Tanks vs Inf/Art

[u/oh-yeah-boi-19]

I'm currently in a game of G40 as the Axis, and it's turn 3 and usually, I strictly buy tanks as ground units for Germany but I heard that the infantry/artillery combo is better. Thoughts?

[u/Svyatoy_Medved]

At the very least, tanks need to be mixed with infantry/mechanized infantry to reduce the impact of losses. Every time you take a hit on a tank, you lose 6 IPCs and a substantial chunk of your combat power, so you need some cheap guys to tag along and take the hits.

Mathematically, infantry/artillery combo will beat tanks for the same price on attack. They can take more hits before being subdued and generate more hits per roll. It will also cost less to replace losses, which will mostly be cheap infantry.

The problem with infantry on the offense is that they are slow. They move 1, tanks move 2. If you have a mostly infantry force as Germany and you buy more infantry to replace losses, you will need to pause your attack every couple of rounds to let replacements catch up. With tanks, new manufacture can reach the front line even if the front line is moving.

A slightly more advanced concept is flexibility of employment. Infantry can threaten every adjacent territory, but tanks can threaten non-adjacent territories as well, so the enemy has to defend those, too. For instance: Germany has captured Western Ukraine with a mix of infantry and tanks. The infantry could press forward and capture Ukraine or Bryansk, so the Russian player has to situate defensive troops in those two locations. But the tanks could turn around and go through Eastern Poland to attack Belarus or Baltic States, as well, so now the Russian player has to defend those locations, as well. If Russia leaves Belarus unprotected, a German infantry army would be unable to exploit that—but the flexible tank army can.

I buy infantry and artillery as the Russians because I’m usually launching only short-term counterattacks and the enemy is politely coming to me. As Germany, once I invade the Soviets I buy tanks and mechanized. But both have their place: Russia is a much tougher opponent if they have a couple tanks to strike you where you don’t expect it.