Overview 

Man the Ack-Ack! Bolster the defenses! The Wehrmacht is mustering for a counterattack! 

Now you’re aware of the US Forces and their Battlegroups, it would be remiss of us to not show you what they’ll be facing in battle. (We've had to shuffle our scheduled topics around, so stay tuned for more info on the Commonwealth Forces in 2022!) Just like the US Forces and their Battlegroups, those of the Wehrmacht will offer you additional tools to augment your forces and specialize your playstyle further than the core army would. 

When you next go hands on with CoH 3, you will have access to two very different Battlegroups: in the Breakthrough Battlegroup, call forth the rapid mobility of assault infantry and vehicles, supported by airstrikes and heavy armor; or in the Luftwaffe Battlegroup, call forth airdrops of Fallschirmjäger and Fallschirm-Pioneers to lock down the battlefield, with support from heavy weapon emplacements and air support. 

As with the US Forces’ Battlegroups, each Battlegroup for the Wehrmacht is comprised of 10 Battlegroup Abilities, split into two main branches, with exclusive choices along both routes – when you lock in an ability, you might be locking another one out, allowing for a wide variety of ways to play each Battlegroup. 

Breakthrough Battlegroup 

Designed around the Wehrmacht’s famous Blitzkrieg tactics, Breakthrough represents a fast-moving and hard-hitting army. The Assault Tactics branch of this Battlegroup is cheap to invest in early, providing assault infantry, smoke screens and half-track support, whereas the Armored Offensive branch focusses on resource investment and armored support. Below are a few examples of what you can expect: 

Assault Grenadiers 

• Available from the start of a battle, this weapon upgrade swaps out the Grenadier squad’s loadout with MP40 submachine guns and enables them to assault positions with multiple grenades, making them a deadly close-quarters unit. This upgrade dramatically shifts the dynamic of Grenadier squads to better suit an aggressive army. 

Blitzkrieg 

• Once activated, this global, timed ability provides a considerable buff to all of your vehicles in the field at once. Everything from Armored Scout Cars to the mighty Tiger Tank will receive increased movement speed and perform better in combat, enabling you to make the final grand assault you need to close the game, escape the clutches of an enemy flanking attack, or risk it all on a dive against enemy lines. 

Tiger Heavy Tank 

• At the end of the Armored Offensive branch sits the nigh-indomitable Tiger tank. Though slower than medium tanks and vulnerable to flanking attacks by armored vehicles, the Tiger more than makes up for it with a devastating main gun that can easily end an enemy assault before it begins. As deadly against infantry as it is vehicles, this beast of a tank is sure to put you at the top of the food chain. 

Command Points 

The Breakthrough Battlegroup has some considerable differences between its two branches, and where you choose to invest will dramatically change how it supports your army. Should you choose to dive into Assault Grenadiers and the Mechanized Assault Group early, you will be delaying your opportunity to field the Tiger Heavy Tank. Or alternatively, you could invest in the Blitz Truck from the offset to lock down some early resources, paving the way for a wealthy army in the late-game. 

Luftwaffe Battlegroup 

Air Support has arrived! The Luftwaffe Battlegroup provides a unique mix of air-dropped weapons and infantry, air-to-ground support, and heavy emplacements. Like the Luftwaffe Ground Forces of Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, this Battlegroup enables you to snatch key positions from the enemy, then lock them down with support from the famous Flak 36 or Flak 38 emplacements, enabling you to dominate the skies. 

Fallschirm-Pioneer Paradrop 

• These well-trained Pioneers are paradropped to the frontline, capable of supporting your army with a myriad of tools and equipment: lay mines and build defenses to block the enemy advance; clear out enemy structures with satchel charges and the GrB 39 grenade launcher; or build weapons emplacements to deny aircraft, infantry and vehicles alike. 

Stuka Rocket Strafe 

• When you can’t hold back the enemy any longer, call in the Luftwaffe. This rapid-deploying Stuka will strafe the area with devastating rockets before peeling out. Provided enemy anti-air has been taken care of, this plane can lay waste to just about anything it hits, including a row of buildings that might be hampering your plans. 

Flak 36, 88mm Emplacement 

• The Flak 36 makes a welcome return to the franchise as the final step of the Ground-to-Air Tactics branch. Capable of switching from an anti-air role to ground targets, this emplacement is a considerable threat for any unwary opponent - however, as it is static, it will need to be protected. Keep your Pioneers and Fallschirm-Pioneers on hand for repairs, and it should have no trouble laying waste to enemy armor that is foolish enough to stray into range. 

Command Points 

Many elements of the Luftwaffe Battlegroup can work in tandem with your army, or even replace elements of it. Choosing to deploy Fallschirm-Pioneers instead of Grenadiers to the field in the early game will give you a far more opportunities to lay mines, repair vehicles and bolster your frontline defenses, promoting a defensive playstyle, compared to the Close Air Support branch, which uses airstrikes and elite Fallschirmjäger to hit the enemy behind their lines, while you capture the field with your regular army. 

Summary 

We can’t wait for you to go hands-on with the Wehrmacht and its Battlegroups to see what they have to offer. As always, we’re eager to hear your opinions on how you would like to use the tools in both armies and what you think of the exclusive choices available. Let us know what you think when you’ve had a chance to play them! 

And as always, everything here is Pre-Alpha – expect changes and improvements to anything and everything! 

Kind of upset it plays it so safe with units and abilities, feels/reads like a coh1 doctrine with no new abilities or new concepts.

RS_HUNTER wrote:

Kind of upset it plays it so safe with units and abilities, feels/reads like a coh1 doctrine with no new abilities or new concepts.

almost like the first game had better competitive balance and well thought out abilities compared to the casual sequel, who'd have thought?

thank ---- they're bringing this ability structure back.

Doh, server issues or something I lost my last post. I should have saved it. The universe way saying for me to keep my posts shorter. That first image alone gets my heart racing, that intro video was amazing and this is such a great visual of mg laying down fire. I tried copy and pasting below but it keeps freezing (parsing response failed) uploading.

This breakdown looks really good. I liked the two choices, breakthrough seems like infantry/elite aggressive one, the Luftwaffe airborne and flak 88 is AWESOME, it was perhaps a bit OP if I recall in COH 1 as far as their damage and range output, but we'll see. I never knew they were primarily AA and not AT equipment, very interesting to see they put them on train cars, ships and even self propelled vehicles, all sorts of uses historically. If they serve as both AA and AT they may just be too OP.

It really leaves me to wonder what the 3rd battlegroup will be for Wehr, it's gotta be armor no? I don't know if Blitzkrieg is appealing enough to sway players from selecting Panzer IV Command Tank but maybe that's just me. 

- Art of War 

Thanks for the post, Relic!

I would like to phrase two concerns:

1. Both battle groups have 0CP infantry that do not come with an exclusive choice. I won't call this bad design, but just a very boring one. The battle group system is so focused on decisions and choice of abilities. Yet, there is none when it comes to this 0 CP infantry. There is no downside of just clicking it. You don't delay anything else, you don't lock something else out.

2. On the example of the breakthrough BG:

In the left branch, we see a first choice between an ability and the truck. In the second tier, we again see the choice between an ability and this time a tank. In my eyes it would be more interesting having to decide between either units or abilities in each tier. Few players are going to take both abilities, because the commander will become to munitions heavy. In that regard, the preferred choice in the first tier already decides your choice in the second tier and vice versa. This leads to less decision making overall.

In general, I hope you will have fresh spins on most of these units and abilities compared to CoH2. Judging by names, it looks like a lot of recycling, but I will wait until I see the abilities in action for an actual, gameplay judgement.

I really like the two battlegroups so far, even if they are currently on the "safe" side by using almost just known units and abilities from previous CoHs. Maybe future battle groups are more "experimental" and/or bring beloved units like the Hetzer back.

But imo it would be time for another alpha/beta phase to test the US and Wehrmacht battlegroups for a proper feedback^^

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention this - Please use/keep the design philosophy for battle groups that less is more. I mean that a few very distinctive and well thought battle groups are better than a lot of battle groups with copy paste units/abilities and no real core idea (like many of the early Wehrmacht and Soviet commanders from CoH 2). But my impression currently is, that I don't have to worry about this. :)

Replacement for the JU87 in Italy?

We need the "Hornet Wing" - The Zerstörergeschwader 1.

The Messerschmitt Bf 110 of the ZG 1 were using some interesting aircraft paintings. And the Me 110 could be used as a MG strafing aircraft and/or a bomber aircraft - and/or with improvised Rheinmetall-Borsig WGr 21 rocket pods.