I am someone who is not very remarkable in anyway when it comes to Company of Heroes 2, other than that I have a decent amount of time into the game, although many people are far more experienced than I. I have roughly 500 hours of gameplay as the Soviet Union, a little under 180 hours as the United States, a little over 100 hours as the British, about 90 hours into the OKW, and about 70 into the Wehrmacht, at the time of writing this guide.
I have lot of playtime in 4v4 and 3v3, and a bit in 1v1, but most of my playtime is in 2v2, so most of the things I say are going to pretain to the 2v2 gamemode.
Lastly, I have had the game since June 2014, just after the United States Forces released, and have played off and on since then, with most of my time in the game being in 2014, 2015, and for a bit after the British released, although I have picked the game back up recently.

Without further interupption, I will now start right in with mistakes that I see quite often with each faction.

Conscripts

The biggest problem I see with any Soviet player is the severe underestimation of the power of Conscripts. They can be a threat throughout the entire game if they are kept alive, vetted up, and are equipped with anti tank grenades. They are not the best infantry unit in the game by any means, but they can go toe to toe with either of the Axis factions' core infantry units if they are utilized properly, whether that is throwing a molotov to negate cover, or simply getting in light cover while your enemy is in the open.

Do not underestimate these guys, and don't be afraid to pump out 4 or 5 of them early game to control and capture the entire map. Conscripts will not win games against an experienced player if they are not manuevered properly, however.



T-34/76

Much like the Conscript squad, the T-34 is not the best tank in the game by any means. Alone and without proper manuevers, this tank can be taken down by a Panzer 4 pretty easily. In fact, the T-34 really only has 3 redeeming qualities, the first and biggest one being how cheap the tank is. It is only 90 fuel, so if you really need to get some decent armor out for one reason or another, this tank can save the day. The second redeeming quality is it's ram ability, which can be used to ensure a kill on a more valuable tank like a Panther, Tiger, King Tiger, or even a high vet Panzer 4. T-34s are also great screen tanks for either your valuable tanks or an ally's valuable tanks.

The mistake I see made mose commonly with these guys is, like the conscript, the severe underestimation of their power.






Other

As far as the Soviet Union goes, I don't have a lot of other major mistakes that I see too often that I can think of off of the top of my head, so I'm just going to list a few minor ones rapidly.

Not enough people use the SU-76, which is a great antitank weapon when coupled with AT nades and/or a AT gun. Plus you get the light arty ability, which is basically like OKW field gun fire.

People don't ever use the ZiS's arty ability, which is the exact same as the SU-76's arty ability. I understand that it takes munitions, but the Soviets are not too heavy in muni consumption, so I wish I saw this ability used more.

People still use the DsHK. I get that it is more powerful than the Maxim, but there is really no reason to get one, as they don't do anything special compared to the Maxim other than melt scout cars.

I see a lot of people get either the M5 Halftrack or the T-70 when the other is better in the current situation. What I mean buy this is that some people will get the M5 with a meat grinder when the enemy has a Luchs out, even though the T-70 is a great counter to the Luchs, and is still a great anti infantry weapon. I will also see people get the T-70 instead of the M5 when there are no major anti tank threats out. The M5 is absolutely devistating, and as long as an AT gun and/or AT nade is near it and ready to fire, there really isn't a whole lot to fear.

People need to utilize the 120mm mortar more. It is devistating, plus it has the same range as an OKW support gun, and can take them out pretty easily.

Riflemen

These guys are the absolute backbone of the USF in CoH2, and are by far the best core infantry unit in the game. They can go toe to toe with any infantry squad in the game fairly well, and the fact that they get an anti tank grenade at Vet 1 makes them a threat all the way from the start of the game to the very end. This should be pretty obvious to anyone who has played this game at all, but keeping the Riflemen squad alive for as long as possible should be a top priority for any and all USF players, as vet 3 Riflemen are something that no axis player wants to have to deal with. This is especially true when their arsenal of 5 M1 Garands is spiced up with some BARs.



In short I see way too many people not babysitting their Riflemen squads. Much like the Conscripts to the Soviets, do not be afraid to pump out 4 of these guys, add in a Lietenant, Captain, and perhaps Assault Engineers, or, better yet, Rangers to the mix of infantry under your control, and you will be able to fight over the entire map with a lot of force. Also like the Conscripts, these guys are best utilized when manuevered indivually; waaaaay too many people think the Riflemen are simply made to be ran around in a blob, but this is far from the most efficient way to use them.

The Sherman

The Sherman is a great tank for infantry support, and provides some decent AT support, but does not stack up very well in a 1v1 against any tank bigger than a Puma. The Sherman needs to be supplemented with rifle support, as well as additional AT support, whether this be through AT nades, an AT gun, another tank, or bazookas in order to use it's HE ability safely against enemy troops, and to support your Riflemen with maximum efficiency. Also keep in mind that if you are going to build Shermans and no other armor, keeping them together in a group of 2 or 3 will make them a force to be reckoned with.

With all of this being said, it makes me nervous to see an allied USF player get a Sherman without any other major means of dealing damage to armor, as there are plenty of AT options for the USF, and a single Sherman is perhaps one of the worst of them. Getting the Captain as opposed to a Lieutenant can help solve this issue earlier on in the game, but personally I would like to see more people get an AT gun either before or just after purchasing a Sherman, assuming they have nothing else.



The M36 Jackson
There are two things that people need to understand about the Jackson which are fairly simple; The first one being the fact that this is a great support tank, but it should never have to fight another tank 1v1, as it is super squishy. It needs some meat in between itself and whatever tank it is shooting at. The other thing I wish more people would realize about this tank buster is that it should be sitting as still as possible when it is shooting. By this I mean that the M36 is not a tank that is meant to rush other units, and it should never be close enough to another tank to have to back away from it. Another reason for this is that the more shots you hit with it's extremely powerful gun, the more damage you do (obviously) because the gun is more than likely to penetrate almost anything it fires at, which means you need to have accurate shots on your target. Sitting still gives you the most hits, i.e. the most damage.



Other

I touched on this earlier, but I'd like to restate that Riflemen are a great unit, but are not a blob unit, and are used extremely inefficiently when used in a blob.

Not a lot of people realize how much use you can get out of a single Howitzer Motor Carriage, which is essentially the 105 Sherman on a Stuart platform.

A lone fighting position will most likely not be able to hold a position, as they are extremely vulnerable to anything larger than a rifle. They can be very useful to give your troops inside rifle nades, but other than that I don't think they are cost effective, normally.

People seem to forget that the U.S. has a Howitzer that can return fire to enemy mortars and field guns.

Many people do use the Stuart, but not everybody gets it as a counter to the Luchs. Much like the T-70, it will absolutely demolish the Luchs.

Tommies

The Infantry Section is one of my favorite infantry units in the game. Their offensive capabilities are often underestimated, and are best utilized in "shoot n, scoot" fashion, i.e. moving cover to cover. Don't get me wrong, Tommies are never pushovers, but they are dramatically better even when behind yellow cover, considering they fire faster along with the obvious bonus of not being shot as easily.
With this in mind, not nearly enough people utilize the Tommies as much as they should be. Just because the Briitsh are primarily defense oriented, does not mean you can't get 3 to 4 sections to push back the enemy. Basically what I'm saying is that people need to generally build about 1-2 more groups of Tommies than they normally do.



Armor

I'm going to cover all the mistakes that I see people make with British armor in one statement, which is basically that everyone seems to underestimate the penetration of every single one of their guns. Even the Cromwell, which is basically the British equivalent of the P4, has fantastic AT capabilities for the price of the tank. The Churchill's gun is the same, and although not the greatest for a tank of it's size, it gets the job done. Then of course you have the Firefly, which has a god-like cannon on it and is pretty comparable to the Jackson, and the Comet, which falls somewhere between the Cromwell and Firefly. It is fast, fairly well armored, and has a great gun on it. Nobody seems to acknowledge the British's offensive capabilites that come with every single one of it's tanks (except the Firefly) because the British Army is primarily defense oriented.




"Sim City"

I see so many British players rely on their emplacements to do so much for them, when emplacements should really only be used to supplement your troops, not be your troops. Emplacements are honestly my least favorite aspect of the British Army, mainly because they are so easily countered by the OKW field gun. This does not mean in any way that emplacements don't have their place, because they definitely do, but if you don't have good control of the map or have some way to return fire on or ward of the OKW field guns, the emplacements are simply stationary targets that are very expensive and need babysat all game.

Mortar Pits

I've decided to give mortar pits their own category because I see an absolutely disgusting amount of Brit players who think that a mortar pit out by 5 minutes is a good idea, when 9/10 times it will not work out in your favor (keep in mind this is 2v2, they tend to work out a bit better in 4v4). They are 400 mp, not even mentioning the fact that you have to buy the T2 building in order to buy them, as well as at least one squad of engies to keep them alive. A rushed mortar pit is a dead mortar pit, espeically since the OKW can easily outrange them. The manpower spent on these expensive rectangles should be put toward another squad of infantry, or a bren carrier, or something that can at least be used to ward off the oncoming fire that your emplacements later in the game will inevitably receive.

Other

Many people do not equip their Tommies with anything, when the Bren and the Vickers K are, in my opinion, the best infantry weapon upgrades in the game, excluding the American .30 cal machinegun and the Rangers' Thomspson's.

The British AT gun has great penetration, much like all of their tanks. More so than the American, it seems, which doesn't make much sense considering it is the same gun. Not a whole lot of people feel the need to spam these guns, but if you get 2 or 3 of them you can safely save up for a fairly early Comet tank.

This isn't really a mistake I see people make, but it is worth pointing out that Royal Engineers with a couple of Brens make them a force ot be reckoned with, especially with Anvil Tactics.

There are a lot of people who purchase either the armored car upgrade or the bofors upgrade without even building one of them, the tech-up isn't worth buying until you want to actually buy the unit in my opinion.

I would like to preface this section by saying that this is my least played faction, so take everything with a grain of salt.

Grenadier Blobbing

The Grenadier is by no means a bad infantry unit, as a matter of fact I'd say they are the most versatile infantry unit behind the US's Riflemen. Their light MG42s, rifle grenades and panzer fausts make them viable throughout the entire game. This being said I don't think that they are the most powerful infantry, and I don't think they are very without something else there to turn the tide of battle, and I see way to many Wehrmacht players just bunch up their grenadiers and throw them at the enemy like it's the opening scene in Enemy at the Gates. This is wrong on so many levels that it hurts.

The Grenadier can be used very effectively as a unit to back up and protect the Wehrmacht's ultra deadly MG42 Heavy machine gun, as well as protecting the Wehrmacht's solid armor, PaK gun, and mortar.

Mortars



The German mortar is a very effective weapon that should be a prominent piece in every Wehrmacht player's build order, however, I see way to many people select all of their mortars and just barrage the same target. There is nothing wrong with focused mortar fire, as a matter of fact it is very effective, but doing this puts all of your squads in the same spot, leaving them extremely vulnerable to a counter barrage or grenade. To rememedy this, mor Wehrmacht players need to set up their mortars in range of the target, but not on top of each other, before engaging.



Other

The Wehrmact bunker falls into the same boat as the American fighting position. It is really nothing but a target for a mortar or tank, or a minor annoyance when trying to capture a point. This obviously only applies to MG bunkers, however, as med bunkers are a must have.

Too many Wehrmact players completely skip the building with the PaK gun in it, but it is worth getting, even if the Allied armor isn't as scary as you or your OKW friend's.

The PaK 43. It is just an extremely AT gun that can't move. Not worth getting in 90 percent of situations.

People really seem to like to get the 222 armored car, but I like the flame half track much more. If you have the munitions, it is lightyears better than the armored car.

Kubelwagen

Nothing really to say here other than the fact that they are worth having all game just as something that can back cap and annoy the enemy the entire game. Super cheap, worth the thorn in the enemy's side. Not many players seem to utilize this.

Volksgrenadiers

Probably the most boring infantry unit in the game, but effective none the less. The flame grenade makes these guys an absolute powerhouse up close, but, much like the Wehrmact's Grenadiers, they are often used in blobs. Probably even more so than grenadiers to be honest, which, like I've said 100 times already, is not using them to their full effectivness. Blobbing these guys is all fine and dandy until you hear that Maxim spray from down range.

The Mobile Headquarters

A lot of people tend to put down the wrong headquarters for the situation they are in early on in the game. A 7 1/2 minutes Luchs can be great if you have won the initial few skirmishes, that way pressure is still on the enemy. However, if you are needing to fight your way back onto the Victory Star, a Med HQ may serve you better. You can also get the FlakTrack out of this, which is really a Glas Autocannon(ba dum tss) that can be great for killing machineguns.

Early field guns are also great for killing brits who are trying to SimCity way to early, which I covered earlier.

The problem of placing the wrong HQ is really only remedied by more play time, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Panzer 4 J

I really like the Panzer 4 J, and a lot of people seem to pass it up for the Panther, which, in some cases, is the better choice, however, I think that more people need to see that the Panzer is a much more versatile choice, and is not nearly as week versus infantry as the Panther is. The Panther is a great tank for killing other armored vehicles, and is perhaps most cost effective tank killer in the entire game, it does lack versatility, however.



The King Tiger

Since I just got done ripping on the Panther, now I have to rip on the King Tiger, of course. This bohemoth is an absolute game changer, and in many cases can just steam roll right over an uprepared enemy. I do however, have two major things to say pretaining to this tank. First of all you have got to know when this tank is worth it. If the enemy brit player is rocking a 17 pounder, a Firefly with rockets and a Cromwell, the slow King Tiger might not be your best bet. A Jagdpanzer or Panther coupled with a Stuka might be better, as they are much more expendable, and will basically acomplish the same job, although obviously they do not strike as much fear into the heart of the enemy.

The absolute, number 1 biggest mistake I see with this tank, however, is people sending it in by itself. It is not indestructible, remember that. Something gets behind it and it is in trouble, because it's turret does not swing around like a lightning bolt, I'll tell you that much. I've seen plenty of King Tigers go down to something as small as a single mine and 2 Su-76s. Be careful with your King Tiger. You lose it, you most likely lose the game.



Other

Don't forget that you can build MG34s out of your base after you put up an HQ. Many people don't utilize this, and are very vulnerable to attack while their troops heal because of this.

It is never too early for a Rakettenwerfer. (excuse spelling, too lazy to check real spelling) I don't know how many games I've lost or seen others lose because of a 10 minute Sherman or T-34 going unanswered and murdering everything.

The stupid manned Flak Emplacementes - don't build them. They are garbage and are decrewed waaaaayto easily.

Don't be afraid to get a Puma out fairly early if you don't have a lot of fuel. Couple one of these babies with some panzershreks or an AT gun and you can pretty easily ward off a medium tank. Everyone seems to forget about this.

These are mistakes that go for pretty much every faction in almost any scenario. Most of this stuff is pretty basic but I see a lot of players not do some pretty basic stuff.

I'll start off with the biggest mistake I always see - lack of communication. It isn't hard to do something as simple as pinging an enemy tank when it rolls on the field. If you have the time then type out your message, and if you are playing with a friend join a Teamspeak channel or a Discord server. They are free. Never lose a game because you can not or will not put information into your ally's head.

Know when to buy what. This i pretty vague, but you need to know when it is appropriate to buy certain units. A Sherman coming out when you really need AT is not always the best option.

Use cover. Pretty simple, and it isn't too hard to walk your guys behnd the wagon that is next to you.

Support your armor. Regardless of the unit, it sucks to lose something. Especially if that something is a tank. Leaving your armor vulnerable for a partisan tank hunter to come up behind them is never good.

Please remember that these are just my observations, and they should not always be taken in 100 percent. Obviously you will see me make some of these mistakes and you will make some of them, but attempting to correct them will make you a much better player.

Please leave any critiques of my guide, gameplay, or any racial slurs/obscene comments below. Thanks.