QB purchase guide/tips

[David Chapuis]

I am wondering about some good QB purchase tips.

For example of what I am looking for, I found this by walpurgis nacht:

First, in response to Zarquon's question about what gun to purchase as Kraut . . without a doubt the 75mmIG with HC is the best choice, bang for buck, in the game. They are cheap, move fast, have loads of HE, carry smoke, and are effective in the AT role well up to 1000 meters (with HC).

Also, I always have a hard time choosing unit quality. Any good rules of thumb concerning this?

[Tigrii]

If you have unrestricted experience, then mix unit experiences based on intended roles. For example, if you get an LMG34 as an outpost, make it Green because it will die anyway and won't accomplish anything by fighting. For a Jager Platoon that you will use as assault troops against enemy infantry defending in the woods, make them Veteran. In my experience most of your men should be Regular, with exceptions like the ones above.

[David Chapuis]

Tigrii, I was hoping for some advice a little deeper than that.

For example, for pbems I typically play 2000 point games with moderate trees. I usually toss back and forth between getting a battallion of regulars (for the deep discounts) and a few AFVs or going for a smaller more specialized force - where I can mix troop quality. But in the end, I almost always go for the group discount. However, that means I am often missing something I need (like mortars or shreks) - not to mention being bored of the same old units.

Therefore, I rarely purchase more than a platoon of vets, and never end up buying an entire company or even a platoon of crack troops. I really want to, but it seems like the cost is not worth it, especially for troops with low ammo counts.

One of my favorite parts of the game is unit selection, but I find myself typically getting the same type of force - which for me is a battalion and 1/2 AFV platoons to get the maximum units for the points - leaving me very little for support or specialized platoons.

[Tigrii]

OK, then don't get the battalion. You do get a discount but if you want more flexibility go with two companies and you'll have more options, and you'll make up for some of the lost discount by losing the attached battalion support group which often has a lot of relatively useless units like LMGs, or towed guns which are wasted if you're attacking in a moderate trees map. Some companies (like the German 44 Pioneer company) come with mortars in the support section. If you get a pioneer and one other company then you get flamethrowers (good for moderate trees), mortars (also good with trees), and MGs all at company discount. You can buy other needed stuff individually. The drawbacks are one less company of infantry and lack of battalion HQ and support groups. Its a tradeoff but if as you said you want to branch out and have some choices go with the non-battalion option.

Or you could just play a slightly larger or smaller game.

Hope this helps.

[Bonxa]

Regulars do just fine most of the time. For infantry I don't see why you should spend extra points to get vets. Better spend those points on support weapons. For tanks I'm not sure which way to go. If you handle your tanks well regulars should do but in some cases it might be a good advantage to get vets. Think about what reaction time you need from your units, that's where you gain the most from going up in experience. I have tried to use high experience thin skins with good guns (ie Marder) but it's hard to really rock with them. Since they are cheap to begin with it doesn't cost too much to upgrade them.

[Major Rags]

I use regular soldiers and veteran AT and tanks. Each company will usually have one platoon HQ with good morale and/or combat bonuses. When in command control, these platoons will perform as vets. If I need a really good platoon, I will buy an airborne unit (if available). They usually come with a multi-bonus HQ, since they are considered the elite units of their armies. This is sometimes a gamble. Occasionally the HQ won't have any bonuses.

Tanks may need to be upgraded to take advantage of optics. Most must be at least regular to be able to use advanced optics and some, like the Panther with the dual range optics, must be veteran. Don't every buy a non-veteran Panther. Even without the optics issues, a veteran tank or AT gun will fire faster and usually more accurately than a regular unit. Getting of the second shot before your opponent can be critical to your survival.

[tar]

Consider searching in the game-specific forums for some of the topics of the form "How to _____ like a ______", where the blanks are filled in with words like fight/defend and German/Brit/etc.

There are some purchase guides for particular types of forces typical of the nationality in question.

[securityguard]

The difference between a regular tank and a veteran tank is huge. If you're buying an expensive tank destroyer you will want a veteran, it improves your odds on tons of levels (especially if the weather is against you, because then they will use the optics better than a regular would). That extra reponsiveness and accuracy will give you the edge.

Buying anything above regular always gives you an edge if the conditions are with you. In a straight out infantry fight, vet infantry vs regular infantry has much greater odds and will almost always come out on top. You must also consider that buying vet infantry will also land you a crack and regulars, while buying regulars just gives you vets and greens (and greens are considerably worse than a regular at attacking). On defense I buy regulars, because with proper HQ's they will fight well and hold position, plus you will get more of them. On attack I may consider getting veterans just so I can push against entrenchments easier.

Buying vet infantry is much riskier than buying a vet tank because you constantly are using your infantry and they are very fragile. With infantry, you have less chance to risk. When I buy regulars in a 1250 game I typically can waste a platoon and not feel bad. Wasting a veteran platoon can hurt. However, if you're playing 2000pt games I see lots of room for error and it's more forgiving in my opinion.

When it comes to just buying units flat out though, each country has their own unique weapon that always gets whored out in QB's. For the germans its the 150mm infantry gun. For the brits it's usually the Matilda, this all depends on the year / month and where the fighting is being held. I personally think in all the CM games the Axis have an edge in QB's, especially under variable rarity.