Company of Heroes 2 – All Units Mod: GER Forces In-Depth Analysis

A complete analysis of everything that the Wehrmacht can throw at the Allies in Company of Heroes 2 with the All Units Mod.

Foreword

Well well well..I leave for a day and the Nazis are invading while the Soviets were upgrading. It was inevitable that I’d have to cover Germany’s Wehrmacht because, as Sun Tzu so rightly said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy, nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”

So to understand our enemy, we must understand their people and their history, and that all starts with the death of one man: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, slain by assassins of the Black Hand, a Serbian secret military society. This one event made the whole world explode not once, but twice, and that is due largely to the interwoven diplomatic fabrics of alliances between various countries. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, prompting Germany, who has a treaty with the prior, to back their play. Russia has a defense treaty with Serbia and declares war on the previously two mentioned countries. France has an alliance with Russia, and they get involved next. A little country by the name of Belgium was in the middle of this $hitstorm that had just started flailing around Europe wildly, and Germany stepped one tiny pinky toe into its borders (actually marched straight through it, thinking to conquer it along the way), which prompted Britain, who had a treaty with them, to declare war on Germany. This brings the big three, Britain, Russia, and France, into the Allied Powers. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire sees all this going down, and rushes to Germany’s defense, who they have a treaty with, and Bulgaria, who is largely under Ottoman influence and does what they’re told, declare war on Serbia, forming the central powers. So, what should have been a mild border skirmish that was quickly quashed when a larger nation like Germany entered the picture, on intimidation value alone, turned into the Grandaddy of all wars. At least until the next one. 

So everyone fights it out. There’s machine guns and mustard gas, and tanks enter the picture for the first time,and some dude by the name of Laurence of Arabia has a few books written about him. It was a fun time, good for the whole family. We had some laughs, and when it was done, every country got together to lick their wounds and determine who won what. WW1 is sometimes called the graveyard of empires because no less than four got knocked the f*ck out during the fighting: the German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian empires. So the guys who started the whole shebang off aren’t even in power and/or alive anymore, and when someone posed the question of who started it, all fingers pointed toward Germany who was just trying to back up their Austrian bros. 

What happened next made the next war not only probable, but inevitable. The Treaty of Versailles saw that Germany lost 13% of its land, and a TON of Germans now found out they were paying taxes to some other dude they’d never heard of since they were within HIS borders now. 15% of German farm land was surrendered, and they lost 10% of their industry sector, mostly to the French who were conducting this whole ode to awfulness. Germany’s merchant fleet was seized by Britain, and they lost ALL of their colonies. 100%. An entire world wide trade network reduced to the past tense. The Rhineland region of Germany was militarily occupied, and they were forbidden from participating in Austrian activities, either economically or politically. Harsh stipulations were imposed on the size of the army that Germany could keep. NO tanks, NO planes, ESPECIALLY no heavy artillery, no submarines, and a hard cap of six battleships. Lastly, they were forever excluded from being a member of the League of Nations. 

Now, bear in mind that Germany was a power house of trade, banking, and shipping before all this. Heck, we base the word “Penny” off the German word “Pfennig”, which was their currency before the formation of the EU in 2002. THAT’s how rich they were. Now, not only were they poverty stricken by a bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys (their words, not mine), they were looking to STAY that way. PERMANENTLY. So you can kind of understand why they wanted to install a pop cap removal mod on their military, and cram some jackboots up a Frenchmen’s spare baguette holster.

So then comes along this weird guy, and oh my god, his mustache is stupid… but he promises to get Germany back on track, to make it great again, and to punish all the enemies of the state who brought it down to that level to begin with. I’m certain his words were like honey to the ears of the German people, and then, after bumping off some key rivals in the night of the long knives in 1937, he does the acid test by crossing the Rhineland. Violent retribution is not merely likely but expected and the military has been built back up in abject secrecy, and then….there’s nothing. No response whatsoever. What????? Then moves are made to take Austria and bring that back into the fold, and still nothing is done. The hammer should have fallen by now, right? After that, Germany starts eyeing Czechoslovakia and areas with majority Germans citizens are just given to them for free under Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. In hindsight, this was the worst thing he could have possibly done. I imagine that this is the exact moment where Germany realized that they were strong, they were mad as hell, and they didn’t need to take it anymore. That Mr. Pencil Mustache was right about everything he was saying about them, that they didn’t need to be in the League of Nations clubhouse to be just as good as everyone else. In fact, not as good. BETTER. They were….”Ubermensche”, and this dark word placed the feet of the German people squarely upon the road to even darker places. A path that would lead to the slaughter of anywhere from 10 to 26 million people in concentration camps, but they were so full of rage over what was done to them, I imagine there were precious few who ever stopped, looked down at blood soaked hands and asked themselves “what am I doing?!”. Even then, they were drowned out by those who wanted more. This was a people who had been driven beyond madness.

Finally came the last step for reclamation of glory in their minds, and that was the conquering of France which was, as history shows, quick and brutal. Without their Maginot line defenses, they never stood a chance. But that’s where the free ride ends because shortly after that, Britain realizes exactly how bad things have gotten, Japan attacks America to bring them into the conflict, and Operation Barbarossa fires off against former ally, the Soviet Union. Now Germany is surrounded by foes who, in the minds of the average German soldier at the time, would like nothing more than to cram them back into the same poverty ridden hole they found them in. Solution? FIGHT. F**KING. EVERYONE. Who knows? Maybe if you hit them hard enough, you can knock a major power out of the war. Happened in WW1 FOUR times, right? This is the period in time where CoH2 begins.

The point of my long winded history lesson and rant about the probable psychology of the German people was to get the player in the proper mindset for this faction; the same way I begin all of my guides. The Wehrmacht revolves around few but extremely powerful units. Some may be cumbersome to use, but when they administer an elbow drop of armored wrath, all that’s left are craters full of blood and the smell of scorched ozone. Their infantry squads are small, but highly trained, and quite capable of extreme levels of violence, especially with the shrieking bullet hose that is the MG42 backing them up. The entire world ganged up on the 3rd Reich, and even then, there were some situations where they almost didn’t win. Where madness, rage, and evil nearly triumphed, and it is the war everyone remembers and still loves to talk about to this day, myself obviously included. 

Kampfgruppe Headquarters (KGHQ)

The first thing you see in every game, and your binding anchor to this world as a player. Much like the Russians, you start with only this building and need to build the rest of your base up. There are some useful upgrades, ranging from the meh to the vital, and three weapon racks containing the MG42 for 70 muns, the rifle grenade launcher for 75 muns, and the panzerbuchse for 35 muns. 

Abilities

Beutepanzer: Costs 325 mp/110 fuel/15 pop cap. This is an AWESOME power that calls in a single captured Russian tank for use. What you get is entirely random. You might get a T-34, a SU-85, or a KV-2. Or a T-70 and realize that even RNGesus hates Nazis. 

Upgrades

Ambush Training: Costs 125 mp. Activates the sprint ability for infantry units, and certain types of units can camouflage in cover and deep snow. A cheap, awesome upgrade that lets infantry units with grease guns get in close and mow down enemy squads bundled with cloaking LMG squads. What’s not to like? 

German Supplies: Costs 120 muns/25 fuel. Adds a commander power which provides you with a random mix of infantry and armor for a good deal of floated resources. I never played as the Oberkommando West (subject of my next guide), so I have no idea what you might get from this. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 125 mp/25 fuel. Activates the German vehicle factional ability: smoke bomb launchers. These things are great and can really save the situation when Hans is in danger of getting toasted like bacon. 

Research Weapon Racks: Costs 150 mp/15 fuel. Unlocks the three weapon racks of the KGHQ for use.

Defensive Fortifications: Costs 125 mp/30 muns. Allows Pioneers, Osttruppen, Grenadiers, and Panzer Grenadiers to lay down all manner of fortifications. Given how expensive German stuff tends to be, you’ll want to make sure that it’s all well protected and the Allies can’t nibble it to death. 

Model 24 Stun Grenades: Costs 125 mp/15 fuel. Gives Grenadiers and Panzer Grenadiers flashbang grenades, stunning squads and setting them up for a good murderin’.

Pioneer Squad

Cost 200 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 5

Historically, Pioneer squads filled a similar role to sappers and concerned themselves primarily with building field fortifications for their own nation, or blowing up ones that weren’t owned by said nation. These guys spawn in with MP40 SMGs, and Pioneer spam has earned a rather sinister reputation as a cheeselord tactic. So, right off the bat, you’re getting a builder squad that can construct all manner of things for you, and immediately turn around and gun down anyone at close range that is bothering them. Honestly? NICE. 

Abilities

Repair: Just like the builders from all other factions, Pioneers can repair your stuff. Vehicles, bridges, buildings, emplacement, the coffee machine in the officer’s lounge, etc. 

Forward Supply Station: Cost 250 mp/40 fuel. This designates an ambient building to serve as a reinforcement and retreat point. It also repairs any nearby vehicles, but, while all that is nice, neutral structures tend to go the way of the Archduke once shells start flying around and the map begins to resemble a Walmart parking lot. 

Hull Down: Costs 50 muns. This is a technique frequently seen used by the Soviets at Stalingrad where you dig a BIG pit and drive a tank into it. Then you bury it to the point where only the turret is showing and the crew isn’t being suffocated in diesel fuel since you still need it to turn said turret. This makes a tank VERY hard to kill and turns it into a great static defense. Getting said tank back out of that pit is going to be a challenge though. 

Field First Aid: Costs 15 muns and requires Vet 1. Pioneers can heal another injured squad for a very modest cost in muns. I won’t lie, these guys are pretty great as far as starter builder units go. 

Wire Cutters: Lets the pioneer squad cut through barbed/razor wire. I’ve never seen the AI actually use razor wire so this is mostly for clearing your own stuff and opening up routes that you blocked off earlier. 

Upgrades

Flammenwerfer 35: costs 60 muns. What does this do? IT WERFS FLAMMEN, and this upgrade gives the squad a single flamethrower to do just that. Used for the first time in 1915 to turn the French into fondue, this was a horrifying weapon that could shoot flames up to a distance of about 20 meters. That was the M16 version. The M35 has had some improvements such as longer range, better feed system, larger tanks, etc, which is good because we heard the Americans love their Bar-be-que. 

Hazard Removal kit: Costs 30 muns. Swaps out a MP44 in the squad for a mine sweeper device and activates the wire cutter abilities. Since your squads are so expensive and have a small squad size, a single land mine you didn’t see turning your troops into exploding sprays of sauerkraut could be devastating. 

Veteran Squad leader: Costs 40 muns. This adds an older veteran leader to the squad, but for a simple extra man, this upgrade is VERY expensive and those 40 muns expenditures tend to add up quick.

Pioneer Constructions

Various Production Structures: Pioneers can build the Infanterie Kompanie, the Leichte Mechanized Kompanie, the Support Armor Korps, the Heavy Panzer Korps, and the ever loyal radio posts for your base. For the sake of clarity and editing, I will not be covering these structures in detail here, but in time with their own entries.

Muns/Fuel Caches: Costs 250 mp each. Increases the yield from each resource point by either +6 muns for +10 total, or +4 fuel for +6 total. These values stack on the yields the point was already providing you, and prevents some random tea-swilling Brit from walking up and taking your point when you’re not looking. 

Bunker: Costs 150 mp. A pit dug into the earth with sheet metal sides and wooden roof that offers shelter for a single squad. Can be upgraded with a machine gun for 60 muns, a medic station for 60 muns, or a command post to act as a reinforcement point for 60 muns. 

Trench: a long narrow pit dug into the earth that provides cover for a single squad, and is built for free. Can be further upgraded with improved fortifications for more health, armor, and a roof for 50 mp. 

Pillbox: Costs 120 mp. A big strong tough concrete box that provides cover for a single squad. The equivalent of the wooden bunker but with WAY more hp. No upgrades though. 

Watchtower: Costs 150 mp. This is a little different than the previously mentioned watch towers. This can only be built on a resource cache instead of a muns/fuel cache. Could be useful on the front lines where you anticipate lots of combat, but a muns cache could be just as useful. 

Medic Bunker: Costs 350 mp. This structure spawns two medics that will venture out and grab wounded and dying German soldiers, dragging them back to safety. When 4 are acquired, you can either spawn a squad of grenadiers for 45 muns, or order them to return to the rear for a payment of 120 mp. 

Concrete Bunker: Costs 250 mp. This is a lovely little defensive structure that can provide cover for a single squad, and can be upgraded into having its own machine guns or a repair station with 2 mechanics for 60 muns. 

Pantherturm: Costs 350 mp/25 fuel. This is an armored bunker that has only a single rotating turret for protection. It’s the same turret used on the Panther tank, hence the name. 

Buried Mortar Bunker: Costs 350 mp/35 fuel/6 pop cap. This is a strong defensive structure that acts as a mortar emplacement. Seriously, where are they getting all this concrete? 

LeFH 18 Artillery: Costs 400 mp/50 fuel/15 pop cap. For some reason, Germans measure their gun diameter in cms, and I’m too lazy to do math. So just…. 10 mm = 1 cm, got it? Good. This is a light artillery piece at 10.5cm, but it has a good range, and appreciable rate of fire. No complaints here. 

Pak 43 88mm AT gun: Costs 350 mp/45 fuel/10 pop cap. And now back to mms??? WTF, PICK ONE. This is one of the heaviest guns fielded during WW2, and could be considered overkill. This gun has a maximum effective range of 4 kilometers and its penetration values are such that…. well, considering the tanks you’ll be fighting… it’s going to penetrate. You fire a shot, if the question is penetration, the answer is going to be yes. Regardless of angle, frontal plating, or range, extreme damage is an unavoidable result. 

Pak 43 88mm AT gun emplacement: Costs 600 mp/75 fuel/12 pop cap. It is common knowledge that sandbags are natural conductors of war energy, and surrounding an object used in the activities of war with them will automatically improve it. The emplacement has several upgrades and benefits over the standalone gun, and can be garrisoned for increased rate of fire, rotation rate, and can fire flares. 

Sandbags of the dragged line variety because green cover means you live to retirement age. 

Razor wire for infantry denial barriers. 

Tank Traps for vehicle denial barriers. 

Dragon’s teeth, in mythology, were objects that when planted in the ground, caused berserker warriors to spring forth under the command of the planter. Sadly, these don’t do that, but they do offer HEAVY vehicle area denial and can be used to slow the advance of tanks, channeling them into killing fields where they can be disposed of. 

Belgian Gate: a heavy steel fence that can be dragged to create heavy duty barriers. Often seen in German POW camps like Stalag 13. Say hi to Colonel Klink for me. We’re old buddies. 

Searchlight: Costs 100 mp/40 muns. Now THIS is interesting! This creates a beam of light that will reveal a unit’s occlusion silhouette through the fog of war. 

Teller Mines: Costs 50 muns. Teller is the German word for plate, which are what these mines resemble. They only go off under pressure from a vehicle and are quite capable of making a tank throw a tread or ending a light vehicle’s existence with 0 warning. 

S-mine field: Costs 60 muns. Also known as a bouncing betty mine. When triggered, a small charge would pop one of these mines up to, disturbingly enough, crotch level before exploding with a spray of shrapnel. This is a cruel and vicious anti-infantry mine and Germans tend to be sadistic bastards.

Advanced Support Pioneer Squad

Cost 230 mp
Squad size 4
Pop Cap 5

These guys are more of a specialist role than garden variety pioneers, and are also your salvage teams. They can lay teller and S-mines with the demolition package, costing 25 muns, as well as small charges that can destroy cover. The salvage package is available for an equally modest 25 muns, letting you extract fuel from destroyed wrecks. There’s going to be a lot of wrecks because the Soviets alone outnumber your tanks 10:1, and T-34s are pretty easy to kill. Advanced Support Pioneers can, like all other builder squads, repair your vehicles and buildings, and are armed with the same MP40s as their brother squad. 

Osttruppen

Cost 200mp
Squad size 6
Pop Cap 6

Translated to mean “Eastern Troops”, these guys are conscripted prisoners of war taken from the Soviet Union in a blatant violation of the Geneva suggestion, and their fortunes aren’t likely to improve from this side of the war either. They’re often used to screen for tanks, scout enemy positions, as cannon fodder, or to go “find some mines”. Even if they survived and made it back to the USSR, they usually faced execution or long prison sentences because Mother Russia doesn’t forget a sleight. As a game play unit, these guys are surprisingly useful. In a faction filled to the bursting point with powerful, expensive units, having a cheap, easily massed infantry unit can be exactly what you need at times, and these guys have a passive ability where they are more accurate when garrisoned or in cover. All in all, they’re rather effective!

Abilities

Fire Panzerfaust: Costs 25 muns. This fires a one-time use anti-tank weapon at the targeted vehicle. It’s not super powerful and won’t turn a tank into a crater or anything, but does do engine damage surprisingly often. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Makes this squad move at top speed for 5 seconds. 

Field First Aid: Costs 15 muns and requires Vet 1. This allows the Osttruppen to heal another injured squad

Upgrades

Panzerbuchse 39 AT Rifle: Costs 50 muns. Literally translated to mean “tank hunting rifle, 39th iteration”, this fires 13.2mm bullets that can penetrate 25mm of armor at 300m. Does hefty damage against light vehicles and skewers infantry in a single shot if it hits, but doesn’t tend to work so great against larger armor.

4x MP40 SMG: Costs 50 muns. Rapid firing SMGs at point blank range in the hands of an expendable horde have a way of making a real mess. 

MG42 LMG: Costs 60 muns. The MG42 is an absolutely outrageous weapon. Capable of maintaining rates of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute with either a 50 round clip or a 250 round belt, this is capable of suppressing even the most hardy of souls at long range, and rendering a man recognizable only by his dental records at close range. It doesn’t fire on the move though, because that’s how accidents happen.

Volkssturm

Cost 240 mp
Squad size 6
Pop Cap 6

Founded in the final months before an Axis defeat in WW2 by that charming chucklemonger, Goebbels, the Volkssturm or “People’s storm”, is a desperation move that fielded every able bodied man and threw him into the oncoming Soviet/American offensive. This is your other horde unit and these guys look like they have even worse gear than the Osttruppen without even matching uniforms or a clear idea on how to use the guns in their hands. How expendable they are is your prerogative, Kommandant, but do remember that these citizens really don’t have much of a choice about being here. 

Abilities

Fire Panzerfaust: Costs 25 muns. Fires a one-time AT weapon at the targeted vehicle. 

Rifle Grenade Shot: Costs 30 muns. This launches a 30mm grenade from the launcher attached to their rifle. Better range than if they just chucked it, but doesn’t do that much damage. 

Anti-Tank Rifle Grenade: Costs 30 muns. This is a short range grenade that damages vehicles. Better than nothing when a half-track starts suppressing your guys. 

Upgrades

4x MP40 SMG: Costs 50 muns. As mentioned prior, horde units do well with short range, high ROF weapons. 

RpzB 54 Panzershrek: Costs 60 muns. Translated to mean “tank terror”, this is no mere one-time use AT weapon shoplifted off some shelf in Walmart. This fires 88mm rockets, as compared to the American bazooka that fired 60mm ones. Damage is an inevitable result from any angle. 

Builds Bunker, dragged line sandbags, Trenches, and razor wire.

Infanterie Kompanie

Cost 80 mp/10 fuel

Surprisingly cheap for a building to counter the costs of Germany’s battle plan upgrades to tech up. This building provides non-horde infantry, a few half-tracks of differing varieties, and a few officers.

Artillery Field Officer

Cost 300 mp
Squad size 5
Pop Cap 7
Unique units. Can only have 1. 

The Officer’s squad are armed with MP40s for free, already making him a rather good CQC investment if you’re looking to save muns. He’s got a few other abilities that can bump up the effectiveness of your army, and bring the hammer down on things he can’t outright destroy. 

Abilities

Establish retreat point: This renders the officer unable to move, but units retreating from combat run to him instead. Ideal for setting up a forward operating base. 

Artillery Smoke Barrage: Costs 30 muns. This fires a total of 8 smoke shells into the area, blocking line of sight and blinding units within the cloud entirely. 

Concentrated Fire: Costs 25 muns. This is a nice little area of effect buff that improves infantry accuracy by 15%, and vehicle reload rates by 13%. However, when the Officer is at Vet 3, infantry gain 25% accuracy, and vehicles reload 25% faster. All for a very affordable muns price and combining this with a MG42 team just deletes infantry. 

Coordinated Barrage: Costs 80 muns. All available artillery pieces, mortars and rockets will pummel the area on the Officer’s command, filling the target zone with explosions. This only applies to the indirect fire units YOU have on the field. This isn’t an off-map call-in. Also, if the Officer himself is dead in his squad, this ability will not be available. 

Heavy Mortar Barrage: Costs 40 muns and requires Vet 1. This IS an off-map call-in and drops a series of fast mortars on the target area to blow it up real good.

MG42 Heavy Machine Gun Team

Cost 260 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 6

These guys accumulated a fair amount of hate during the war because they were blisteringly effective. MG42’s fling bullets down range at an utterly insane 1,200 rounds per minute rate, and will suppress infantry pretty much instantly. Considered the finest machine gun of the war, it also has a very distinctive sound and you will KNOW one of these is shooting at you because your world just turned into 110% dakka. 

Abilities

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Makes the MG team move faster for 5 seconds, for getting into that green cover position and getting set up before the enemy can escape the killing field. 

Fire Incendiary Armor Piercing Rounds: Costs 15 muns. So how could the MG42 get even scarier? Well, it’s bullets could explode for one thing. This ability turns the gun into a fireworks display with each bullet bursting into a spray of magnesium. It also increases bullet penetration because light vehicles were left out of the fun until now. 

Upgrades

Ambush Camouflage: Costs 20 muns. As if MG42 teams weren’t bad enough. Upgrading them with this will let them cloak themselves from view when stationary and not firing. Meaning you could be walking right into a trap with 4 of them aimed right at you, and never know it until they open up.

GrW 32 Mortar Team

Cost 240 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 6

This team carries an 8 cm mortar to the field with them, and the GrW was particularly noteworthy for its rate of fire and accuracy as compared to other mortars at the time. The team also has access to a healthy choice of options when it comes to bombardment, and can break down, quickly move to another location, and set right back up to continue the whack-a-mole game. 

Abilities

Mortar Barrage: Designates an area for the team to turn into freshly cratered dirt, hopefully with a few sudden and violent sprays of crimson as well. 

Smoke Barrage: Fires 3 mortar shells into the area containing a smoke charge, blocking line of sight and completely blinding those within the cloud. Useful at shutting down suppressing machine gun teams. 

Incendiary Mortar Barrage: Costs 45 muns. If blinding smoke isn’t your speed, how do you feel about just dead? This fires a single mortar shell into the area that bursts into burning napalm. Useful for denying the enemy a point they want to capture or burning down a defended area. 

Counter Barrage: Toggled ability. This disables the use of other bombardments when enabled, but if an enemy team attempts any direct fire within radius of the mortar, the mortar will instantly fire a shell at their location. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Makes the mortar team move quickly for 5 seconds. 

Hold fire: toggled the automated attack off and on.

Sniper

Cost 360 mp
Pop Cap 9

Despite being armed with a Gewehr 43 semi-auto rifle, the Sniper demonstrates excellent trigger discipline and only fires when he has a perfect shot lined up, killing enemy infantry squad members in one shot every single time with a clean headshot. Expensive and vulnerable, Snipers are either a massive waste of manpower or an abrupt reminder of humanity’s fragility, depending on the skill of the player. Sadly, the German sniper is the one sniper in the game so far that does not have access to the Set up tent ability, meaning he must be reliant upon other sources of healing. 

Abilities

Sniper Prone: Normally, Snipers can only cloak in cover. This allows the Sniper to adopt a prone position to cloak anywhere. He will be revealed with he fires, however, and will remain visible for longer than if he was in cover. 

Hold Fire: Toggles automatic firing off and on. If the sniper doesn’t fire, he is never revealed and can become a long-range long-term artillery spotter with this ability. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Moves quickly for 5 seconds. 

Fire Incendiary Explosive Round: Costs 45 muns. Picks a member of an enemy squad and relieves him of his torso. Like…the whole thing. BLAM. Gone. And the entire squad is stunned because they just got splattered with his rib cage, hair and teeth.

Grenadiers

Cost 240 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 7

The core infantry squad of the Wehrmacht. While they maintain similar stats to the Ostruppen with the same amount of health, and the same weapon, Grenadiers have a smaller squad size and a much more generous supply of upgrades and abilities to make them worth the additional cost. 

Abilities

Fire Panzerfaust: Costs 25 muns. Fires a one-time use AT weapon at the targeted vehicle. 

Rifle Grenade Shot: Costs 30 muns. Fires a 30mm rifle grenade further than can be thrown, but for little damage. 

Model 24 Stun Grenade: Costs 20 muns. This is a flash bang potato masher that will stun infantry squads and make polishing them off as easy as refilling a bourbon snifter. 

Field First Aid: Costs 15 muns and requires Vet 1. This will allow the Grenadiers to heal another squad. 

Upgrades

MG42: Costs 60 muns. Flings a stream of bullets down range at a rate that is unrivaled by any other MG of the war. This is the same weapon the HMG teams use, and it can’t fire on the move. It doesn’t need to be set up though. 

Jaeger Infantry Package: Costs 45 muns. Jaeger is the German word for “Hunter”, and this package will let them do exactly that. This is the same weapon the Sniper uses but the Grenadiers do not practice such trigger discipline. They cannot kill in a single shot, but this pack will give them some amazing semi-automatic long range combat ability. Also, with this equipped, you can right click on enemy soldiers in a crawling death animation on the ground. They will be interrogated and reveal enemy positions on your map for a time. 

Veteran Squad Leader: Costs 80 muns. This tasks a leader to the squad, increasing its DPS and combat stats. This does remove the field first aid ability, though, and that is quite a price tag for a single extra squad member. 

Ambush Camouflage: Costs 20 muns. This upgrade allows the squad to cloak when in cover. 

Assault Grenadiers

Cost 260 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 5

Now these guys are MEAN. They spawn in with 5 MP40s for close range work. The MP40 could sustain a rate of fire of about 500 rounds per minute and could fire 32 rounds before needing a reload, which they have trained for and are very fast at. These are no mere moderate upgrade from the Osttruppen and volkssturm, and are very good at their jobs. Placing squads of Assault grenadiers in half-tracks creates a battle bus that is fast, agile, prevents them from ever getting suppressed, and can get in your face in seconds before tearing you to pieces with a tide of automatic fire. 

Abilities

Model 24 Stielgranate Grenade Assault: Costs 30 muns. Every single member of this squad hurls grenades at the designated target, ideal for busting up deployed enemy weapons teams into sprays of meat confetti. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Moves faster for 5 seconds. 

Model 24 Stun Grenade: Costs 20 muns. Standard issue flashbang potato masher here. 

Upgrades

3x MP44 SMG: Costs 70 muns. The MP44, also known as the Sturmgewehr 44 (“assault rifle” or literally translated “storm gun”), has the same rate of fire as the MP40, and sacrifices a tiny bit on bullet damage because of the reduced diameter (9mm vs 8.22mm), but the Sturmgewehr is much more suited for mid-range combat and can even perform in moderate capacity at long range. 

Infrared Package: Costs 50 muns and requires the MP44 package. This equips the StG 44s you just bought for the team with infrared scopes to spot camouflaged and concealed enemies.

Brandenburgers

Cost 340 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 8

Also known as the eponymous stormtroopers, these guys excel at long range infantry and vehicle combat. They are also quite good at harassment operations because they can cloak in cover even without the ambush tactics upgrade, saving you much needed muns, and spawn with Kar-98k bolt actions with the option to upgrade into better mid-long range weaponry. 

Abilities

Throw Incendiary grenade: Costs 30 muns. A potato masher loaded with napalm gel. Useful for denying an enemy a point, busting a cache they’ve already built off of it, or if you just like setting folks on fire. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Squad moves faster for 5 seconds. 

Model 24 Stun Grenade: Costs 20 muns. Throws a flashbang potato masher at the targeted location. 

Field First Aid: Costs 15 muns. Heals another squad. 

Detection: Costs 30 muns. This makes vehicles appear on the mini-map. 

Tactical Advance: Costs 25 muns. For 10 seconds, the squad gains 150% weapons burst length, +50% accuracy, but also lowers the squad’s movement speed and makes it 50% easier for enemy squads to hit them. 

Upgrades

Anti-Tank Combat Package: Costs 75 muns. Equips a member of the squad with a panzershrek, letting them bust down enemy tanks. This also grans the squad the detection ability. 

4x Sturmgewehr 44: Costs 100 muns. You might be wondering why this pane lists StG44s and the previous squad showed the MP44. To that I say “blame the priests”. It’s a clerical error. The MP 43, MP 44, and StG 44 were all largely the same weapon with maybe some very small production variances. This allocates four of them to the squad for mid-long shenanigans and grants the squad the tactical advance ability. 

Jaeger Infantry Package: Costs 45 muns. This issues the squad some G43 rifles for long-range infantry popping combat and lets them interrogate the dying victims for information on where their friends are.

Unteroffizier

Costs 80 mp
Pop Cap 1

This is a single officer type unit with no upgrades and no abilities, but he can be bound to a squad to increase their accuracy and reload speed as well as reduce the amount of suppression received. When clicking the merge pane, there will be a green icon over every squad that the Unteroffizier can merge into.

Opel Blitz Transport Truck

Cost 210 mp/15 fuel
Pop Cap 3

This is actually a rather useful entity. First, it has room to transport 2 squads but because of its covered nature, its passengers cannot shoot out battle bus style. They are rather well protected though, and need only fear if the truck blows up under them. Second, it has only one option for weaponry deployment: the Panzerbuchse 39 for 35 muns each. Third, it can upgrade with medical aid for 100 mp that will let it radiate a healing aura like a United States ambulance! If you have an Artillery Field Officer next to it to act as a retreat point, you have a rather good FOB in the making.

Opel Blitz Cargo Truck

Cost 280 mp
Pop Cap 0

This is an interesting unit, one meant to counteract the expense of the Wehrmacht’s units. This truck has no weapons, no ability to carry anything, but if it travels to a sector that you own and uses its one ability, it will lose the ability to move but increase your income by 5 muns and 3 fuel per minute. The amount is the same regardless of what type of sector it is, or whether you have a cache there or not. This also does not keep an enemy from capturing the sector out from under it and should this happen, you lose both the income of that sector, and the added income the Opel Blitz was providing you until you get it back, or move the truck and park it somewhere else.

SdKfz 250 Half-Track

Cost 210 mp/20 fuel
Pop Cap 3

A diminutive spin-off on the battle bus concept. A battle short bus, if you will. It has space for only one squad but is quite speedy and well armored for a light vehicle. I personally like to have one of these run interference on point captures in my territory with a squad of assault grenadiers in the back. Fun fact: if a vehicle is carrying an infantry squad, the game registers that as an infantry presence and half-tracks can capture points. 

Abilities

Defensive Mode: Toggled ability. The 250 is a bit understaffed and in a mobile form, there’s no one to work the MG42 on top. When this ability is turned active, the half-track is buried in a hull down position, the engine turned off and bags of dirt are tossed on the hood. With his labors completed, the driver gets up on the MG to blast some folks from what amounts to an armored bunker.

Luftwaffe Field Officer

Cost 240 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 6

The Luftwaffe, or literally translated, “Air Weapon” was the Air Force element of the Wehrmacht, but I like to call them the LolWaffles. They don’t think I’m funny. The Field Officer’s squad is small, consisting of the officer himself, armed with a Luger, and 3 bodyguards with Kar-98k bolt-actions, so they’re not about to roflstomp their way across Europe. They do have a number of useful abilities, though. 

Abilities

Reconnaissance Overflight: Costs 80 muns. This calls in an aircraft to loiter over the targeted area and cast a light of sight down. 

Fragmentation Bomb: Costs 180 muns and Vet 2. Drops a number of bombs on the targeted location and explode with HE force, and a LOT of fragmentation. So infantry will get turned into modern art, and anything directly under the bombs themselves are going to have a bad time. 

Stuka Close Air support: Costs 200 muns and Vet 3. Calls in a Stuka JU-87, which will patrol the area and pelt targets with 37mm cannons. Now that gun size might not impress you, but it’s common knowledge that tank armor is usually thinner from above. Take advantage of that. 

Fire Panzerfaust: Costs 25 muns. Fires a cheap one-shot AT weapon at the targeted vehicle. 

Rifle Grenade Shot: Costs 30 muns. Launches a low-damage grenade further than can be thrown. 

Anti-Tank Rifle Grenade: Costs 30 muns. Throws a short-range grenade that can mess up vehicles of every color of the rainbow.

Panzergrenadiers

Cost 340 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 9

Meaning grenadiers of armor, these squads are the infantry component meant to support armored divisions. These guys hit the field carrying MP44s/Sturmgewehrs, and have a number of upgrades to ensure that the armor they accompany is well provided for in terms of protection. 

Abilities

Bundled Model 24 Grenades: Costs 35 muns. This is basically a bunch of Model 24 grenades taped together with a shared fuse. It goes off as big as you imagine too. This turns infantry into compost, and can even really mess up a light vehicle. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Squad moves faster for 5 seconds. 

Model 24 Stun Grenade: Costs 20 muns. Throws a flashbang potato masher, and Panzergrenadiers, even without upgrades, are no slouches when it comes to killing infantry. 

Field First Aid: Costs 15 muns and requires vet 1. Allows this squad to heal another squad that didn’t dodge that grenade. 

Rudimentary Repair: Panzergrenadiers can repair the armor they accompany. 

Mark Target: Costs 25 muns. This designates a hostile infantry unit as the target, and the target will be easier to hit. However, this also makes the Panzergrenadier that casted it easier to hit as well. 

Model 24 Smoke Grenade: The support package makes mention of this ability, but I couldn’t seem to find it. Que someone to point it out 5 pixels away from where my mouse was hovering in about 10 minutes. 

Upgrades

Support Package: Costs 30 muns. This unlocks the rudimentary repair, Mark Target, Model 24 smoke grenade abilities. 

Panzerbuchse 39: costs 30 muns. Provides the Panzergrenadiers with a pair of Panzerbuchse rifles to take out enemy light armor with. 

2x RpzB 54 “Panzershrek”: Costs 120 muns. Provides the squad with a pair of panzershreks to end the hopes and dreams of enemy armor. 

Jaeger Infantry Package: Costs 60 muns. This sets the squad up with a number of G43 rifles, and allows them to interrogate dying infantry to find out where their friends are. 

Urban Assault Panzergrenadiers

Cost 360 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 9

These guys are truly devoted to the fine art of watching the world burn. They spawn in with a trio of MP40s, and TWO Flammenwerfers. They have fewer upgrades than the original squad, but at close range combat, there really is no better option. 

Abilities

Bundled Model 24 Grenades: Costs 35 muns. 7 grenades taped together with a single fuse. I still can’t believe we didn’t think of that. 

Model 24 Smoke Grenade: Costs 15 muns. It’s a bit hazardous for close range oriented squads to race across an open field where there are enemies present. Machine gun suppression tends to end that in a hurry. Toss one of these near the enemy location, and then burst through the smoke like the crazed flammenwerfer toting lunatics that Germany was in no shortage of in the 40s. 

Model 24 Stun Grenade: Costs 20 muns. Tosses a flashbang potato masher, setting the enemy squad up to get toasted. 

Field First Aid: costs 15 muns and requires vet 1. Allows this squad to heal other squads. 

Upgrades

Costs 85 muns. This enhances the hp of the squad, which is useful because their line of work is hazardous.

Jaeger Command Squad

Cost 300 mp 
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 8
Unique unit. Can only have 1. 

These guys are a unique unit, and I really don’t understand why. They have no terribly unique abilities with panzerfaust, rifle grenade, stun grenade, flare, and smoke grenade. Their G43s do okay damage and a few of them have the scoped model, making them good at long range combat. They also possess the innate ambush camouflage ability, letting them cloak in cover, and possess a damage bonus for the first 5 seconds after breaking the cloak. Unless I’m missing something terribly potent about these guts, they’re like 3.6 roentgen. Not great, but not terrible either. 

Pak 40 7.5cm Anti-Tank Gun

Cost 320 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 7

Honestly? This is a really good anti-tank gun. Like…a REALLY good one. Even heavy tanks are required to give respect to this mighty weapon because it can take even something like a Churchill and turn it into a flaming wreck pretty much by itself if not dealt with. During testing skirmishes with the AI, I noted that about half a dozen shots made a heavy tank buy the farm, assuming I didn’t just get lucky on penetration, and their range is surprisingly long. The game description says that this was one of the best AT weapons of the war, and I believe it. 

Abilities

Target Weak Point: Costs 30 muns. Fires a specialized concussive round that stuns the crew of an enemy tank, leaving it vulnerable to follow up shots. 

SdKfz 250/7 Mortar Half-Tracks
Cost 200 mp/30 fuel
Pop Cap 6

I haven’t seen something like this since I covered the Americans. This is basically the same thing as the 8cm mortar team, but it doesn’t need to pack up to move around and it can do so quickly. It has no other weapons, paper armor, and a fairly good array of choices for bombardment. 

Abilities

Mortar Barrage: Basically, point and click where you want the half-track to pummel with its mortar, and it will hit it with 6 mortar shots. Nothing fancy. 

Smoke Barrage: Fires 3 mortar shots into the targeted area loaded with smoke to block line of sight and render units in the cloud totally blind. 

Incendiary Mortar Barrage: Costs 45 muns. Fires a single mortar shell into the area filled with napalm gel. Great for area denial. 

Counter Barrage: Toggled ability. If the truck detects a hostile entity within its weapon range using an indirect fire weapon, be it mortar or howitzer, it will immediately fire its own mortar on that unit. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself.

Mechanized Grenadier Group

Cost 340 mp/30 fuel
Pop Cap 10

This is a nice little bundled option where you get a Sdkfz half-track, and a load of grenadiers hitch a ride in the back on the way to the front. Like all other half-track bundles, this save you a bit of mp than if you bought both things independently.

Mechanized Assault Group

Cost 440 mp/30 fuel
Pop Cap 12

Like the previously mentioned bundle, but this one comes with panzergrenadiers instead!

SdKfz 221

Cost 220 mp/15 fuel
Pop Cap 4

This is actually quite a serviceable light vehicle. Speedy, covered with a generous (for an armored car) amount of angled armor that might even bounce a tank shell or two if you’re very very lucky, and the turret up top can mount a 2cm autocannon with an upgrade along with the default MG34, one of the first weapons produced when Germany took the Treaty of Versailles and decided to use it as toilet paper. 

Abilities

Infantry Awareness: Costs 10. Remember those old Friday the 13th movies and how Jason always knew where people were hiding? This power lets the 221 do that too, showing infantry on the mini-map, but shoots them instead of stabs them. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself. 

Prioritize vehicles: Makes the 221 ignore infantry and hit vehicles instead. Not sure why you’d want this. It does scratch damage, if that, to anything heavier than itself. 

Hold Fire: Toggles the weapons off and on. 

Upgrades

KwK 30 2cm Autocannon: Costs 70 muns. Mounts the mentioned weapon in the turret on top of the vehicle. It provides punch enough to turn infantry into a fine pink mist, light vehicle, and has enough traverse to poke at aircraft that dare to loiter. 

Additional Supplies: Costs 55 muns. Improves the movement speed and durability of the 222. 

Spotting Scopes: Costs 60 muns. Increases line of sight when the vehicle is stopped, but in battle, speed is life, especially for light vehicles. You go slow, you die.

SdKfz 251 Half-Track

Cost 200mp/30 fuel
Pop Cap 5

The 251 is an excellent, flexible, infantry slaughtering battle bus style half-track that acts as a mobile reinforcement point, letting you keep on pushing despite some casualties, and not risk losing your best squads. It can carry 2 squads comfortably, and let them shoot out the sides and back while head-banging wildly to the sounds of Sabaton (Ghost Division, naturally). It also carries TWO MG42s, and in a straight infantry fight, the worst things your troops need to worry about is not getting a hot piece of brass casing down the front of their shirt. 

Abilities

Riegel 43 Anti-tank mine: Costs 50 muns. Instead of weapon deployment, the 251 can deploy anti-tank mines. The Riegel 43 was a risky little device to carry about, and tended to explode massively from even the slightest disturbance due to some design flaws. Additionally, the Germans employed no less than three anti-handling devices so that you can’t just get out of your tank, grab it and toss it off the road unless you feel like getting buried in 3 different counties. Running over one of these is enough to completely gut a Churchill tank, much less the more lightly armored Sherman, because, as I mentioned previously, Germans tend to be sadistic bastards. 

Infantry Awareness: Costs 10 muns. This highlights infantry on the mini-map so Hans and Claus working the MG42s can go and say hello. They’re social butterflies like that. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself. 

Upgrades

Flame Projectors: Costs 90 muns. In case 2,400 bullets per minute doesn’t put a spring in your step, they can get ripped out for a pair of medium range flame throwers. However, the bulk of the cookers and their fuel requires that all the transport seating be ripped out and the 251 loses its ability to reinforce squads. 

Spotting Scopes: Costs 60 muns. This increases the sight radius of the 251 when it is stationary, which does tend to happen a lot given how vital it is to defending a point.

Support Armor Korps

Cost 140 mp/15 fuel

This building contains the last few infantry squad choices available to the Wehrmacht, 2 more light vehicles, and then we get into the middling tank destroyers and medium tanks. 

Upgrades

Jager Survival Training: Costs 120 muns. This increases the hp of fallschirmjaegers, Gebirgsjagers, Brandenburgers, and the Jaeger Command Squad.

Vehicle Crew

Cost 140 mp
Squad size 4
Pop Cap 4

These guys drive your tanks and half-tracks, and are the “animating soul” of a vehicle. Without a crew, it’s just a neutral game object. The amount of experience the crew has determines the experience level of the vehicle, and every vehicle’s vet requirements are different. A crew could have vet 3, but inside of a Panther, could still be Vet 2. 

Abilities

Repair: Like all vehicle crews regardless of faction, they can get out and fix their ride. 

Repair Critical: Costs 25 muns. This quickly repairs a vehicle for a bit of damage, and instantly cures one critical ailment. This doesn’t seem to work if the tank is unoccupied, so the crew can’t just get out, fix engine damage instantly and hop in. Someone else needs to do this to a vehicle that still has someone in it. 

Hull Down: Costs 50 muns. This digs a big pit under the tank, putting its turret almost level with the ground. This makes it very hard to hit, as it exposes almost no profile. Gameplay wise, this increases a tank’s defense and damage at the cost of its mobility, but a tank can release themselves from a hull down state whenever they want. This is available to almost all medium tanks.

Gebirgsjager

Cost 360 mp
Squad Size 4
Pop Cap 8

The translation of this comes across as a little fuzzy, but Germany had a division of troops dedicated to fighting in the alpine mountains, the Gebirgstruppe. These guys are the light infantry part of that division, and jager or jaeger, spellings may vary, means “hunter”. They are, all four, armed with Kar-98ks, and really know how to use them. They excel in long ranged combat, and have a few unique abilities to make nuisances of themselves. 

Abilities

Assassinate: Costs 45 muns, and requires G43 rifle upgrade. These hunters can pick a singular target in an enemy infantry squad and make his head explode like that guy from Scanners. 

Sprint: Costs 10 muns. Squad moves more quickly for 5 seconds. 

Flare: Costs 35 muns and requires vet. Shoots a single slow-falling flare into the target area to grand vision

Upgrades

Immunity Package: Costs 30 muns. This is where the alpine mountain part of their training comes in. Gebirgsjagers can become completely immune to the cold effects on winter maps. I tell ya, I’d really like to ignore hypothermia and frost bite too. 

MG42 LMG: Costs 60 muns. Doesn’t fire on the move, but is a lovely omnipresent bullet hose. 
2x G43 Scoped rifles: Costs 60 muns. Grants a pair of G43 rifles to the squad for long range combat, and activates the assassinate ability.

Fallschirmjager

Cost 400 mp
Squad Size 5
Pop Cap 10

More like FAILschirmjagers, given how often they tend to drop right in front of hostile positions. Literally translated as “Fall Screen Hunter”, these are paratroopers of the Wehrmacht and have a tendency to show up everywhere. They’re expensive, but you get what you pay for, and these Jaegers have several abilities and upgrades to earn their rent. 

Abilities

Bundled Model 24 Grenade: Costs 35 muns. 7 grenades bound together makes a BIG boom. 

Fire Panzerfaust: Costs 25 muns. Fires a cheap single-use AT weapon at the target. 

Blendkorper 2H Frangible Smoke Grenade: Costs 30 muns and requires Vet 1. Okay, I needed to do some research to find out exactly what in God’s Green Earth that this thing is. This is lightbulb shaped glass bottle that contains a mix of titanium tetrachloride, and calcium chloride. Acute exposure to this chemical mixture is highly irritating to the skin, respiratory tract, and causes damage to the eyes. So, it’s a chemical bomb. Additionally, titanium tetrachloride has a chemical reaction with open air and, in laymen’s terms, creates a billowing cloud of white smoke that isn’t good to be in. Gameplay wise, this creates a smoke screen that harms infantry within it, and disables vehicle weapons if they are within the cloud as well as completely blinding them. Again, Germans. Sadistic bastards. 

Upgrades

MG34 LMG: Costs 60 muns. The game description is actually lying to do you. This isn’t considered to be one of the best machine guns of the war. That honor goes to the MG42, which was intended to replace the 32 as the prior model was more expensive and took longer to manufacture. But, even so, the 34 was light enough for a single person to carry and while it’s nothing compared to the bullet storm it’s big brother can churn out, 900 rounds per minute isn’t bad either. 

FG-42 Automatic Rifles: Costs 70 muns. I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of this one. It’s kind of a niche weapon, there weren’t that many of them produced, and even then, there were only for the Fallschirmjagers. Hence the name of the weapon, Fallschirmjaegergewehr 42. This is a selective fire rifle where the attempt was made to combine the firepower of a LMG into the lightweight frame of a Kar-98k. After the war, the United States got its hands on some of these and most of its design was copied and extrapolated from to produce the M60 machine gun of Rambo fame. Small world, eh? As for the gameplay upgrade, this makes Fallshirmjagers good against infantry from ALL ranges, providing semi-auto fire for distant targets, and full-auto as they get closer. 

Additional FG-42 Automatic Rifles: Costs 70 muns and requires FG-42 upgrade. This gives the squad two more FG-42s in case your infantry problem is REALLY bad.

Repair and Recovery Truck

Cost 200/30 fuel
Pop Cap 5
Unique unit. Can only have one. 

Now THIS is interesting! Not only can this operate as an advanced repair truck for vehicles that are still alive, it can interact with their wrecks to bring them back from the dead! This only works for vehicles of German manufacture, but this means that just because you lost that big impressive Tiger, if you can secure the wreck, it doesn’t have to be the end. It does take some time and resources to do this, though.

Sdkfz 234 “Puma” armored car

Cost 270 mp/70 fuel
Pop Cap 7

I dunno. This looks more like a “Warthog” to me. It has a 50mm main gun that does decent damage to vehicles, but won’t win any awards for “tank buster of the year”, and a coaxial MG42 to deal with infantry woes. It has good speed, good armor, and the only thing that isn’t so good about it is the price tag. You could afford a fresh new tank with more tank busting firepower for only a bit more fuel, or deploy a 221 scout car that does the same job for a fraction of the price. 

Abilities

Target Weak Point: Costs 35 muns and requires vet 1. This fires a shot into an enemy vehicle that briefly stuns its crew. However, the Pak 40 has the same ability for NO fuel cost. Honestly, the Puma just exists in a really difficult niche these days. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself. 

Prioritize vehicles: Makes the vehicle ignore infantry in favor of trying to kill vehicles. 

Hold Fire: Toggles the weapons on and off. 

Upgrades

Spotting Scopes: Costs 60 muns. Increases the vehicle’s line of sight while stationary. Not a good idea for an armored car or light vehicle. 

Flakpanzer IV Ostwind

Cost 280 mp/90 fuel
Pop Cap 10

This is actually an AA unit meant to counter fighter-bombers, but those same guns that can rip open aircraft fuselages hundreds of meters away like beer cans can also be turned on infantry at ground level to turn them all into chunky salsa. It’s 37mm gun is pretty useless against tanks though. 

Abilities

Blitzkrieg Tactics: Costs 30 muns and requires vet 1. This increases the tank’s speed by 35%, acceleration by 60%, and makes them 25% harder to hit for 15 seconds. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself. 

Upgrades

Spotting Scopes: Costs 60 muns. Increases the sight radius for the vehicle when stationary. 

StuG III Ausf. E Assault Gun

Cost 260 mp/75 fuel
Pop Cap 8

The Sturmgeschutz III chassis was Germany’s most produced fully-tracked fighting vehicle in WW2, and the 2nd most produced vehicle in general behind the 251 half-track. In this example, the Ausf. E variant features a 75mm gun that has a long range, slow projectile speed, ample splash, and a gunner that starts showing veins in his forehead if he hasn’t exploded any infantry in the last minute and a half. It is worth noting that while the StuG has a low profile and good armor, its cannon is mounted directly into the hull with a very limited traverse angle of 24 degrees.

Abilities

Target Weak Point: Costs 30 muns. Fires a shot that instantly stuns the enemy crew. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself. 

Ammo swap: Swaps HE rounds for HEAT rounds, which are more effective at damaging tanks. 

Upgrades

Pintle-mounted MG42 machine gun: Costs 30 muns. Mounts a machine gun to the top of the tank for even more murder fun time for infantry. 

Spotting Scopes: Costs 60 muns. Increases the sight radius for the vehicle when stationary. 

HEAT shells: Costs 80 muns. Unlocks the ammo swap ability, but replaces target weak point. 

StuG III Ausf. G Assault Gun

Cost 260 mp/75 fuel
Pop Cap 8

The Ausf. G variant costs the exact same as the previously mentioned entry, but instead of a splashing mobile artillery gun, this mounts a 75mm high velocity cannon with HE rounds that are quite capable of doing great harm to enemy tanks. The Ausf. G has the exact same abilities and upgrades of the E, save for the ammo swap ability. It’s also worth noting that this is the tank that Erwin drives in Girls Und Panzer, though it’s kind of hard to recognize under her god awful paint scheme. Yes, I watch the show. It’s 2019, don’t judge.

Panzer IV Ausf F1

Cost 290/75 fuel
Pop Cap 12

The Panzerkampfwagen (“Armored Fighting Car”) is a medium tank that fills the same role as the Cromwell, the Sherman, and the T-34 in that it does everything pretty well. The chassis of the Panzer IV served as the basis for many other machines of war, such as the StuG, the Jagdpanzer, the Wirbelwind, and the Brummbar and was the 2nd most numerous fully tracked vehicle. The F1 variant is armed with a 75mm short barreled cannon that rocks the socks off infantry, but tends to leave enemy tanks as unimpressed as Bethesda shareholders. 

Abilities

Target Weak Point: Costs 30 muns. Fires a shot that instantly stuns the enemy crew. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself. 

Upgrades

Pintle-Mounted MG42 Machine gun: Costs 50 muns. Further improves the anti-infantry capabilities of the Panzer IV F1 by sticking a gun on the roof that can traverse quite a distance. 

Spotting Scopes: Costs 60 muns. Increases the sight radius for the vehicle when stationary. 

75mm KwK 40: Costs 60 muns and Vet 3. This replaces the stub-nose cannon with the longer version found in the Ausf G variant. Interestingly, this turns the F1 into a G variant for half the fuel cost in exchange for time vetting up and muns.

Panzer IV Ausf G

Cost 350/120 fuel
Pop Cap 12

WOW, that price sure jumped up quite a bit, didn’t it?! Almost doubled! Well, it puts this tank in line with the other mainline mediums from the other factions like the Cromwell and the Sherman. The Panzer IV does tend to out perform them, however, and while it has the same 75mm gun as the StuG G, it has more health and stronger frontal armor so you get what you pay for.

Panzerwerfer 42 Multiple Rocket Launcher

Cost 360 mp/85 fuel
Pop Cap 12

I was wondering when we’d get to this. This is the Wehrmacht’s indirect fire vehicle that fills the role of the Calliope or Katyusha. It is a half-track that fits a MLRS on its back end, capable of firing all 42 15cm Nebelwerfer rockets in just a few seconds. These are deadly to infantry and other light targets, but will only make a tank of medium variety or heavier ponder what is itching. It should be noted that, aside from its one ability, just used to target the rockets, the Panzerwerfer can toggle on counter barrage mode. This means that if so much as a small mortar fires off within its detection range, the offender is going to get knocked flatter than a roadkilled skunk by 42 missiles.

Panzer IV Command Tank

Cost 360 mp/125 fuel
Pop Cap 12
Unique Unit. Can only have one. 

So here’s the thing about this guy. He’s marginally more expensive than the Panzer IV G, but he uses the F1 variant. However, he radiates a command aura that makes very vehicle around him take 20% less damage from all sources. He also has an ability that costs 50 fuel, oddly enough, that allows vehicle units near him to move faster and take resource nodes at a rapid pace. All in all, an extremely good investment. Beyond that, he’s just a Panzer IV F1, with all the same abilities and upgrades as the former, excepting that his gun cannot be improved, and he cannot mount a machine gun because the commander is in that spot, sticking his head up and tempting enemy snipers.

Sturmpanzer IV “Brummbar”

Cost 420 mp/150 fuel
Pop Cap 14

Also known as a Stupa (contraction of Sturmpanzer) or “Brummbar” (German for “Grouch”), this tank most definitely seems ill tempered. Nursing 100mm of frontal armor and a 150mm Howitzer as a main weapon, this tank has had a BAD day and is looking to collect some charred teeth as trophies. This is, more or less, the German version of the KV-2 and fills a similar role. Basically, it’s here to blow up infantry and fortifications but has a bit of trouble with vehicle combat due to its slow projectile speeds. It has the usual range of upgrades with machine guns and spotting scopes being options, the factional panzer tactician ability to create a smoke screen in case things get dicey, and a bunker busting barrage that hits a somewhat distant area with 3 shots from its 150mm once it’s leveled up a little.

Panther PzKfw V Medium Tank

Cost 490 mp/185 fuel
Pop Cap 18

This is, in my opinion, one of the finest tanks of the war. Germany didn’t need to embark on their wunderwaffe program to create obnoxious, impractical, and gaudy piles of sheisse like the Tiger or the Maus. They just needed to make more tanks like this though, thankfully for the rest of the world, they didn’t. The Panther is reasonably fast, has generous amounts of sloped armor ranging from 80-100mm thick in places, and possesses the old reliable 75mm KwK cannon that was capable of penetrating 120mm of armor from nearly a kilometer away. The Panther also has something of a storied history as well. It was originally meant to phase out the older Panzer IV’s in light of the fact that Russia had more T-34s, which was arguably the better tank, and were using it to style all over Germany. It was pushed out of the conceptual oven before it was ready so they could be present at the battle of Kursk and it was a disaster. A good number of them broke down on their way to the front, and those that didn’t weren’t fitted with a hull mounted or pintle machine gun. For a tank destroyer, they can get away with that, but this is a mainline MBT we’re talking about here. They could do nothing as Russian infantry casually walked up to the front of the tank, tossed a few satchel charges on the hood, and turned it into a fascist George Foreman grill. Eventually, the Germans got their $hit together after that debacle, and the Panther truly came into its own. Many German divisions had their bigger, stronger, and slower Tiger tanks scrapped in exchange for more of these, and capturing a Panther was such a prize to the Allied powers that the Soviet Union stole the operation manual, translating it into Russian for use on the Eastern Front. By the end of the war, the commonly known ratio was that 5 Allied tanks would be required to kill a single panther, and every other tank in WW2 was hot trash in comparison to this. If this tank was a person, it would be Keanu Reeves. I mean, you could be amazing in your own ways, but you will never be anywhere close to Keanu Reeves. As a gameplay unit, this tank stands entirely on its own and excels in almost any situation, lacking and not requiring cheeky abilities in order to remain viable. It only possesses the factional abilities that exist on every other vehicle.

Elefant Heavy Tank Destroyer

Cost 720 mp/245 fuel
Pop Cap 22

Back before Porsche decided to make cars and become outrageously rich, they made monstrosities like this. The Elefant takes the concepts of a sniping tank destroyer and runs with them as fast as it can…so about jogging pace (seriously, this thing redlines at 19 mph). Weighing in at 65 tons, and fitted with layers upon layers of armor plating up to 200mm thick in places, this thing gets nowhere fast and is in no particular hurry. The Elefant possess a 88mm gun as its only weapon, and while mounted directly to the body of the tank and possessing a limited traverse angle, when it fires the target will wonder where most of its health bar went.

Abilities

Focused Sight: Toggled ability. Increases sight range at the cost of sight angle, removing the Elefant’s peripheral vision. Also known as “tunneling” 

Target Weak Spot: Costs 35 muns. This stuns the crew, allowing the Elefant an additional shot on them. Given how long of a range the Elefant has and how hard it is, this basically dooms the target. 

Panzer Tactician: Costs 30 muns. Fires off smoke bomb launchers mounted in the frame of the vehicle, creating a smoke cloud around itself.

Prioritize Vehicles: Toggled Ability. OBVIOUSLY, any one infantry member will die if struck by an Elefant, but that’s kind of wasteful when its job is putting holes in enemy tanks that you can drive a Honda Civic through. 

Hold Fire: Given that the Elefant has Focused Sight and spotting scopes, it will likely see an enemy target long before it sees them. Sometimes, shooting at everything you can see isn’t the best plan. 

Upgrades
Spotting Scopes: Cost 60 muns. Increases sight radius when stationary. Given that the Elefant only has two speeds, stationary and slow, it will make good use of this upgrade. 

Tiger PzKpfw VI

Cost 640 mp/230 fuel
Pop Cap 21

Okay…. I have to be honest with you. I don’t like this tank. In fact, I think I kind of hate it. Don’t get me wrong, in CoH2, it’ll rock face all day long if you use it in the right way. But this is the Starcraft compared to the Panther’s Total Annihilation. It stole the spotlight from an undeniably better product and is the tank that everyone remembers, despite being plagued by technical problems such as a weak belt system, and an overheating engine that tended to erupt into flames on occasion if pushed too hard. It also threw treads a lot, the wheels powering its treads occasionally froze solid from mud, ice and snow getting stuck between them, and it guzzled gas like like a Soviet at the all you can drink Vodka open bar and poetry slam. 

It was seen in the movie, Fury, fighting several Shermans, and I wanted to strangle that tank commander. The Tiger is, at heart, a sniper tank that is only not considered a tank destroyer because it fails to meet several vital requirements. It’s meant to sit in the back of a formation, playing whack-a-mole with Allied armor using it’s 88mm cannon, the same packed by the Elefant, and carefully watch its flanks and rear because of its lack of mobility (28 mph with a wind at its back and an overheating engine in the rear. It also takes a good 9 seconds to complete a 180 degree turn). There is absolutely no shame in sitting in a well-defended position, watching tank shells bounce off the 120mm frontal armor, while you take shots where the enemy is afforded no such luxury. If you must advance with a Tiger, have the Panzergrenadiers screen threats for it and act as its eyes and ears. That is EXACTLY what they are there for! If you come across an AT ambush unsupported, the odds are good that the Tiger won’t be able to run away from the threat before you’re down 230 fuel, and it can’t turn fast enough to keep a Sherman, T-34, or a Comet from engaging in surprise rear armor fornication. The Tiger possesses no abilities other the usual factional ones possessed by every Wehrmacht vehicle, Blitzkrieg tactics and Panzer Tactician, and can mount a MG42 and spotter scopes as upgrades for reasonable cost.

Tiger Ace

Cost 800 mp
Pop Cap 26

This is basically the same unit as I just listed prior, but it costs no fuel. At least not immediately. Instead, it cuts your fuel income by 90% and manpower by 25% so long as it exists. So the best times to call it up are when you have no resources and no map control to tax anyway or when you need that last little bit of oomph to make the enemy cry uncle.

Though, this unit has less to do with the improved Tiger model, it being slightly better than a normal Tiger in a bunch of small ways, than it does who is in it. Based on the in-game description and its combat performance, I am 90% sure that this is Michael Wittman. The Axis fanboys are grinning at that name, and the Allied Commanders are shrieking “OP PLZ NERF”, convulsing wildly in an uncontainable ’tism fit. Those who haven’t brushed up on their historical education, I will be more than happy to fill your brain bowels with knowledge crap. Michael Wittman was born in 1914 right at the very southern tip of Germany in a little town by the name of Vogelthal, now Dietfurt in modern day. He was drafted up for compulsory service and quickly found that serving in the military put a spring in his jackboots. After his tour was completed, he volunteered for another term of service under the Leibstandarte, Hitler’s personal bodyguard. Oddly, instead of remaining by his side at all times as you would expect a bodyguard to do, Wittman was crammed into a StuG III and deployed to the Eastern Front. That’s a long story but the shorter version is that Wittman struck the Soviets like a tornado of knives, knocking out tank after tank by analyzing the weak spots in the T-34 design (gap between the body and the turret. Aim for the seam. Just an FYI), and accumulating a monstrous 118 tank kills by Jan 30th, 1944. He had swapped his StuG out for Tiger by then, as the Panther was still prone to oiling itself and dying without warning. However, despite his best efforts, there really is no cure for having a boss with the personality and strategic sense of a habanero suppository. The armored battle for the Eastern Front was starting to turn back the other way for Germany and all hell had broken loose in the west. The date was June 6th, 1944, and there were some guests coming to town that High Command wanted to roll out the red carpet for.

His next engagement came in Normandy, around the area of Villers-Bocage. Uncle Sam was thrusting deep into France with the endowments God and the Amercian tax-payers gave him, and the British were helping. A little. Wittman had all of half a dozen tanks in his unit, due to manpower woes and technical issues, and was surprised to see an Allied armored column advancing several days ahead of when they were expected. So, Wittman decided to do Wittman things and attack them anyway. Again, abridging, but Wittman’s Tiger punched through the rear armor of the column like a bratwurst through a cheerio at 3,200 feet per second. It was the most action packed 15 minutes that any one person could have experienced in their lives, save for if one encountered Stormy Daniels at the Robert C. Byrd nudist colony and Russian Collusion Convention Center. By the end of it Wittman was up about 14 tanks, 2 anti-tank guns that are meant to prevent these kinds of shenanigans, and 15 transport vehicles carrying valuable war material. He even played footsie with a Sherman Firefly for a bit, one of the few tanks he’d have to worry about 360 no scoping his nazi @ss, but couldn’t manage the kill. His own tank was disabled in the center of town surrounded by some rather irate Manchester sports fans. He’d figured that he’d had more than enough fun and decided to implement the ultimate Joestar technique, legging it to the nearest German forward operating base 15 km away.

He was offered a position in Berlin, teaching young, impressionable, freshly brainwashed Nazi youth in the ways of Tankery, but he had so many things left to kill or rather, at least, he thought so. This was a decision that would cost him his life because on the 8th of August, 1944, he had a chance encounter with a Sherman Firefly, possibly the same Firefly that he had failed to kill at Normandy, that exploited the armor vulnerability in his Tiger’s box frame. Right at the corner seams of the cupola were exposed welds that you can see on any picture of a Tiger on google image, and those created a small, obscure weak spots. Its 17-pounder punched right through one of those spots and triggered an ammo explosion within that blew the turret off and killed the crew instantly. Thus ends the tale of the Tiger ace.

Radio Post

Cost 80 mp/5 fuel

At last, we come to the ever humble, yet lovable radio post. It calls in your 3 spell caster officers because if throwing your amazing infantry at them didn’t work, and Panther and Panzer IV spam didn’t work, and even the mighty Tiger Ace still didn’t work… well, the TA doesn’t diminish your muns income and if all your men and tanks are dead, you might have some to spare. The Radio Post has 3 upgrades, and all each of them do is unlock each officer for deployment. 

Upgrades

Artillery Commander: Cost 300 mp/35 fuel
Airborne Commander: Cost 250 mp/30 fuel
Paradrop Commander: Cost 200 mp/20 fuel

Sturm General

Cost 180 mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 6

The Sturm General commands Germany’s mighty, excessive, omnipotent, obviously-compensating-for-something artillery. He has a number of abilities that will reduce the forces of the Allies to the consistency of a fine paste, ideal for nibbling on with a bit of toast and perhaps some red wine. He also has a few abilities to create vulnerabilities in the enemy and then snap them in half from those same vulnerabilities. Allied players should be trying to shoot this guy first. 

Abilities

Break Supply Line: Costs 80 muns. This ability can only be cast on a resource point that the enemy owns, and sends in a stuka bomber with a specialized payload. When it strikes that point, it will default back to a neutral state. If the enemy has built a cache on that point, it will damage it, and the point will still default back to a neutral state, but the cache will only be damaged, not destroyed. This is a particularly evil ability because a player or AI only receives income from territories linked to their HQ contiguously. So if you use this at the proper location at the proper moment, it will sever most of your enemy’s income until he can send a unit to go and retake it. 

Railway Artillery Support: Costs 200 muns. When doing research about this ability, I was certain there were some typo’s made. There’s no way these numbers could be right, but indeed, they were. Some German artillery during WW2 was so large that it could only be transported by rail. This ability calls in 3 rounds from the monstrous Schwerer Gustav gun, an 800mm cannon. YES. EIGHT. HUNDRED. MILLIMETERS. 31.5 inches, 80 cm. Even the American Battleship, the USS Iowa, only had guns that were 406mm. We are beyond chunky salsa here. We are beyond pink mist, or even a memory of their existence. Victims of this are treated to an end such like death as is never was. 

Stuka Bombing Strike: Costs 200 muns. This drops a 110 lbs bomb on the location that not only will give whoever is struck by it a new perspective on life and death (mostly death) at the bottom of a crater, it will also neutralize resource nodes if they are within the area of effect. 

Light Artillery Barrage: Costs 100 muns. Gives a light dusting of 7.5 cm shells at a reasonable cost with good rate of fire, good shell saturation, and good ability recharge time. No complaints here. 

Sector Artillery: Costs 200 muns. Any enemy entering the designated area will be mercilessly pummeled by 10.5 cm shells until they are smeared all over the bottoms of a series of craters, the ability expires (45s), or they wise up and leave. 

Close the Pocket: Costs 200 muns. This is the 2nd evil ability the officer has. This hits all enemies in frontline territories with a series of mortar shots, but if the enemy owns a territory that is cut off from its HQ, those guys get splattered with artillery proper.

Luftwaffe Terror Officer

Cost 180 mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 6

The LolWaffle officer is, like other Airforce officers, very well rounded with skills in the finding of things, disabling of things, blowing up of things, and an ultimate that throw the kitchen sink in muns at the enemy. He also utterly despises me and the nicknames I keep giving him. He never accepts my offer of waffles either… 

Abilities

Reconnaissance Overflight: Costs 60 muns. This calls in a scout plane that loiters in the designated area and lazily reveals targets. Try and cast this near the center of the map because at locations close to corners, he spends a good bit of time off the map not revealing anything. 

Smoke Bombs: Costs 40 muns. This ability lets you drop smoke on a location out of the blue. By the time it finally clears, you could have maneuvered several MG42 teams into position and augmented their accuracy with Concentrated fire buff. Just in case you want to let the enemy know that he is completely outclassed. 

Incendiary Bombing Run: Costs 120 muns. Calls in a Stuka to drop a series of napalm bombs on a long narrow corridor, so when the enemy is nice enough to set up a firing line, you can delete it all with no hassle. 

Strafing Run: Costs 150 muns. This calls in a JU-87 that will loiter in the area and fire on any infantry unit you have vision on, murdering and suppressing them at rapid speed. Seriously, the suppression is almost instant. 

Fragmentation Bomb: Cost 180 muns. This drops a series of fragmentation bombs in a long narrow corridor that blow anything in their path into a rain of finely ground kibble. 

Stuka Close Air Support: Costs 200 muns. Calls in a Stuka that will loiter in the area and fire on any revealed enemy with much more powerful 37mm cannons. Basically spells out “bewm and blam, get the f*ck off my Rhineland” 

Strategic Bombing: Costs 300 muns and requires Vet 1. This is the ultimate ability of the LolWaffles, and will drop 4 series of heavy bombs in a long narrow corridor that have hefty splash and generous damage that leaves nothing but smoking boots for infantry targets and unrecognizable scrap for vehicle kills. 

Assault Support Sergeant

Cost 180mp
Squad Size 3
Pop Cap 6

Sadly, there’s a reason why this guy is a Sergeant and not an officer or general. His abilities just aren’t very good. He might be useful though if you want a never-ending supply of Stormtroopers and Fallschirmjagers. 

Abilities

Air-dropped Medical Supplies: Costs 50 muns. This drops a medical crate into the area that heal squads in the area when picked up. Useful if one of your territories is getting hammered with lots of replacements coming out of the nearest half-track. The health regen could slow down the rates of death. 

Supply Drop: Costs 450 mp. This guy has nothing on his American counterpart. This ability drops a MG32 machine gun, inferior to the 42, and a Pak 40 which is okay, but both are uncrewed. It also drops a single crate of 10 fuel into the area. 

Brandenburgers: Costs 340 mp/8 Pop Cap. This is the exact same reason as why the Russian paradrop commander sucks. This ability can only be cast on ambient buildings, which tend to go the way of Hitler’s other testicle once the fighting gets started in earnest, and even then, they just arrive from the edges of the battlefield so what’s the point?! 

Fallschirmjagers: Costs 400 mp/10 Pop Cap. This calls in a drop of Fail-schirmjagers, which gracefully parachute into the area. This, aside from possibly medical supplies, could be the Sergeant’s only useful ability IMHO, especially once he gets up to Vet 3 which will reduce the cost of these drops.

Helena Stamatina
About Helena Stamatina 1520 Articles
I love two things in life, games and sports. Although sports were my earliest interest, it was video games that got me completely addicted (in a good way). My first game was Crash Bandicoot (PS1) from the legendary studio Naughty Dog back in 1996. I turned my passion for gaming into a job back in 2019 when I transformed my geek blog (Re-actor) into the gaming website it is today.

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