Hi all!

I got the game in this weekend's sale as I played a LONG time ago... in easy.
I remember having a good time with a lot of artillery play, but I did not remember the game being SO hard.

I've played some maps already (Currently on the allied campaign), and what I've seen can sum up in this:

1) It's all about artillery.
Due of what I will talk about in the next points, I've seen that artillery is the main "enabler" of the game: it allows you to bombard almost everywhere, kill almost anything (It seems that tank hunters are immune to artillery shots, though) and, in short, make the life of all your army easier.
I can't picture an attack to an enemy placement without having bombarded it first for a long time.

2) Tanks are used against infantry. Against other tanks is just a lottery. Against anti-tank is a "One of your core units was killed".
Being this one of the things I've liked the less: When facing another tank, is just random luck if your tank survives or not. Of course you can try to flank it, but there must be always one tank which has to be in front of the enemy cannon.
Trying to assault an enemy placement defended with any kind of artillery ends up always bad for you.

3) Infantry is useless.
Being the main game played with artillery/tanks, and being infantry as weak as it is, I can't see where infantry enters in this game: Trying to use as a spearhead to capture/neutralize enemy batteries ends up with an enemy tank mowing them down, and if you can launch a "safe" infantry assault against infantry, it would surely be much easier with two tanks / artillery.

4) Aviation is used to counter enemy's aviation.
As long as the enemy has ONE anti-aircraft gun, your aviation does not have any chance to do anything. So you just send fighters over and over again to counter whatever the enemy is sending.

5) The only way I've seen to scout a zone is failing-loading game.
As 4 says, aviation is no-go as there is always any kind of anti aircraft gun around. Using infantry is risky, and the game does not forgives you trying to do any kind of frontal assault, so the only way I've seen of knowing that the enemy has there an anti tank gun is sending an attack, getting killed, load the game and proceed with caution.

tl;dr: I don't really get how the game works. Artillery is way OP, tanks are useless against other tanks/artillery, infantry is also useless and the game seems to be really random. Any tip to avoid the fail-reload way to play?

I thought there was another, earlier thread with tips but I'm not seeing it. Until I find it, check out this thread: http://www.gog.com/forum/blitzkrieg_series/fixes_for_blitzkrieg_1_recommended_mods_and_tips_for_new_players

Thanks! (And sorry for the late answer).

I'm getting a bit better with the game, although I'm still having the same issues with aviation and attacking places with good defenses: Either you have a scout (So you can see what the enemy has), or you can only entrench yourself in your starting point and wait until your artillery has leveled the whole village.

And your unit's A.I. doesn't help either: I've tried to move the artillery, or get supply trucks quickly from A to B (ordering the truck to cross a forest with few trees, or just plain desert) just to behold the pathfinding algorithm showing me all its hate :(

Aviation can be a pain.

I think you get three scout planes per map. What I do is wait for the enemy to launch his own aircraft and then counter with my own suitable aircraft. If you just throw your scout planes out there right away then the enemy will launch his fighters and your scout is toast. Rinse, repeat until you run out of scout planes. Now, I simply don't bother with scouts and bombers and para-drops until I've exhausted the enemy's supply of fighters. Once those are gone your only threat comes from ground fire and you'll then own the sky.

For heavily-defended areas artillery is key, along with the trucks to keep that arty supplied. Beware the counter-battery fire: the game will warn you and show you the general area from which enemy fire is originating, so that's your warning to move your own artillery. Your self-propelled artillery will allow you to "scoot and shoot", popping off a few rounds and moving on before the counter-battery fire can pepper your position.

Note that your scout can target specific members of a squad, so I'll hit the officer first (in case the game factors in his binoculars and extended viewing range), and then those carrying anti-armor weapons. When they're gone, the tanks can mop up the rest of the squad.

When you move your towed artillery and the truck reaches its destination, give it a movement command in the opposite direction so the truck turns around and begins to head the other way. This will turn your artillery (and AT guns) in the direction you want it facing upon deployment. Having your truck turn the artillery is MUCH faster than the arty crew doing it by hand.

Ah, Blitzkrieg! One of my most favorite games. “Games” – because I do not particularly fond of Blitzkrieg 2. But I digress.
My tips for beginners include follows.
0. Save often, and avoid impossible difficulty - game crashes a lot.
1. When you pick up artillery upgrade, pick one with longest range possible. There is no point having ultimate punch, while not being able to deliver it, because your hands naturally too short.
1.1. If you play USSR campaign, pick A-19 guns, they available as rewards prior second mission. When you promote them to elite, they will be able to cover if not all, then most of the maps in game. Another advantage of this gun is rather low “ready” period – time needed to raise the barrel and send invigorating gifts.
1.2. If you play German campaign, make sure you have K39, and then 17cm K18. The latter will allow you to dominate the entire map even in rain, even with crews who haven’t reached elite rank. K39 is somewhat comparable to A-19 in terms of “readiness”, and beats it when it comes to range. 170cm K18 is not that really needed, but it can help you in German’s final mission, to wipe out most of resistance.
1.3. If you play Allied campaign – my condolences. You’ll have to use 4.5 inch gun for most, if not all campaign, because the only missions where you can get M1 Long Tom, also gives you two other random rewards. Do you have patience to play around 18 missions to get 6 Long Toms?
1.4. Counter battery fire rings are not exactly precise, especially when enemy uses mobile artillery. So be careful, and try to have the upper hand.
1.5. Most guns spread patterns resemble elongated oval, with longer section being along the line from gun towards target, and shorter section being perpendicular. Why I’m telling you this? Wait for a while.
1.6. To increase resupply rate, place your guns around supply dump in such pattern, so only their towing trucks could fit between guns and dump. Rotate trucks by their rear towards the dump – this way they will be resupplying much faster and won’t create any traffic jams. This is extremely important for “hungry” guns, like 17cm K18. Do that when there is no retaliation, of course.
2. AAA.
2.1 If you play USSR campaign, it is not really needed to replace your long range artillery with AAA, except, probably, mission 6 – because your troops are separated and located at west and east borders of the map, and your fighters may not be able to reach required area fast.
2.2. If you play German campaign, then you must replace your guns for Flaks, especially when you go into USSR territory. Well, it won’t help you to swap your howitzers for Flaks for mission 4 – just because you won’t have your artillery in that mission at all (word of advice – bring StuGIII), but in two (if not all four) remaining historical missions, and all random missions, your Flak-18 may be the only thing that will save your core units from being destroyed, because, you know, KV-1.. Soviet Pe-2 bombers are also known for their ignorance of your Bf-109. During German final mission, super-heavy 10.5cm Flaks could be your only tool against Allied bombers.
2.3. If you play Allied campaign, well, my condolences. You won’t need flaks for most missions in campaign, but during the last two, especially during all random missions before final one, where you have to upgrade your tanks for Pershing, well… German will roll out Me-262 against you and ordinary AAA is nearly useless against them. Four Me-262 bombers could easily destroy your forces with ease, even if you have 6 elite AAA and couple of P-51 covering them from above. Yes, it’s somewhat random – I’ve seen how pair of P-51 destroyed four Me-262 with ease, but I’ve seen the opposite too, so, beware. Especially beware if you have Long Toms – should you swap them for AAA, there will be no chance to swap them back, and you’ll need Long Toms’ reach in final mission. And if that’s not enough, Allied AAA has horrible armour-piercing performance, so they are useless against German tanks.
2.4. Should you have your own AAA, relocate one with your advancing mobile group, if you moved away from starting position. This way you won’t have to run away from enemy aircrafts. Always capture enemy AAA when you can.
2.5. I’ve found no reliable way to destroy enemy fighters, because it seems game knows when you moved your heavy AAA closer to their starting point and when you try to lure them out with your “vulnerable” targets.
3. Infantry is extremely useful.
3.1. To increase their usefulness, dig trenches for them. Prevent overcrowding – one good HE shot (with damage around 200 or more) could deplete the entire section of trench, wiping out all infantry squads within this section. If you can’t dig, at least order them to go prone – this way chances them being killed by single shot will be greatly reduced.
3.2. Infantry won’t deal much damage on their own (until late game, with Panzerschrek/Bazooka), but they will delay oncoming forces at costs of their lives, allowing your tanks and guns to destroy advancing enemy with lesser risk to them. So don’t be lazy and dig trenches.
3.3. Should you have no worthy anti-armour weapons, infantry alone will be your only tool against heavily armoured targets. So pick two squads per tank, order them into attack formation (they won’t go prone), and let them run toward enemy tanks from two different directions – they’ll throw grenades on tank, destroy it’s track (thus immobilizing it), and, maybe, even destroy it. When tanks is immobilized, move infantry away – you’ll need survivors later.
3.4. If you play “hard” random mission, you won’t have scout/sniper, so you have to rely on infantry squads for reconnaissance. I suggest “prone” formation and entire squad – this way officer has more chances to survive, since his spotting range is much shorter than that of sniper. Just don’t forget to have armour nearby, to deal with enemy infantry.
3.5. If you don’t have “replenishing truck” (a.k.a. “cloning machine” -truck capable to replenish your squads), tread infantry with care, especially if you don’t have paratroopers.
3.6. If you don’t have “replenishing truck” but you need to capture enemy guns, disband squad and use single soldier to capture gun, instead of using two or three of them.

For some unknown reason(s) I can't add or edit my previous post, or to post next part. So that's all for now.

4. Defense.
4.1. When you create your defenses, avoid creating several lines in depth. Have one, but very thick one, with maximum possible weight of fire. This way you’ll be able to compensate your guns’ short range, so you will have more chances to attack the enemy from multiple guns, thus increasing chances to destroy them faster.
4.2. After relocation of artillery piece or armoured unit always dig them in.Treat artillery, both towed and SPG with care – generally their armour is thin, and they can’t rotate their turret (due to lack of it) 360 degrees. So carefully placing and facing them are very important. Don’t hesitate to have one FLAK and several infantry squads dug in nearby.
4.3. During pauses between enemy attacks always replenish infantry losses and ammo for everyone. You can even try to fortify your positions by lying additional minefields. Just beware of time, we’re not in sci-fi setting.
4.4. Engineers are pretty slow, but mines and obstacles laid in key areas will significantly improve your chances on successful defense. So don’t underestimate them.
4.5. Don’t let enemy engineers to remove your mines and fix their damaged vehicles. Do so via covering your minefields with fire or lay mines within visibility and fire ranges of your troops.
4.6. Listen map – it may help you to predict enemy moves, like attack, supply, or relocation.
4.7. Dig trenches. If there is no haste, it will help you a lot – at least your own troops won’t block your vehicles movement, allowing freer passage and reducing clogged traffic. Especially when you severely limited on space (usually you are, at start of most of missions).
4.8. Mortars are interesting types of armament. Even being entrenched they have wider aiming cone, making them less susceptible to flanking or requiring precise facing, and, with heavy mortars’ longer range this allows them to control bigger territory, even when placed behind main line of defenses. Light mortars have very short range, so it’s hard to recommend using them effectively – being placed in first line of defense they use space that could be used by cannons or tanks, which are more effective against armour. Machine guns are even more specific weapons, and quite rare (you can capture some as trophies though).
4.9. Fortifications are useful, and I don’t mean existing pillboxes and houses, I mean those engineers could build. If you have a chance, and you expect heavy counterattack and/or your means to stop it are inadequate, then build those. Carefully placed mines, coupled with anti-tank obstacles, forcing enemy tanks to show their less thick sides to your artillery are very important in repelling an attack of stronger enemy units. Sadly, you can’t lay proper defenses in most missions.
4.10. Armour in defense acts basically as artillery piece, the only difference being better mobility, in some cases – better armour, and should vehicle have turret, no limitations on attacking cone, thus being less susceptible to flanking attacks. Rule of thumb: pick vehicles with best armour possible, as they will take a lot of damage. If there are none, place lightly armoured vehicles very carefully, and in later missions avoid using them at all – their guns won’t do much damage to enemy heavy vehicles, and their armour won’t hold even single hit. Besides, enemy artillery will be heavily shelling your positions further reducing surviving chances for light armour. They could be used against infantry or enemy recon vehicles, but those rarely attacking in late games. The only exception is the situation where you can use landscape to your advantage, therefore reducing enemy chances to actually see your lightly armoured unit (preferably heavily armed, like German Nashorn AT-SPG). This way thin armour will be negated by “invisibility” of your units, but this rule works only for “glass cannons” – avoid using armoured cars and light tanks this way, unless it’s infantry you’re aiming at.
5. Attack.
5.1. Form defenses first. There are few things worse than unexpected counterattack. Be aware if you starting point (in random missions) located within view of enemy village – expect immediate attack, air raid, bombardment, or all three. It’s very dangerous when your armour is completely inadequate (most Allied missions, late Soviet missions, early German missions) to deal with enemy counterparts. If you playing USSR or Germany your FLAK may lend a hand. If you play Allied campaign – my condolences.
5.2. Don’t be hero, even if you have “invulnerable” units. It is likely enemy has something to show you how wrong you are. Infantry squad can turn your previous Level 4 Tiger into pile of burning metal.
5.3. Before using artillery to crush the enemy, use SPG to provoke enemy artillery for retaliation. If there is nothing shooting back, then you may roll out your “stationary” artillery. Best sign of enemy’s “short hand” is that he sends bombers/ground attack planes. Beware – “short” hand rule works only for that spot from which you made your provoking shots – few metres away and you may notice dozens of shells flying towards you.
5.4. If there is retaliation from enemy artillery, you can use bait and shift tactics. Find two safe spots, at least screen-size away from your main troops (to prevent possibility of collateral damage). Provoke enemy artillery’s fire from one of those positions (or show yourself to enemy troops, if they are nearby) and bombard them from another. It’s somewhat difficult to determine safe period during which enemy will bombard first location, so don’t overuse their welcome and retreat in time (I’d say 5 shots is more or less safe period, but at times it could be as much as 9, or even more). Nobody precludes you from opening fire from first spot as soon as enemy shifted fire to second one. Use this method to determine approximate clusters of enemy artillery, should you want to suppress them, or to use your own artillery support, without destroying enemy guns to attempt to capture them later.
5.5. Always destroy enemy buildings first (except during Stalingrad mission, there is a trick), this way you either kill or wipe out enemy infantry. To do that, pause the game, hold “Shift+R” and order your artillerymen to attack every building on the map. This makes subsequent sweep a bit easier – just shell the streets afterwards and it’s likely you’ll kill all survivors. Just let them to stand up – hold your fire for several seconds. You can use your sniper to learn timings, and then adjust them to missions where you don’t have sniper. This blind fire could be quite effective, don’t underestimate it.
5.6. Destroy trees, bushes, all other forms of vegetation, and any other kinds of obstacles that blocks your scout/officer view, and, of course, your own.
5.7. Lure enemy engineers to field supply dump by bombarding it, and then kill engineers. This way you’ll stop enemy’s attempts to fix anything or removing your mines, should you place them. Similarly, bait replenishing trucks by killing one soldier with sniper or attacking infantry squad with artillery (or armour), and wait for truck to arrive. Destroy the trucks until they stop coming. This way you’ll severely undermine enemy ability to shoot at you – for some reason, trucks that tow enemy artillery may stop replenish their ammo (probably that’s AI limitation, that does not allow towing trucks to be distracted for resupplying their own cargo). And without “free” trucks, no one will replenish SPG ammo, so you can “starve” enemy artillery.
5.8. Beware of enemy mines and scouts. There are plenty of former (but mostly in predictable areas), and few of latter. Move your sniper carefully. If you have two, “attach” one to another and move only one of them. This way you’ll keep high field of view combined with scope. Otherwise, escort sniper with tank, unless you plan deep infiltration, of course.
5.9. Remember when I told you about spread patterns? Well, it’s much more profitable, in terms of experience gain, to wipe out enemy guns crew, but not gun with the crew. Doing so requires good HE splash damage (around 200 or more, guns like 17 cm K18 or BM-13 are extremely useful here, just beware of their spread), and good accuracy. Wiping out crews, with subsequent capturing will not only improve your artillerymen skills, but will also help you to earn promotion (no reason to go above colonel, though – 6 tanks + 6 guns is your upper limit). Also, spread pattern should be used with SPG to wipe out trenches – it’s better to align SPG in such way so most shells would fall along the trench, not across it.
5.10. Even though capturing trophies is nice, sometimes it’s better to suppress the enemy artillery right from the start. Provoke them first from safe position, and then bomb them back into the Stone Age. Grace period before enemy artillery starts retaliating is three shots from StuGIII and similar guns with low ready time, and one shot from anything else. If you don’t have SPG and only have towed artillery, mind attach/detach times, and don’t make more than one shot. Even with one shot fire enemy will probably be able to land a few shots near your gun. So be careful, you wouldn’t want to lose your experienced crew.
5.11. Beware of enemy infantry, especially if you favor SPG without turrets – one grenade (or mine) can damage tracks on your vehicle, and make it vulnerable. So don’t forget to give your armour “hold position” order when they attacking infantry in trenches, and always back up from advancing infantry.

5.12. Enemy mortars present somewhat bigger nuisance and problem than you may expect. It is unlikely for them to destroy your core unit, but they may damage them and kill your infantry, so make sure they can’t attack that so carefully arranged artillery cluster you just made.
5.13. General hints on various patterns used on maps.
5.13.1. If you see a “horseshoe” alike hill with steep slope at one side (generally there is one not far from your starting position on any random map) – beware, there will be 1-2 armoured units (usually tanks) and/or 1-2 AT cannons. Should this hill facing the road (as it does in random missions), then there are chances that on another side of the road you’ll find 1-2 infantry sections. Remember, always attack such “hills” from rear – that’s the only area from which you can see it. Use those if you can – rule works both ways.
5.13.2. If on random mission map you see a crossroad with small supply dump, chances are there is infantry squad. You can use it to lure “cloning” trucks and then use supply dump to lure engineers.
5.13.3. If on random mission map you see a clearing or patch of specific type (soon you’ll memorize all of them), chances are there is enemy group. If there are no pillboxes visible, then this group may consist from 1-2 armoured units and several infantry squads out in the open, or 1-2 trenches filled with 2-4 infantry squads and 2 AT cannons coupled with 2 mortars (beware of those if they are close to your warehouse). If there is pillbox, then there may be 2 cannons behind it. Remote areas may also be supplemented with recon armoured cars, tanks, or motorcycles.
5.13.4. If random mission notes you on enemy artillery group or enemy reinforcements group, check where they are. If there is no marker, look for long bend of the road, generally placed near map’s edge, with small supply dump. If you see such area, and you can hear some vehicle moving there, then that’s the place. This place may contain a battery of 4 guns, either towed or self-propelled, some escort of lightly armoured vehicles, infantry (usually on flanks), and some support vehicles. Reinforcements group will have best armour enemy can afford. So if you play Germans and just barged in into USSR, well, are you ready to meet KV-1 and KV-2 in large numbers with your pitiful PzKpw.III and PzKpw.IV? If not, dig the goddamn fortifications. Because when these guys will decide to pay you a visit (after enemy will spot you for the first time), you’ll better be ready. Somewhat mirrored situation occurs in later stages of USSR and Allied campaigns, but if USSR has some means to beat those beasts into pudding, Allies have nothing.
5.13.5. Bridge defenses usually present only on enemy side, and consist of 1-2 sections of infantry on each side of the road, backed up by pair of AT guns, and various amount of armoured units. Generally light armour on railway bridges, and medium to heavy armour on road bridges. Should bridge be placed inside settlement, not in open field, then defenses may be bolstered by infantry hiding inside buildings, and additional armament and vehicles. Beware of autumn (reddish) maps – bridge map have pillbox hidden in vegetation and have that steep slope hill nearby. Tough nut to crack. Usually this layout is present in German, and, rarely, in Allied campaigns. Still, be careful.
5.13.6. Warehouse may have several squads of infantry hidden inside buildings (including warehouse itself, which is self-repairing, so don’t pick it as target for continuous fire), may have up to 2 heavy FLAKs inside, and have random selection of units parked nearby, starting from motorcycles, and ending with heavy armour. Support units are also present and usually park near gateway. Due large varieties of layouts it’s hard to describe exact location of valuable targets (FLAKs) here, but generally one is placed on the right from the warehouse, and another is down-left. Play a couple of time and you’ll get the idea.
5.13.7. Railway station type generally has several artillery pieces inside, varied from FLAKs to machine guns (never seen long range artillery, excluding mortars), placed near Y-type road junction, near outer perimeter, between “warehouses”, near supply dump. Their defenses may be bolstered by pillbox or even concrete fortification. Infantry usually garrisoned in buildings. Vehicles support usually light (armoured cars, usually). Support vehicles may be present.
5.13.8. Cities and villages a way too varied to explain the exact location of artillery hidden inside them, but after you’ll learn the patterns, you’ll start to crack them pretty fast. Western Europe cities usually have clustered defense near big “plaza” in the middle of the city, villages may have a mortar hidden within well’s square, with infantry scattered around houses (generally 2-6 squads for villages, and around 10 for cities). Eastern Europe (and USSR) cities are far more spread, so artillery will also be spread widely, and generally will be present in larger numbers. Core positions are a bit deep into the settlement (2nd-3rd house from outskirts), near centre, near bridge (if present), around church. If you stumble upon industrial cluster, then artillery may be hidden in narrow passages between the buildings, but it’s hard to spot them all safely from the ground. Artillery placed on outer perimeter is easily spotted though. African cities are somewhat simpler – artillery will be present at entry (AT-cannons and machine guns), mortars and FLAKs will be present inside courtyards, and all types of artillery may be present inside settlement’s centre. Given the weird layout, beware of hidden artillery; it could easily hit your units in flank or even rear. Some settlements (in all types of climates) may, and probably will have trenches dug in various areas. Beware, enemy infantry will use their binoculars to spot your earlier. And your armour alone can’t spot them at top distance.
5.14. Armour activity in attack is heavily depending on period of game and campaign you’re playing at. Old rule of thumb about better armour still works here, as tanks in attack should be used to clear up enemy infantry left undetected by your scout. Meeting with enemy artillery or tanks is not exactly forbidden, but not recommended, unless you have the upper hand (good guns and large numbers). However, there are missions where your armour can’t do anything against enemy. So tanks do not fight with tanks, remember that.
5.14.1. Generally speaking, lightly armoured cars and light tanks should be replaced for any better tanks for your core units, and kept on secondary lines for any other missions where they are present.
5.14.2. Medium tanks have some chances early on in Allied (Matilda) and Soviet (T-34) campaigns, but there is little profit in having tanks if you play German campaign. I suggest using StuG.III, as it works as short-range howitzer, highly mobile, and quite effective against infantry; lack of machine gun should be compensated via careful maneuvering (or large numbers, sort of “let them fight ALL of us”). But Medium tanks will lose any usefulness pretty fast, in the middle of campaigns (mission 4, give or take), as heavy tanks will appear. Germany is the only exception of this rule as heavy tanks will appear only for two last missions of the campaign. Germany medium tanks, namely late PzKpw.IV and Panther aren’t bad, but they will more or less equal to their opponents, so you’ll have to use them very carefully to prevent losses. For most parts I used SPG instead.
5.14.3. Heavy tanks’ armour will allow you to relax just a little bit and less to worry about losing them to “one-shooter”, but don’t get cocky, as they aren’t invincible. If you play Allied campaign, then you in deep, there are no adequate tanks between Matilda and Pershing, and even this tank is not reliable offensive tool (still better than Churchill or Shermans). Playing this campaign will require extremely careful planning, execution, and building up defenses against German counterattacks. Given rather poor performance of Allied artillery, it’s kinda problematic. If you play Germany campaign, then until last two missions you had to forget about heavy tanks (as there are none), but when you’ll get Tiger 1 for the first time in German campaign you’ll understand what Allies with their Matilda and Soviet with their T-34 and early KV-1 felt – that “wtftotalpwnage” feeling. Only a bit less safe, as IS-2 can send you Tiger’s turret into the flight in one shot (the fact that Tiger capable of doing the same towards IS-2 is not exactly that pleasing) and only for one mission – for last Germans campaign’s mission Tiger 1 becames outdated, so you have to switch them for Tiger 2, as it has better chances against hordes of Yankees. Soviet campaign is pretty much balanced, as T-34 early on will give you a nice edge over early Germans tanks, later KV-1 will help you to survive modified tanks, and then SU-152, IS-2 and later models will help you to deal with Germany endgame units. Especially if you let Germans attack something else but not your tanks.
5.14.4. AT-SPG, also known as “tank hunters”. Usually they have thin armour, but good guns, and could be used against enemy tanks in defensive situations, but using them in attack is quite problematic. Thin armour is only one problem, another problem is lack of turret (US vehicles do have turrets, but their armor is still not exactly sufficient for a direct assault), requiring very careful positioning. They could work for you, but let enemy attack someone else, not them. Some AT-SPG have quite good armour and can be used in direct confrontation, but those are few, usually available in late game, and most of them are German.

5.14.5. Long Range SPG are very versatile units. Their higher mobility allow faster and safer combinations of move and fire. Some of them are decently armoured, allowing using them as second line, and most of them possess powerful guns, allowing their AT use. However, excluding soviet SU/ISU units, and, to an exception, StuG.III, most of them have rather inadequate armour for their period, so do not abuse them as AT weapon, unless, of course, they aren’t the target. Try to have at least one of those to be used as “provocateur” to awake enemy artillery and, if your SPG is good, to suppress and destroy them. On most missions without enemy counterattack, the entire map could be cleared using this unit only, with minimal help from infantry/scout, and support units, of course. If you play Allied campaigns, there wouldn’t be much of a choice to pick from, so I used what was available. USSR won’t have any SPG till SU-122 which I recommend to skip due characteristics of the gun, or limit yourself to one unit to “probe” enemy positions. In midgame SU-152 becomes available and it is possible to complete the campaign with it. ISU-152 allows better armour, but difference is not that much noticeable, plus, if you’ll follow my advice and won’t be using them as AT guns, armour will mean little, and ISU-122 while giving you better reach, the difference between the two will be a way too small. Since these guns are mobile, a bit shorter range won’t change a lot, as you’re A-19 will cover most of the map anyway. Germany has widest selection available, starting from earliest StuG.III, through Brummbar as “assault” gun (even if short-ranged), to lightly armoured Wespe and everyone’s star – Hummel. The only weak area of Hummel is not thin armour, but long ready time, as it raises barrel high and requires more time to do so, therefore it’s less useful to attack mobile groups. Having at least couple of those (or more) will help you greatly in most missions.
5.14.6. Armoured units should always be escorted, not only by their own brethren, but by infantry – to provide better visibility range and emergency retreat measure, by AAA, to prevent long-distance retreat under your FLAK umbrella (may not be needed in some cases as your fighters will provide protection), and, of course, by supply trucks, as SPG are quite ammo-hungry. When you planning movement into enemy territory you haven’t scouted yet (no scout and recon planes, for example), it would be wise to pick infantry squad, order them to go prone, “attach” armoured unit to infantry and move infantry, regularly stopping and scanning area with binoculars. This way, should your small unit be spotted, enemy will attempt to attack infantry, allowing your armour to return fire and deal more damage. As lying infantry moves slowly, this method isn’t fast either, but somewhat safe, especially if there are several squads with attached tanks. Another tactics, requiring good armour, is to attach infantry squad to a tank and move tank, doing frequent stops to scan area with infantry’s binoculars. This was it’ll be a bit more safer for infantry – useful if you don’t have cloning machine and paratroopers. It’s a bit more dangerous for armour, but usually your officer will spot enemy before it will be able to open fire on your armour. Scout could, and probably should be escorted by armour to prevent early detection from roaming patrols, mostly motorcycles and armoured cars. It could be wise to move your assault group behind sniper, allowing some sort of “moving fort” where sniper could retreat to, should danger arise.
6. Aviation.
6.1. Enemy generally has 3 recon planes, 1-2 flights of bombers/ground attack planes, and undisclosed amount of fighters (never seen more than 1 flight). Never seen paratroopers.
6.2. Fw-189 “Uhu” is not just flying high kind of guy, it can, and probably will destroy Allied P-47 GAP. More than once I saw how 1 Uhu shot down 6 P-47 – “Air superiority”. Soviet Il-2/Il-10 has some chances just because they are armoured. Yes, GAPs will try to act like fighters. Don’t let them.
6.3. Soviet Pe-2, especially if you play for Germans, are nearly invincible to Bf-109. Of course, they could be shot down, but don’t have your hopes up. FLAK work much better against them, so do have them, saving fighters for situations where Pe-2 will fly somewhere where you don’t have FLAK coverage (German campaign missions 5-7). If you play USSR campaign, remember, Pe-2 are not invincible – wipe Flaks first.
6.4. If you destroyed all enemy recon, bomber, and GAPs, you can summon your fighters to keep statistic up. Summon them right on top of your starting location. Or don’t – I couldn’t see significant statistical improvements.
7. Campaign advices (spoilers and such).
7.0. General missions advices.
7.0.1. Capture and hold bridge. There is no air support, but generally it’s not needed. I recommend completing this mission in reverse order – first defending it, then capturing it. No, I’m not mad. Look at map. Check the road on enemy’s bank – there are two of them, one goes to warehouse, and another leads nowhere. That’s where counterattack group is. Use your artillery to suppress and destroy them, they usually placed not far from map’s edge, in 1-2 columns, one placed on the road, another usually a bit right from it. If you see specific “ricochet” shine – that’s where unit is. Blindfire will take a lot of time, but generally should help you to stop, or at least weaken the enemy, making “hold” part much easier.
7.0.2. Cargo/Medics escort. Usually you won’t have your artillery, and, in case of medics, even support vehicles, so be careful. Check the roads – one end that leads nowhere and that is located halfway between you and your target will have enemy interception group. Depending on period of the game this group may have only light armour, or may have very heavy one. React accordingly. And you don’t have to clear the entire map, just escort the convoy.
7.0.3. Artillery defense. Somewhat similar to mission above in terms of limited resources. You’ll have your support, but enemy will attack on timer, so don’t waste too much time. Enemies will attack from that road ends that leads nowhere, in case you’re wondering.
7.0.4. Armoured group intercept. Another limited resources and time mission (though you can just destroy the warehouse where enemies will park). In these missions you’ll have to break through defended village, and clock is ticking, so don’t waste too much time. It may be faster to encircle village and field fortification, but this requires good maps knowledge.
7.0.5. All other missions are combinations of tasks like “clear the bridge”, “clear and capture city”, “deal with artillery/reinforcements group”, and “capture the warehouse”. So nothing really special, again, it goes to knowledge of maps which are built from predetermined clusters of objects.

Specific campaigns missions walkthrough could be present later, either in brief, or verbose form.

Well, the game is more prone to rewarding the use of tanks/artillery, that's just how the game was made to be. I feel any advice I could give was already given by the previous (and awesome) poster, but patience is a virtue specially in this game. In the end, you love this beast.

And this thread should be stickied for the new players. Great advices right there.

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Agree with u BRO

i know infinite infantry trick which is fun when you play as soviets

Is this a glitch in the game? Can you describe it a bit? Searched online, but beside the standard cheat codes or "trainer" software, there isn't much.

of course and sorry for late reply
its not even a glitch its using game mechanics to ur advantage
every infantry unit u can split into separate human soldiers then u leave one that is useless from all teams which for me are officers and send them to ground hole which has unlimited capacity, next step is sending all ur other soldiers to fight, and they usually die in 1st wave BUT u still got all officers sitting in ground hole so take them all out and u will still see merge unit in option, click it and it dissapear but now they are treated again as full unit just without soldiers that can be replaced with ur trucks in ur home base, im using at least 2-4 trucks near supply depot of my choosing cus when u drop paratroopers again and again then number of foot units will increase dramatically, it works with every side and germans too actually i used it to go thru very hard last german mission in ardenes, last tip ctrl+1 or 2 or 3 can help u grouping ur infantry ctrl+left click can help u find all types of one unit on map alt+right click will help you to line all soldiers in nice loose formation
sorry for late response i stopped caring about gog after what they did with deception game