't need to worry about your defensive MGS being flanked.

What can the opponent do? Panic, probably. They can try to destroy it with Rakatens, which are outranged by the Bofors. They can get a PII to make the most of the fact you don't have an AEC, but using AT guns aggressively (or an AT section) makes this manageable. They can back-tech to get a LEIG, but this will slow down their build significantly and will take a long time to generate value. They can build a Stuka, but this is also pretty easy to deal with using Brace. Either way you are now forcing your opponent to be reactive in response to your defensive unit, since they know that they can't let you sit there and reach endgame.

Anything else?

That's it. Just build Bofors into Puma and test the theory. Happy Aprils Fools.