US Armored Division

“We’re not just going to shoot the bastards, we’re going to rip out their living goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks”
George S. Patton, the Patton Speech. (I mean, come on? How could I not do a Patton quote!)

Pros

• Dirt cheap armored units that actually are not that bad
• Has a tank that can go 1v1 with a panther
• Numerous call-ins containing veteran and powerful units.
• Posses a unit as/more terrifying than the Katiusza
• Great if you have a teammate who chose an infantry doctrine (like US airborne)
• can actually retreat armored units off the field for a resource reward

Cons

• Hard to micro due to sheer amount of units late game
• Surprisingly macro intensive as well
• Fuel intensive
• Little artillery/off-map support
• Little in the way of unique infantry
• Some unlocks will actually hurt you if you use them in the wrong situation
• Unlocks very dependent on which doctrine you are playing agianst

Key Units/Battlegroups

• E8 Sherman
• Pershing
• Cav Recon squad
• M20 Command Car
• Tank Hunter squad
• Calliope
• Taskforce Abrams

E8 Sherman

Wonderful tank, that with American war machine, becomes dirt cheap and can be very effectively spammed. Fast and far more deadly than your average Sherman. Remember to carry over crew veteracy from 76 and regular M4 Sherman before sending them back to the rear (more on this later).

Pershing

The only US heavy tank, and can go toe to toe with a panther with a good chance of success. You can build a max of 2 : one from battalion HQ and the other from the Pershing ace call in. Do keep in mind, it lacks the ubiquitous 50 cal. MG on the turret that all other Sherman have. It is a niche unit meant to hard counter the panther, and anything lighter. Tiger I’s you will want to face with HVAP from the flank, with a couple of Shermans in support, and King Tigers are not something that you should use this tank against.

Cav Recon squad

It consists of 2 Stuarts and a M8 Geryhound. It’s an early game call in, meant to get some armor on the field for a cheap price. It does its job of infantry support very well. With that said, any of these units left alone is a dead unit, as German panzer Pagers, or any German unit with anti tank capability (which to say means almost all of them) will take the free kill, and the free vet. Don’t leave them alone. Especially the greyhound. The latter is just barely MG proof, and even a luchs will kill it. Don’t let the little cannon fool you: against anything bigger than a half-track, this thing will die. Keep it (and Stuarts) far from whatever it is shooting, with infantry in front, to keep it safe from shrecks and fausts.  With that said, the greyhound has canister shot, which redeems it for all its flaws. Canister shot murders infantry, inflicts heavy suppression (to the point of being an instant pin depending on the cover the enemy squad is in), and costs around the same as a grenade. Use it when you encounter dug in infantry to instantly damage and suppress it. work well against elite infantry. Best part is, it comes with no warning, unlike a nade. Not effective against units in buildings and trenches, however. Stuarts are good at infantry suppression, and taking out sandbags and waffen trucks, but cant really deal with light tanks like the lucks. They are immune to auto-canons from the front, so just tank the luchs while a rifle squad with a zooka goes in for the 1 hit.

M20 Command Car

Useful little unlock that you will get on route to the command car, and has the benefit of having a phosphorus barrage by default and a free air recon, plus an aura that can be activated for 20 munitions to improve the accuracy of surrounding tanks, though you will need the unlock the additional abilities for it to activate these. It is totally worth it. The aura turns this surrounding vehicles into descent snipers, and the air recon is very handy for spotting and seeing enemy troop concentrations.  The fact that you can get the phos strike very early into the game is very strong. Use it well.

Tank Hunter squad (and the Jackson)

Summons a vet wolverine and a vet Jackson. the wolverine is worse in that its cannon is both weaker, and the turret turns slower due to the manual system it uses. The Jackson though… absolute monster. Wonderful damage, can outrange a Tiger, can penetrate a Tiger, can kill a Tiger. Do note that this think cannot withstand a hit from a Tiger. Basically, keep it back, sniping, as its armor is thin.

Calliope

A M4 sherman with plywood tubes fixed to turret. In these tubes you find death. It’s your most powerful arty support. Use it well. It can either rein all of its tubes at once, or fire in partial barrages, either way, it covers a good spread, and does massive damage.

Taskforce Abrams

This call in comes in with 1 E8 sherman, 3 76 shermans, 2 regular M4s and an M4 with a bulldozer, all vet 1. You literally bury you opponent with american made tanks. Make sure you can multitask, as this is a lot to micro, along with its infantry support.

*small note about motorized riflemen: the M3 they come in cannot deploy into a repair station.*

Order of Battle

This guide will be a bit different from my other ones, and the strategy to use armor is fairly straight forward: push with infantry, call in your M20 command car(which you need to keep alive) , call in your cav recon, push with it, then transition into late-game Shermans and Pershings, withdrawing any unnecessary vehicles to preserve your manpower rate.

What changes is when to use what unlock:

In a 1v1: Don’t use Taskforce Abrams, for 3 reasons:

• Your manpower income will shoot down to a trickle. You will find it hard to rebuild any units you lose.
• It is a lot to micro. Sooner or late you are going to miss a PaK, or a faust, and lose a tank. And then another.
• You don’t need 7 Shermans! What you do need is infantry support, and if you skimp on infantry to get to the Abrams unlock, you will find it hard to fend off enemy foot soldiers.

What you should do is unlock the jackson, the easy 8 and the calliope and then the production upgrades with american war machine. Then just get 1-2 jacksons, a calliope and SPAM E8 shermans. Save the jacksons for the panther, and just crush everything else with the Sherman. Keep in mind, you want 1 supporting infantry per Sherman (as a good proportion) Note that a rear echelon squad will not suppress panzer jagers before they manage to hit your tank!

Alternatively, you can go for the Pershing and then the Pershing ace. The pershing is a wonderful tank that murders panthers, but beware of doctrines that have a Tiger, and if the opposing doc is Wunderwaffe, don’t build them. The King Tiger cannot be penetrated from the front with your main gun, even with HVAP. (In fact, picking this doc against wunderwaffe is ill advised. Every one of their units outmatches shermans. Keep in mind the panthers of this doc have infared lights, which double their sight range.)

In a team game: Creighton Abrams is suddenly excellent, and here is why: It allows you to keep producing tanks at a good rate, while still being able to spam for a final push when needed. The call in is for being able to get out a ton of shermans, while keeping up a good manpower income beforehand. What really makes it work though, is that your ally can pick a doc that lacks armor but has strong infantry (like US infantry or airborne) and support your tanks, while you support your infantry. (I would really recommend being in discord for this kind of strategy. You need the communication to coordinate successfully) Whats more, it allows you to concentrate on what you to best: tanks, and lets your ally concentrate on his infantry.

The 1v1 tactics also work, but 2 Pershings might not be able to exert enough of a map wide impact (plus the greater chance you may meet a king tiger), and using the Abrams call in, you can get vet Shermans faster than by simply producing them. Also makes your early game more manageable.

• This topic was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Lorarius.
• This topic was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Death_Kitty.
• This topic was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Lorarius.