Overview
An overview for the new Units and abillites in the German Osttruppen Doctrine avalible for purchace in COH2. I’ll give an overview of the units, some tactics and play for this doctrine aswell as ways to counter it.
The Osttruppen Doctrine
Commander Abilities
Here is an overview for the Abilities of the Doctrine:
A level 0 summon, meaning they can be deployed from the start; an Osttruppen squad only costs 120 manpower and 3 population capacity, meaning they can be fielded in extremly large numbers relativly quickly to overwhelm enemy forces. They have reduced health when compared to other infantry however and only fire when stationary meaning they are best used in a deffensive role and to man abandoned weapons.
A level 1 summon, costing 240 manpower deploys a Artillery Field Officer to the battlefield who can co-ordinate artillery and mortars precisely, drop smoke barrages and make all your infantry around him fight harder. When using the inspire ability for 40 munitions in combination with Osttruppen in particular the Field Officer is very dangerous.
A level 2 ability, it allows all infantry units not maning a support weapon to build trenches free of charge that can garrison a single unit including LMG’s and mortar teams.
A level 3 ability, it allows to transfer 50 fuel into 150 munitions, meaning with proper management it becomes very hard to run out of munitions, perfect for aquiring upgrades such as panzershrecks on Panzer Grenadiers and the flamethrower on the halftrack.
A level 12 ability, the Railway Artillery Support provides powerfull but munition dependant long range support late game, capable of knocking out heavily armoured targets in a radius, it is slow to fire however meaning it can be dodged easily.
Why is this Doctrine Any Good?
The Osttruppen Doctrine allows the German faction to play the game that before now has only ever been avalible to the Soviets; flooding the map early game with lots of cheap but expendable infatry that is good in numbers but only from cover, in which they gain a bonus to there shooting. In urban maps in particular Commanders using the Osttruppen Doctrine can capture large amount of teritory fast(although note they capture slower than regular infantry), and even the weak Osttruppen are effective when placed inside of a building or two. The act of removing a squad from the building can be costly for the Russian player, as Molotoves are not cheap to research and use, costing precious munitions every time used. On the other hand these squads are ONLY effective when in cover and get massacered quickly when up against any form of machine gun or area weapon such as a flame thrower, their reduced health makes them particulary vulnerable.
To make the most of this Doctrine Osttruppen squads must be backed up quickly by support teams and light armour before they are overwhelmed by the far supperior enemy, Mortars in particular are highly effective when used in co-ordination with an Artillery Field Officer, and the ability to build Trenches en mass offer the support teams an extra degree of protection they would normally be without. As a side note all units including LMG teams inside a trench have a 360 degree arc of fire, making them extremly difficult to flank. This can oftern lead to….. daunting objectives for your enemy to take:
If not Bunkering down the Halftrack is also vital to this doctrine, as reinforcing your squads out in the fields becomes a neccessity with the high casulty rates your squads will suffer, but Osttruppen do reinforce very fast, and only cost 10 manpower per soldier. From tier 3 onwards Osttruppen should only be used in a defensive role or in mass cannon foder charges against enemy vehicles to draw fire, 5-6 panzerfaulst’s firing can easily cripple if not kill a T-34 and it very much so incentive for your lowly units not to be ingnored.
The ability to swap out fuel for munitions and call in one of the most powerfull artillery strikes in the game later on makes this Doctrine competetive later game aswell, be it for for upgrading all your armour or giving your infantry the edge with their abilities.
How Do I Beat Them?
How do you beat them? Simple, burn them with fire. No seriously now, Osttruppen are by far the weediest unit in the game and get absolutly destroyed when touched by anything like flamethrowers, molotov’s, grenades, LMG’s or mortars, even just catching them in the open results in there swift exit. By eliminating the Osttruppen you force the German play to fight you on the terms you like and at the same time outnumbering him early game like you should be used to. The same principle goes for if a Commander using the Osttruppen Doctrine has locked down an area with trenches and bunkers; use artillery, Katyusha’s, Mortars, Flamethrowers and armour to force him to vacate the area. Also make any officers you see a priority target, Osttruppen won’t fight as hard without his presence.
In later gameplay you should expect the typical amount of Stug’s, Panzer IV’s and Panther’s, just expect them to be using abilites like blitzkrieg tactics and stunning shot more oftern due to the abundance of munitions that will be avalible. Particlarly pay attention to not grouping your units together aswell, the Railway artillery may be slow but if it catches you off guard it can wreck your whole army with just a single hit, and yes that includes your IS and KV-2.
Final Thoughts
All in all the Osttruppen Doctrine is a nicely balanced Doctrine that adds a new way to playing Germany that would typicaly be reserved for Soviet plays alone. While Osttruppen are not strong on their own when properly supported then can be effective, even in later gameplay charging 10 squads from different angles at an IS and then proceding to panzerfaulst the life out of it is amazing and funny to watch if not effective even effective on some level, just be carefull not to needlessly throw away to many units as the free ex it provides to enemey units can tip future engagements against you.
If your looking for a Doctrine that is purely a defensive one while at the same time something different this is definatly the one for you, and as a famous Russian once said: ‘Quantity has a Quality all of its own’.