Slitherine

I have noticed that most people in this forum use almost exclusively Pioneers or a combination of Pioneers and Grenadiers in their army groups. I have really found myself preferring to use mostly normal Wehrmacht Infantry because I find their extra non-transport movement point comes in handy so often. Also, rugged defense is not the boogeyman that it was in the old Panzer General games so Pioneers aren't quite as useful in that regard. I do still have my Elite SS units as Pioneers/Grenadiers, but I like to use normal infantry as the bulk of my forces.

Props to developers for making the different Infantry classes very well balanced.

Pionieres are the only infantry that ignores entrechments and has a bonus against forts. Quite handy.

I use and used almost exclusively Wehrmacht Infantry.
(I am often torn in what I should upgrade my Gebirgsjäger in 1943 as Gebirgsjäger 43 have such a low hard attack.)
My SS Infantry is a Grenadier.

I don't use Bridge Engineers or Paratroopers. In some scenarios a Pioneer would have been useful, for this Russian Fort in Barbarossa for instance.
But in general I do well without them.

Why Wehrmacht Infantry?

Cheap but very efficient.
Movement 3 rocks. Especially when you are the attacker.
You can place them out of Artillery range in combat ready state while Grenadiers rely on tanks guarding them or only have a narrow 2 hex path of attack.
They also almost cry for a halftrack while Wehrmacht Inf does very well walking or using the Opel Blitz which also has a better air defense, no kidding.

I also find it advantageous that Wehr Inf has 1 more ammo and doesn't waste shots on air attackers.
Though it is incredible how many fighters are shot down by American Infantry units regularly!

It all depends on the situation.
They all have their special jobs to do and are good at them. You just need to figure out what that is and how to exploit it.

I usually have one bridging unit. Very helpful in crossing rivers to flank defenses. I too, like to use pioniere's. I can usually rout defending infantry with some arty prep and a 1-2 punch of them. What's really good is when you have one get a hero with a +1 movement bonus. The best of both worlds.

Their low price and 3 movement are great perks, so I use them sure.

I too like their 3 movement...

And have a mix of them and Grenadiers in my "primary" formations supported by 1 pioniere, 1 bridger and 1 Gebirgsjager who deploy as and where required

Interesting debate. Personally, I prefer a core of Grenadiers as my main Infantry force (I usually upgrade all my Wehrmacht Infantry to Grenadiers for 40 prestige ASAP) with some Fallschirmjägers and Gebirgsjägers as specialty support. Since what I really want are Panzergrenadiers, I will outfit them with sdkfz 250/251 as quickly as I can. That somewhat mitigates their 2 speed although initially prestige heavy. However I find it balances out over the course of a campaign and I love their hard-hitting ability against Hard targets.

I really like to vet my Fallschirmjägers and Gebirgsjägers the quickest so they become nasty, then I over-strength them each scenario to do the dirty work. They lack somewhat against Hard targets but I try to play the Campaign and Scenarios as historical as I can. Fallschirmjägers do get the "fortkiller" trait so they can somewhat sub for Pionieres (although I use them too, just not en masse like others). It's just historically, they were elite troops of the Wehrmacht.

I do wish they were able to get the "Alpine" trait working for the Gebirgsjägers. I think they should be dominant in Mountain and High Mountain fighting, not just mobile in it. The Gebirgsjägers should dominate all other Infantry except other mountain units.

Speaking of which (maybe a beta tester or Kerensky might know), what should the "Alpine" trait have done? Would it have given a straight, say +4, to attack when in Mountain terrain, like fighting against units in a river hex does? Just curious.

IronFist wrote:Speaking of which (maybe a beta tester or Kerensky might know), what should the "Alpine" trait have done? Would it have given a straight, say +4, to attack when in Mountain terrain, like fighting against units in a river hex does? Just curious.

Alpine is listed in the movement section...

impar wrote:Alpine is listed in the movement section...

Thanks impar. I thought I read somewhere that originally Gebirgsjäger units where going to get a special attack but it was removed because of balance reasons. I was curious what is was (if in fact true).

Personally I haven't found Wehrmacht Inf to be that useful. While the extra movement point is nice, it's not that important. Due to the fact that all Infantry has 2 sight, allowing you to cruise to 3 hexes of a city in your trusty transport and then move up and attack it the next turn.

Also the stats are horrible compared to Pioneers, and they have no "ignore entrenchment" ability.

When you're looking at Entrenchment 6 after Strategic Bombardment and Two Artillery Shellings then you'll learn to appreciate the 0-8 from a river damage Pioneers can dish out.

Also sooner or later I tend to get +1 movement heroes.

I had a standard infantry unit with 2 +1 movement heroes. Man did they fly!

MartyWard wrote:I had a standard infantry unit with 2 +1 movement heroes. Man did they fly!

For the West Coast I upgraded one of my +2movement Tiger II's into a Maus. Heavy Tank is Heavy.

WOW, that sounds unstoppable Fimconte, a Maus with 5 movement? That is pretty much ideal.

I also use mostly standard inf. although i do keep 1 bridging unit around which comes in quite handy in most scenarios to be able to get around defenses behind river hexes and 1 grenadier or pioneer for killing bunkers! Has worked preety well for me!

Wehrmacht Infantry is good. Cause it has 6 ammo like the Gebirgsjäger. Therefore you can attack/defend 1 more per scenario.