This is a written overview for every division currently in the game. This means I will be going through each division in detail, explaining what makes them special and why you would want to play them.

While I can't stop you, I recommend not trying to read this entire guide from top to bottom. Just skip to the divisions (or nation) that interest you using the sidebar. This overview is not intended to be read in order, just skip to the section you want.

This guide is written by a player who primarily plays ranked 1v1s. I do have some tournament experience, but i'm no professional at this game (and especially not for 10v10s), so if there's any inaccuracies you notice or points you disagree with, please let me know in the comments! You can also find me on the WarYes and SDL discords under the handle Zergursh.

If you are not familiar with what a division is, an explanation is provided below.

Divisions are essentially the army you pick to play as. All divisions provide you with 50 activation points to build a deck with, and all the units that come with that division. Picking a USA division will usually mean gaining access to a lot of USA units but you probably won't have nearly the same amount of French units to work with in that division. Similarly, an Armoured division will trend more towards tanks than an Infantry division would, and it will usually be cheaper in terms of activation points to play to your division's speciality. (Trying to fit lots of tanks in an infantry division will usually be more expensive than trying to fit lots of tanks in an armoured division, for example.)

Because of the Division system, WARNO forces you to specialise your army in a specific direction. You must pick what you want your army to be good at, you can't be a jack of all trades, master of all. You cannot simply make a single deck with high grade superheavy tanks, spec ops infantry and powerful prototype aircraft all together. If you want access to those superheavy tanks, you have to pick a tank division, and likewise for infantry divisions and airborne divisions.

The divisions of each player are visible in the lobby and during deployment, allowing you to play to best exploit their weaknesses. For instance, when facing a tank division, you would be advised to drag the fighting into cities and forests where tanks are at their weakest, or you can prepare more AA than usual when facing an Airborne division.

Some divisions require DLC to be played as. What DLC they require will be listed in this guide (if nothing is listed, that division is in the base game for everyone). DLC divisions tend to be more unorthodox and experimental compared to vanilla divisions, though not necessarily stronger. They tend to play in their own way and have their own unique units and strategies that you wouldn't see in the base game, strategies that tend to make them less beginner friendly than the vanilla divisions. If you think a DLC division look cool, don't be afraid to play them, just expect a higher barrier of entry for most of them (and naturally, there will be exceptions).

Divisions have different types, which define how that division will play.

Tank divisions, unsurprisingly, have the best tanks. These divisions want nothing less than to pull their opponent onto a wide open field and pummel them from afar with the heaviest tanks they've got, rolling forward once resistance is crushed to victory. Tanks are expensive and fairly vulnerable to air assets, so these divisions also tend to bring a powerful anti air game to protect them, with strong air superiority fighters and long ranged radar AA to lock down the skies.

In terms of flaws, armoured divisions usually pay a premium for their hardware, which is quite logistically demanding. Also, getting manpower in large numbers is a struggle tank divisions tend to face, running out of infantry is a very real concern!

Armoured divisions are a favourite of many that prefer the hammer over the scalpel.
Recommended Beginner Divisions: USA 3rd Armoured, Soviet 79th Guards Tanks

Infantry divisions usually thrive where tank divisions struggle, and struggle where the tanks reign supreme. Infantry divisions are best for assaulting and holding the forests and towns of a map, being the dominant close ranged combatants of WARNO. Assault infantry and Special Forces are at an abundance in these divisions, while IFVs and some tanks are present to provide fire support. For dealing with enemy tanks, competent ATGM teams and strong anti-tank bombers are common in Infantry divisions. Usually, infantry divisions don't lack in any particular tab, making them great all-rounder armies.

infantry Divisions are generally pretty weak in the open and at longer ranges, relying more on staying out of long sight lines with the help of forests and getting close with smoke when that isn't an option. Infantry are also quite slow, so it can be difficult to capitalise on an opportunity to push or retreat from a failed engagement without having transports nearby to ferry them.

Infantry Divisions bring manpower in abundance for any player that appreciates having a numbers advantage, or simply having a well balanced army.
Recommended Beginner Divisions: USA 8th Infantry.

Sometimes, Infantry divisions focus less on infantry numbers and more on IFVs, heavily armed transports equipped with autocannons and ATGMs intended to drop off and assist your infantry, giving your squads a potent fire support element. More common in Pact, these divisions are very similar to Infantry divisions in most other aspects, though they tend to possess a few more tanks but less special forces and forward deployment. Because of this, Mechanized Infantry divisions tend to do better out in open terrain than regular Infantry divisions, though they also tend to do worse in urban combat and forest battles compared to regular infantry divisions.

Basically, just think of mechanized infantry divisions as the mid-point between an infantry division and an armoured division.

Recommended Beginner Divisions: West German 2nd Panzergrenadier, Soviet 39th Guards Motor Rifles

While many divisions have some forward deployment to make use of, Airborne divisions specialise in it, leaving behind anything that would slow them down to ensure maximum speed. Strong elite forward deploying infantry and the best planes and helicopters in the game are all expected in Airborne divisions, allowing for extremely aggressive opening pushes to take lots of territory all at once.

After the opener, time is ticking. Airborne divisions have almost no tanks and don't have the manpower of a dedicated Infantry Division to throw around. As the enemy AA network becomes more established and enemy armour enters the field, Airborne divisions get weaker and weaker, they either win early or probably won't win at all.

Very focused on the earlygame, Airborne Divisions suit aggressive players well.
Recommended Beginner Divisions: USA 82nd Airborne, French 11e Division Parachutiste

While forward deployment parachutists jumping out of planes is the airborne standard, some divisions decide against taking such a leap of faith. Instead, air assault divisions arrive by helicopter, bringing a large amount of well trained infantry brought by dangerous transport gunships, giving them unparalleled speed in getting reinforcements to the frontline while simultaneously raining rockets down from the skies. Contrary to what you might expect, these divisions haven't left their tanks behind, so they pack a significantly stronger armoured force than normal airborne divisions, usually in exchange for much weaker forward deployment (they have to wait for their tanks to arrive to the battle, after all!)

Much like how mechanized infantry divisions are the mid-point between infantry and armoured divisions, these air assault divisions are essentially the mid-point between an airborne division and an infantry division, their infantry being brought mainly by helicopters instead of IFVs.

Recommended Beginner Divisions: These divisions aren't normally that beginner friendly, but the UK 2nd Infantry Division is probably the easiest to get to grips with.

Not every division has the time or budget to acquire the newest technology or give their troops the best training. These unlucky divisions are known as reserve divisions, and are expected to hold the line with outdated equipment and poorly motivated conscripts. This old equipment however, is cheap, and stockpiles are filled to the brim with old T-34s or M48s that really don't have anything better to do.

Reserve divisions tend to play to the strategies of any of the previously mentioned division types, just with a focus on quantity over quality (A reserve infantry division will fight with the same tactics as a regular infantry division, at least on paper). However, rules often get broken when standards are already pretty low to begin with, and reserve divisions often have some shenanigans and unorthodox units to get the upper hand on conventional forces. Sure, almost every guideline advises against using that mine clearing vehicle to kill enemy infantry, but rules are meant to be ignored when convenient.

Recommended Beginner Divisions: For 10 v 10s only, the East German K.d.A. Bezirk Erfurt is about the easiest Reserve division you can play. I highly recommend playing literally any other type of division first if you're new though, get some experience with the game before you start trying to fight M1A1 Abrams with T-34s that haven't been driven since World War 2.

Sometimes known as BLUFOR, NATO nations generally employs a stronger air force and more powerful ATGMs than their Pact counterparts, but their units are generally more expensive than the equivalent unit in Pact (you're often paying for the quality of your units, so expect to be outnumbered) and they often struggle to compete with Pact armies in terms of artillery. Everything else depends more on the individual nation and division, so focus on those instead.

Currently, six NATO nations are playable in-game, each with their own speciality:
The United States of America are the face of NATO, being well rounded and good at everything, though with particularly fantastic heavy tanks, gunships and air superiority fighters, at the cost of the price of their units, everything is expensive.

The United Kingdom follow up with some of the best line infantry and bombers in the game, with slow but durable tanks coming in to support strong forward deployment paratroopers and vehicles.

The French arrive to battle quickly with incredible elite infantry and the best recon in the game, bringing lots of fast and hard hitting glass cannon armoured cars and light tanks to the battlefield, with the unique advantage of having autocannons on many of said light tanks to mulch enemy infantry.

West Germany are the last of the major powers, coming in swinging with a potent mechanized assault of Marder IFVs and Leopard tanks, protected by the best AA in the game and supported by reliable German artillery and a whole lot of budget fighters and bombers.

Belgium is the first of the minor NATO nations, bringing a mixture of American and West German equipment with a focus on supporting light infantry.

Netherlands is the last of the minor NATO nations, using their wealth to bring a lot of heavy German equipment.

If you'd rather play NATO as a whole rather than individual nations, the best divisions for that are Berlin Command and Territorialkommando Süd. Both are divisions that are comprised of and rely on multiple different nations and their respective units. Berlin Command in particular is great for a coalition experience, while TKS is more about American elite specialists (like green berets) and French vehicles coming in to assist West Germany.

The United States of America are the face of NATO/BLUFOR, bringing some of the most technologically advanced death machines to the field, often with a price tag to match. The USA have one of the best airforce in the game, particularly in terms of Air Superiority Fighters. F15s can dominate the skies like no other jet and clear the way to let your A-10s and LGB bombers erase anything on the ground unfortunate enough to be spotted. American helicopters are also incredibly scary, no tank is gonna like being hit with a hellfire missile from an Apache gunship.

On the ground though, the USA are more than capable of slugging it out. The crowning jewel of USA ground forces is the Abrams tank and all its variants (though mainly the M1A1), some remarkably dangerous heavy tanks that are able to hold their own against pretty much any tank that the Soviets and their allies will throw at you. Mechanized rifles, Bradley fire teams and engineers provide very crucial infantry support that your Abrams will often find themselves needing, while the Rangers and Paratroopers of more specialised divisions are very capable of overwhelming towns and forests without requiring any armoured support. American infantry also have the advantage of access to the Dragon 1 and Dragon 2, short range ATGMs that come in your combat squads to threaten enemy vehicles without needing to rely on a dedicated (and fragile) ATGM team to do so.

While on the topic of infantry, American infantry often have some fantastic transport options, both for reaching the battlefield quickly and killing whatever threatening enemies you find when there. For the former category, Air Cav Troopers are a common sight in many divisions, coming in speedy Blackhawk helicopters that allow them to reach the front quickly, and maybe even drop right into a highly inconvenient spot for the enemy. For the latter, look no further than the Bradley, America's IFV of choice and one of the most dangerous units in the game, thanks to a lethal combination of an anti-infantry autocannon and anti-tank TOW-2 missiles. Very much a glass cannon, but all a Bradley needs to do is land one good hit with that TOW-2 to pay for itself three times over.

In summary, the USA is great if you like:

• Re-enacting Top Gun with the best fighter jets in the game along with some fantastic helicopters.
  
• Fantastic ATGMs. TOW-2s and Hellfire missiles are incredibly reliable methods to remove enemy tanks from the battlefield. USA also gets the Dragon 2, a short range ATGM present in some full combat squads (no fragile 2 man team required!).
  
• Great heavy tanks and being the only NATO nation to possess superheavy tanks.
  
• Good recon vehicles, with the Bradley CFV and the various Kiowas being omnipresent and strong. Many recon infantry squads can be brought in recon transports, and the 11th ACR fully specialises in the use of recon vehicles, up to and including recon heavy tanks.
  
• Lots of helicopter infantry. Every American division has some access to helicopter infantry that can quickly reinforce the frontline and deploy exactly where you need them. Re-enacting Vietnam with a horde of Hueys/Blackhawks is both very funny and surprisingly practical.

However, the USA may not be for you if you dislike:

• Reliance on expensive units, sometimes in expensive transports.
  
• Low end budget bombers aren't that good. You generally have to either bring more vulnerable CAS plane like the A-10 or your expensive Falcon (F-16) and Eagle (F-15) bombers if you want practical air support.

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: M1A1 Abrams (HA), M2A1/M2A2 Bradley, F-15 Eagle
When the 3rd Armored hit the battlefield, they make their presence known by unleashing the M1A1 Abrams (HA), an absolute monster of a tank and one of the most expensive units in the entire game. This superheavy tank packs the strongest tank gun in the game and rivals the very best of the Soviet tanks in terms of armour, while still being fairly good in terms of speed, very few tanks can even pose a challenge to the Abrams (HA). This terrifying tank will usually serve as the tip of the spearhead, though it tends to be quite low on availability with each card, upvetting to vet 1 means you'll only have a single tank each card, which is the opposite of ideal. Thankfully, the regular M1A1 Abrams comes in to provide that missing availability, a comparatively cheaper heavy tank that can help provide the width you wouldn't have the tanks for otherwise. The other tanks in this tab aren't anything special, though the CEV is an interesting anti-infantry tank that can one shot ATGM teams in buildings, so if you find yourself struggling to deal with that sort of unit, the CEV might be worth considering. As you'd expect from the lads leading the charge, the 3rd Armored Division pack a really good tank tab.

In the situations where tanks might not be applicable, the helicopters tab of 3rd Armored is surprisingly good with Apaches and their hellfire rockets doing ungodly damage to enemy tanks. You get a large number of slots and a lot of cards of Apaches and Cobras, you can really overwhelm the skies with gunships in excess and often overwhelm an unprepared opponent.

Onto infantry, and if you enjoy the Bradley, you've come to the right place. The M2A1 Bradley is a focus of this division, a solid IFV that comes with a potent 25mm Bushmaster autocannon for sweeping up infantry and light vehicles, along with the TOW-2 ATGM, one of the strongest ATGMs in the game. The Bradley is the definition of a glass cannon, its expensive and can't really take a hit, but it can punch way above its weight if you can land a good TOW-2 shot. This poor durability was clearly a problem to the 3rd Armoured, as they also bring the M2A2 Bradley, a Bradley upgraded with significantly better armour and the TOW-2A ATGM, which carries special Tandem warheads to negate the ERA commonly found on high end soviet tanks. You don't get nearly as many M2A2 Bradleys for a reason, that IFV is insanely good, and the M2A1 is also really good, so you can't really go wrong either way. Long live the Chadley.

Unfortunately, the infantry inside those IFVs is where this division shows its biggest weaknesses. Fire Teams serve as the backbone of your mechanized infantry force, small 6 man squads with various loadout options, with more expensive choices coming with the fairly good AT-4 or the Dragon 2, a short ranged ATGM, both of which are quite capable against enemy vehicles, but with only 6 men, these squads can die quick and tend to be pretty badly outnumbered by the enemy. To support them against other infantry, Engineers come in to provide you with the manpower and CQC ability you really need, tipping the fights in your favour with Napalm rockets and capable enough shock troopers. If you need reinforcements quickly though, this division calls in Air Cav Troopers brought exclusively by Black Hawks, who are actually a pretty good combat squad, especially when upvetted, though you only get one card of them. Fragile fire teams with good supporting elements are what you get, and a lot of the time, you're buying those fire teams more for the Bradley they come in rather than for the squad itself. Pretty bad infantry, try not to get dragged into urban combat if you can help it.

3rd are about as simple as it comes for armoured divisions, their nickname kind of tells you everything you need to know about them. Bash the opponents head in with heavy tanks from afar and roll over whatever they put in place to stop you with overwhelming brute force. This division really exemplify the saying of "The best defence is a good offence", your Abrams, Apaches and Bradleys are difficult for anyone to deal with and you can easily push the advantage from the trouble they cause to victory. Not a very subtle division in any aspect, but well worth playing for anyone who can appreciate dropkicking the opponent in their face with a frontal assault of several superheavy tanks.

USA 3rd Armoured is easy to play.

Strengths:

• Best Air Superiority Fighter in the game with the F-15.
  
• Amazing heavy tanks that can rival even the best tanks of the Soviets.
  
• An abundance of Bradleys in the infantry tab, one of the best IFVs in the game.
  
• Shockingly good helicopter tab with a lot of Apaches. One of the best helicopter tabs in the game, its closer to what you'd see in an airborne division than an armoured one.

Weaknesses:

• 6 man fire teams as your line infantry is pretty rough, those teams are quite fragile and aren't that good at fighting.
  
• All your best units are really expensive, and this division doesn't have good enough budget alternatives to act in their stead. This division would really benefit from cheaper M60 tanks, but unfortunately, you're mostly locked to the high end expensive side of things.
  
• Pretty poor bombers, the good SEAD you have doesn't really have anything worth clearing AA for.

Required DLC: Nemesis 3
Division Type: Infantry (plays closer to airborne)
Standout units: Navy Seals, Corsair, Prowler
The one red star the communists don't want to see, the 6th are responsible for defending Alaska and the Bering Strait from the Soviets. Apparently not many people live in Alaska though, so a bunch of National Guard reinforcements are here to pad out your numbers and help your basic troops which, well, they're not basic, there's a lot of solid specialists and very elite boots on the ground to choose from. Hell, there's even marines and airborne both joining the party together, which your grunts will most certainly appreciate. If you want a "little bit of everything" in all your tabs, except the really heavy stuff like tanks and artillery, you'll probably find this division quite appealing.

Holding the front is done by lots of 9 man squads, with N.G Rifles for the poor, the LAW/Viper Light Rifles for the less-poor and the AT-4/Recoilless Light Rifles for the rich. Only the expensive Light Rifles can get upvet, which is unfortunate, but you have options for pulling up your national guardsmen and light riflemen with the USAF Security, a large 13 man squad of MPs that can turn a collapsing front into a holding one thanks to their anti infantry firepower and ability to remind your troops that retreating is illegal. For further support, the N.G M113 transports that N.Gs come in are a really efficient fire support option, and with no IFVs to choose from, they'll often serve in a similar role (even throwing dragon ATGMs down range with some of them). With Dragon 2 Fire Teams and TOW-2 ATGMs (including a FD one!), that's your frontline covered for the rest of your forces, or well, most of them. Airborne squads give you the forward deployment space to play your game, they're the same as they are in the 82nd, but they don't drop alone as they come with the Navy Seals. Seals are a triple upvet forward deploying special forces beast of a squad, bringing 9 men with 4 MGs, an AT-4 and a satchel bomb to murder pretty much everything, but particularly enemy line infantry, it isn't much of a fight. This tab's huge, there's still units I haven't mentioned like the USMC security, but we'd be here all day if I did, and those are all your main choices wrapped up. Amazing tab.

Segway from a huge tab to a tiny one, artillery gives you 107mm mortars and 155mm Howitzers. Take both, use the former for smoke and the latter for killing, business as usual. That's about it. Tank tab is similarly tiny, with jeep I-TOWs and Humvee TOW-2s, which you'll be relying on to not get rolled over by T-72s.

Recon tab finally has more units than countable on one hand, with a lot of unique stuff. Starting us off are the Alaskans, all budget reservist choices with hilariously good veterancy by default, coming double upvetted (though only the cav scouts can really hold their own in a fight, the rest should stay passive). Leading those lads will usually be the Pathfinders, 4 man teams with airborne forward deployment and AT, so their use case is pretty obvious, rush them forward and snipe enemy transports. If their LAWs aren't enough though, don't worry, this division can call in M48 recon tanks who pack improved ammo, they can be much more dangerous than what you'd expect from the usual old outdated M48 (though it still lacks smoke and comes with reservist crewmen, you can't really unga bunga with it, even with a nearby MP car). Finally, the last unique unit, a recon A-10 warthog, bringing half HE rockets and half smoke rockets, both of which are very useful for ruining the enemies day in a manner of your choosing.

AA tab is solid, you get Stingers, I-Hawks and an airliftable 20mm AA gun that can come in a really big helicopter. There's potential for shenanigans there, but you've got your bases covered either way, stingers and the 20mm for enemy helicopters, I-Hawk for enemy jets. For your own helicopter tab, very middling, just cobras for anti infantry and anti tank. Not nearly as impressive as the air tab, but your helicopters help.

If you're wondering where the tank budget went, it went to arming the air tab, because they couldn't live with jets that carried less than 2000 kg of pain. Corsairs are your bombers who, to make a long story short, make every other (non-LGB) bomber in the US look really bad in comparison. The HE variant dive bombs and drops 3700 KGs of death onto anything that breathes, goodbye Spetsnaz. Cluster and AT variants are top of their class in killing tanks, the former drops high altitude and can really punish big blobs or tighter formations, while the latter comes with 4 Mavericks, as many as on the A-10, which you also get, this div gets the AT variant of the A-10 for some reason for spamming even more Mavericks. Don't worry about enemy AA either, you get the Prowler, a SEAD plane that's also an EWAR plane, like what the hell, that combo is just straight up evil. Finally, two cards of Eagles as your ASF, because of course this division gets Eagles. While you do get budget options for your bombers and SEAD in the Intruder, there's nothing like that for your ASF, Eagles are all you get. There's a running flaw in quite a few US divisions that their bombers don't carry enough of a payload, but this tab is close to having the exact opposite problem, you're paying for about 2000 KGs worth of overkill on anything you bomb. Still though, this "problem" is much better than the alternative, and this tab is absolutely mental.

With that wrapped up, yeah this is pretty much an Airborne div with a different tag. Rush forward with AB squads and Pathfinders to get lots of early territory early, and hunker down with your points advantage. If you're losing the infantry fight, send in your Navy Seals to start winning the infantry fight. If you're losing the tank fight, call in your Corsairs to start winning the tank fight. This division is as aggressive as you'd expect, so try not to get put on the back foot, force your opponents to play at your pace and things should hopefully work out in your favour.

Strengths:

• Solid infantry tab with pretty much everything you could ask for. Strong forward deployment without being forced to pay the airborne tax for the units that come later is always a delightful combination.
  
• Air tab would legally qualify as a piece of Exodia. The air-spam from this division is insanely dangerous and can win games on its own.
  
• Recon tanks, recon A-10s, recon vet 2 cav scouts and even LRS are all present in the recon tab, and any single one of them on their own would make this tab spicy, but all together make an excellent dish.

Weaknesses:

• There's no tanks in the tank tab, meaning you only get a very limited number of recon tanks and that's it. With no IFVs and so few tanks, don't expect to hold your own at longer ranges without air superiority.
  
• No budget ASF choice for keeping up with your airspam. Having to wait two ticks of income just to contest the skies is a pretty rough offer.

Link to Eugen article

Division Type: Infantry
Standout units: Rangers
The 8th Infantry Division is pretty much the textbook example of what you'd expect from an infantry division, bringing a lot of high quality infantry in trucks, APCs and helicopters to the battlefield (but not IFVs, there aren't any!). These troops are supported by a solid tank tab, a great air tab, a good recon tab and a good AA tab that help your infantry excel on the battlefield.

The star of the infantry tab for the 8th are the Rangers, a somewhat cheap special forces unit that comes at above average availability, letting you swarm the battlefield with cost effective special forces that mulch enemy infantry (or alternatively, upvet them to make a raid boss of an infantry squad, you can't go wrong with either approach, though I personally prefer more rangers over more elite rangers). Rangers can also come in Black Hawks, and while its mostly personal preference whether you prefer cheap trucks or costly helicopters, access to such competent airmobile infantry is an advantage this division has over others, they're much more dangerous than the Air Cav that other American divisions already enjoy. While Rangers make fine assault infantry in most circumstances, Engineers can provide further support with flash rockets for particularly entrenched opponents, its hard to concentrate on fighting when you're on fire. As for holding your own line though, cheap 6 man Fire teams and premium 9 man Mech Rifles are your main options, the Mech Rifles with Dragon 2s stand out particularly well as effective (but expensive) line holders, their short range ATGMs help your infantry punch out further and ward off enemy vehicles. Mech rifles aren't the insane death squads they used to be anymore, so if you want to stay (relatively) budget, there is a card of Engineers with Dragon 1s that I recommend in pretty every American div that can bring them, 8th infantry being no exception. Great infantry to enjoy here, Rangers often live up to their lofty reputation and then some, especially once you get in close range to use their shock trait.

While American divisions usually stick to the high tech side of things, the 8th Infantry do bring the M60A3, a very affordable light tank that's quite durable for that weight class, though it's very noticeably outdated in terms of firepower and off-road speeds. Since the 8th don't have any IFVs, the M60A3 is a great stand in for infantry fire support and can really give your infantry the edge against your Pact rivals, while not being too big of a loss if, or more likely when, it gets blown up by an ATGM. On the other end of the spectrum, the M1A1 Abrams serves as your main heavy tank. It really needs no further introduction, you know what an M1A1 Abrams is. 8th Infantry also have the option of cheaping out with the older M1 Abrams, a heavy tank exclusive this division. By the standards of a heavy tank, its lacking in armour and firepower, though it does have some good speed, so it's not really great at fighting other tanks and instead wants to fight less dangerous threats, but it is also competing with the M60A3 for the role of infantry support and destroying lighter vehicles, a competition it loses pretty heavily. If the M60A3 didn't exist, it might be worth bringing, but right now, the M1 Abrams isn't really worth it, just bring M1A1s and M60s instead. The 8th probably won't be beating a tank division in armoured warfare, but they have some strong tools to hold their own pretty well.

As expected with America, their air tab is good. The A-10 [AT] in particular (sometimes called the A-10 Thunderbolt) is an excellent anti-tank plane, being great at obliterating even the heaviest of Soviet armour. Slow speed and low ECM make it quite vulnerable to enemy AA though, so be careful.

A jack of all trades, master of some division, 8th Infantry is quite straightforward to play. Open with a healthy selection of scout squads and recon bradleys to forward positions and find where the enemy is, with your various Dragon squads following behind to establish a solid frontline. When you know where the enemy is, Rangers lead the assault, ideally under cover of smoke, kicking down doors and mopping up enemy forces at close range, while your various A-10s, F-16s and F-111F LGB provide valuable air support to take out any hard targets that could pose a threat to your Rangers. For long range supremacy, the M1A1 Abrams is hard to beat and rounds out the 8th into an effective fighting force.

A good introduction to infantry divisions, 8th Infantry is easy to play and recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• The only USA division to have Rangers, which are quite good.
  
• Well rounded roster, there isn't really any enemy you lack the tools to beat.
  
• Very capable anti tank with TOW-2s, Dragon IIs, M1A1 Abrams and the A-10.
  
• Surprisingly good AA tab. Good availability throughout with some great choices for locking down the skies against all possible types of targets.

Weaknesses:

• Surprisingly little access to forward deployment, especially for an infantry division. You're more reliant on transport helicopters for early rushes.
  
• No access to infantry tab IFVs. USA 24th Infantry stole all of the Bradleys for themselves so the 8th are stuck with trucks and APCs as their transports.

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Infantry
Standout units: Hellfire Chevy, Sniper (M82), F/A-16
9th Infantry are the High-Technology Test Bed (HTTB) of the US Army during the time in which all the generals collectively agreed "Going fast is awesome actually". A motorized infantry division with a stacked recon tab and lots of experimental tech, the 9th infantry are a bit tricky to play well, but can dominate a battlefield if you use your unique tools to their max potential.

Starting with said infantry, things stick to this division's theme of being light. Light rifles, to be specific, are your line infantry of choice, 10 man squads with two MGs, a sniper rifle and an M72 LAW, they're a solid backbone to rely on that may be familiar to you if you've played Berlin Command before, since this squad is also present there. Alternatively, you can trade in that LAW for a Dragon 2 ATGM, and you really should do that, max out on both types of light rifles actually, they're excellent. For your non-excellent troops, you have a small selection of National Guard troops, alongside the engineers and support troops standard in pretty much every USA division. With two cards of TOW-2s to work with instead of the usual one card, this infantry division is suitably capable at doing infantry things, who would have guessed. You won't be matching National Guard manpower, and your troops won't be as elite as the airborne, but what you've got is more than adequate for handing any Pact forces coming your way, it's a well balanced infantry tab.

The tank tab is, well, they're trying to stay light, but its hard to win a battle without any armoured support, so you thankfully get a handful of M60s generously donated by the National Guard to help out. The fun parts of the tank tab are all the things that aren't tanks though, funnily enough. The Humvee TOW is an excellent ATGM vehicle, the former best in the game, and it's only former because a better unit was added in this division. The Cucv is a chevy pickup truck with a hellfire missile launcher strapped to the back, the same hellfire found on Apache gunships. I'm not entirely sure how the board room meeting went when coming up with this, but a civilian car zooming around the battlefield, hiding with good stealth and obliterating Soviet T-80s out of existence with fast and long ranged Hellfires is a sight to behold. The chevy costs almost as much as your tanks for a reason, abuse the hell out of this thing.

The shenanigans continue in the absolutely stacked recon tab, this tab is packed with excellent options so I'll just cover the most unique ones. Topping that list are your snipers, normally a pretty decent unit, but absolutely supercharged in this division, thanks to the Barrett M82. Most of the time, snipers are best left on return fire as pure recon, but their anti materiel rifles can tear through enemy infantry squads, light vehicles and even helicopters, so don't be afraid to let them go ham. For tanks though, scout buggies with TOW-2s, enough said. With Aquila recon drones in the sky, and cheap GSR on the ground thanks to FOLT teams, you shouldn't have a problem finding and eliminating the enemy, this tab is ridiculous.

As for artillery, the streak continues, another solid tab. This division has the only laser guided arty piece in the USA, a 155mm howitzer with Copperhead rounds, if you're getting artillery correction from nearby recon, you'll hit right on target with pin point accuracy. This is most useful for hammering stationary vehicles (tanks included!) or ATGM teams hiding in some forest you know the precise location of, but either way, its still a 155mm howitzer, so you can use it in all the ways you would a normal howitzer, just more accurately. Far from normal though is the AVLM mine clearing vehicle, repurposed into a very short range rocket artillery piece, it's surprisingly solid at supporting town and forest fights, especially since its armoured like a light tank. If you can't get close though, no worries, you don't need to, as you have M270 MLRS systems to rain cluster rockets on the bad men and their scary tank blob.

The streak of excellence unfortunately ends at the AA tab, which is unusually light for an infantry division. Towed Chaparrals and MANPADs are what you're gonna be working with, and while Chaparrals aren't bad, being so stationary and having no long range AA can be pretty rough. Helicopter tab, sure exists, Cobras and TOW Cobras, not many slots and they get expensive fast, it's not ideal. You can't keep the 9th down for long though, as while the slots and costs in the air tab aren't fantastic either, the choices sure are. Eagles and F-16s, the pride and joy of the American air force, take centre stage, clearing the skies and dropping bombs, alongside the unique F/A-16, a flying bucket of guns and missiles, particularly anti tank missiles. It's basically an F-16 with the loadout of an A-10 Warthog and none of the weaknesses that come with the A-10, so you can probably imagine how well it does on the battlefield. All choices are fantastic (the F-16 HE2 a bit less so), and it's genuinely hard to build a bad air tab with the choices you've got (beyond, you know, not taking anything).

For playing 9th, I sure hope you're good at micro, because you're gonna need it. This is a division with a lot of squishy specialists that absolutely excel at their niche but they'll get instakilled if you mess up, the hellfire chevy being the most prime of examples. Use your mobility and recon dominance to run circles around the enemy, peppering them with ATGMs from any and all angles. When appropriately prepared with your high grade artillery, let your light rifles and scouts vehicles lead the way forward, and blow up anything that shoots back at them with your highly mobile response forces and potent jets. Just try not to get bogged down too much in the thick of things, you want your wheels rolling and your men moving, this division doesn't want to get stuck in a tank and artillery slugfest over the full match duration.

9th Infantry Division is difficult to play and not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Speed! So much of this div goes at 100 km/h, with the dune buggies reaching 120 km/h. You won't be waiting very long for reinforcements and your units have no difficulty repositioning to whichever spot is most ideal for them at any given moment. Despite having no AB forward deployment, you're often so damn fast that recon dune buggies may aswell be.
  
• ATGM spam, either from Dragons or TOW-2, or even Hellfires from the Chevy.
  
• Solid infantry, both for quantity and quality.
  
• Recon tab of the gods
  
• Excellent artillery choices, including guided munitions and cluster MLRS.

Weaknesses:

• No long range radar AA to deal with enemy planes.
  
• Your recon buggies in the opener have no decent solution to enemy helicopters, an issue made worse thanks to the Soviets having recon attack helicopters in quite a few divisions. (No, the M82 sniper doesn't count as a good solution)
  
• M60 tanks are best in large numbers, but you have a very limited number of M60s in this division, so they don't tend to do too well.
  
• No IFVs to work with here, there's no autocannons around to support your infantry (though there are plenty of grenade launcher and HMG cars/buggies).

Link to Eugen article

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: M1A1 ACAV (Recon Abrams), A-10 [AT], F-16 [LGB]
11th ACR is what happens when someone looks at 3rd Armored and goes "You know that's cool and all but can I have even less infantry in exchange for more tanks?" and someone listened to them and this division was the result. 11th ACR has an absolutely anemic amount of infantry with only 5 slots, including a couple West German soldiers to pad things out. In exchange for this, you get an absolutely gargantuan number of M1A1 Abrams to throw at the enemy, the tank printer is on full blast and you get the entire supply, you probably won't be running out. 11th ACR is a division with a lot of pronounced strengths and weaknesses, expect some spectacular highs and some horrible lows. Being "okay" is not in the vocabulary of a cav scout, these guys are either amazing at something or terrible at it.

The main draw of 11th is the absolutely stellar recon tab, they have pretty much everything the other American divisions have and a couple exclusive and very powerful toys to always know where the enemy is. Chief among these is the M1A1 ACAV, a recon heavy tank with good optics that can really abuse its forward deployment to jumpscare your opponent with a heavy tank to the face. For more subtle recon death machines, the Bradley M3A1 and M3A2 provide a more stealthy recon vehicle, with the M3A2 being armoured well enough to tank some Pact ATGMs and survive, though you shouldn't make it a habit. The ever reliable LRS give you an option for exceptional optics while the B.G.S serve as a pretty cheap and durable recon infantry to put in places where you wouldn't mind losing them (though you should probably try keep them alive, you really need all the infantry you can get). The Kiowa Warrior (the one with hellfires) ends this list as your recon helicopter of choice, an awesome helicopter for an awesome recon tab.

Outside of the absolutely stacked recon and tank tabs, there's few other things going for the 11th ACR, skewing towards those two tabs is mostly why you play them. Well, there is one other big thing. As it turns out, the tank printer wasn't alone, as the 11th gets a surprisingly large air tab stacked to the brim with every single variant of A-10 in the game (along with F-16s to act as an escort, some very good ASF). Its comical how many A-10s you can pack into this air tab, and thanks in part to having a SEAD plane in the F-16 [SEAD], those A-10s can provide brutally efficient support for your tanks and infantry. Not to be outdone by the A-10s, the F-16 LGB is also an excellent bomber and this division gets two cards of them for killing pretty much anything on the ground. There's frankly an abundance of good options here, and focusing heavy on your air tab and bringing lots of stuff is a tried and tested strategy, especially for ranked (If you wonder why the A-10 gets nerfed every other patch, it's mainly because of this division). At times, it can feel more like you're playing an airborne division rather than an armoured one, its kind of insane how easily you can achieve air superiority and start dropping bombs and firing rockets at any enemy you can see on the ground. Thanks to the 11th ACR's frankly incredible recon tab, the "at any enemy you can see" part of that equation is quite easy to accomplish and makes the air tab of 11th ACR one of the most effective in the game.

Enough about the strong parts, time to talk about the parts that suck, starting with logistics. You only get 4 slots and rely mainly on German light trucks and American helicoters. Not the worst logistics vehicles in the world, but with so few slots and a pretty steep activation curve, keeping your tanks supplied can be tricky. Moving onto infantry, and yeah, it's bad. Heimatchutzen serve as West German reservists to give you the manpower you desperately need with fairly decent sized fodder squads, and alongside them come Panzergrenadiers in the Marder 1a3, a pretty potent combination, both the squads and their Marders are very good. In terms of your American troops though, Engineers with Dragon 1s are one of your only half decent manpower option, they're okay, and since you don't have Dragon 2s and your other choices, barring one, suck, they're what you'll have to deal with to pad things out. Dismount Troopers are another okay squad, having AT-4s and the security trait makes them good for defending your flanks from enemy vehicles, but only being a 6 man squad makes them quite fragile, they die pretty fast if you commit them to the frontlines. Finally, you get the a card of Mech Rifle (Dragon), a squad that used to be extremely busted, but is now just merely great thanks to their 9 man squad size and Dragon 2 ATGM. So yeah, there's some good parts of this tab (mainly the single card of Panzergrenadiers), but you're not beating anyone in an infantry fight anytime soon. This division relies on its tanks and airpower to win, not the infantry.

Overall, a pretty weird division, but if you play to its strengths, you can do surprisingly well. Abuse your strong recon vehicles at the start of a game to throw off your opponents plans and try keep up the pressure with the obscene amount of Abrams and aircraft you have available as reinforcements while also doing your best to avoid urban combat. Teammates will appreciate the quality of your recon and tanks, though in 1v1s like ranked mode, winning with this division can be tricky (but not impossible, 11th ACR are absolutely good enough to do well on ranked, its just that their weaknesses are much more pronounced than in a team game).

A very unorthodox take on an armoured division. Difficult to play and not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• You have everything you could ever ask for in the recon tab.
  
• Good forward deployment thanks to the stacked recon tab.
  
• Extremely high availability on great heavy tanks.
  
• An obnoxiously large number of slots in your air tab, and a lot of A-10s and F-16s to slot right in. You can erase pretty much any target on the ground with some oppressive air presence.
  
• Great AA and ASF options help you lock down the skies and do well in protecting your tanks and planes from enemy jets.

Weaknesses:

• Infantry tab is a disaster, good luck trying to take or hold any town.
  
• Expensive units, you're pretty pidgeon holed into paying a premium for everything. Stuff like the M1A1 Abrams being your only (good) tank option with no cheaper alternatives can make it difficult to afford everything you need.
  
• Logistics tab ain't great, you're very low on slots, especially for an armoured division.

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: Strike Eagle
The 24th Infantry Division is split into basically two different groups in a trenchcoat pretending to be a well organised division. The first group is your regular armed forces, packing the Bradley fire teams, powerful Abrams tanks and strong air presence that you would expect out of the USA, though at reduced numbers. The other group is represented by the National Guard, cheap reservists forces that bring old stockpiled equipment and poorly motivated soldiers to hopefully be shot at instead of the professionals. To provide them with ample motivation, 24th comes with large military police squads with significantly improved equipment over standard military police, great for making sure your National Guardsmen aren't retreating advancing in the wrong direction. National Guard are usually much cheaper than their equivalent standard unit, and you can even get N.G Abrams and Apaches! You can get a lot and get it for cheap in the 24th if you're willing to call in the reserves.

Despite all the National Guard shenanigans, at its core, the 24th Infantry are still a Mechanized Infantry division at heart, possessing great numbers of Bradley IFVs while being well rounded in all other tabs. The tank tab is mainly defined by the M1IP Abrams and National Guard M1 Abrams, both cheaper alternatives to the iconic heavy tank of their namesake. While the practicality of N.G Abrams is questionable, the M1IP is a respectable tank that can hold its own, especially against the tanks of other infantry divisions, it is very well armoured for its price. Most of your strength is definitely in the Bradleys though, and the fire teams they carry. The tank tab can't really carry on its own, but it will do you well.

For the air tab, well, let's just say most people playing this division aren't here just for the reservists. The F-15E Strike Eagle you get exclusively in this division isn't just the best bomber in the USA, this beauty is a serious contender for best bomber in the whole game, or at least on the same podium as the Nighthawk, Jaguar and all the other kings of making Soviet superheavy tanks miserable. With unreasonably high ECM, fantastic speed and turning, high quality air to air missiles and two LGB payloads, the Strike Eagle can deal with, well, pretty much everything. If your opponent deploys radar AA to try stop your shenanigans, the 24th can count on the Wild Weasel for SEAD to shut it down, and things end even worse if they decide to fight you with their own jets. While the Strike Eagle is a great air superiority fighter, the regular F-15C Eagle is also present, coming both cheaper and at higher availability to really rub in that USA air superiority. Often times though, throwing several eagles at your opponent's jets is not only overkill, it's also really expensive, but thankfully, this division can count on the F-4 Phantom, the premier budget aircraft of the USA. The Phantom can handle many of the more minor threats that might sneak through while your Eagles are stuck repairing and resupplying, and I find them particularly useful for covering any retreating Eagles from enemy ASF. This division is very much "Came for the Strike Eagle, stayed for the National Guard and Strike Eagle", and thankfully, the 24th's air tab more than lives up to its deserved reputation.

There's enough regular forces in the 24th that you don't have to use reservists if you don't want to. All of the tabs can be made good using regular soldiers, and their best tab, the air tab, doesn't employ National Guard at all. If you just want to play a well balanced traditional Mechanized Infantry force, 24th can totally work for that and be very effective. I do recommend making use of some National Guard though, as a horde of N.G Bradleys is a dangerous and surprisingly affordable fighting force to deal with pretty much anything.

24th Infantry are moderate in terms of difficulty.

Strengths:

• National Guard provide many cheaper alternatives to common units, letting you cut costs and afford your heavy hitters much sooner.
  
• Bradleys are one of the best IFVs in the game and you get a LOT of them, often discounted thanks to National Guard.
  
• Good heavy tank in the M1IP, packing great armour for its price.
  
• Godlike air tab, one of the best in the game. America players cite the Eagle's 104-0 record for a reason, you basically have the air power of a dedicated Airborne division at your fingertips.
  
• Well rounded roster, there will never be a map you can't handle or an opponent you don't have the tools to defeat.
  
• Even without any radar AA, the options this division has for killing enemy air assets are quite reliable (god bless the Eagle).

Weaknesses:

• This division relies a lot on 6 man fire teams in Bradleys, and while you do have options for less fragile squads in your various Engineers, Air Cav troopers and Military Police, you're still gonna be rocking a fair amount of quite fragile line infantry no matter what (that also tend to be quite cowardly, since, you know, they're reservists).

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: Infantry (Reserve)
Standout units: US-Roland, M60A1 ACAV, Humvee MP
The 35th Infantry Division is comprised almost fully of National Guardsmen, not very brave reservists hailing from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and a few other places. Your soldiers will be expected to hold the line against the Soviet onslaught with WW2 Grease guns and older TOW-1s instead of TOW-2s, with ample motivation not to retreat provided by military police units. While things sound bleak initially, the 35th have lots of cost efficient tanks, acquired euro-tech and a whole armoury's worth of M67 recoilless rifles to help their reservists compete against more professional enemy soldiers.

Starting with infantry, and at a first glance, the infantry tab of this infantry division doesn't seem all that special, with relatively few options and none of the discounted Bradleys that makes the other National Guard reliant division (USA 24th infantry) tick. However, look further, and you'll notice all your N.G soldiers can be upvetted, that they all come in quite large squads and with solid weapons. When you move in your military police to deal with the reservist trait, well, good stuff starts to happen. Of particular note in this infantry tab are your M67 and flamer Engineers, brutal close combat brawlers that can use their manpower and shock trait to bully enemy line infantry with surprising ease, although with the caveat that you'll probably need an MP nearby to keep them on the battlefield when losses to their large squads start occurring. As for your MP options, while you don't get any large MP combat squads like in the 24th, the humble 5 man MP Patrol does have a new transport, with the option to arrive in the Humvee MP, which also has the MP trait. That was way too many times writing MP in one sentence, so I'll come back to the cop car in the tank section (it's more relevant there).

In terms of tanks, this division has more slots than the archetypical infantry division, though you won't be seeing any Abrams around as the M60 is the tank of choice, coming with a few variants. The M60A1 is the cheapest of the lot, having acceptable armour and main gun penetration, though also being quite slow and lacking heavily in range. The M60A3 fixes the range issue, coming up to 2275 meters like the M1A1 Abrams, and that's about it (the gun isn't upgraded, so it actually loses 2 pen at its max range due to kinetic scaling). Someone had the bright idea to slap ERA on the M60A3, so you also get an ERA version of the tank, allowing it to survive a bit more punishment. Individually, none of this sounds all that impressive, but you have to remember just how dirt cheap you get all of these tanks for thanks to that reservist trait. Normally, that trait would mitigate the decent durability for its dirt cheap price that the M60 can attest to, but it's quite easy to remove by keeping the Humvee MP behind your tanks, keeping your tanks in the fight even when shells start flying. An M60 will never beat a T-80 in a fight, but five M60s with an MP yelling at them is a different story. This tab tank can totally punch up against way superior forces, or at the very least, deal enough morale damage to make the enemy tanks ineffective quite easily. (I wouldn't want to stick around after driving out of a forest and immediately taking 5 shells to my tank's face either)

Moving on to artillery, and this div is solid at it, lots of 155mm SPGs and a few of the big 203mm howitzers, all of whom get discounted from being reservists. AA is similarly solid, with the star of the show being the US-Roland, an awesome radar AA unit that West Germany players will be happy to see again (The duster is also a surprisingly good SPAAG). Helicopters are unimpressive, the Huey gunship is too short ranged to be practical, but at least your Cobras and TOW Cobras do alright, especially since they get the N.G discount. Still though, this is probably the worst helicopter tab in the USA (who tend to dominate in this aspect).

Recon time, or more specifically, recon tank time! The M60 ACAV is the star of this tab, bringing good optics to the frontlines and being relevant from the very start thanks to standard recon forward deployment. Once you've done enough chaos on your opener, move the ACAV back to stay in a pack with your other tanks and you've just created a surprisingly lethal death ball to throw at the opponent (especially if you have an MP humvee in the pack). For cheaper spotting though, you have 4 man and 8 man N.G scout squads, the former being really cheap and having a useful recon transport option in the M113 ACAV, while the latter is more durable and can even come with a Dragon 1. The CEWI are a cheap GSR squad and the 0A-37B (known as the Dragonfly) is the only recon plane in the game currently (and it even comes with smoke missiles, press B to fire them!). The 35th have a lot of fairly unique and very obnoxious recon units in their toolbelt, this tab is great.

For the air force, the Americans excel as always. The A-37B (Dragonfly) is a particularly nice budget bomber for the Americans, the HE variant being useful in the first few minutes of a game to provide extremely cheap air support. I would advise against the other budget aircraft (they suck) and skip straight to the high end of things. The F-16C is the ASF of choice here, an awesome fighter that you get two cards of to keep the skies clear, while the F-111F is your LGB bomber. The F-111F is noteworthy as the bombs it drops are very potent by LGB standards, and it comes with two payloads, making it exceptionally consistent at removing the heaviest of enemy tanks. Unlike other LGB planes, it doesn't have any air-to-air missiles to defend itself though, so keep that in mind, though if it's radar AA giving your bombers issues, then you can always call in the Wild Weasel SEAD to deal with those particular pests.

While you might not expect reservists and their M60s to be able to brawl like the best of them, well, they certainly can, this division is surprisingly potent. Bringing out lots of your big upvetted reservist squads with an MP nearby lets you out-trade even elite infantry with raw numbers of good quality troops, with a whole lot of recoilless rifles to go around that can really ruin someone's day. Abuse your recon tanks to get an advantage in the opener and exploit that advantage with your M60 hordes and potent air support, and you can topple much more professional forces with the power of friendship through combined arms firepower (your best friends being MPs, of course).

35th Infantry are difficult to play and not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Very good infantry. There's lots of large squads with great loadouts, and unlike the N.G in other divs, these guys can come upvetted.
  
• Forward deploying recon tanks and Dragon 1s in recon tab make this division's openers pretty scary.
  
• Impressively reliable AA with access to Roland 3s, an AA vehicle you don't tend to see outside of West Germany.
  
• Lots of competent air support options, with an actually good budget bomber, something rare for the USA.
  
• THERE ARE HOW MANY RECOILLESS RIFLES???

Weaknesses:

• Weak helicopter tab
  
• No access to heavy tanks, and the tanks you do have aren't amazing at cracking high armour values, especially at longer ranges.
  
• TOW-2s are quite rare in this division. You're mostly stuck with 20 pen I-TOWs as your ATGM of choice, which certainly aren't as effective against enemy (super)heavy tanks.
  
• Availability is pretty iffy after nerfs, plenty of stuff has less units a card than it reasonably should.
  
  

Division Type: Airborne
Standout units: LAV-25, F-15C Eagle, Airborne (with Dragon II)
As with all Airborne Divisions, the 82nd leave heavy armour like the Abrams at home in favour of more speedy alternatives to deliver a powerful earlygame rush. The tip of this spear come in the Airborne squads, well trained and highly effective forward deployment shock infantry that can either be brought in full 10 man squads or smaller 5 man fireteams, though generally you'll be taking the 10 man until you run out of availability and then moving onto the 5 man. Airborne squads already come with good anti tank weapons in the AT-4, but if you want them to pack an even bigger and longer ranged punch, you can upgrade most of your Airborne to carry the Dragon II, a useful short range ATGM. Supporting this push, should it be needed, are forward deployment engineers with flash rockets for lighting buildings on fire and forward deployment TOW-2 ATGMs for lightning tanks on fire. Supporting your Airborne with these (possibly pyromaniac) specialists results in an incredibly powerful infantry tab, nobody will be having a good time against your paratroopers.

82nd Airborne have a pretty good recon tab with a few unique goodies, though the LAV-25 is most impactful, serving as the 82nd's light autocannon vehicle of choice. The LAV-25 can be a real nightmare at the start of a game to provide fire support to your early rush, destroying any overeager enemy transports, recon vehicles or even helicopters that get too close. The LAV won't do anything but scratch the paint when against a tank (at least not from the front), but against lighter targets, the LAV excels. It has been nerfed a lot, and its still really really good. Live, LAV, Love as they say.

Tank tabs of Airborne divisions are usually pretty god awful, and 82nd generally follows that trend, though it isn't toothless. Sheridans are a very light tank (though armoured and equipped more like an IFV) that would normally would be a pretty trash unit, but hey, atleast you get something! The other unit is the humvee TOW, probably the best ATGM vehicle in the game, its TOW 2 missiles are able to easily penetrate even the heaviest of Soviet tanks and do very impressive damage for its low cost (and it even has forward deployment!). With no IFVs in this division to provide infantry support, the Sheridan is a bit more of a tempting proposition than usual, though you're mainly in this tab for the humvees anyway (and the ever reliable LAV-25 can handle your infantry woes).

The 82nd helicopter tab is fairly predictable, with a selection of good stuff that you'd expect, but also a couple helicopters you don't see too often. Little Birds are a good example, they're a pretty decent and cheap anti-infantry helicopter. Whether they're worth the activation points is up to you, and personally I don't think they're worth it, but your mileage may vary, some people really like little birds. Thankfully though, Apaches are as good as ever and you get a fairly decent amount for sending anything that moves to the stone age with Hellfire missiles. The air tab on the other hand is pretty good. You have incredibly good choices for Air Superiority Fighters, the Eagle never disappoints, and if it's too expensive for you, the 82nd also have the Phantom as a good budget alternative to accomplish your air superiority needs. In terms of bombers, all your F-16s are great, with the F-16CG [LGB] being the best of the bunch, a very effective LGB bomber to delete any target on the ground you don't particularly like the look of. For anything not deserving of such an expensive bomb, the A-10 can unload lots of rockets and 30mm rounds on lighter enemy assets, targets such as enemy infantry or light transport vehicles. Alternatively, you just drop an F-16 HE bomb on 'em, that tends to work pretty well too. This is a solid air tab, as you'd expect from an airborne division.

When it comes to the 82nd, they excel in all the aspects you'd expect from this sort of division, bringing great infantry and a strong air force. Abuse your strengths as an Airborne division to rush the opponent down early and hold what you've taken with Dragon II squads and other ATGMs for as long as possible, until your opponent runs out of time and you tick up to victory. If your rush doesn't pan out, well, you don't really have a backup strategy, you kinda just lose. Your opener is so obscenely oppressive that failing a rush is pretty rare, but if you mess up or your opponent significantly outplays you, the rest of that match will not be in your favour.

82nd Airborne give a good introduction to rush strategies and are very beginner friendly.

Strengths:

• ATGMs galore! Dragon 2s, Hellfire missiles and TOW-2s are all very good at putting the hurt on enemy armoured assets. Even though you don't have your own tanks, you can easily make it so the enemy can't use theirs freely either.
  
• Airborne are powerful shock infantry that come at very high availability. With engineer support, they have no problem assaulting an enemy town.
  
• Very capable Air Superiority Fighters in the F-15 at the high end and F-4 Phantom at the low end.
  
• Competent LGB bombers erase tanks while A-10s can easily handle infantry, or you can call in an F-16 to do either job extremely well. Fantastic bombers and CAS to work with here.
  
• Really good command infantry. Big squads and strong weapons let them fight on the frontlines to provide buffs very comfortably.

Weaknesses:

Required DLC: Nemesis Air Assault
Division Type: Air Assault
Standout units: Green Berets (ODA), Black Hawk DAP, Apache ATAS
The 101st Airborne, a division with a long history dating back to World War 2, bring the elite of the United States, with Delta Force operatives and Green Berets Vietnam veterans representing the very best of US infantry. Unlike the more traditional US 82nd Airborne, the 101st decide against having their soldiers jump out of planes and instead deliver them to battle by helicopter, usually with a Black Hawk or a Chinook as the transport of choice (both of which are quite durable by transport helicopter standards). Despite their name, don't expect the 101st to rush with forward deployment like an airborne division would. Instead, expect the 101st to bring to battle a terrifying fleet of high tech gunships and elite helicopter infantry, this is very much the division you play if you love helicopters and like the idea of dropping elite operatives directly on your opponent's head (though not before introducing them to the door-mounted miniguns on your helicopters!)

Starting with the infantry tab, a huge strength of this division. Aero Rifles serve as your main line infantry, a 9 man shock team starting at vet 1 with two machine guns and options for either a LAW or a Dragon 2 for AT leaves them pretty capable on the field as the backbone your other more specialised forces can rely on (their vet curve is also really nice, so they're great to upvet). If 9 dudes aren't to your liking, you can also bring 5 man Aero fire teams that come quite cheap or a 13 man Aero Rifle AT4 team, who also bring a 3rd machine gun to dominate in the infantry fight. If you want to REALLY dominate enemy infantry though, look no further than the Green Berets. Green Berets, including the leader variant, are brutally effective special forces squads that can only be brought by their unique Chinook, outfitted with a door gun, extra ECM and a big refuelling rod. Being locked to Chinooks makes the squad very expensive, but what you're paying for is more than worth it, which is, a 14 man squad with two machine guns, a sniper rifle and an AT-4 with twice the ammo than usual. Green Berets make professional use of their 4 weapons to thrash pretty much every other infantry squad in the game (only RPO Spetsnaz really stand any chance). Combined with the support of the usual suspects, the TOW-2 ATGMs and various engineer teams, this infantry tab is amazing, you have airborne level infantry that can easily steamroll most people in an infantry fight without even really thinking about it (and if there's any enemy skilled enough to stop you, you get to introduce them to the Green Berets).

Time to get the mediocre stuff out of the way. For artillery, you get mortars and field howitzers, and that's it. Take a card of mortars at the very least for smoke, this division can really benefit from it (the 155mm howitzers are quite good also, they do pretty well for their price). Onto AA, the Stingers and Pivads you have are pretty good since they come upvetted by default, but you don't have any radar AA, so the Chaparal and Stinger blobs are your tools to use against enemy planes. The air tab is also surprisingly bad, every single bomber option is horrendous, but the ASF choices are fairly good, the Eagle never disappoints, while the Phantom is a pretty solid budget alternative. Use your ASF often, they more than make up for the lack of radar AA.

Okay back to the good stuff, and probably the reason you're here, the helicopter tab. Little Birds, Cobras (including the Heavy Hog) and the Black Hawk DAP are your main anti infantry options, while TOW Cobras and Apaches are your anti tank options. There's quite a lot in this tab, and a lot of slots to bring it in, so I'm not gonna waste your time going over all of it and instead I'll focus on two units unique to this division, the Black Hawk DAP and the Apache ATAS. Starting with the former, the Black Hawk DAP is awesome, bringing two miniguns, hydra rocket pods and a 30mm rotary cannon to erase enemy squads. For some reason, they decided to make the DAP max vet by default, while also giving it the special forces trait, resulting in a hilariously accurate infantry sweeper. The rotary cannon I mentioned before has 95% accuracy, while miniguns are even more ridiculous with 98% accuracy. The pilots have legitimately installed aimbot into their gunnery systems, there's no other explanation to explain how accurate they are. The Apache ATAS is also worth noting, packing both anti air Stingers and anti tank Hellfires in the same loadout, which is pretty nice as most AA helicopters tend to sacrifice their ATGMs to have their AA missiles. Both the Black Hawk DAP and the Apache ATAS kinda steal the spotlight, but don't worry, the rest of the helicopters in this tab are amazing, resulting in an amazing helicopter tab.

Onto the tank tab, its nothing special, M1IP Abrams and TOW 2 Humvees are what you get. Both solid vehicles for what you're paying for, though you're quite limited in slots for this division. You get a few tanks, and a couple humvees, and that's it.

Recon tab has a few interesting things. Delta force are an okay special forces squad, they have a very good sniper rifle and like to stay away from close quarters combat, and if you can accomplish that, they do well (just beware, they have no AT weapons). Honestly though, your regular aero scouts are so good I never find myself needing Deltas, they're impressively good in a fight. Your GSR is provided by a 13 man aero scouts squad, which is kinda awkward since you want such a chunky squad to be in combat on the frontlines, but the radar is there. Finally, you have Kiowas, Kiowa Warriors and the Quick Fix jammer helicopter, all of which are quite good at spotting for your other helicopters.

To play this division, you have to ask yourself, helirush, nay or yay. If you prefer caution, open with a lot of aero rifles and scouts in humvees, securing safe positions and try to force the fighting to be done in towns and forests, not out in the open. When the fighting starts, that's when you can call in your fast helicopter infantry reinforcements and potent gunships on targets you don't like, with tanks slowly rolling in as things progress. Alternatively, you can say screw that coward stuff, down several energy drinks, call in an eagle and a phantom and use them to escort a horrifying fleet of transport and gunship helicopters directly into the point of your choosing (Or you can do a mixture of both but that's boring to write about). Whether you play slow and steady or like you're gonna get executed if you don't win the game in the first 5 minutes, so long as you give your infantry and helicopters the opportunity to excel, they will exceed your expectations.

101st Airborne Division is difficult to play and not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Godlike infantry tab, with amazing line infantry and some of the absolute strongest special forces in the game.
  
• Godlike helicopters, with an abundance of slots to bring them in.
  
• Lots of really strong ATGMs to go around. Dragon 2s, TOW-2s and Hellfire missiles come in abundance in this division, enemy tanks don't tend to last long.
  
• Great ASF choices, with budget Phantoms and premium Eagles doing well to secure the skies for your helicopters.

Weaknesses:

• Terrible bombers, you probably don't want to bring any of them.
  
• Your best units are very expensive, even by USA standards. Spending upwards of 165 points to call in a single infantry squad is downright madness, but the 101st happily do it.
  
• This division is very predictable for any opponent who have even remotely heard of them. Making use of helicopters is tricky when anti helicopter AA is coming at you in abundance from the very start.
  

The United Kingdom are a major NATO/BLUFOR nation and the place I was born in and currently live in, so I may not be the most objective person ever. Temper your expectations accordingly, but there is a lot to love about the UK in WARNO!

What the British bring to the table comes through mainly in their Infantry. The UK is probably one of the most consistently good infantry factions in the game, with their armoured division packing unusually solid amounts of paratroopers, whilst their infantry division bring top tier special forces supporting capable truck and IFV infantry, all of which come at high availability and with acceptably large squad sizes. Higher end squads, including sometimes recon squads, often have the option of bringing the LAW 80, a very effective anti tank rocket launcher that can put a hole in anyone that gets too close. With two MGs in most squads, British squads (or sections, if you want to be fancy) will consistently perform well for their cost and can reliably win games off their backs. The biggest issue UK infantry faces generally comes with your engineers, as Assault Pioneers and Terrier Pioneers only provide satchel charges, you'll have to get very close if you want to make the most use of them.

As mentioned, recon squads can sometimes get the LAW 80, but that isn't the only thing that makes British recon strong. That would be the Fox, one of the best recon vehicles in the game. A fast autocannon vehicle, it is a nightmare for the opponent to deal with, especially when using its recon forward deployment to rush down the opponent's transports and disrupt their strategies early, before transitioning into a more regular recon or anti infantry role after that point. In fact, the British can get quite aggressive, a lot of their divisions have great forward deployment options that can really screw up an opponent's opener. If you've ever fought against the brits before, you know about the SAS, and if you haven't fought against this nation before, you probably still already know about the SAS. Capable forward deployment is something to expect from most UK divisions (even if just from the Fox).

Generally, the British tend to struggle in terms of AA, lacking the I-Hawk or an appropriate long-ranged equivalent to lock down the skies in most of their divisions. Some divisions (particularly DLC) have decent enough AA to not struggle because of it, but most of the time, your AA isn't ideal and actively holds you back. What is ideal however is your actual air force, particularly in terms of bombers. The Harrier is a very cheap budget bomber that can be spammed at high availability whilst the Jaguars and Nighthawk are both competing to be called the best bomber in the game. The Nighthawk in particular is the only stealth bomber in the game and the British have exclusive access to it, so have fun!

In terms of tanks, the British place a particular interest on armour and firepower, often at the cost of speed. British tanks tend to be some of the slowest in NATO for their weight class, but when they do eventually arrive to the battle, they hit hard and can take hits well. While the heavy tanks of the British tend to under-perform when compared to their peers in NATO, British Medium tanks are some of the best in NATO, the Chieftain is a cost effective menace on any battlefield that's hard not to love. These tanks are designed to support your infantry in whatever they're doing, and they're all pretty good at that, just don't expect your tanks to brawl with M1A1 Abrams or T-80BVs and win without any extra support. Slow and sturdy is what to expect from a UK tank tab.

In summary, the UK is great if you like:

• Very strong and capable line infantry with two MGs and access to potent LAW 80 AT launchers. UK infantry tend to do very well against enemy infantry and enemy tanks alike.
  
• Great forward deployment options, its very easy to disrupt an opponent's opening with Foxes and paratroopers. Every UK division has very practical forward deployment options.
  
• An absolutely terrifying bomber fleet with exclusive access to the Nighthawk stealth bomber in Berlin Command.
  
• Well armoured tanks that prioritise firepower and armour over mobility.

However, the UK may not be for you if you dislike:

• British AA sacrifices range for high accuracy on their high end pieces. The lack of range on British AA can be a hassle to deal with (especially as many pieces aren't tracked or wheeled).
  
• Most fighters have unique flaws, such as the Harrier's slow speed or the Phantom's complete lack of a main gun, or they simply cost a ton. Hard to win dogfights sometimes.
  
• Helicopters tab is always bad. Anti infantry helicopters can hardly even injure infantry whilst anti tank helicopters don't have a good enough ATGM and struggle to kill pact medium/heavy tanks.
  
• Pioneers can only bring satchel charges, no options for thermobaric rockets or even flamethrowers.

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: Chieftain (mk. 9 & mk. 11), Challenger (mk. 3), Terrier Paras
The 1st Armoured Division of the British brings the heavy gear you'd expect from an armoured division in the Challenger, a well armoured tank with a big gun. If you like the Challenger's gun but don't want to break the bank buying them, the British have a cheaper platform for more of the exact same big gun in the Chieftain, the premier medium tank of the 1st Armoured and one of the best mediums in the game (though it won't be winning any races as its a very slow tank). Chieftains are very well costed for how effective they are, so they'll most likely be 1st Armoured's main tank for early engagement, only calling in the Challengers (mk. 3) when there's a threat that the Chieftains can't handle. The combination of the two tanks provides a durable and reliable hammer to smash your opponent with and be done in time for tea.

Supporting your medium and heavy tanks is the infantry tab and oh boy is it something special. 1st Armoured have pretty much the best infantry tab of all the tank divisions, packing practically an entire mechanized infantry force to throw at the enemy. Riflemen and Mechanized Riflemen provide large amounts of manpower with line infantry that your tanks will come to appreciate, with the latter coming in the Warrior IFV, a very solid and capable IFV that continues the British tradition of having an unusually big gun, this time coming with a 30mm autocannon. You can also take the Warrior Applique variant at a small additional cost, upgrading the Warrior with a Milan 2 (as opposed to the Milan 1) and additional armour. The Applique is without doubt the most under-costed IFV in the game for how well it performs, its insanely good and well worth the price of the upgrade, especially as the extra armour reaches the breakpoint to survive a Metis ATGM (through what I can only assume is divine intervention, its still cheaper than a Bradley. What an insane upgrade). Assault Pioneers are present to support these elements when on the attack, though only coming with satchel charges limits their effectiveness to very close range fights, you have to practically be next door to the enemy fortified building to start tossing satchels. Alternatively, you can get in that building first with the Terrier paras, a budget paratrooper choice with strong forward deployment that can reach towns early and hold off the enemy until your tanks arrive to save the day. Add in the Milan 2, a very strong ATGM team with high pen rockets that also has the option to be given forward deployment, and you get to enjoy what a Mechanized Infantry Division would be packing, only at reduced slots. Obscenely good infantry tab, it doesn't get much more solid than this in a tank deck.

The recon tab of 1st gets the job done well. Scimitars and Scorpions (but mainly Scimitars) provide agile recon vehicles that can keep up with your armoured assets and provide vision, or push up ahead on their behalf and see what's going on. Not the best recon vehicles in the game, but their presence is appreciated. You can also upgrade your regular scouts to pack a LAW 80, a pretty potent anti tank weapon that makes them very lethal in an ambush, put them forward in a forest and watch overeager T-72s pop. Finally, 1st Armoured have exclusive access to the SAS patrol, an elite spec ops GSR airborne unit. While only 6 man strong, they pack potent anti-infantry capabilities with SMGs, a sniper rifle and stachel charges, though this leaves them with no option against enemy vehicles. A very solid recon squad who can hold their own in a fight and can also be left stationary to setup the GSR and upgrade to Exceptional optics when appropriate, the SAS Patrol do a lot for your army and are used to prepare the battlefield for your tanks. Set them up in a good spot and you've pretty much won the intel game.

The other tabs are decent enough. The AA is mainly provided by the Tracked Rapier, an okay missile cart that while lacking a radar, still does pretty well against aircraft and helicopters alike. The Tracked Rapier and MANPADs are pretty much all that's worthy bringing here, though, which is highly unfortunate for an armoured division. With no long range AA like an I-Hawk to protect your tanks, this division can struggle dealing with enemy anti tank planes. The helicopter tab is what you'd expect from the UK, very poor.

As you'd expect from an Armoured division, the 1st Armoured's air tab brings the powerful Tornado F.3 Air Superiority Fighter to battle, a strong high end fighter with great stats in all aspects, including 30% ECM, it's great at protecting your tanks from bombers. Unfortunately you don't have a budget fighter, the Tornado is your only choice, though it is far from a bad choice, it's one of the best fighters in the game. 1st Armoured bombers have a bit more variety, with the Harrier representing the low end while Jaguars and Tornado GR.1s represent the high end. While not at its best in this division, the Jaguar is a potent high ECM bomber with very reliable payloads that is almost garuanteed to take out its intended target, and likely make it back home too. The Tornado is a bit worse as a bomber (it really does best as an ASF), though having access to Cluster munitions gives it the edge over Jaguars against armoured targets. The Harriers don't do too bad either, possessing a surprising 20% ECM and being very cheap for bombers makes them great to spam out and provide anti infantry air support to your army, HE2 bombs are very good! However, be careful of how slow Harriers are, they're one of the slowest jets in the game, expect them to take a while to get to the target and spend a longer time under enemy AA. Often times, its gonna be a one way trip for the brave Harrier pilots of the British, though with how little they cost, that's often an acceptable loss.

1st Armoured abuse their strong forward deployment to secure lots of territory early, and roll in the Chieftains and Challengers as reinforcements to keep onto the territory they've held. Most armoured divisions usually start slow and get more dangerous over time, but this division is full speed ahead from the very start and stays that way for the entire game. There's not too much else special going on in the 1st beyond the forward deployment paratroopers, they're just a very solid armoured division with really good infantry. Drag your opponent onto open fields and pummel them with Chieftains and Challengers from afar, very standard armoured division stuff.

1st Armoured is easy to play and recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Extremely good infantry tab, especially for an armoured division. Infantry options for both trucks and IFVs are both very valid depending on what you want.
  
• Incredibly potent forward deployment. Terrier Paras, Recon SAS and Scimitars punch hard and fast in the opening of a game and can do rushes that other armoured divisions could only dream of. Its unusual for an armoured division to be this excellent at forward deployment.
  
• Abundance of solid options for bombers, particularly anti infantry bombers.
  
• Chieftains are amazing Medium tanks that can steamroll an unprepared opponent (and have enough firepower to be threatening to enemy heavy tanks).

Weaknesses:

• Bad AA tab, high end enemy planes can be a real nightmare.
  
• You don't have any budget ASF options, which can be troublesome if you can't afford the fairly expensive Tornado.
  
• Bad helicopter tab with bad helicopters.
  
• Challenger mk 2s, a big focus of the tank tab, just aren't that good. You get so many cards of them, and its clear the deck is intended to rely on them, but they unfortunately under preform against all other tanks in their price range. Try not to bring too many.
  
  

Division Type: Air Assault
Standout units: SAS
If there's one thing you know for certain every 2nd Infantry player will be packing, it is most definitely the SAS. The SAS are the only infantry squad in the game to possess both an AT launcher and a stinger AA launcher which, along with their rifles, gives the SAS the ability to fight everything in the game very comfortably. If that wasn't good enough for you, they have the special forces trait, the assault trait and fully maxed veterancy, giving all their weapons (their stinger included!) extremely high accuracy and keeping them cohesive in the fight. These accuracy buffs are so significant that they basically turn their Stingers from MANPADs into hyper lethal anti air railcannons of death and obliteration that may aswell lock out the enemy's air tab in any area they deploy in, or suffer the consequences. Thanks to also having Forward deployment, SAS are one of the most brutally effective infantry units in the game, a solid contender for one of the best units in all of WARNO, they're really that good when used properly. SAS are the biggest reason you would want to play 2nd Infantry, use and abuse them.

Anyway, with the SAS out of the way, what does this division actually do? 2nd infantry focus on helicopters, having a lot of competent squads brought by surprisingly good gunships, especially for the UK (who tend to have sucky helicopters). Airmobiles and Airmobile Pioneers form the bulk of these assets, competent vet 1 combat squads that are brought into battle by the Lynx (or the chinook for the pioneers, which is more durable, so a good choice if you plan on dropping them in hot). The transport Lynx with rockets is an efficient and highly dangerous sweeper of enemy infantry that was nerfed quite a bit to be less ridiculous, but its still a really dangerous gunship that carries some solid squads into battle. Helicopters are pretty pricey transports, but you do get a single card of Mot. Airmobiles to work with, who arrive in Saxon APCs instead of Lynxes as a cheaper method of bringing out more Airmobiles. Contrary to what you may have assumed, having these strong transport helicopters doesn't revoke IFV access, as you still get a few Arm. Rifle squads to be brought by the Warrior Milan, a good squad in a solid IFV. Lots of really good stuff in this infantry tab, but just bare in mind your truck infantry are all reservists and vet 0 troops. They're not bad units by any means, squads like the HSF that bring a chunky 10 man team at 12 availability that only cost 30 points base is hella good value, but those troops will absolutely need support from your IFVs, gunships and Airmobiles if you want them to start winning fights.

The rest of the tabs are pretty good, recon in particular is REALLY good. 2nd Infantry have the Fox, the British's best recon vehicle, a fast car with a 30mm autocannon. It works exceptionally well when forward deployed with your SAS, destroying the transports and light vehicles of your opponent trying to get into the middle of the map, before returning to a role focused on backline harassment, recon and occasional infantry erasure. If you need a cheaper recon vehicle, you can also take the Saladin. Its worse in a fight, but better at a recon role thanks to better optics and stealth, so you can take it in place of the fox if that's more what you want. Airmobile scouts give you a large combat squad in the recon tab for active recon, and that rounds things out in this tab to be pretty good!

The tank tab of the 2nd is acceptable, you get enough Challengers and Rover Milans to make things work, its fine, it gets the job done. AA tab is very similar. Tracked Rapiers, Javelins (The MANPAD one, not the modern one, they share the same name) and radar Rapier is, well, it's alright. The SAS do a lot for your AA already, so even the mediocre Tracked Rapier can really help and turn a damaged enemy plane into a dead enemy plane.

Helicopter tab is the UK standard, pretty poor. Your infantry tab transport helicopters really show this tab up, but the 2nd do get exclusive access to the Lynx FITOW, an early top attack ATGM. Its really good at killing medium tanks, anything that doesn't have 3 top armour gets one shot. That's about it, it is pretty cool that the 2nd have the only top attack ATGM in the game, but it's really not that game-changing. Air tab gives decent enough ASFs in the Phantom and exceptionally good bombers in the Jaguar, with Harriers acting as a cheaper fighter or bomber alternative. Jaguars are one of the best bombers in the game and give the 2nd a really good panic option to throw at anything too scary, and more often than not, Jaguars will deal with that threat and come back alive.

2nd infantry play very much to the same style as an airborne division, at least at the start. Rush your forward deployment SAS and foxes forward to take as much territory as possible, calling in Jaguars and Harriers on anything too scary that's slowing you down. Once you've gotten a sizable territory lead with your strong opener, hold onto it as long as possible by reinforcing your positions with fast helicopter reinforcements and slow tanks until you tick up points to a fast victory. Air assault divisions usually sacrifice their forward deployment capabilities for more versatility, and its true that you don't have a ton of it, but the forward deployment options this division does have are so incredibly oppressive that it doesn't really matter. Super strong division, often a top tier contender in every patch, though i'm sure that the 7th nerf to SAS will finally balance things!

2nd Infantry are easy to play and recommended for beginners, though they're a bit trickier than the other recommended beginner divisions. They're also the only Air Assault division that doesn't require DLC, if helicopter infantry is your jam.

Strengths:

• SAS are a solid contender for the best unit in the game, period. Obscenely strong special forces that excel at anti infantry, anti tank and anti air roles. May aswell completely lock out helicopters and planes to the opponent until they're dealt with, a task much easier said than done.
  
• Amazing forward deployment with the Fox and SAS.
  
• Lots of solid infantry in great transport helicopters, reinforcements can arrive extremely quickly and rain death as they do. Good options for IFV infantry too, coming in the competent Warrior IFV.
  
• Amazing bombers at the high end, respectable anti infantry bombers at the low end.
  
• Only division in the game with top attack ATGMs in the Lynx FITOW.

Weaknesses:

• The Phantom, the main ASF of the 2nd Infantry, doesn't have a main gun, it only has missiles (This isn't that big of a weakness, its just incredibly funny that they forgot one).
  
• Not many tanks. Each loss will be keenly felt, especially if you run them upvetted (which you definitely should for Challengers).

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: Chieftain (mainly mk 9 and 11), Fox, Phantom [CLU]
While this division does have more than just Chieftain spam, 4th is the dedicated Chieftain armoured division, so it's not a surprise you'll be spamming a lot of Chieftains. There's also some strong recon and AA available in this division, but they all have one goal in mind, support the Chieftains.

As usual, the infantry tab is first, and it's, it's not horrible. British Rifles and Mot. Rifles are both very competent squads that are more than comfortable fighting against most targets on the frontline thanks to a good squad size and double machine guns. If you don't need good combat power and just need numbers though, Terriers come as a highly available vet 0 cheap line infantry squad, a nice asset to have to pad out a frontline. Other than the engineers and MILAN 2s you'd expect though, that's kinda it. No IFVs available anywhere is pretty unusual for an armoured division, and the FV432s and Saxons you get instead are nowhere near as good for infantry support (to be fair, the Saxon is way better than i'm making it out to be, it's kind of awesome actually). This tab has plenty of slots, and you have some good infantry squad choices, just no IFVs to support those choices. Okay, there is one way to be fancy with this tab. MILAN teams and gun groups both have the option of coming in APCs with ATGMs, and if you take all of them, that adds up to 46 ATGMs from the 4 cards you can bring, which is a really funny ratio. If you want to take 46 ATGMs in a single infantry tab, I won't even state the obvious and advise you not to, it's basically the only interesting thing about this infantry tab, I get it.

Okay but onto the reason you're here, the tank tab. No surprises for guessing what you get, which is a lot of Chieftains. Chieftains are solid medium tanks that pride themselves on having particularly great firepower for their cheap cost, with slow speeds and poor fire rate when stressed being their biggest weaknesses. The Mk 6 is the cheapest and the weakest, best suited for killing enemy light tanks and IFVs with its short range gun and surprisingly decent armour at that low price. The mk9 improves the gun significantly, bringing it up to 2100m range and 19 pen, making the mk9 very dangerous against pretty much all other tanks, provided it can shoot first. The mk11 improves the armour and range, going up to the highest range band of 2275m and jumping to 15 front armour. They all have their use cases, and while the mk 9 is one of the best medium tanks in all of NATO, it does have to get within its range-band to use that big gun, something the Mk 11 doesn't have as much of a problem with. Chieftains (especially in groups) are great at punching up against heavier and more expensive tanks, and you'll be doing that a lot in this division. Also, you get a few cheap Centurions if Chieftains are somehow too expensive for you, which is neat. Assuming you have the time to wait for your tanks to actually arrive to the battle, they can do pretty well.

For the recon tab, the Fox has dumped its old boyfriend in the 1st armoured and ended up here, instead. In case you're unfamiliar, the Fox is the autocannon scout car of choice for the British, highly annoying in opening rushes and quickly becoming the bane of the enemy backline if they dare to leave a gap in their frontlines. When you're not using them aggressively though, it's a fine scout car, and it also comes along with some Scimitar and Scorpions, both downgrades in comparison to the Fox, but also cheaper. For the infantry side of recon though, cheap 4 man scouts with LAWs and more expensive but durable 8 man motorised scouts are used exactly as you think you'll be using them, alongside some snipers if you're a fan of crawling in bushes outside Pripyat. It would be an ok tab without the Fox, but it turns into a good tab with it, so yeah, this is a good recon tab.

The AA tab is about the best you're getting from the UK (which isn't a high bar, but still, its actually pretty good here). Rapier Darkfire is the star of the show, a 70% accuracy SAM, the highest in the game. If something flies in its range, it usually won't escape unscathed. If you need speed, you can take the Tracked Rapier instead, significantly less accurate, but it's much easier to use proactively. With MANPAD Javelins, that's about it, it's surprisingly decent for this nation. Helicopter tab is two cards of ATGM helis and a few slots that don't cost a lot, so you'll probably want to take some, they just might help.

Finishing off with the air tab, and you've got a choice to make, becuase you've got two of the best bombers in the game to pick from, British Phantoms and Jaguars. The main difference between the two is that the Phantom is slightly faster, comes with a Cluster/HE hybrid loadout on the [CLU] variant and carries long range anti-air missiles instead of short range ones. With exceptions to the [CLU] Phantom since its pretty cracked and basically an auto-include, both bombers do about the same damage to their intended target, so its down to preference which you prefer, you can't really go wrong (personally, I tend to default to Jaguars, but you can fit both types if you skew into the air). As for your ASF, its the Phantom F3, a pretty good plane as far as budget fighters are confirmed, though unlikely to win against higher tier stuff without a sneaky Darkfire to lend some aid. If you need an enemy gone and need them gone fast, this division's air tab has the tools to make it happen, those bombers are damn scary.

As you might guess from the roster, there's no special tricks or prototype super tech to win you the day here, you're playing with the basics, and you should play to the basics. The most important thing is keeping your tanks in their ideal range band, having Mk 11s stay far while mk 6s and mk 9s get up closer and in range. Because your tanks are pretty cheap, you'll be outnumbering most opponents, and you should use that to your advantage. A single T-80 isn't gonna have fun when two or three Chieftains are bearing down on it, especially with all the ATGM and air support this deck is more than capable at. Again, nothing too flashy in this division, slow is steady and steady is smooth, just play to the basics of armoured warfare as best you can.

Strengths:

• There's some good potential for a lot of ATGM spam here. You can get a lot of ATGM vehicles from the infantry tab (including a handful of spartans with MILAN 2s) and still have swingfires in your tank tab to pad it out further.
  
• High availability on your cost efficient tanks, protected by AA better than the UK standard.
  
• Aggressive start thanks to Foxes, they can ruin the opponent's opening if they're not careful and give you some much needed breathing room.
  
• Exceptional bombers.

Weaknesses:

• No IFVs in sight, a pretty rough proposition for an armoured division.
  
• Only two cards of Mk 11 Chieftains, limiting your source of 2275 range tanks. It's hard contesting enemy armour if they die.

Link to Eugen article

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: Infantry
Standout units: F-117 Nighthawk
Berlin Command is a fictional division based around the forces that would be holding their namesake. This means you'll be getting a large coalition force, and while the British are the most common, there are tons of Americans, West Germans and French assets available to you, all at once. The only problem is that while all of these soldiers are as professional as you'd expect, their equipment is generally pretty outdated, since in WARNO's lore, NATO didn't want to put their strongest tanks and most impressive weapons in a city expected to be encircled like, instantly. You'll have a lot of different options from all across NATO in Berlin Command, just don't expect much of it to be very modern.

Naturally, following on from the recoilless rifles and satchel bombs of the ground forces, this must mean that their air force is low tech too, right? Yeah no, they get exclusive access to the F-117 Nighthawk stealth bomber, the only stealth bomber in the game. The Nighthawk's stealth capabilities manifest in WARNO, being pretty much undetectable to ground assets, you can fly this beauty straight through an air defence network and nobody will be none the wiser unless you're directly above high grade radar AA. The payload its packing is a powerful LGB bomb, capable of reliably taking out pretty much anything on the ground with a single bomb, and this bomber carries two! Unfortunately, opening the bay to drop the bombs vastly reduce the stealth capabilities of the Nighthawk (like how a tank shooting in a forest gives itself away), so it can be detected by ground AA whilst its in the process of dropping a bomb. Also, the stealth helps but modern enemy Air Superiority Fighters generally have the optics to detect it fairly easily, a death sentence for the equivalent of an invisible flying brick that drops bombs. Try not to lose your two Nighthawks in a dumb way, they're the main reason to play Berlin Command.

The infantry tab is great, if a little unorthodox. Berlin Command has no IFVs to speak of. Instead, you have recoilless rifle squads to provide fire support against infantry and vehicles alike. They're actually really good and can tip infantry fights in your favour, keeping the enemy stunned and disoriented. British Berlin Rifles (who on their own are fantastic shock infantry) come with the LAW 80, a top class AT weapon, and thanks to having coalition forces, you can also bring French flamethrower troopers and American flash rockets with their respective engineers. You're no longer reliant on satchel charges in Berlin Command, which is a welcome improvement compared to other British divisions. British infantry is usually pretty good at a baseline, but adding recoilless rifles and flash rockets to the mix, alongside any extra American and French soldiers, results in a really good infantry tab.

The recon tab is pretty stacked with a lot of elite forces. The SEK are a west german assault team who, with their max veterancy and MP5s, excel in urban warfare. Coming alongside them, The American PSSE-B are pretty unique. Special forces Rangers disguised as civilians that pack AT-4s and satchel charges for sabotage. Disguising as a civilian is most certainly against the Geneva Convention, but you shouldn't worry about that, as it gives them the very rare False Flag trait, so the war crimes are easily justified. The False Flag trait means enemy units will target your PSSE-B last, assuming them to be civilians in the thick of battle. Combined with their shock trait and satchel bombs, these operatives can easily sneak up right next to the enemy and unleash a huge amount of close ranged firepower, without even being shot at in return until it's far too late. Both SEK and PSSE-B are masters of urban combat and give Berlin command insanely good city fighting potential when used in conjunction with your other infantry. While this division doesn't get the advanced recon vehicles the French are known for, the British Fox is more than enough to round out Berlin Command's recon tab into something really quite solid.

Berlin Command has a couple great tanks but quite limited in number. The few Chieftain mk 10s and M1IP Abrams you do get will have to do, with Humvee TOWs to support. Again, the Chieftains and Abrams you do have are solid, it's just that this division has very few of either. The heli tab is atrocious, even by british standards, it's the worst helicopter tab in NATO by far. The AA tab of Berlin Command used to be gunning for the title of worst tab in NATO too, but it was recently buffed with the Rapier FSA. Still probably the worst AA tab in NATO though, but the buff is welcome!

This division really thrives when it can get into a big city, and the foxes and special forces of your recon tab give you a pretty capable forward deployment method of getting to those cities early and fast. Do everything in your power to force the opponent to engage you on your terms in urban combat and call in the Nighthawk to deal with any dangerous threats (heavy tanks and enemy AA are both prime targets for the Nighthawk when spotted). Basically any other non-airborne division will thrash you out in the open, so try not to get dragged out into a fight in a huge and empty field, Berlin Command will NOT do well when it can't force the urban combat it thrives at.

Berlin Command is difficult to play and not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• You have the Nighthawk!
  
• Insanely good infantry tab. Recoilless rifles do work and you have a lot of different options for any flavour of line infantry or engineer you could possibly ever need from three different nations.
  
• Recon tab is great and supplements the infantry well, providing capable special forces with lots of funny shenanigans and the ever reliable Fox.
  
• Insanely good city fighting. You have so many dangerous and practical ways to make life hell for enemy infantry trying to engage you in urban combat.
  
• Even outside of the Nighthawk, Berlin Command's other bombers are quite good.

Weaknesses:

• The worst helicopter tab in the game (of divisions that actually have a helicopter tab)
  
• God awful AA. The Mistral MANPAD isn't enough to carry Berlin, they struggle extremely hard at shooting down enemy air assets with no radar AA options at all. Recently buffed with Rapier FSA, which helps slightly, I guess.
  
• Bad fighters don't help achieve air superiority, with the Harrier being the only Air Superiority Fighter of Berlin Command and its not very good at its job here.
  
• Low availability on their good tanks either forces you to run a very small tank force or use less than stellar replacements out of necessity. Really good ATGM Humvees do help though.
  
• No IFVs available anywhere. Recoilless rifles help make up for the lack of fire support, but not getting any Warriors or Bradleys is pretty sucky.

Upcoming NORTHAG DLC division. Brings a coalition force of paratroopers from various nations.

Read about them here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1611600/view/4656249643711925549?l=english

WORK IN PROGRESS WRITEUP:
Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Airborne
Standout units:
The United Kingdom is, surprisingly very united with its allies for once, extending the invitation for pretty much everyone to join this Airborne division. MNAD has the English, the Germans, the Dutch, the Belgians, the Nepali and the Americans all working together to forward deployment rush the enemy and win as fast as possible, covering the field in ATGM teams and vehicles to make up for their own complete lack of tanks. Curiously, French people are absent, their jets being flown by Belgians instead. I wonder why...

Jokes aside, we start at the infantry tab and boy is it big. Starting with the reason you're probably here, Gurkhas! Your Gurkha squads are pretty much elite marines, big 12 man resolute squads with high veterancy, the shock trait, three machine guns and a LAW 80. Yeah, it kinda speaks for itself (they're awesome), but they don't have forward deployment, so they'll be joining your paratroopers after the battle begins. Speaking of paratroopers, you have options from the Belgian Para-Commandos (the weakest, but also the cheapest, and they have a 50 cal + MILAN transport), the British Paras (who are the strongest, but are also expensive) and the German Fs-Jager (who are overcosted and lack availability comparison to the other two choices, yeah idk why they're here either). [inf tab still needs finishing]

Into the tank tab, and welcome to the national ATGM convention.

Strengths:

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Weaknesses:

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France are one of the major nations of NATO/BLUFOR. The French trend towards not having the huge heavy tanks that the other nations tend to prefer. Instead, France puts a premium attention on firepower and mobility, having some of the speediest death machines offroad, their tanks and light vehicles are pretty much unmatched for their light weight class. The infantry tends to substitute this firepower with the hyper lethal APILAS, by far the strongest NATO infantry AT launcher in the game, there isn't really anything that is gonna be having a good time once it enters its range. A ton of different squads can pack one in pretty much every division, and it makes French infantry particularly great at hunting down any tanks that get within 750 meters (even shooting heavy tanks in the front does pretty good damage and drops their coherency very quickly!).

Prioritising firepower and speed over armour, French tanks are, funnily enough, trying to avoid being forced to tank any damage and prefer to shoot you before you can even see them. To accomplish this, The French undoubtedly the best recon in the game. Like half the stuff they can bring from this tab is insanely good, though special mentions goes to the AMX-10 and its variants for being the undisputed king of the recon tab, its pretty much got the strength of a light tank combined with the optics of an advanced scout vehicle, a terrifying unit that defines the earlygame. To not make too long a fuss over France's amazing ATGM scout vehicles or their affordable and dangerous Lynx, French recon is very, very, very good.

Despite what some people on the internet might have you believe, French infantry don't surrender on first contact with the enemy, they're actually pretty alright as far as NATO goes. French line infantry is basically in the middle of the pack for the NATO factions, better than some nations, worse than others, though anyone with an APILAS is amazing at killing vehicles specifically. French elites shine particularly brightly though, you get an abnormally high number of special forces and elite assault infantry infantry in all French divisions, even including their armoured division! The expensive French elites are more than capable of handling the enemy infantry your own line infantry may struggle against. Veteran, elite and special forces units are where the French infantry tab best show their teeth, and this nation does great in terms of infantry because of them (and because of the APILAS).

The name of the game when it comes to French air assets is cost effectiveness. French fighters tend not to be the most impressive thing in the air, even against Pact, bringing less missiles than their rivals. What this results in though is that they're costed very well for the stats they do have, which is usually either an abundance of speed or ECM to match whatever they're fighting. The French realised that having 6 missiles isn't important if you don't get to use them, and you won't be paying for those extra missiles either, French ASF generally being priced around the ~200 point range but do very well against more expensive jets. In terms of helicopters, the French do better than all non-USA NATO nations, bringing good ATGM helicopters and the Gazelle cannon, a very nice anti-infantry gunship. They don't have anything that can match the terror of an Apache or Akula, but the helicopters they do get are cheap and efficient at doing what they need to do, so in short, French helicopters are pretty good. French bombers on the other hand are competing hard to not be outperformed by the British, with some extremely powerful Napalm, LGB and Cluster bombers that never fail to disappoint.

In summary, France is great if you like:

• Having the best recon tab in the game with nobody else really close to taking that crown.
  
• Amazing infantry, particularly on the elite and paratrooper side of things.
  
• The APILAS is the best AT launcher in the game and a lot of French squads can be upgraded to bring it.
  
• Best light tanks in the game, France is particularly great when in terms of mobility.
  
• Lots of tanks and vehicles have autocannons in such high quantity that France can absolutely demolish enemy infantry, even when in cover. The machine guns of other tanks simply cannot compare to the autocannons of French armoured vehicles and tanks.
  
• Amazing bombers that are great at popping tanks (though that's not to say they're bad at killing infantry either!)

However, France may not be for you if you dislike:

• Worst IFV in the game that usually doesn't even come with an ATGM. Don't play France if you want good IFVs (as your light tanks will usually be providing the infantry fire support instead).
  
• No heavy tanks, even in their tank division. All the tanks you do have are underwhelming in terms of armour and are more speedy glass cannons than what you'd expect from a tank.

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: AMX-30 B2 Brenus, AMX-10 RC Surblinde
When you think of armoured divisions, the first thing to come to mind is probably the big heavy tanks packed with firepower and covered in highly effective armour. The French think differently, using their fleet of light and medium tanks to outmanoeuvre and overwhelm their much more sluggish opponents while possessing none of the expensive high end heavy tanks armoured divisions are normally known for. You probably don't want to take a straight up fair 1v1, but thanks to your speed and French recon, you can always ensure the odds are always in your favour.

In terms of the tanks you do have, there's three main options of AMX-30. The cheapest, the AMX-30 B, should be mostly relegated to fire support duties, relying on the autocannon standard to all AMX-30 tanks to fight infantry and light vehicles instead of trying to beat enemy tanks. Against enemy tanks though, the AMX-30 B2 enters the stage. Compared to the B, the B2 has significant improvements in firepower, accuracy, range and speed to help it better contend with enemy tanks, though with no improvements to durability, it's still very fragile. The final upgrade, the B2 Brenus, yet further improves the firepower of the AMX 30, coming with an impressive 19 pen main gun, and also makes some attempt to improve durability with a package of extra regular armour, the addition of ERA and the introduction of an Electro-Optical Dazzler, which essentially gives the tank 10% ECM against ATGMs (like how planes can dodge AA missiles with their flares). The Brenus isn't close to the durability levels of a heavy tank, even with its advanced technology in mind, so you shouldn't apply it differently than your other tanks, it will just be more likely to survive in the event it does get shot at. Finally, while not a tank, the excellent P4 MILAN car can most certainly kill them and rounds out the tank tab of 5e to be unusually light, but appropriately fast and hard hitting.

For an armoured division, the 5e infantry tab is pretty good in terms of options, even if the activation point cost is a bit rough. Escorte, Chasseurs and Reservistes give you three very solid options for putting cheap boots on the ground, with Grenadier-Voltigeurs being a competent line infantry that can be upgraded with the APILAS, they're quite solid line infantry all things considered and are great at clearing out any would-be ambushers hiding in forests and towns from getting to your tanks. 5e can very much hold their own in terms of infantry, and they can further augment their infantry with Commandos, special forces assault squads that can be brought in by helicopter (though they have no forward deployment). Combined with the Dragon-Paras in the recon tab, 5e can pack an uncharacteristic amount of special forces, which is normally the domain of infantry divisions. Pretty cool stuff, hard to complain, this infantry tab is solid.

It goes without saying the 5e Recon tab is up to French standards, which is to say one of the best recon tabs in the game. The focus here is on the AMX-10 RC, an oppressively efficient armoured scout car with a big gun, to which this division also has a unique variant, the AMX-10 RC Surblinde, which improves the armour and gun of the AMX-10 RC, and it also gets an Electro-Optical Dazzler (the same as the one on the AMX-30 B2 Brenus) in exchange for a loss of amphibious capabilities, a trade that's usually always worth it. Going to 4 front armour is an important breakpoint to avoid being one shot by Metis ATGMs and BMP-1 ATGMs, pretty common threats to face on the battlefield, so the upgrade is highly appreciated (just don't start using it like a tank, it's still very much a fragile recon car with an obnoxiously big gun and very good optics, that hasn't changed). Both variants of your AMX-10 are best when working in tandem with your tanks, moving with them and spotting targets that need to be dealt with, and bringing in such excellent recon vehicles to spot for and support your nimble light tanks is where this division is at it's best. Let's be honest though, you're probably just gonna quick hunt them towards the enemy spawn in your opener and somehow take out half the opponent's starting army on accident, AMX-10s like to do that.

For the other tabs, the AA tab is pretty good, with Roland 2s and 3s providing the main infared and radar AA respectively, Roland 3s in particular are amazing, arguably one of the best AA vehicles in the entire game. Mistral MANPADs on the other hand are absolutely the best MANPAD in the game and 5e get a card of them, the AA tab will have no issue protecting the French tanks. Helicopter tab is pretty unremarkable, though the air tab has some solid options for both fighters and bombers. The Mirage 5 F Cluster bomber is a personal favourite, dropping over 1200 KGs of pain, being particularly effective against grouped up tanks and IFVs. For taking out individual tanks though, the Jaguar [AT] is excellent, coming at 3 availability with reliable and highly damaging anti tank missiles. Since you also have a 50% ECM SEAD plane, 5e have some surprisingly lethal and well costed anti tank bombers, that's what this tab is good at.

Ow, and one more thing that definitely needs mentioning is that this division has undisputedly the best NATO tube artillery piece in the game with the AMX Auf1. It's a fast firing, quick to aim, hard hitting, self propelled monster of a howitzer, especially when upvet (though I recommend keeping them downvet for availability). The Auf1 is your go-to solution for dealing with enemy ATGM teams, and it is fantastic at that job, but really, you can shoot it at anything and it'll do well. The rest of the tab is just mortars, but that's fine, the Auf1 and mortars are really all you need to succeed.

Width is usually the name of the game with this division. You don't really want to be concentrating your force in one point for a strong armoured breakthrough like other armoured divisions like to do. Instead, spreading out your units all across the frontline, using your exceptional recon to determine where the enemy is weakest and abusing your mobility to move your light tanks to exploit these weaknesses to flank and sideshot the opponent is, on paper, how things should be going. Games aren't usually gonna be that straightforward though, so don't be afraid to fall back on your Milan 2s and APILAS launchers when the mobility of your tanks wouldn't be useful. Strike where the opponent is weakest and don't be afraid to pull back when they strike back.

5e are difficult to play and are not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Best light tanks in the game (not that there's a ton of competition, but even if there where, 5e would still be king). All tanks come with a 20mm autocannon that makes French tanks particularly adept at shredding infantry.
  
• Amazing recon tab, lots of recon vehicles that are also very good at combat or have good stealth.
  
• Competent infantry tab with good options for both cheap fodder and high end special forces, with more slots than usual for a tank division.
  
• AA tab is excellent, with many of your best options being on wheels or treads to (somewhat) keep up with your tanks.
  
• Some great anti tank bombers, 5e are very good at erasing even the heaviest enemy tank from existence with a single plane.

Weaknesses:

• Durability is pretty lacking. Your vehicles can hit hard but none of them can really take a hit in return. Armour values are very lacking for an "armoured" division.
  
• Pretty poor IFVs. Most of them don't have ATGMs, so you're bringing them in for their autocannons, but all your tanks already have autocannons anyway. They're not so bad you shouldn't use them, just don't play 5e expecting top quality IFVs.

Division Type: Airborne
Standout units: Légionnaires-Paras, Paras-Marines, Mirage F1 LGB
The elites of the French, the 11e are a suitably aggressive Airborne division packed to the brim with elite paratroopers, dangerous anti tank weaponry and an absolutely stacked recon tab, all of which is well supported by some really scary jets. In fact, you could reasonably argue that the 11th have the best air tab in the game, their jets are REALLY that good at their job (or at least the bombers are). The most infamous of these jets is the Mirage F1 LGB, an incredibly undercosted top tier fighter bomber which will delete pretty much any ground target you throw it at while still being able to defend itself against other jets, should it be needed. Solid contender for the best bomber in the entire game, and you get two cards of them! For your fighters, you get two Mirage variants, the 200 and the 2000 RDI, both solid and quite affordable, the latter in particular is more than capable of giving a solid shot at whatever Pact air assets are present. Jaguar bombers (including a Jaguar SEAD with 50% ECM) round out the air tab into the envy of pretty much everyone else in the game. Dropping death from above on the enemy infantry with the Jaguar [HE] never gets old, while the Jaguar [AT] provides a surprisingly budget option for bonking an enemy tank with two 30 pen missiles.

And somehow, that air tab isn't the main reason to play 11e. The biggest strength of 11e absolutely comes in the infantry tab, French paratroopers are insanely good. The backbone of this tab is provided by the Paras-Marine, airborne shock infantry that come at vet 2 by default and also bring the APILAS AT launcher, allowing them to excel against enemy infantry and tanks alike. Paras-Marines provide an incredibly solid baseline, with 4 cards of availablity, but they are only second best in comparison to the Légionnaires-Paras. The French Foreign Legion they hail from is known for their bravery, and that is represented in-game as while their equipment is identical to Paras-marines, your Légionnaires possess the resolute trait, something very rare in BLUFOR divisions. Resolute units take less suppression from all sources, which makes the Légionnaires-Paras one of the absolute strongest infantry squads in the game, they will often gladly fight to the last man without even thinking about retreating. In support of these exceptional elites comes the Para. Groupe Antichar, dedicated tank hunters equipped with two APILAS AT launchers, no tanks is surviving an ambush from these guys. For fast reinforcements, you have Aeromobiles brought by Super Puma helicopter, though they start at vet 0 like most other infantry instead of vet 2 like most of your roster (oh, the horror!). Because your elites are fairly expensive, some 11e players opt to bring the 7.62mm MMG weapon teams as reinforcements, they're actually pretty good against enemy infantry and its hard to disregard how nice it can be to have some cheap 40 point chaff when most of your other infantry are costed at more than double that. Finally, if your infantry aren't crazy enough, 11e have some quite priviliged command infantry, being very comfortable on the frontlines to provide buffs to your other infantry nearby thanks to their high veterancy and large durable squad size. Hell of an infantry tab, even by the already high standards of airborne divisions. I'm starting to believe some of these Frenchmen have been replaced with T-800 terminators by how utterly they thrash the opponent, they're simply that good.

For artillery, pretty much what you'd expect from airborne, some good mortars and a decent budget light howitzer but nothing heavier than that (finally, a tab that isn't insanely strong). AA tab is doing better, with the Pamela and regular Mistrals being very effective, but no radar AA means planes can be a hassle, you'll mostly be relying on your Mirage ASFs to deal with enemy planes that are smart enough to avoid flying into the short range of a Mistral blob. Helicopter tab is pretty alright, with HOT-2s coming as standard, but you also get the Puma Pirate for anti infantry purposes. Its no Apache or Hind, but the Puma Pirate does its job pretty well and it's chunky enough to take a MANPAD shot or a short burst from a SPAAG and escape without dying, so long as you pull it out immediately. Decent gunship for its price at supporting your infantry, its just a nice thing to have.

The tank tab of 11e is surprisingly good for an airborne division, providing ERC-90 Sagaies and P4 Milans. The former is an armoured car with a decently strong cannon, being great for supporting your infantry, while the latter is a dedicated ATGM car for popping enemy tanks, being quite good at that role thanks to the MILAN 2 ATGM and good stealth. Hard to complain about either, they're both solid.

Onto recon, and the French excel as always in this department. Starting from the top, you have the ERC-90 Sagaie Reco, a recon variant of the same vehicle in your tank tab, having been upgraded with good optics for 10 points. You also have a predecessor to the Sagaie in the AML-90, another armoured car with a (shorter range) tank gun, though this variant in particular possesses very good optics and, most importantly, a good stealth value. For anti tank, you have the VBL Milan, quite similar to the AML-90, though it comes with a MILAN 2 instead of a tank gun. Because this division apparently needs it, you also have more elite paratroopers in the Para. SAS, serving as a strong active recon element and potent assault unit, though unlike other recon SAS variants, these guys don't have a GSR, so you'll have to make do with very good optics instead of exceptional. There's still some other really good stuff in this tab but those are the standouts. "There's too much good stuff to bring!" is frankly, a really good 'problem' that 11e have, its hard to choose what to bring sometimes because so many options are great.

In terms of playstyle, the 11e don't try and reinvent the wheel, they're as close to the archetypical airborne division as you could get. Abuse your exceptionally strong forward deployment infantry and recon vehicles to open strong and take as much territory as possible, calling in your bombers on anything trying to slow you down. Once your opener is over, hunker down with the territory you've gained and make it an absolute nightmare for your opponents to attack into, stalling for time until you tick up to victory. In terms of an infantry fight, the 11e absolutely thrash pretty much everyone, so try and drag your opponent into situations where they have to confront your elite paratroopers and their APILAS launchers.

11e Parachute Division is easy to play and recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Amazing bombers that very consistently erase whatever they're thrown at.
  
• Incredibly good infantry tab stocked full of elite shock paratroopers, including some that possess the resolute trait. Amazing AT launchers protect your shock infantry against enemy vehicles very convincingly.
  
• Amazing recon tab with a lot of extremely scary armoured cars and special forces infantry.
  
• Better tank tab than you'd expect from an airborne division, with the Sagaie and P4 MILAN both being really good at their jobs. You're obviously not beating a tank division out in the open (or even an infantry division, to be fair), but the tank tab is really good for an airborne division.
  
• Really good command infantry.

Weaknesses:

• Expensive units all around, though especially in terms of infantry. You're paying for quality, which can mean bringing less units than you'd hopefully like at times.

Required DLC: Nemesis 2
Division Type: Infantry (Reserve)
Standout units: Reservistes (+ Gendarmes), Commandos de l'Air
The 152e Division d’Infanterie is the Reserve Division tasked with protecting the Plateau d'Albion, or more specifically, the several nuclear missile silos in Base Aérienne 200. Since VDV forces are attacking that very base, the 152e are bringing out pretty much everything and the kitchen sink to stop them. Expect to see a lot of old obsolete equipment being used by a chaotic mixture of Reservists, Gendarmes, French Marines and Commandos. This division absolutely does not care about silly things like "Military organisation", if they're in the area, they're ours, simple as.

So, infantry tab. Starting from the bottom, you have two different variants of Reservistes, one with AT and another with no AT but the option of coming in the VAB, an excellent APC, especially for fire support. Keeping them in line are Gendarmes, 8 man military police squads with two machine guns, they're not spectacular in a fight but they do much better than the standard Prévôté of other French divisions (generally though, try to keep them safe, they're not expendable frontline combatants). As for the people that don't need babysitting, Marsouins are up next, 10 man resolute squads with the option to take an APILAS that also come in a VAB. It's easy to appreciate the marines and their bravery when most of this division is, well, the opposite. Capping things off are the Commandos de l'Air, airborne shock troopers that have the option to come in the VIB, an APC with a 20mm autocannon that can mulch enemy infantry and helicopters alike. Due to their forward deployment, your Commandos will usually be securing a beachhead for you to pour a horde of Reservistes (and Gendarmes) into, and overwhelm the opponent with raw numbers, so make sure to bring both cards of Commandos de l'Air, they're fantastic and also the closest thing to an auto-include in this division. Before I move on to the tank tab, I will say this is absolutely a division where taking both a MILAN 1 and MILAN 2 team is a very real consideration, you'll see why in a minute.

In terms of tanks, this division brings a stockpile of, AMLs with 1 front armour and AMX-13/90s with a whopping 3 front armour. Okay, so they're glass cannons, right? Well, not really, their guns also suck with some of the lowest pen in the game, and they don't have the coaxial autocannons of other french tanks. The tanks of this division are cheap expendable garbage that would struggle even against a T-55, but they're all very good at wasting your opponents ATGM ammo thanks to coming with smoke, and even though their guns are woefully under-powered, they can still kill APCs and IFVs (just note they will take a painfully long time to kill enemy infantry 1v1. You generally want to use VIBs and VABs for infantry killing in this division, not tanks). Thankfully, P4 MILAN 2 cars, and the budget M201 car that comes with a MILAN 1 instead, can kill the enemy tanks that your own tanks stand little chance against, along with the Mephisto with HOT-2s, should you require that bit of additional range over a MILAN 2.

Artillery is fairly average, with 120mm mortars and 155m howitzers coming as standard, they do their job just fine. Recon tab is, well, it's a French recon tab, it's gonna be great. EBRs and AMLs are your recon vehicles of choice, Marsquins are your chunky active recon infantry and Eclaireurs are your cheap and cheerful 4 man passive recon teams. Heli tab comes with a pretty good anti infantry helicopter in the Puma Pirate and an okay AT helicopter in the Alouette 3, though unfortunately it comes with pretty weak ATGMs in comparison to the HOT-2s you'd expect out of France.

AA tab has some cool unique things that are fun to play around with, but they all tend to be of middling quality. You get a Bofors and the Cerbere 20mm as AA guns, the latter is crewed by commandos so it gets the special forces trait, which is kinda neat, but the Tarasque gun truck and Mistral MANPADs are just kinda, better. The Crotale is close to being great though, the French counterpart to the Roland 3, your radar option for this division. Unfortunately, its performance is closer to a Roland 2, but it's also priced like a Roland 3. It's decent at its job, just way too overcosted for what you're getting, set your expectations accordingly.

Air tab finally brings some good news, though only really in the bomber department (the ASF kinda suck). The Alpha jet... is actually good for once, having it's biggest flaw (terrible payloads) fixed with the Alpha jet [HE], an incredibly cheap way of dropping 1250 kg of pain on the enemy in the first few minutes of the game. Once AA gets set up though, it's time for the Super Etendard to take the stage, a high quality bomber with 30% ECM, the [AT] and [HE] variants of it stand out particularly well. Good tab for bombers, just pray you don't have to contest anything like an F-15 or Mig-31 in the skies.

If you hadn't gathered by now, this is very much a spam division, though just like (the surprisingly similar) Territorialkommando Süd, you don't start that way. Force yourself into important locations in the midfield using the forward deployment of your Commandos de l'Air, using recon EBRs and the Commandos own VIBs to support them. Once you've wedged yourself in, pour a horde of Reservistes (and their Gendarme overseers) into through the opening and overwhelm your opponent under the boots of your many many soldiers and the horribly outdated treads of your tanks. Pact players aren't used to being the ones so heavily outnumbered, so don't be afraid to give them a taste of their own medicine.

152e are difficult to play and are not recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Commandos de l'Air are obnoxiously good forward deployment squads that grant this division a scary opener.
  
• Lots of very cheap things in every tab to throw at the enemy. It's difficult to build an army that won't outnumber the opponent, you don't even have to try to accomplish this.
  
• French recon tab
  
• VABs are excellent APCs and this division can bring a comical number of them. Alongside the Tarasque and Alpha jet, the 152e have a lot of really cheap ways to remove enemy infantry quite efficiently.

Weaknesses:

• Really underwhelming tank tab, your best bet is usually just ATGM spam.
  
• Bad ASF options that come with underwhelming missiles and poor ECM on 8 hp bodies (one shottable by Kubs and Buks). They're decently fast for their cheap price, but that's all they really do.
  
• Radar AA is underwhelming and overpriced. Since you only have a single card of Mistrals, this division can struggle to deal with enemy planes and spends way too many points to even begin defending against airspam.
  
• French divisions usually have really good infantry AT, but 152e doesn't follow this trend. Only a single card of Marsouins come with APILAS, that's it. VAB Reservistes and Gendarmes don't come with any AT, which certainly doesn't help.

West Germany are the final of the major NATO/BLUFOR nations currently in the game. Being the progenitors of mechanized warfare, the West Germans continue their speciality, bringing good IFVs and powerful tanks to the battlefield with the aim to overwhelm their opponents under the speed of their treads and the power of their tanks.

West German infantry, as you can probably predict, come with some great IFV infantry, with the 6 man Panzergrenadier squad being the backbone of most of their infantry tabs, a squad with really good ranged firepower thanks to their MG3 and DMR combo. The IFVs that Panzergrenadiers come in are great too, noteworthy for possessing an above average amount of armour compared to other IFVs while still coming at an affordable price. Anyone that doesn't come in an IFV though, tends to be on the weaker side. Jagers are your primary truck infantry, and while an 11 man squad is great in terms of durability, they don't have the damage output you'd expect out of such a chunky squad. The general rule of West German infantry is if they come in an IFV they're great, if they have forward deployment they're great, and if neither is true, they're probably the worst in NATO at doing their dedicated role.

West German tanks are built with one focus in mind, overwhelming firepower. Simply put, the Germans bring the biggest guns to the battlefield. West German tanks are highly reliant on landing the first shot in any engagement, but if they shoot first, the enemy won't be having a good day. Most West German divisions pack a very competent and well rounded tank tab, with great budget and high end options respectively. At the most budget, M48s serve as an incredibly cheap fodder tank, useful for probing the enemy defences and seeing where enemy ATGMs fired at them are coming from. If you'd like your budget tank to act as more than just cannon fodder, The Leopord 1a5 is a top class light tank, possessing some great range and solid accuracy for how little you pay to get them. For supporting your infantry, and fighting against enemy light tanks and even some mediums, the 1a5 does really well (and if you don't need the extra range, the Leopard 1a1 is even cheaper and similarly great at providing infantry support). For dealing with enemy heavy tanks though, the Leopard 2 and all of its variants cap off the tank tab to give you the firepower you need to bust through even the toughest of enemy armour and give West Germany a competent and well rounded tank game, even outside of their armoured division.

While West German helicopters are merely okay, the air tab tend to be packed with options, particularly on the low end. West Germans have lots of budget airplanes at high availability that let them swarm the skies and simply overwhelm their opponents. At the higher end of things though, only the Tornado is really doing anything for them, so get used to seeing that plane a lot. They are pretty lucky that the Tornado is a really damn solid plane, especially as an ASF. Its not a terrible bomber either, so West Germany are keeping up with the rest of NATO in terms of their high end air force. The chief advantage that West Germany have is definitely in their low end and budget air force choices though, lots of stuff to enjoy on the low end, that's where the West German air force shines the brightest.

It is worth noting that West Germany are the only nation in the game to possess some Belgian units. Since Belgium doesn't have its own division yet, 2nd Panzergrenadier is the only way to play with Belgian units in mulitplayer (Currently, at least. I'm certain the Belgians will get their own division eventually).

In summary, West Germany is great if you like:

• Lots of different tanks for any price range that tend to be quite good, you can go as budget or as expensive as you like.
  
• Really good and affordable IFVs, you can spam a lot of Marders onto the field that can easily overwhelm an unprepared opponent with both the IFVs and the Panzergrenadiers inside.
  
• Lots of solid budget air choices. Availability 4 planes are common in West Germany while being pretty rare everywhere else.
  
• Fantastic AA options to protect your tanks with. Gepards are the best SPAAGs in the game (and also the only SPAAG with smoke) while Roland 3s are in contention for the best radar AA vehicle in the game. Enemies put themselves at great risk just trying to get in range to bomb your tanks.

However, West Germany may not be for you if you dislike:

• Motorised/truck infantry is usually pretty underwhelming.
  
• All tanks have below average side armour, especially for Leopard 2s. While no tank wants to be sideshot, West German tanks are particularly vulnerable to it.

Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: Fs-jager, Marder 1a3 Milan, Leopard 2a3
2nd Panzergrenadier is best described as a jack of all trades division, not really excellent in any particular aspect but being pretty good at, well, everything. You have good infantry with an airborne element in the Fs-Jager, solid artillery, good tanks, solid recon, good AA and a pretty good air tab. This division is a solid choice if you're used to older Eugen titles that let you bring national decks instead of division decks, as this is as close to "playing West Germany as a whole" as you're gonna get.

Special attention first has to be given to the Fs-jäger, strong forward deployment paratroopers that come with high veterancy and the powerful Panzerfaust 3, an abnormally strong Infantry AT weapon for West Germany, who tend to suffer in this regard. If enemy vehicles (understandably) avoid getting into Panzerfaust range, the 2nd also bring Fs Milan 2s, forward deployment ATGM teams that are extremely dangerous to any vehicles trying to uproot your Fs-jäger. It is pretty unusual for mechanized infantry to get potent forward deployment options, so make sure to use and abuse what you have in your opener.

For your other less elite infantry, if you're playing 2nd Panzergrenadiers for some Panzergrenadiers, they got them, and they got a lot of them (six whole cards! holy availability that's good!). Jagers and Sicherungs are also here if you want some mediocre truck infantry, and it's nice to include a card of truck infantry or two, but this is absolutely the Panzergrenadier show. Panzergrenadiers prefer longer ranges, so taking some Pioniers (and ideally using the Fs-jägers from earlier) to handle urban combat is highly recommended. Pretty simple tab, just spam out Panzergrenadiers in Marder 1a3s and you can't really go wrong.

In terms of tanks, this will always be an aspect West Germany is capable at, and the 2nd Panzergrenadiers don't disappoint, bringing the Leopard 2a3 as their heavy tank of choice. A big gun on a fast and mobile chassis, the 2a3 doesn't have the most impressive of armour and it really needs to land the first shot in a tank battle, but if it does, you've basically already won. Often times, the terrifying gun of the 2a3 will be overkill, and the 2nd can instead bring the much cheaper Leopard 1a5, a light tank that excels in supporting your infantry against the opponents they face. While it's quite slow for a tank and the armour is lacklustre, the 1a5 is in the bracket for the longest ranged tank guns at 2275, something quite rare for a tank so cheap (which makes it perfect for hunting enemy IFVs, its really good at that). Finally, serving as your ATGM vehicle of choice is the Jaguar 2. While the stealth values are worse than you'd like for this sort of unit, the Jaguar 2 has the advantage of actually having smoke, which is desirable for this sort of unit and lets you get away with using it's TOW-2 quite aggressively without being punished. Solid tank tab, as you'd expect from this nation.

To spot for everyone else comes recon, and its mostly what you'd expect. Eclaireurs are your budget 4 man scout team for passive scouting, Jäger Aufkl. are your durable 11 man squads for active scouting and the Luchs is your autocannon armoured scout car, often used for scouting but also usually sent in support of your Fs-jäger rush to destroy enemy light vehicles at the start of a match. In terms of helicopters, you get decent ATGMs but no anti infantry helicopters, pretty barebones tab. For AA, West Germany does well as always thanks in large part to the I-Hawk that this division gets, a very potent radar choice that really locks down the skies from jets with 9 damage missiles (some lower tier planes can be one shot by it!). For killing helicopters though, you get the Gepard, basically the best SPAAG in the game, which also comes with the unique advantage of having smoke, helping you survive any ATGMs that those pesky helicopters might throw at you to stop you from killing them. You don't get much choice in this tab, but you're presented some excellent options for killing all the planes and helicopters an opponent might send your way.

Finally, onto planes, and there's some cool stuff here. The Belgian F-16A is your budget ASF of choice, coming at a very affordable price for what you get, pretty solid stuff. The British Tornado serves on the other end of the spectrum as your high end ASF, one of the best fighter jets in the game, its the default option to deal with those pesky enemy SEAD planes. For bombers, the Harrier [HE2] is a very effective budget HE bomber, while the Tornado again serves as your main high end bomber and SEAD plane. The Tornado has all of what you can probably guess it does, basically every type of payload except LGBs, but it also has an option wholly unique to West Germany with the Tornado [MW1]. The MW1 is essentially an anti infantry variation of a cluster bomber, showering a large area with thousands of man killing bomblets. While it doesn't do anything to tanks except terrify the crew inside, this division can quite easily eviscerate multiple squads of enemy infantry that make the mistake of getting a little too close to each other. Really good air tab.

To repeat what I said earlier, 2nd Panzer do everything and they do it all well. Not much else to say on these guys. Abuse strong forward deployment to take key positions early and roll in the tanks when there's problems your infantry and IFVs won't be able to handle. Its quite straightforward.

2nd Panzergrenadier is easy to play and recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Does everything and does it well, only the helicopter tab can really be considered bad. Thanks to this flexibility, they're very capable on any map against any other division.
  
• Great forward deployment ability from the Fs-jäger and recon tab, especially by mechanized infantry standards.
  
• Has better infantry AT than West Germany normally does, Panzerfaust 3s hit hard!
  
• Good options on both the low end and high end for Air Superiority Fighters and bombers.
  
• Pretty good options for tanks at high availability, the Leopard 1a5 in particular is a particularly solid budget tank for fire support, while the Leopard 2a3 hits really hard and is quite fast for a heavy tank.
  
• Activation points are really generous. This division gets a lot of 1 point slots and you have a fair amount of flexibility to bring exactly what you want from any tab you like.

Weaknesses:

• Helicopter tab is very lacking.
  

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: Leopard 2a4
5th Panzer unleash various variants of the Leopard 2 to the battlefield, all of which are potent heavy tanks that prides themselves on their firepower while still being pretty well rounded, possessing great speed and good front armour in an accurate and very reliable package, though this comes at the price of side armour, any shot that doesn't hit the front is usually lethal. Tanks rely on something called a stabiliser to shoot while moving, and while many tanks in WARNO have one, the Leopard 2 has the best stabiliser in the game. These advanced stabilisers allow the tanks of the 5th Panzer to stay extremely mobile without a significant loss in accuracy, a great advantage to have on such fast and hard hitting heavy tanks.

Exclusive to the 5th Panzer, the Leopard 2a4 is the most advanced West German heavy tank in their arsenal, being very capable against other tanks in its price range, on par with the other top class heavies like the T-80BVs and M1A1 Abrams, though the 2a4 will get slaughtered against top of the line superheavy tanks like T-80UDs or Abrams(HA) without support. The cheaper Leopard 2a3 may be one such support element, being well suited to breaking enemy heavy armour as its gun is quite capable at punching above its weight. That's all the 5th really need out of their tank tab, building a strategy around Leopard 2a4 and 2a3 tanks is usually why you're playing this division anyway. It is still worth taking a couple Leopard 1s to be used for situations where an expensive heavy tank would be overkill, like for supporting your infantry against other infantry, but again, the Leopard 2a4 is unique to this division, you're playing this division for it (otherwise, you should probably play 2nd Panzergrenadier instead!).

5th Panzer comes with pretty much just the archetypical West German infantry tab, it's incredibly plain, though the number of slots is pretty nice for an armoured division. Panzergrenadiers are the face of this tab, 6 man IFV infantry that come in the Marder 1a2. Then there's everything else, a tier in strength below your Panzergrenadiers, though mainly Jagers and Pioniers, both large truck squads that do better in urban combat (as opposed to Panzergrenadiers who prefer their battles to be long ranged). I can't say anything more about this tab, there's nothing really interesting here, it's just a very basic (but effective) West German infantry tab. It gets the job done.

5th Panzer has a lot of options for protecting its tanks from enemy bombers that tend to be quite affordable and extremely potent. At the most budget, Fligerfausts serve as abnormally cheap MANPADs that can be spammed everywhere, serving as a good helicopter counter (please upvet them or you will cry at their utter inability to hit anything). Against planes, the Roland 2 and Roland 3 enter the field, with the latter having long ranged radar capabilities. The tracked capabilities of both Rolands let them keep up with armoured assets very comfortably, which is an advantage you definitely want to have in an armoured push (not to mention they're both fantastic at their jobs). Finally, the F-4F serves as a high availability budget fighter, they aren't the strongest or fastest thing in the sky, but 5th gets so many for so cheap that you can really throw them out there and they'll do work, especially thanks to their 30% ECM.

As for playing them, the 5th Panzer division is in many ways what you'd expect from an armoured division. Dragging your opponent onto open fields and shelling them to death from afar with heavy tanks is still what you'll be doing in your games, though you'll tend to have more IFVs supporting this strategy than other similar armoured divisions thanks to the cheap price of the Marder. This division is at its best when you're using the most of your surprisingly mobile Leopards to hammer the enemy armour into submission with side and rear shots, but even if you can't run circles around your opponent, like if the map doesn't give you much room to manoeuvre, you've still got an army full of powerful high tech heavy tanks that hit really hard. No-one is forcing you to channel your inner Erwin Rommel if throwing 5 heavy tanks directly in the opponents face is all you need to win.

5th Panzer is easy to play.

Strengths:

• Amazing AA tab to protect your tanks from helicopters and planes.
  
• High availability on your high end tanks, all of which are extremely fast and accurate on the move.
  
• Lots of options for light and medium tanks, there's an option in the tank tab for pretty much any price range.
  
• Panzergrenadiers single handedly carry the infantry tab to be pretty solid by armoured division standards.

Weaknesses:

• Really bad side armour on all your Leopard 2s, a single bad hit is gonna set you back 200 points without even giving you the opportunity to smoke and retreat.
  
• No high end fighters to achieve air superiority, though your budget ASF and ground AA options are so cracked that this isn't usually gonna be a problem. Still though, you're not winning against Eagles and Su-27s in dogfights anytime soon.

Division Type: Airborne (Reserve)
Standout units: Green Berets, AMX-10 RC
The in-game armoury seems to think these guys are a defensive reserve division focused on artillery, which is somewhat misleading as they tend to play much more aggressively than their C offence rating may suggest, but don't be mistaken, TKS is most certainly a reserve division, so don't expect to have the most modern equipment. TKS is also a coalition force, meaning you'll be using forces from other nations in NATO, though unlike the other Berlin Command coalition, this division is made up of pretty much 90% West German forces, with the French and Americans only providing a small number of extremely capable and elite reinforcements.

TKS has a strong forward deployment rush with three main components, the Green Berets, the Fs-Jäger and the AMX-10 RC. Green Berets are a fairly affordable special forces shock team that come with AT-4s, though with only 6 men, they can be quite fragile, especially if caught in the open. Fs-Jäger are a more durable infantry squad that specialise in killing the enemy infantry with their MP5s and satchel bombs, though without any way to damage vehicles, the other two units will often have to serve as their shield. Finally, the AMX-10 RC is an incredibly potent armoured scout car that carries a fairly large tank cannon, it hits surprisingly hard and deals with any vehicles your other infantry may face in their rush (recon BMPs are something your AMX-10s are expected to face and beat up fairly convincingly, for example). Use and abuse all three units at the start of the game, they're all great at what they do.

Unfortunately, other than the Green Berets already mentioned, the TKS infantry tab ain't the best thing in the world. Jägers (PZF) serve as the main line infantry of this tab, a quite durable 11 man squad of West German infantry, though pretty poor machine guns and AT weapons hold them back. Being a reserve division, you get a fair amount of cheap and (not so) cheerful reservists to throw at the enemy, those being your Heimatützen, another 11 man squad equipped very similar to your existing Jägers, just without the weeks of training that makes soldiers so expensive. If you want really cheap infantry though, Reserve Pioniers are noteworthy as a 6 man team that costs practically nothing, their job of running at entrenched enemy fortifications and throwing satchel bombs into the enemy building is support your other soldiers will appreciate (as they're not gonna be the ones getting shot). Finally, you do get a decent quality squad in French Aeromobiles that arrive by Super Puma helicopter. Their APILAS AT launchers put the rest of your Panzerfausts to shame, and the squad itself is quite good in combat, so its easy to appreciate when most other squads are of, sub-par quality. Quantity over quality is the goal of this tab, and you've got enough large durable cheap squads to keep the opponent held up for a surprisingly long time.

Onto the tank tab, and well, ouch. The M48 Patton serves as your main tank, very much obsolete by this point, and crewed by reservist tankers without much skill or bravery. Simply put, they're not very good tanks, even being as cheap as they are. The Kanjpz is another very cheap tank this division has, even cheaper than the Pattons, though with even worse armour, it's not gonna be able to survive much on the battlefield. Finally, P4 MILANs drive in as a very effective ATGM car, lobbing high penetration MILAN 2s down range, ideally without revealing themselves thanks to having a good stealth value. I don't really need to spell this out for you, this tank tab is inadequate at the best of times, but all the options are very affordable, and your M48s tend to do decently against enemy infantry, giving them a useful niche that IFVs would ordinarily occupy. You won't be winning head on against enemy tanks except in the most favourable of conditions (aka outnumbering them 5 to 1 at close range where your kinetic damage actually starts doing something), though you do have the P4 MILAN to help out, so you're not completely helpless! Still a bad tab, but some of the stuff here is useful.

AA on the other hand is extremely strong. the BOFORS is a very cheap and frankly hilarious WW2 AA gun that the TKS just, kinda have lying around, but hey, it'll still kill helicopters all the same no matter the age. Roland 3s and I-Hawks sit on the other end of the spectrum, both expensive and highly effective radar AA pieces that can do a number on enemy planes flying into your airspace. With MANPADs, VLRAs and Roland 2s padding out the space in-between the low end and high end, this AA tab is fantastic at locking down the skies.

The air tab continues this division's formula of quantity over quality, there's a lot of repurposed training planes here. The Gina is the cheapest, it sucks. The Alpha Jet is another training plane, but this one actually has decent munitions, with very cheap HE, CLU and NPLM variants, just don't expect this jet to survive any AA. What can sometimes survive AA is the F-104, coming at availability 4, it is both a good ASF and a good HE bomber, though I would absolutely avoid the AT variant. On the high end, you've got the Mirage 2000 as your high end ASF and the F-111F as your high end LGB bomber, both of which are quite good. The F-111F would ordinarily be an okay LGB bomber, but it has the advantage of coming with two LGBs payloads, which gives it the edge over other similar LGB bombers if you want multiple targets eviscerated. This air tab is pretty weird, but effective enough to get the job done in most matchups, even if a lot of your jets will be getting one shot by anything stronger than a MANPAD.

TKS has a good enough forward deployment rush to compete with more traditional airborne divisions, and that's what a lot of the strategy revolves around. Rush in early and fast with Green Berets, Fs-Jäger and AMX-10 RCs to secure as much territory as possible early, and then stall for time with obsolete tanks and terrified reservists until you eventually tick up to a victory. This division has a lot of cheap stuff to just, throw in your opponents face and slow them down, its not like they can ignore and drive past your Panzerfaust infantry without getting blown up for it, so they will have to wade through your hordes. This division's hope is that the time it takes for the opponent to clean up all the fodder is enough time for it to win. If there isn't enough time, and your opponent manages to claw back some command zones, well, don't expect to do much to a professional army with 30 year old tanks and conscripts armed with uzis and satchel bombs. If you enjoy commanding your troops like you're Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, you'll probably enjoy this division, but if you can't tolerate such high casualty rates, this might not be the division for you.

Territorialkommando Süd is difficult to play and not recommended for beginners. At the very least, learn how to play any other Airborne divisions before you start playing this division, that experience will really help you.

Strengths:

• Really potent forward deployment rush with French vehicles and American elites, with a fair amount of solid ATGM cars and helicopter troops to quickly reinforce said rush against any counterattacks.
  
• Lots of durable infantry squads that generally all come pretty cheap. It can be difficult for an opponent to clear out so many 11 man squads from urban terrain.
  
• One of the best AA tabs in the game.

Weaknesses:

• Awful tank tab.
  
• Most West German infantry in this division aren't that good beyond their durability. Often times, it feels like your line infantry don't win fights, they just lose them slowly.
  
• Your best units are often low on availability, and once you run out of them, this division looses a lot of its teeth.
  

While Belgian soldiers show up to support other divisions quite a bit, the Belgians are more than capable when in charge. The first minor NATO division added to the game in the NORTHAG expansion, this section will be pretty short compared to the major NATO members.

The Belgians rely mainly on American and West German equipment, with their IFV of choice being the AIFV, essentially an M113 with an autocannon bolted on top, though usually coming without any ATGMs. Their infantry, particularly IFV infantry, are pretty solid, bringing multiple machine guns and above average squad sizes, they're pretty comparable to British infantry in terms of anti-infantry fighting, but tend to suffer against tanks with their weak AT launchers. Their best tanks are domestic Leopard 1 variants, so they're pretty light in terms of armour. Also, they do have some recon drones, which is neat.

It's a bit reductionist, but seeing Belgium as a West Germany who skewed further towards infantry is not entirely wrong. The Belgians are very similar to their neighbours, and West Germany mains will feel right at home with a lot of their tools.

In summary, Belgium is great if you like:

• Solid IFV infantry with good durability and solid anti-infantry damage output.
  
• Lots of 2275m range Leopard 1 variants unique to Belgium. Lots of West German equipment in general, to be fair.

However, Belgium may not be for you if you dislike:

• Bad infantry AT.
  
• Lack of heavy tanks.

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: Mech. Fusilier, Epervier
The Belgians aren't known for their military, but the 16e Pantserdivisie bring an inexpensive horde of solid infantry and cheap autocannon vehicles that can punch up fairly well against the Soviets and their allies. Also, what I can only assume is the whole Luxembourg military is present, helping out in some key areas where the 16e are lacking (mainly forward depoyment) to form a decently well rounded and very affordable infantry division.

Rolling strong in the infantry tab, Mech Fusiliers are your bread and butter, 7 man IFV squads with three MGs and an incredibly generous vet curve, they're fantastic. 10/7/5 availability is practically begging for them to be run double upvet, and you definitely should, since it also helps out their IFVs. The AIFV is essentially an M113 with an autocannon, and while you unfortunately can't give them ATGMs, it's still a fine vehicle that will serve you and your infantry well. Supporting your Mech Fusiliers are everyone else, mainly Pioniers and Reservistes, the former acting as your dedicated assault units who can either take an AT loadout or a satchel loadout (no flamers or thermobarics unfortunately), and the latter as a cheap 9 man truck squad for padding out a frontline and giving your Fusiliers the space to do their thing. Speaking of Fusiliers, Belgian ones aren't the only ones here as Luxembourg Fusiliers also show up to help, though they're quite different. 8 man forward deployment squads with two MGs, they're here to give you some space in the opening and hopefully die slowly enough for the rest of your army to catch up. The only issue is, everyone's rocket launchers suck, like, REALLY suck, you're basically only scratching the paint of even light tanks from the front. Keep good care of your MILAN 2s, they're vital for you in this division.

As for your own tanks though, things stay pretty light. The Leopard 1 is the tank they've chosen, a pretty effective light tank with some unique domestic modifications. The Belgians hate being outranged, so both the Leopard 1 and the 1a5 come with 2275 range guns, with the tradeoff of having even weaker armour than their West German counterparts. These tanks are glass cannons through and through, any hit is gonna put you them on death's door if it doesn't outright destroy the tank instantly. The difference between 1 and 1a5 comes down to accuracy and gun strength, both being improved, with the armour remaining unchanged. It's not as bad as it might sound though, your tanks are fantastic at dealing with enemy IFVs in particular, which is what you'll probably be using them for the most. They can punch up against other enemy tanks if you can land the first shot, but their primary role will be keeping your infantry safe from IFVs, something they're very good at doing. Great light tanks, though you're not getting anything heavier than that. For non leopards, the Humvee TOW-2 is an excellent good stealth ATGM vehicle with forward deployment, definitely worth taking, and there's a bunch of other solid ATGM vehicles in the tab if that interests you.

Onto the recon tab and this division is eating good, like, REALLY good. Belgian Eclaireurs are your cheap budget choice as a 4 man squad with AT, with some nice affordable recon transports to pick from, but you also have the option of taking the Luxembourg Eclaireurs instead, a similar squad with improved forward deployment and a better AT weapon (though they cost more). For more aggressive scouting, the Scimitar is a great autocannon vehicle, and the RL-83 variant of Belgian Eclaireurs comes with the manpower you'll need from an active spotter. Serving as special forces sneak in the ESR, ideally in a spot where they can setup their GSRs, though they're more than capable of slugging it against enemy squads if they encounter any. Finishing things off with the biggest surprise, a recon drone in a minor nation? Your drone is so small that it can't be shot by enemy radar AA, a unique advantage that works well against the Soviets and their love of Kubs. Lots of good stuff here, and the slots are really generous, so its not a terrible idea to skew a bit into your recon tab.

For shooting down air, the Belgians don't have any radar options, though funnily enough, they've absolutely stacked the deck for anti-helicopter. Mistrals are the best MANPAD in the game, while the Gepard is the best SPAAG in the game, both together are obscenely good at making sure the Hind pilots never have any fun. For helis, you get barely any slots and need to choose between the exact same Italian helicopter twice, but one carries 4 TOW-2s while the other one carries 8 (with 1 less availability, so its just worse). Arty is similarly limited, couple smaller mortars, couple smaller howitzers and the American 155mm SPG that'll be doing basically all of the non-smoke related work.

Onto the air tab, and it's definitely above the average. The F-16 is the ASF of choice here, an extremely dangerous close ranged "shotgun plane" thanks to ripple fire missiles, once it gets in range, it has the opportunity to really ruin someone's day. They're here to protect your Mirage dive bombers, who drop HE, NPLM and CLU on the enemies head, with a rocket plane also there that you'll probably never be taking. For the HE variant in particular, there's an additional upgraded variant, the MIRSIP, which comes with better missiles to make it a more effective multirole fighter-bomber. Also, there's a F-16 cluster bomber, though it actually uses a hybrid loadout, dropping both cluster and HE bombs. It's not as good as the HE Mirage or the CLU Mirage at killing infantry and tanks respectively, but it does both roles reasonably well.

With that all wrapped up, its pretty clear what the Belgians want to do, their units are pretty clear in what they're best at. Luxembourg leads your opener, securing as much map control with their forward deployment shenanigans as possible, with Fusiliers trailing not too far behind to reinforce and back them up. Once the beginning is over, use the excellent recon tab this division provides to probe around and see where the enemy is weakest, and move your IFVs, IFV infantry and Leopards to the places that would be really uncomfortable for your opponent to have to deal with. Classic mechanized stuff, but with lighter hardware than you might be used to. Since you don't usually have any ATGMs on your IFVs, this division is usually more comfortable at closer ranges and the more difficult terrain areas rather than the wide open fields that Bradleys love to watch over, and thanks to your solid infantry, you're more than capable in those conditions.


Strengths:

• Mech Fusiliers are an absolutely goated IFV infantry. High availability, three machine guns, excellent vet curve and 7 men strong instead of the more usual 6. They provide a backbone even Wolverine would be impressed with.
  
• Good forward deployment rush for a mechanized division.
  
• Stacked recon tab, including a recon drone in a minor nation. You shouldn't have too trouble finding the enemy.
  
• An abundance of Leopard 1s with 2275 range is nasty strong. They have enough firepower that ignoring them is a fatal mistake, while also being cheap enough that spamming them is very practical.
  
• Good air options, both ASF and bomber.

Weaknesses:

• No radar AA, Mistral blobs are your only AA option against planes. Also, no forward deployment AA, though Scimitar autocannons can serve as makeshift AA for your rush in a pinch.
  
• Helicopter tab is starving.
  
• All the tanks are glass cannons, none of them can take a hit from anything.
  
• Infantry AT is horrible.

Link to Eugen article

Don't let their long hair and big beards fool you, the Dutch are taking world war 3 seriously, at least I think (arriving to world war 3 late isn't helping their case, frankly). A minor NATO nation with a surprisingly big budget, the writeup for the Netherlands is gonna be appropriately short compared to the big nations in NATO.

In terms of equipment, they spend their ground budget on German equipment and their air budget on American equipment. Not just any second hand equipment, they can afford the good stuff. Leopard 2A4s, F-16s and I-Hawks, no expenses spared here, or at least until you get to their IFV, which is just a glorified M113 with an autocannon strapped to the top. Also, most of the Leopards they have are downgraded in armour, using older armour packages, making them pretty fragile by heavy tank standards (but still hit just as hard as all other Leo 2s). In terms of infantry, the Dutch are about average by NATO standards, they don't excel but they don't suck either, and fairly good availability is an attribute that many of their infantry squads share, which can definitely be useful in those longer games when attrition takes its toll.

That's basically it. If you like German tanks, then you'll feel right at home, because these guys do too.

In summary, the Netherlands is great if you like:

• Lots of high end modern equipment for a minor nation.
  
• German heavy tanks.

However, Belgium may not be for you if you dislike:

• ATGM-less IFVs.
  
• Lack of helicopters.

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: Leopard 2A4, I-Hawk, Natres
Proving that money solves all issues, the Dutch come in swinging with some of the best hardware money can buy. Leopard 2s, F-16s and 155mm SPGs all find their home in this division, backing up a large infantry tab with plenty of IFVs, though unfortunately not any with ATGMs. The budget mostly runs out come the AA tab and helicopter tab, but if you can work around those weaknesses, the Dutch brings a potent mechanized strategy to bare.

Starting with the infantry tab, the Dutch are eating good on the low end of things. Natres are 9 man reservist squads and your main choice for manpower, coming at 12 (!!!) a card, and with two cards of them, that's a lot of affordable rifles and rocket launchers to pad a frontline, though you can also upvet them to make them surprisingly strong, both options are pretty valid and I usually have them upvet once. In traditional mechanized fashion, your IFV infantry lead the charge, with Pantserinfanterie and their YPR IFVs throwing lead down range. Honestly, they're pretty sub-par as far as IFV infantry go, but it's hard to argue with the autocannons they bring to tip the fights in their favour. Rest of the tab is pretty ordinary, except for having an extra card of TOW-2s, allowing you to double up on them like an airborne division, pretty neat (and practical, manpower isn't a concern for this division).

Onto the tank tab, and in come the Leopards, Leopard 2s mainly. The Leopard 2a4s of the Dutch come in two variants, the B and C variant, with the main difference being in armour, as the C variant is a fair amount more armoured (its the same as the West German Leopard 2a4). Since Leo 2s are known mainly for excessive firepower and great mobility, having most of your tanks be the B variant isn't too big of a deal, and if anything, the cheaper price of Bs can be an advantage for getting those big guns out earlier. Outside of Leo 2s, this tab is fairly empty, with a single card of Leopard 1NL (basically a 1a1a1) and an (admittedly quite good) ATGM APC with smoke and TOW 2s. If you like the Leopard 2, you'll like this tab, and while the Dutch aren't quite as top heavy as some dedicated armoured divisions, you'll be relying a lot on your expensive heavy tanks to make plays, which can be a problem as...

...this division has terrible AA. To be more specific, this division utterly sucks at killing planes. It's fine against helicopters, since you have Stingers and Gepards (called the Cheetah by the Dutch), but that's, that's basically it. Defending your infantry from HE bombers and your tanks from CLU and AT planes is probably close to how Sisyphus feels on the daily, it is a miserable experience to fight anyone with a half decent air tab. On the topic of helicopters, the Dutch forgot theirs, there's no helicopter tab in this division. This is no longer valid, they got buffed, expect updates to guide soon-ish

Back in the lands of having a functional budget, the air tab thankfully does a bit of heavy lifting here. The NF-5A is your budget plane while the F-16 is your premium plane, both are fairly good. The NF-5A [AA] is a cheap three availability ASF, and while it can't really kill anything on its own thanks to a lack of ammo, it's useful in a supporting role and as a way to spook an opponent away from erasing your tanks (most people don't try sending lone bombers into actively patrolled enemy airspace). To actually kill stuff, the F-16 is a damn scary ripple fire ASF that can melt things that get in range, that plane can consistently win dogfights against better planes it has no right doing well against, and is easy to appreciate here. For bombers, take F-16s, they're effective multirole fighter/bombers, and this division REALLY wants air superiority to avoid a boulder of hurt.

As I'm sure I've emphasised enough already, this division is critically weak to getting bombed into oblivion, and clearing the airspace for your excellent tanks to hit the board will be priority number one. Once you've done that, this division can apply an effective combined arms approach to beat the opponent to death with plenty of infantry, IFVs, tanks and TOW-2s. If you can't keep your Leopard 2s safe from the skies though, you'll be picked apart piece by piece and ground down to dust. It's a big achilles heel you have, but if you can overcome it, this division does very well.

4e Divisie are moderate in terms of difficulty.

Strengths:

• Plenty of Leopard 2s, often coming in a cheaper discounted variant compared to the normal West German one.
  
• Some of the best reservists in the game with the Gemobiliseerd, it's worth bringing an MP just for them.
  
• Double TOW-2 in the infantry tab, something usually exclusive to airborne divisions. Thanks to your reservists, fitting both in is pretty comfortable, you have plenty of manpower already.

Weaknesses:

• No long ranged AA. No radar AA. The most effective anti-plane AA option you have are MANPADs. Weak anti-plane AA is already a significant weakness for many airborne divisions, but having expensive Leopard 2s as a key part of your roster makes things particularly horrendous for the Dutch. It is miserable playing against anyone with a strong air tab, and even weaker air tabs can still bully this division.
  
• Engineers are satchels only, no flamers or thermobarics. Get close or get killed.
  
• The Dutch apparently left their keys at home, so you won't be getting a helicopter tab.

Link to Eugen article

Sometimes known as REDFOR, Pact nations generally employs some of the strongest tanks in the game backed up by affordable mechanized infantry and fantastic artillery, though they tend to struggle to match NATO in the air. Their units are almost always cheaper than an equivalent NATO unit, and thanks to said artillery, Pact divisions tend to do best when on the offence.

Pact is currently made up of three nations:
The Soviet Union is the first and the biggest, bringing lots of high quality heavy tanks and very effective IFVs. In general though, the Soviets are quite well rounded, and they have some impressive technology at this point in time (1989) that eclipses the rest of Pact. There's usually gonna be a division that's excellent at something (like the VDV having the best planes in Pact), so the Soviets can really do it all and do it all well.

East Germany (sometimes referred to as the DDR) instead relies on the power of propaganda and indoctrination. East Germany does particularly well in terms of infantry, with potent motorised forces storming the enemy in fast armoured cars, while the nation also has some of the strongest AA and (rocket) artillery in the game to protect and support their huge stockpile of cheap light and medium tanks. Most of the roster has the resolute trait, with many of their units being more than willing to fight to the last man for the glory of the republic.

Poland understands that sometimes quantity is the best quality you can ask for. Polish units are often cheaper on average, relying on the best performing low-grade Pact equipment they have stockpiles full of (often lacking smoke or ERA to further cut costs). Their balancing of the books applies to their armies too, as their divisions tend to be well balanced and lack any major holes in the roster, with even their dedicated airborne division having useful tanks and artillery to have fun with. The Polish do have some expensive high tier toys and elite infantry though, it's not always just low end conscript farmers with rifles. Also, they have mine clearing tanks, which have been repurposed to clear pretty much everything except mines from the map.

If you'd rather play Pact in general rather than pick one of the nations, the closest experience you'll get is playing the Soviet 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, who supplement a mechanized Soviet division with East German tanks and elites. Pact don't really do the coalition divisions of NATO though, atleast not yet, so there isn't really a great option for this playstyle. Maybe that'll change in the future when more Pact nations like Czechoslovakia get added, who knows.

Subtlety is not a word I would use to describe the Soviet Union, the biggest nation in Pact/REDFOR. Soviets are defined by their superb fleet of high tech heavy tanks, possessing fantastic armour, terrifying firepower and good mobility. Soviet tanks have a few unique traits and capabilities that help them outclass their NATO rivals. The most important of these advantages comes in the autoloader, a reloading mechanism quite common to the Soviets that reloads their main tank gun at a speed surpassing human hands, unaffected by the penalties of low coherency or morale. The autoloader gives the Soviets a huge advantage in close range tank fights, though their NATO rivals usually have the advantage at longer ranges, or they would if not for the 2nd unique capability. Soviet tanks can also be equipped with long range ATGMs, fired from the barrel of their gun. Obviously, you can't fire both ATGMs and shells at the same time, but having those ATGMs gives Soviet tanks a great deal more effective range than their NATO rivals, and if the enemy tanks are too dangerous, staying back and hurling ATGMs at a safe distance away is a perfectly acceptable use of a tank you'd rather not put at severe risk. There is little debate that the Soviets are the kings of tank warfare, with all non-airborne Soviet divisions getting to enjoy that power. The only instance in which NATO tanks will consistently outperform you is when they're too far for your autoloaders to dominate a close range battle while being too close for your ATGMs to be useful. This range band, usually anywhere from 1600 to 2275 metres, ending at the max range of heavy tank cannons, is where your NATO opponents will be attempting to reach to even the playing field. Soviets have insanely good tanks that demand respect, use and abuse them.

Soviets support this armoured offensive with potent mechanized infantry, relying mainly on the BMP and its many variants, an amphibious IFVs that carries a good amount of soldiers and respectable firepower, though BMP-2s and 3s tend to do best thanks to their 30mm autocannons. These IFVs can deliver Soviet infantry right into battle, putting them in range to use the above average AT launchers of the soviets, with launchers like the RPG-27 being particularly lethal against enemy tanks. Soviet infantry also bring the Metis, their counterpart to the American Dragon, a short range ATGM that is present in some combat squads to protect against any pesky vehicles that dare not enter RPG range. Soviets very much like their IFVs and other combat transports, the BTR being an example of the latter, a fast armoured car with a particularly dangerous anti infantry machine gun, they're quite solid. Expect to see more mechanized infantry divisions in the Soviets more than you would regular infantry divisions, this is kind of their big thing.

Soviets possess lots of Mi-24 Hind gunships in pretty much all of their divisions, with the airborne having exclusive access to the Ka-50 Akula and its dangerous Vikhr rockets. While the ATGMs on Hinds aren't fantastic are pretty great since they recently got buffed to be supersonic, Soviets do place a particular interest in AA helicopters equipped with Iglas to dominate in helicopter battles and defend themselves against planes. Soviet planes in the meanwhile tend to be very practical and well costed, with lots of CAS and bomber options and some competent ASF that won't bankrupt you if they get shot down by an Eagle. For hunting said Eagles though, the Soviets do have some potent high end ASF to call upon that the rest of Pact could only dream of affording, and while they'll never be as good as their NATO rivals, underestimating the Mig-31 doesn't tend to end well for enemy pilots.

In summary, the Soviet Union is great if you like:

• Having some of the best heavy tanks in the game. Tanks like the T-80BV define any battlefield they appear on.
  
• Mechanized infantry in abundance with strong close ranged AT weapons and a capable medium ranged option with the Metis. Soviet infantry is quite good at dealing with enemy vehicles.
  
• Competent Air Superiority Fighters and good bombers. Soviets have the best air force in Pact and their high end planes, like Su-27s and Mig-31s, have the best odds at contesting NATO air supremacy.
  
• Some really good AA, you can lock down the skies with all sorts of very consistent and dangerous infared and especially radar pieces. Praise the Kub, forever and always.
  
• Particularly great tube artillery, with exclusive access to laser guided ammunition in 27th. Removing targets with precision is something the Soviets are quite familiar with (and they usually have a good amount of rocket artillery for when precision is not a concern).

However, the Soviet Union may not be for you if you dislike:

• Lighter tanks (including medium tanks) are usually low on availability and not available to many Soviet divisions. You'll often be forced into using the expensive heavy tanks almost exclusively.
  
• ATGMs tend to lack penetration compared to NATO options, they're more dependant on sideshots or support from other assets (like a nearby tank) to be most effective.
  
• Soviet line infantry ain't the greatest thing in the world for fighting other infantry. Most of your squads rely on BTR, IFV and tank support to beat your NATO rivals, since otherwise they would lose. If you want good Pact line infantry, East Germany are your guys, not the Soviets.

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: Buk, T-64, Luftsturm-jäger, Mig-31
The 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade don't care about the newest weapons and equipment given to the other divisions of the Soviets. Instead, this division asks for reliability, bringing some older technology well proven on the battlefield. They don't have many T-80s, instead they bring T-64s. They don't have any BMP-2s, but have plenty of BMP-1s instead. Not a single hind in sight, but plenty of mi-8s! In exchange for being quite primitive compared to other Soviet divisions, the 6th bring a lot of brave East German units and some potent special forces to help bridge that technological gap with experience, training and propaganda. Also, their emblem is really cool, which is definitely the real reason people play them.

While a bit odd to start with the AA tab, the reliability prioritised by the 6th is best illustrated by the Buk, a very potent radar AA piece with obscenely long ranged and damaging missiles, some planes are outright one shot by it. This SAM serves as an incredibly potent shield for the rest of the division, but particularly the T-64s, a surprisingly exclusive heavy tank. T-64s function very similar to the T-80s of other Soviet divisions that came in to replace them, being quite similar in terms of weapons and armour, though also being a noticeable amount slower compared to its successor. When less firepower is required, the 6th are quite privileged to actually have a light tank in the T-55, the workhorse of many East German divisions. Its a solid tank, especially as light tanks are surprisingly uncommon for many Soviet mechanized infantry divisions, so its presence is well appreciated. Just keep in mind that the T-55 doesn't have any smoke launchers, which is probably why the tank is so cheap, but still, its a big flaw you'll have to play around.

For IFVs, well, the 6th only get BMP-1s. While having no BMP-2s is unfortunate, the Soviet BMP-1 has a pretty great ATGM for its cheap price, they're fairly effective, especially when you get multiple out at once and they can start bullying the opponents IFVs and tanks at range. Its not the worst thing in the world, but having no infantry killing autocannons is a noticeable hole in this roster, though the Luftsturm-jäger, unique to this division, can help you deal with your infantry problems. Elite East German special forces brought exclusively by helicopter, they can reinforce flanks extremely quickly and get in really annoying places to plink away with either an RPG-7 or a Metis, depending on the version you bring. A solid quick response force, their mobility can often be a lifesaver. Whether trading away BMP-2s to have an airmobile element is worth it is up to you, but I can certainly see the benefits (even if you only plan to use them as a makeshift forward deployment unit). The rest of the infantry tab is pretty standard Soviet stuff, though you do get a single card of resolute Mot-Schützen, which is nice (and these guys can come in the BMP-1 with the good ATGM, which is also nice).

The recon tab is very standard, except for the Spetsgruppa "A", a group of elite special forces operatives dressed in civilian clothes, because after all, the Geneva Convention is more of a suggestion than anything. Their false flag trait means enemy units will shoot them last, assuming them to be civilians in the chaos of battles, giving them a good opportunity to get in close and make the most of their SMGs and satchel charges (which are also empowered in close range by the shock trait). Having both these guys and the Luftsturm-jäger provides the 6th with a surprisingly large amount of elite assault infantry, this division does quite well in urban combat.

The helicopter tab is hilariously barebones and quite bad, though the Mi-2URN is so damn cheap that it can actually be quite useful to have, sometimes you could just do a tiny helicopter with a gun and some micro rockets (even if just to test the enemy's AA capabilities). The plane tab on the other hand is actually quite interesting. Starting with bombers, you get cheap anti infantry bombers from East Germany in the L-39ZO, the cheapest method of dropping a 500 kilogram bomb on some poor infantryman's head. Against tanks, the Mig-21bis is a surprisingly lethal cluster bomber, though its more than twice the cost of your anti infantry bombers, so not exactly budget anymore (its still really good). For fighters, you have the Mig-21bis again for an well costed 4 availability plane for spamming into the skies at the low end. At the high end though, this division has access to the Mig-31, the most expensive ASF available to the Soviet union, its an amazingly solid and reliable fighter for taking out pretty much anything with its 12 km range missiles. Its a pretty solid air tab if you can stomach the lack of high end bombers.

The 6th mostly still play to the standard Soviet mechanized doctrine of winning through heavy tanks supporting IFV infantry, though with T-64s and BMP-1s instead of the expected T-80s and BMP-2s. The advantage the 6th have over the other Soviet mechanized infantry divisions though comes in their way to grind down their opponents over the course of a battle. This division is very good at staying in a slugfest, outnumbering and out-trading their opponents thanks to a mixture of the low cost of many of their units, the reliability in which they can kill the enemy and the airmobile elements this division packs with the Luftsturm-jäger for fast reinforcements. This division doesn't open strong, but over the course of a game, you can often just end up in the lead in terms of value and work the game from there when the Buks and special forces start causing havoc. With this division's surprisingly potent urban combat potential, this division is a great choice if you don't care for the advanced T-80 tanks of the other Soviet divisions, and instead just want to brawl with your opponent for 40 minutes and come out bloodied but victorious.

6th Guards are moderate in terms of difficulty. They're generally stronger and easier to play in larger team games and 10 v 10s.

Strengths:

• Lots of cost efficient and cheap units in almost all of the tabs. You can afford to bring a lot of units to the field and individual losses are less impactful as units tend to be so cheap.
  
• Surprisingly good at urban combat, lots of special forces supported by cheap bombers and helicopters means 6th can reliably beat most divisions in urban combat that don't specialise in it.
  
• Obscenely scary AA with the Buk, Tunguska and Mig-31. You can make it hell for any enemy that brings in their air assets.
  
• Airmobile special forces with the Luftsturm-jäger provides a very potent quick response force.

Weaknesses:

• The BMP-1 is your only IFV choice. No BMP-2s is really sucky, especially for a Mechanized Infantry division.
  
• Trash helicopter tab, feels more like an East German helicopter tab than a Soviet one.

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: T-64B1, T-64BV, MSTA-S, SU-27S
Do you absolutely hate the infantry tab, but love every other tab? If so, that's an opinion that you, tank commanders in the Battle of Grozny and this division all share together. Amazing recon, incredibly strong artillery, powerful tanks and a dominant air force all work together to brutalise the opponent and hopefully pose enough of a distraction that they can't do anything about that infantry tab Achilles heel of yours.

For the sake of our sanity, I'll skip over the infantry tab and start at the tank tab. The tank of choice of this division is the T-64, the precursor to the T-80, though far from outdated. T-64s are actually very comparable to T-80s, they're just slower and slightly less armoured. The big advantage you get with them is that they're cheaper and ATGMs are optional, it's a lot easier to bring out the whole platoon of T-64s, especially if you bring the T-64A, a cheap medium tank with horrible range, like, really bad, it's closer to world war 2 optics than it is modern ones. The T-64B makes up the majority of your tab though, with the BV title given to any tank with ERA. You get to be pretty precise with what you want here, whether at a premium or at a budget, so make sure to pick what you can get away with, that cost efficiency is what makes this tab special.

Spotting for your tanks is a lot of top class chaps. Star of the show is the recon T-64, coming without ATGM or ERA, but still being a menace in its own right thanks to those optics and recon forward deployment shenanigans. If that's too much of an investment for you though, forward deployment rushing with Mot. Razvedka in recon BMP-2s is another option to hold your own in the opening, or the Mi-24K if helicopters are your jam. Once frontlines are established though, it's hard to get much better than the Shmel-1, an incredibly useful recon drone that can't be shot by radar AA, giving you vision into the forests and cities that would be death traps for your unaware tanks otherwise. There's other more ordinary stuff, but those are all the standouts, and they all work together to win you the game.

AA follows the standard convention of Iglas, Strela-10Ms and Kubs, all solid and good at protecting your tanks. Arty breaks the standard good-stuff convention by bringing better. The Msta-S is a fantastic SPG, using its autoloader to give anything its shooting at a really bad day. Supported by BM-21 Grads and the usual SPG repertoire, yeah this tab is solid, squarely above average for the Soviets.

Okay, I can't dodge it forever, infantry time. 5 slots, primarily relying on Motostrelki that can come in either trucks, BMP-1s or BMP-2s. Alongside them come Saperi and Pulemetchiki, more dedicated anti-infantry specialists, and a Konkurs ATGM team, a more dedicated anti-tank team. Normally this is the baseline for every Soviet division to build upon, but this is all you get, the very basics of the basic, and with an uncomfortably small number of slots. In case you need a reminder, Motostrelki are pretty mediocre in the first place without support, but bringing those supporting BMP-2s makes your manpower situations even worse, so its a lose-lose choice. Maybe your helicopter tab can help, it has a few nice Mi-24s and an effective anti-infantry Mi-8 with dual gun pods.

Finishing things off is the air tab, coming with some of the most effective jets the Soviets employ. Most impressive among these is definitely the Su-27, one of the best ASF the Soviets have access to, being more than capable against the high tier jets of NATO. For a budget option, the Mig-29 is also present, giving you a cheaper option for dominating the skies and protecting your Su-25s, the only bombers in this division, and you get pretty much every variant. The rocket Su-25 is an effective anti-infantry machine for its cheap price, while the AT Su-25 is one of the most reliable methods of popping NATO heavy tanks in the Soviet air force. While I don't personally like the HE variant of the Su-25, it can be put in to do work if you find a good cluster of enemy infantry. Capping things off is the Mig-27K, giving you the SEAD you need to deal with enemy AA and open the skies for the rest of your planes to do their things safely. Great tab, as you'd expect from every tab in this division not labelled infantry.

As stated in pretty much every section, there's one part of this division that is horrendously bad and everything else is top class, no points for guessing which it is. Stick to the open for as long as you can, avoid getting dragged into an infantry fight if you can, and if you absolutely need to fight in an urban area or forest, make sure your artillery and air support is ready to tip the fight in your favour. Since you have pretty good control of how expensive (and effective) you want your tanks to be, securing an early advantage in terms of armour is a pretty comfortable proposition, and even if it doesn't go your way, you're bound to outlast almost any opponent with the sheer amount of stuff you have stocked up to burn through. Do literally anything except be pulled into a big decisive city fight and this division will show you its worth over the course of a full game.

Strengths:

• There's a lot of different variants of T-64s that let you fine tune exactly how expensive you want your tanks to be, rather than being forced to go full premium or full budget. You're also not forced into buying ATGMs for all your tanks, if you don't need them, you don't need to pay for them.
  
• Great artillery tab
  
• Great air tab
  
• Great AA tab
  
• Great Recon tab

Weaknesses:

• The infantry tab.

Link to Eugen article

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: BMP-3
The 27th are the sort of division you'd see front and centre in a parade, possessing the most recent technological developments from Soviet R&D to give the division a serious edge on the battlefield. The most impressive of these toys exclusive to the 27th is the BMP-3. This next generation IFV has an excessive amount of firepower and armour by IFV standards, possessing its own tank cannon alongside the 30mm autocannon and the potent 9M117 (known as the Bastion), a 2800 meter range ATGM, the longest ranged and fastest ATGM in the game. Its basically the strongest IFV in the game, with an equally high price tag to match.

The BMP-3s are used to deliver decent size squads right into the thick of battle, who are often equipped with the RPG-27, a strong AT launcher that can tear a chunk out of the tanks NATO tends to bring, though lacking quite heavily in range, having poor range even by infantry AT standards. For longer distance anti tank, the 27th are field testing the Konkurs-M, a very strong ATGM with special Tandem missiles, able to negate the ERA that high end tanks tend to possess. This doesn't come at the sacrifice of dealing with targets without ERA, with 23 penetration making it the strongest ATGM in pact, posing a threat to even the heaviest of NATO's tanks. When combined with Metis teams and the BMP 3, the 27th can project an extremely threatening layered ATGM hellscape for their opponents to walk into and hopefully die in.

This part isn't really gameplay relevant but I feel like its worth mentioning it to avoid confusion, the infantry of the 27th all wear an updated pattern of forest camouflage compared to every other soviet division, a more modern variant. This doesn't affect their stats in any way, but funnily enough, this visual overhaul is counted as a seperate unit, so the infantry of this division show up as a different unit entirely in the armoury. Even though the armoury says every infantry soldier you have is unique to 27th, they're not, your Motostrelki are identical in terms of stats to any other Motostrelki, they just wear newer clothes.

The tank tab has the T-80BV at high availability, one of the best tanks in the game, period. To protect their T-80s, the 27th have a damn good AA tab with all the Iglas you'd expect, but also an upgraded Strela-10M3 for non radar AA. The Tunguska and Tor serve as 27th's radar AA options, with the Tunguska being the clear winner, though you can cheap out with the Tor if you want (both choices are quite good).

The helicopter is pretty standard for Soviets with all the Mi-24s you'd expect, while the air tab is pretty light on availability. The mig-23MLD and mig-29 serves as your main choices for ASF while mig-27s drop the bombs and the SU-17M4 [AT] obliterates tanks. The mig-29 outperforms the 23 in pretty much everything, but you only get one card of mig-29s, so if you think you'll need more than one card of fighter jets, you'll be stuck with the mig-23MLD. It would be a crime not to mention the T-8M, an Su-25 carrying 16 Vikhr anti tank missiles, the same as on the AT Akula. Its not a good unit, its terrible actually, and you have other better AT planes in this tab, but it is an incredibly funny flying brick that's hard to hate. I wished it fired all 16 missiles at once for added hilarity.

Last but not least, the artillery tab, and there's quite a few unique goodies in here to enjoy, precision being the focus of this division's artillery (though you still get a BM-21 Grad if you're suffering from rocket arty addiction withdrawal). The first fun gadget is the Nona, a mortar carrier thingy that uses a howitzer on the chassis of a BTR. A howitzer firing mortars doesn't sound like the most useful thing in the world, but the Nona is legitimately quite solid, as unlike other mortars, it benefits from corrected shot from nearby recon units. With 9km of range (much more than regular mortars), fantastic accuracy by default and some impressive movement speed, the Nona is a surprisingly effective self propelled gun, mortar, howitzer, thing. Tends to work better if you use it as a light howitzer rather than a mortar to be fair, despite the fact it shoots mortar shells. I don't really know how Soviet R&D came up with the Nona, but you ought to thank them as its quite competent. Coming alongside the Nona is the 2S3M1 Akatsiya, the self-propelled howtizer exclusive to the 27th. Compared to the normal Akatsiya that a few other Soviet divisions get, the M1 upgrade costs 50 points and grants the unit laser guided ammo. Without corrected shot, the M1 Akatsiya just an Akatsiya with 5KM less range, but with corrected shot, the M1 Akatsiya becomes pinpoint accurate, you will snipe anything stationary your scouts lase almost guaranteed. It's incredibly funny to get multiple M1 Akatsiyas out and instantly delete stationary tanks and IFVs, though in most other situations, it's usually (and unfortunately) better to stick to other cheaper tube arty in this division, with the regular Akatsiya and Giantsint-B usually being more cost efficient. Recon artillery correction makes regular tube artillery accurate enough already, and you don't normally need full laser guided precision to blow up an ATGM team or destroy some supply trucks anyway. Still though, quite the fun unit!

Whilst the 27th have all their fancy new toys, the core strategy is gonna be the same as the other Soviet mechanized divisions, strong heavy tanks supporting competent IFV infantry. The IFVs in question though are much improved compared to the other mechanized divisions, BMP-3s are really strong and dominate at longer ranges where the strength of their Bastion ATGMs becomes apparent, while the Konkurs-M can be called in to put a large hole in tanks that normally wouldn't be too intimidated by Pact ATGMs. Strong IFVs, strong ATGMs and strong heavy tanks all work together to clear the field for your infantry to finish off any resistance. I'd like to really highlight the ATGM part of that equation, you can fire so many highly dangerous missiles at the enemy to the point that even an Ace Combat protagonist would be worried. Make it hell for any enemy tanks brave enough to exist on the same map as your Bastions.

While you can play this division without using stuff like BMP-3s decently enough, If you have no interest in using the cutting edge technology of the 27th to get an advantage, you should probably be playing the 39th instead, they'll suit you much better than this division will.

27th Guards are easy to play.

Strengths:

• Best ATGMs in Pact in abundance. The huge range on the Bastion or the Tandem warheads on the Konkurs-M can really put the hurt on NATO armoured assets.
  
• Top class IFV with the BMP-3, its basically a light tank that carries infantry.
  
• Powerful infantry AT launcher with the RPG-27 that you can bring in large numbers. Any tank that gets too close to your infantry is getting reduced to ash, even if the range is quite short.
  
• The T-80BV at high availability, with good AA assets to protect it, gives 27th an exceptional tank game that can even contest other armoured divisions.
  
• Great AA tab, the 27th have exclusive access to the Tor and they're also the only Soviet division to possess some unique modernisation upgrades to existing AA units that just makes your stuff better.
  
• Laser guided artillery, 27th is the only Soviet division to possess any.

Weaknesses:

• Units are generally on the expensive side, especially by Pact standards. You'll be paying a lot for your fancy toys.
  
• Anti infantry bombers are a bit lacking.

Division Type: Airborne
Standout units: Ka-50 Akula, Anything with Spetsnaz in the name, BMD-2
The VDV represent the Airborne elements of the Soviet union in WARNO, and as expected from an airborne divisions, that means no tanks, a pretty sucky proposition for a nation that usually dominates in tank warfare. In exchange, you get access to the Desantniki (paratroopers) and Spetsnaz, both potent forward deployment assault troops with Spetsnaz serving as the premier special forces of the Soviet Union. Spetsnaz are definitely at their best in the 35th, with the regular variant of Spetsnaz being purpose built to demolish other infantry with their thermobaric rockets, but also having a Spetsnaz O.P variant, anti tank specialists that blow up pretty much anything with their RPG-29s and Tandem warheads. Combining both types of Spetsnaz, especially in an opening rush, leads to an extremely capable city fighting force that can be a nightmare for your opponent to deal with. Bring something that can deal with enemy helicopters, and your opening rush is pretty much ready to go thanks to how good both Spetsnaz are at their dedicated roles (and for countering helicopters, in the AA tab, the Gaz truck with an AA gun on the back is an excellent choice for this role, since it also has forward deployment for some reason).

Very unusual for an airborne division, 35th actually do bring IFVs, coming in the form of the BMD-1 and BMD-2. BMDs are essentially just airborne variants of the BMP without smoke that give 35th a surprisingly competent mechanized fighting arm that no other airborne division really has an equivalent to. With the ability to forward deploy, BMDs can be very effective. While still on the topic of transports, some of your VDV can be brought in the Skrezhet. Its basically just an anti aircraft gun strapped onto the top of an APC, protecting the infantry it transports from enemy helicopters and infantry, mainly. It can chip away at aircraft (especially slow ones, like an A-10), but don't expect it to do much to planes beyond causing a bit of suppression. The 35th have some fun transport options, so don't be afraid to use your airborne IFVs and anti-air APCs!

For the air tab, 35th gets a lot of cards of Mig-29s for taking over the skies, a really good ASF at a very affordable price for what you get, though it will struggle to keep up with high end NATO fighters. Since the 35th have a pretty weak AA tab, you're gonna be relying a lot on the Mig-29s you get to achieve air superiority and stop the opponent from bombing your elite infantry back to the stone age. Your own bombers and CAS planes are a pretty big strength of the 35th though, with options to take out pretty much any ground target, whether infantry or tank. Special mention goes to the Mig-27K, a very powerful LGB bomber which, when combined with 35th's SEAD plane and AT Su-25s, can do a lot to threaten and reliably eliminate enemy tanks.

The helicopter tab is extremely good, even by airborne standards. With lots of slots and good availability on Mi-8s and Mi-24s, alongside armed helicopter transports in the infantry tab, you can cover the skies in good helicopters and overwhelm your opponent where they're weakest whilst delivering the brave soldiers of the VDV directly into enemy territory in the process, a very historically accurate manoeuvre. The Mi-24V [RKT] is a personal favourite, its well rounded enough to deal with anything on the ground and quite affordable compared to the prototype coming up next. The 35th get exclusive access to the Ka-50 Akula, an advanced prototype gunship with two variants, built either for AA or anti tank, being fantastic at both, though also being on the expensive side. The AT missiles for the Akula [AT] are particularly dangerous, Vikhrs are even more dangerous than the Hellfires that make Apaches terrifying. People will happily suicide multiple jets deep into your lines just to kill one of these things to avoid giving you the opportunity to make use of it. The Akula is the strongest helicopter in the game, if you can afford it.

The recon tab provides more assault infantry and special forces and some recon gunships, mainly. Spetsnaz G.R.U and Spetsnaz Snipers serve as longer range recon specialists, with the former having access to GSR for exceptional optics while still being good in a brawl, and the latter being a sniper unit with improved forward deployment (and two sniper rifles, they can do better damage than you might expect). Razvedka form the rest of your recon infantry, with an 8 man Desantniki squad brought by helicopter serving as a capable active recon unit (as they still possess the shock trait!). With recon gunships like the Mi-24K to round out the tab, you probably won't be struggling to find the enemy, and your recon units are generally good at beating up the ones they do find.

Despite having IFVs, 35th do pretty standard airborne division stuff. Rush zones early with Spetsnaz and BMDs to take lots of territory early and call in your fast and dangerous air assets on anything that tries to slow you down. Once your early rush goes well, hunker down with ATGMs and try hold on to your early advantage as long as possible, hopefully long enough to win the game outright. If your early rush doesn't pan out, you can try claw your way back into the game with the Akula and Mig-27K, though more likely than not, you're probably going to lose, this division REALLY needs that early rush to work to stand a solid fighting chance (having a strong opener is why you'd want to play 35th in the first place!).

35th Guards Air Assault are easy to play.

Strengths:

• Amazing special forces in the Spetsnaz that dominate in the infantry fight, even against other similarly elite opponents. Against tanks, potent AT launchers leave your infantry very comfortable in close range fights.
  
• Great recon tab, particularly in terms of special forces. Every single squad in that tab has the assault trait and most have improved airborne forward deployment.
  
• Amazing helicopters, both of transport and attack varieties, with exclusive access to the Ka-50 Akula gunship.
  
• Potent bombers, with good options for both budget and high end CAS/bomber planes.
  
• The only airborne division in the game with access to IFVs that also have forward deployment.

Weaknesses:

• While you get a lot of them and they're very good jets, the Mig-29 can struggle to achieve air superiority against high end NATO ASFs, which is especially important for an airborne division. Any NATO division with something like an Eagle can be a real headache to deal with.
  
• No radar AA. You'll be relying more on a high quantity of Strelas and Iglas and hoping enough of it hits to score any kills, which is okay against helicopters, less so against jets. Unusually poor AA tab for the Soviets, who are usually quite good at this.
  

Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: BMP-2, T-80BV, Mig-27K
One of the most well rounded and consistently solid divisions in the game, 39th Guards exemplify Soviet mechanized warfare. The core of that mechanized force comes in various types of Motostrelki carried into battle by the reliable BMP-2 and the affordable BMP-1, both of which come in high numbers. Your infantry squads not stuck with an RPG-22 generally bring the RPG-7, an improved and reliable AT weapon against NATO tanks that get too close, with some squads further upgrading to either the Metis (for more range) or the RPG-7VR (for Tandem warheads), though these squads tend to start in trucks and BTRs instead of BMPs. With a large number of cheap slots and affordable IFV infantry, supported by Saperi with thermobaric rockets, the infantry tab of 39th is very capable of holding its own against pretty much anything. Its not a particularly flashy infantry tab, but its very reliable and strong, especially with how many BMPs you get to throw at the enemy.

It wouldn't be very mechanized without some good tanks to support your infantry, and the T-80BV is great at doing just that. One of the best tanks in the game, frankly it does a little more than just "support" your infantry, and you get it in such high availability that you can comfortably fight an armoured division in tank warfare and do exceptionally well. These tanks are protected by a pretty great AA tab thanks to the potent radar capabilities of the Kub and the affordability of your Strelas and Iglas. To further lock down the skies, you have the SU-27, a good high end Air Superiority Fighter available to the Soviet Union (though you can still bring out Mig-23s if you want to stay budget). The Su-27 is one of the most expensive jets that the Soviets have, and its price is pretty reflective of its performance, it can go toe to toe with high end NATO jets and do remarkably well, especially if it gets to fire all 10 of its missiles.

Outside of the already mentioned SU-27, the air and helicopter assets of the 39th tend to be above average by Soviet standards. The helicopter tab is the best you're getting in Soviets outside of airborne, there's nothing there too unique to 39th, you just get a bunch of solid stuff. The bombers of the 39th are very good by Soviet standards. At the low end, you have the ever reliable SU-25 for popping tanks but you also have an unusual number of bombers at the high end. The best of these high end bombers is definitely the Mig-27K, a potent high ECM LGB bomber that you get two cards of! Its a fantastic bomber in 35th and its just as excellent in 39th.

39th are very straightforward to play. You assault zones with a large number of IFV infantry in BMP-2s and BMP-1s, and support that element with fire support from heavy tanks like the T-80BV. Thanks to having an unusually excellent air tab, achieving air superiority is very much feasible and opens the way for some terrifyingly effective bombers like the Mig-27K to remove anything that stands in your way. You can't really go wrong with this division, the 39th are very solid at doing pretty much anything you want them to, there's no real hole in this roster.

Exceptionally well rounded, 39th Guards is easy to play and recommended for beginners.

Strengths:

• Pretty much every tab is good, you aren't lacking in any particular aspect, and your opponent won't have any real weaknesses to exploit.
  
• Exceptionally good fighters, bombers and fighter-bombers give the 39th great options for contesting the air and bombing the ground, you won't struggle to do either task.
  
• IFVs are quite affordable and can easily be spammed, you can get a LOT of ATGMs and anti infantry machine guns/autocannons onto the field.
  
• The T-80BV at high availability, with good AA assets to protect it, give 39th an exceptional tank game that can even contest other armoured divisions.
  
• Good selection of artillery choices for any price range. The 152mm howitzer and the Grad rocket arty stand out particularly well.
  
• Great AA coverage, with access to the Osa, a very solid and speedy radar AA choice that not many other divisions get (and in the air, you have the Su-27 to further ruin an enemy pilot's day)

Weaknesses:

Required DLC: Nemesis Air Assault
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: BMP-2D, Saperi Rys (in BTR-70 Rys), Spetsnaz GRU (with Stingers)
Coming back from the deserts of Afghanistan, the 56th really don't live up to their name as an Air Assault Brigade anymore, opting to replace much of their existing air presence and outfit their paratroopers with equipment and tactics that more resemble that of a Mechanized Infantry division, though with older T-62s instead of T-80s. Along with their change in tactics, The veteran soldiers of the 56th have also had plenty of time to adjust their weapons to better counter the Mujahideen, and therefor bring a lot of vehicles to battle that have been altered significantly with plenty of ill-advised field modifications. Expect to see a lot of missiles, thermobaric rocket launchers, grenade launchers and machine guns haphazardly welded onto their vehicles, everyone calls them the "Mad Max division" for a reason.

Starting with the infantry tab and this division is overloaded with great options, so i'll start with the more ordinary forces first. Desantniki (known as DSh.) are the backbone of your infantry force, competent shock infantry with a bunch of loadouts and transports, with the RPG-16 variant unique to this division, an anti tank launcher that sacrifices penetration for enhanced range, making it quite good against lighter vehicles. Plenty of your troops, like the ones just mentioned, can be brought in the BMP-2D, a very potent and effective IFV. Compared to the regular BMP-2, the BMP-2D attaches more side armour at the cost of losing amphibious capabilities, a very good trade seeing how infrequently you need your BMPs to start swimming. In cases where your quite skilled infantry aren't enough, the 56th can escalate with the DSh. Afghantsy, who bring their RPOs and resolute trait to sweep though enemy infantry with well practised violence. These guys can also come in the Mi-8 or Mi-24 to act as fast airmobile reinforcements, and can also be brought alongside the Dsh. (RPG-22), a large 14 man squad of shocktroopers to overwhelm the enemy, though this particular squad can only come in trucks or Mi-8s.

Moving on from the professionals, now it's time for the psychopaths, starting with the pyromaniacs. The Saperi RPO in this division don't have the RPO A and instead use the RPO Rys, an older model that fires a bigger rocket that covers a wider area in napalm, its very effective against enemy infantry entrenched in buildings or forests. The Saperi themselves certainly have taken a liking to it, as they've strapped it onto their BTRs to make the BTR-70 Rys, an exceptionally dangerous APC for any infantry that get too close to it, that car is very dangerous and a real star of this division. The Metis teams of this division liked this concept so much they copied it from the Saperi, their BTRs being modified with an AGL instead of a Rys. Satchel Saperi show them what they should have done by instead attaching actual honest to god helicopter missile pods to the top of their BTRs, because apparently they loved the Sherman Calliope so much that they became it. SPG-9 teams easily take the most boring award, attaching another SPG-9 to the tops of their tin cans, the thing doesn't even look welded down, F for effort. Finally, the Okhrana arrive on what can only be described as a battlewagon, carrying a fairly sizeable amount of firepower onto the back of a truck, cobbled together by stealing some poor BTR's turret, a bunch of scrap metal armour from god knows where and even more helicopter missile pods. If a military inspector ever saw any of these vehicles, they'd probably have an aneurysm, but I'm sure the drivers are having the time of their lives in there.

The tank tab is pretty fun, with airliftable ATGM cars and the T-62. The T-62 is an old soviet tank modified with "cope cage" armour around the sides. The T-62, especially the variant with the Bastion ATGM, is a decent enough medium tank to handle what you need it to do, but its slow speed and lack of an autoloader holds it back from being as great as other Soviet tanks on the offence. Good tanks to have, just don't expect T-80 level performance.

Arty is quite good, with the 56th having a very unorthodox 240mm Mortar, either in HE or CLU variety. This comically large mortar does a LOT of damage to anything it hits, the cluster variant is probably one of the best anti tank artillery pieces in the game. With Grads, Nonas and SPGs coming in to support, the 56th are not lacking in artillery.

AA tab is fine for infared but this division doesn't have any radar AA. For the air tab, the bombers you have, especially the Mig-27K LGB bomber, do quite well, and you have the Mig-23MLD [AA2] as your ASF, a surprisingly good budget fighter with high quality missiles you wouldn't expect to see at this price range, so the 56th air tab is great.

You would expect, with no radar AA, this division would be very vulnerable to enemy air assets, and you're very correct, though not against helicopters thanks to the unexpectedly good recon tab of this division. Spetsnaz (Stingers) are the highlight, a 4 man spec ops team who excel against tanks and enemy air assets thanks to their terrifying RPG-27s and stolen Mujahideen stingers. They're mostly wasted against enemy infantry, but for any other target, your Spetsnaz are a very dangerous threat. If you weren't happy with just one forward deployment AA option, the recon ZSU arrives, an AA gun that had its anti air radar sawed off and replaced with a ground surveilance radar, granting exceptional optics. You can't shoot planes with it, but helicopters and enemy infantry aren't safe when this thing is on the field. Capping things off are Mot. Razvedka in the recon BMP-2, a very potent and dangerous recon IFV that can find targets and fight them just as well.

So if you couldn't tell by now, this division is pretty wacky, but surprisingly practical. BMP-2s (and recon BMP-2s) serve as the core of any of your armies, delivering competent shock troopers right into the heart of the enemy. To further assist these troops, Afghan war veterans, RPO Rys Saperi and your various field modified battlewagons are to be called in to break the most well entrenched of enemy defenders, while T-62s provide a good enough backbone to stop the enemy from driving tanks right over you (and hold them back long enough to let your ATGMs, the Mig-27K and 240mm cluster mortar deal with the problem). There's a lot to love here, this is a really cool division, so don't be afraid to ride eternal, shiny and chrome with the 56th.

The 56th are difficult to play and not recommended for beginners. A significant weakness to NATO jets, worse tanks than most other Soviet divisions and lots of unusual units make this division tricky to get to grips with.

Strengths:

• The vast majority of your infantry are upvetted by default and have the shock trait. They all perform really well in urban combat, especially by Soviet standards.
  
• Exclusive access to the RPO Rys, a very potent thermobaric launcher.
  
• Abundance of amazing transport options. BMP-2s, modified BTRs, battlewagon trucks and even transport gunships all do very well in their roles as transports and as fire support.
  
• A funny amount of forward deployment AA. If your opponent tries to helirush you, they won't have a good time.
  
• Solid anti tank bombers and anti tank artillery.

Weaknesses:

• No infantry tab forward deployment, this isn't an airborne division, despite the name.
  
• No radar AA leaves you vulnerable to enemy planes.
  
• Noticeably outdated tanks in comparison to all other Soviet mechanized infantry divisions.
  
• The anti infantry bombers in this division aren't very good.

Winner of the Nemesis 2 vote on the Pact side. Should be introduced some time later this year when development is finished

Read more about them here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1611600/view/4365761126567531883?l=english

WORK IN PROGRESS WRITEUP:
Required DLC: Nemesis 2
Division Type: Airborne
Standout units: BMD-3, Mig-31, Schmel-1, Spetsgruppa V
The 76th Guards Airborne Division are saddled with the extremely dangerous task of capturing the nuclear missile silos in the Plateau d'Albion, a mission that permits just twenty minutes before French nukes start flying. Thankfully, no expense has been spared for the 76th as they bring the most advanced technology the VDV can get their hands on. While the 35th VDV may have the best helicopters and the 56th VDV may have their field modified battlewagons, the 76th VDV bring the best jets and IFVs of the three VDV divisions, and even a couple drones, to overwhelm the opponent and win the game as quickly as possible.

Starting with the infantry tab, and most of it stays pretty standard for a VDV division. Desantniki are your main line infantry, shock troopers that come upvet by default, they're solid against most enemies, and you have all manner of variants to choose from. Unique to this division, the Desant. Usilennie are one such variant, a bigger squad of paratroopers with two LMGs and two rocket launchers, they're great for taking over forests and the like from the enemy. In the other direction, Desantniki (BMDs) come with slightly smaller squads in BMD-2s, an effective infantry support IFV that also benefits from forward deployment (just beware of the lack of smoke!). With a Metis squad and some Pulemetchiki ending the list, you have pretty much everything you'd expect. Well, there is one more thing. Instead of the Spetsnaz you'd expect, this division instead calls upon the Spetsgruppa V, a similarly elite and fantastic special forces squad. The Spetsgruppa are worse at killing infantry than Spetsnaz, and worse than killing tanks than O.P. Spetsnaz, but their unique advantage is being able to do both roles well, coming with RPG-27s and satchel bombs. Solid special forces, they round out the infantry tab of this division to be quite excellent.

Next up, tank tab. As with most airborne divisions, not a single tank in sight, but that doesn't mean the 76th are lacking in this tab. That is because of the BMD-3, an incredibly dangerous IFV that fixes the biggest flaw of the BMD-2 by remembering to bring smoke launchers. Packing an autocannon, two PKT machine guns, an AGL and the lethal Konkurs-M ATGM, the BMD-3 brings all the firepower the 76th could ever want (and then some) to the battlefield. If you don't need the anti infantry part of that equation though, you get the regular BRDM-2 ATGM car and a forward deploying Luaz car to throw ATGMs down range (though nowhere near as good as the Konkurs-M of the BMD-3). Excellent tank tab by airborne standards, the BMD-3 can punch up extremely hard against many of the heavy tanks you're likely to see on the battlefield.

Recon tab is generally packed with good stuff, but there's one unit that really stands out, the Schmel-1 UAV, a recon drone. The unique thing about drones in WARNO is that they are un-targettable by radar AA, you can fly over a Roland or I-Hawk and be totally fine. Being quite cheap, the Schmel is surprisingly great at buzzing over the frontlines and being a pain for the enemy to deal with, usually requiring MANPADs to deal with.

Finishing the streak of excellent tabs, in comes the air tab, with some of the best ASF available to the Soviets.

Strengths:

• Placeholder

Weaknesses:

• [Mention lack of CVs]
  
• No helicopters, like, at all. Blame Italian air defence.

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: T-80BV Izd. 29, BMP-2D
The 79th best represent the biggest strength of the Soviets, their exceptional heavy tanks. You get three different variants of the T-80 in your tank tab, including the T-80BV IZD. 29, a tank exclusive to 79th that is basically just a much faster T-80BV with an improved ATGM that fires Tandem rockets to put the hurt on enemy tanks with ERA. Pretty nice upgrades all around, and it comes with a chevron of veterancy by default, which is really nice. No matter the specific variant though, the T-80s of the 79th are some of the scariest tanks in the game that will put the smackdown on any target unfortunate enough to challenge them. Unlike most other Soviet divisions, the 79th also have a good light tank in the TO-55, giving them a cheapter option for a tank when you don't need the full power of a T-80. To protect these tanks, the AA tab is tailor made to excellence, with the Tunguska, Kub and Osa all being available as your radar protection whilst the Strela-10M and Iglas serve as your infared protection. Literally every option in this tab is great at its job, you can't go wrong, though i'm a particular fan of the Osa in this division as it is able to keep up with your tanks very comfortably.

Keeping up with the overwhelming tank pushes of the 79th come acceptable amounts of IFV infantry in your infantry tab, either in BMP-1s or BMP-2s, your choice (I would suggest skewing more towards BMP-2s). Equipped with RPG-7s, your infantry squads and their IFVs provide a good screen to put infront of your tanks and deal with any would-be ambushers. You also have the option of taking the BMP-2D with some of your squads, which is a variant that upgrades the side armour of the BMP-2 in exchange for the loss of amphibious capabilities, which is usually always worth it. For a tank division, these options are not bad at all, and you get enough infantry that upvetting them is a pretty comfortable choice. Good infantry tab for an armoured division, especially if you like the BMP-2, because you get a lot of them.

Spotting what needs to be destroyed by your tanks is handled by the usual things you'd expect to see in the Soviet recon tab, all the Razvedka and recon BMPs you'd expect, though the Mi-24K, the recon attack helicopter most other soviet divisions get, is noticeably absent. Instead, you get something arguably better in the Spetsnaz GRU, a special forces squad with improved forward deployment (better than regular recon forward deployment) and the GSR (Ground Surveillance Radar) trait, improving their optics to exceptional when they aren't moving. The Spetsnaz GRU are okay in a fight against other infantry, cleaning house with their short range submachine guns and shock trait, but most critically, unlike the NATO equivelant units that generally pack satchel bombs, the GRU do have an AT weapon in the RPG-22 to defend themselves against vehicles and ward away enemy tanks. Super useful unit held back only by their expensive price. Use your Spetsnaz well and they can really prepare the battlefield for your other infantry and tanks to excel, especially if they abuse that forward deployment to screw up the opponent's opener and/or setup their GSR in a particularly juicy spot that gives you a clear picture of the enemy army. The rest of the tab is mostly what you'd expect, but you do get the Mot. Razvedka coming in the recon BMP-2, an excellent scout vehicle that works very well when fighting alongside your tanks.

There isn't much to explain about their playstyle, really. The 79th are very straightforward in wanting to beat the living daylights out of their opponent with heavy tanks at long range. Amassing a large number of heavy tanks to roll over the opponent later in the game is usually the win condition with this division, though 79th are capable enough to win well before that point if you use your tanks and IFVs well. Again, not much to elaborate on, playing this division is the equivalent of hitting your opponent with a hammer repeatedly until they either get knocked out or you run out of tanks and infantry.

Easy to play, 79th is great for beginners and a solid entry point to playing armoured divisions.

Strengths:

• An obscene number of T-80s of many different variants. One of the strongest tank tabs in the game, period. Even dedicated NATO armoured divisions will be very apprehensive about fighting you in the open.
  
• Great options for AA with Kubs, Osas, Strela-10Ms, Iglas, Tunguskas and the Mig-29 or Mig-23. Anyone trying to bomb your tanks is gonna have a rough time.
  
• Great IFVs in abundance with the BMP-2s and BMP-1s (but mainly BMP-2s).
  
• Pretty good infantry for an armoured division, which come at high enough availability that upvetting them is a very practical choice.

Weaknesses:

• Since you generally want to bring lots of BMP-2s, a lot of your infantry tab is going to be prohibitively expensive and ill-suited for grinding away in urban combat. Taking cities and forests that autocannons can't reach can be a real pain, so treat your Saperi well.
  

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: T-80U, T-80UD, Su-27
Almost nobody will disagree with you if you claim the 119th have the strongest tanks in the game, because they do. Additionally, almost nobody will disagree with you if you claim the 119th have one of the worst infantry tab in the game, because it really is that bad. Putting the armoured part of an armoured division in capitals, 119th make sacrifices to most other tabs in order to supercharge their tank tab, bringing some of the most terrifyingly lethal steel behemoths to grace the battlefield that pack an eye watering amount of firepower and armour on an abnormally fast package. Very little can hope to challenge, let alone beat, your tanks in a straight 1v1 at any range, though your superheavies likely be significantly more expensive than anything else on the battlefield, the T-80UD in particular costing 340 points, making it the most expensive tank in the game. If 119th is given time to built up a strong tank force, pretty much nothing will be able to stop them in the lategame, this division tends to bloom late but gets EXTREMELY dangerous when it does.

As mentioned already, the 119th infantry tab is bad, but its not all bad. 119th have access to Spetsnaz and Spetsnaz (O.P), very competent special forces infantry, the former is great at killing other squads while the latter specialises in popping tanks (not that you need that much help in this division, but their forward deployment is still really nice to have). With no reservist style troops and just a single card of BMP-1 Motostrelki, 119th do struggle immensely for manpower, and with only 5 slots, expect to run out of forces very quickly. With such low availability on IFVs, the TO-55 flame tank is a pretty decent stand-in for infantry support, it's a good enough light tank to get the job done. At the end of the day though, this division is sacrificing the infantry in exchange for the tanks, so if you where hoping for good infantry, you've come to the wrong place for it.

The recon and helicopter tabs are pretty standard, if a little light, for Soviets. Not particularly noteworthy but very much acceptable, with the Spetsnaz G.R.U providing additional special forces who can also stay stationary to setup their Ground Surveillance Radar to give your tanks a good picture of what they need to destroy. The AA tab is also very light on options, having only Iglas, Strelas and the Tunguska, but all three options are pretty good and decent availability makes the AA tab acceptable enough for an armoured division (I do wish the 119th had a Kub though, you can really feel that its missing). In terms of artillery, I am required to mention that 119th have access to the Buratino, a short ranged but extremely dangerous thermobaric rocket platform, its the ultimate punisher of blobs. Extremely high cost and demanding logistics really hold it back, especially in smaller games, but if it lands a decent barrage, it can win the game for you on its own.

The air tab is good in 119th, particularly in ASF. Mig-29s are your budget ASF, while the Su-27 is your high end ASF. Both are competitive with the NATO airforce and they are extremely welcome and competent at protecting your very valuable tanks from enemy anti tank bombers. 119th also have a solid bomber game themselves, with Su-24s providing LGB, HE and SEAD operations. While the Su-24 isn't the best bomber in the world, LGBs aren't the most common in Pact so having access to some is very appreciated.

As mentioned already, 119th really thrive when they make it to lategame and can amass a large number of superheavy tanks to overpower the opponent with, so trying to survive that long is the objective when playing them. Use your Spetsnaz's forward deployment to get a foothold in key locations and stall as much time as possible with the infantry you do have have until you can really get the ball rolling with your steel beasts. Once that ball is rolling, you're pretty much unstoppable, so try your best to endure the earlygame, things will eventually turn in your favour!

119th Independent Tank Regiment is difficult to play and not recommended for beginners. In larger team games, they're significantly easier to use with teammates (hopefully) providing the infantry you don't have.

Strengths:

• The strongest tanks in the game, period. Unrivalled in the lategame, you can overpower pretty much anyone once your heavy armour starts rolling in. Anyone who challenges you directly in tank warfare will lose and lose hard.
  
• Competent ASF like the Su-27 provide much needed protecting to your tanks that are simply too valuable to lose.
  
• Abnormal amounts of special forces for an armoured division provide pretty capable forward deployment.

Weaknesses:

• Infantry tab only has 5 slots and poor options for high availability/large squads. You will run out of men extremely quickly if you're not careful with the few you do have.
  
• Units are very expensive across the board. Expect to pay a premium for everything.
  
• Tanks and artillery tend to drain supplies like crazy. The 119th logistics tab isn't bad but everything demands so much supply that it can be difficult to keep up with demands.
  
• There's a pretty huge quality and price gap between the TO-55 and the next 'cheapest' tank. Enemy tanks that can beat the TO-55 but lose to the T-80U are plentiful and are a bit awkward to deal with when you can't afford your superheavies.
  
• No long range AA, like a Kub or a Buk, that could really shut down enemy planes. The Tunguskas you get aren't bad, but pretty much any other radar AA would have been preferable over them.

WORK IN PROGRESS WRITEUP:
Required DLC: Nemesis 3
Division Type: Infantry (Reserve)
Standout units:
The 157th, based in Crimea and responsible for protecting all those juicy Black Sea naval bases, don't get the Guards title for a reason, this division is incredibly poorly funded, with much of their equipment coming from training centers and old obsolete World War 2 era stuff. I'm not joking, this is pretty much a Steel Division 2 army, relying on a huge horde of riflemen and their commissar companions to break through the frontline with obscene manpower. If you long to return to the days of plinking Germans with Mosins, well, you have Mosins and IS-2s in this division, go wild.

East Germany is known for being extremely good at one thing, propaganda. The people of the GDR have been well indoctrinated to fight the capitalist pigs in a righteous war and will gladly give their lives to see the dream of a unified Germany come to fruition. In-game, this is represented through the Resolute trait, making your troops much more resistant to suppression and much more willing to charge that enemy machine gun nest without running away. The vast majority of your roster get this trait, and it helps give East German infantry and tanks in particular a significant advantage over their less fanatical competitors over in NATO.

Speaking of infantry, East German infantry are in a league of their own, and the biggest reason to play many of their divisions. Mot-Schützen are the gold standard in terms of line infantry, brave and durable squads with a surprising amount of firepower, they're often able to go head to head against enemy paratroopers and do way better than they have any right to, while absolutely dumpstering most enemy line infantry that decide to challenge them. While BMP-1s are the usual transport, some Mot-Schützen squads can instead come in the SPW-70 (SPW is their name for BTR), a fast and deadly APC with a very effective infantry killing machine gun, it's one of the best transports in the game for both getting to the battle quickly and killing any enemies that are there. While it can't defend itself against enemy vehicles, East German infantry can, all of whom usually come with some variant of the RPG-7, a very effective AT launcher against all but the thickest of enemy armour. East German infantry make the Motostrelki of the Soviets look like conscripts in comparison, the infantry of this nation are fantastic and well worth relying on.

The other big reason to play East Germany comes in their tanks. While they don't have any heavy tanks at all, their light and medium tank lineups are really great in terms of cost effectiveness and they can easily leverage their higher numbers to overwhelm the heavy tanks other nations rely on. East German tanks tend to be most lacking in speed but pack an unusually great deal of armour and firepower for their low price. Many tanks also come with the resolute trait to give them a slight edge, especially if they don't get the first shot. The East German T-72 in particular is a really great medium tank, lots of really solid variants that really punch up against heavier tanks thanks to their obnoxiously big guns. If you're looking to overwhelm your opponents in a horde of cost effective tanks, the East Germans have got you covered.

East German helicopters are pretty much just diet soviets, relying more on the older Mi-8 than the newer Mi-24. The hinds you do have, while downgraded in firepower, come in higher availability and a reduced price, letting you spam more out than the Soviets normally will, though don't expect them to accomplish a ton on their own. Air tab is in a similar boat, when the Mig-29 is your most impressive "high end" ASF you know things are gonna be iffy in the ASF department. As usual with East Germany, you get a lot and you get it cheap with availability 3 and 4 being very common, letting you overwhelm your more technologically advanced opponents in the air and hopefully land enough lucky hits to score some kills. This is a surprisingly solid strategy though, especially in terms of bombers. East Germany gets some surprisingly effective cluster and high explosive munitions with very cheap bombers, they'll probably pay for themselves outright after one bombing run, which is a good thing as that's usually how long most will survive.

In summary, East Germany is great if you like:

• High availability and cheap costs on most of your units gives you a great numbers advantage over all opponents. Losses don't matter as much when stuff is so cheap and numerous.
  
• Tanks do very well at closer ranges thanks to their autoloaders, availability and armour. While most other nations prefer to use tanks at long ranges, East Germany is uniquely capable in close range tank brawls.
  
• The resolute trait gives a majority of your roster increased suppression resistance, your units being much more willing to fight to the last man then most.
  
• One of the best line infantry in the game with the Mot-Schützen, they're in a league of their own and their performance is closer to what you'd expect of elite paratroopers more so than the affordable and highly available line infantry they are.
  
• A hilarious abundance of rocket artillery. East Germans are quite good at changing a town's wikipedia page to past tense.
  

However, East Germany may not be for you if you dislike:

• None of the fancy next generation Air Superiority Fighters or cutting edge IFVs that other factions pack, your roster is noticeably outdated.
  
• Weak ATGMs and no heavy tanks of your own makes it pretty tough to bust the armour on enemy heavy tanks, especially at longer distances.
  
• One of the weaker IFVs in this game, only really having access to the BMP-1, which doesn't have an autocannon and packs pretty unreliable low accuracy ATGMs compared to the Soviet version.
  
• Weapon ranges tend to be pretty short across the board for most things.
  
• Not all tanks are gonna have smoke to save them from a bad spot. If you see a TOW-2 barrelling towards one of your T-55s, well, good luck, the crew will need it.

Division Type: Infantry
Standout units: Fs-jäger, T-55AM2B
Oh dear god that's a lot of forward deployment. 4th MSD brings an obscene number of Fs-jägers and potent special forces in the recon tab to infest cities and forests with their presence, you get more than enough paratroopers for your opener. While their paratroopers are fighting on the front and holding the enemy off, 4th have a good tank tab with cheap bombers to reinforce their forward positions, giving them a lot of ways to maintain their early advantage and win the game off their initial rush.

Outside of the already mentioned paratroopers, the infantry of the 4th is pretty damn good. The 4th aren't really a Mechanized Infantry division though, so if you where hoping for IFVs, you may be disappointed. You only get two cards of IFV infantry, and their IFV choices aren't fantastic, just BMP-1s with the weak ATGM with poor accuracy that can't one any enemy IFV (credit where credit is due, the squads inside said BMP-1 are super solid and have an enticingly good vet curve). Instead, you'll be using a motorised strategy, getting some very competent truck and SPW-70 squads that can arrive to the frontlines quickly in their wheeled transports, with the Mot-Schützen (BTR) in particular being an excellent line infantry squad that can fold most NATO line infantry without breaking a sweat. The SPW-70 they have the option of coming in is an excellent fire support option and is great at helping your Mot-Schützen further dominate in infantry fights, while the squad's own RPG-7s can handle enemy vehicles very well, that rocket launcher is surprisingly dangerous. In case the rockets of your Mot-Schützen aren't adequate, the 4th can call in Panzerjägers, a dedicated anti tank squad with 7 men and two improved RPG-7s, the type that rock with Tandem warheads, they're well equipped to decimate pretty much any tank in an ambush (and you'll probably need to setup an ambush to get within firing distance, seeing as their range is reduced to an uncomfortably short 500m). For decimating infantry though, your Mot-Schützen (SVD) come in, replacing their AT launchers with the Dragunov to give enemy infantry a really bad time against two machine guns and a sniper rifle. As you'd expect from East Germany, very good infantry to enjoy here, and an abundance of SPW-70s to help you handle the few threats your Mot-Schützen and Fs-jäger aren't comfortable with brawling on their own.

For their tank tab, 4th have the very cheap T-55 and its several variants as their main tank. All variants generally have abnormally good armour at a cheap price, but tend to lack in speed and especially firepower, they can't really deal with the armour on enemy heavy tanks with only sideshots doing anything of note, though the AM2B does better off thanks to its solid ATGM. 4th tend to rely more on their ATGMs to kill enemy tanks, with the most effective coming from the PAK anti tank gun. The PAK is a surprisingly solid tank killer with impressive range thanks to the Bastion ATGM it has, alongside an okay gun for anything that gets too close. While not the most durable thing in the world, a good stealth value gives the protection the PAK needs to be a pretty solid unit. With recent buffs in mind, the SPW Konkurs is another stealthy ATGM carrier that comes in to fire even more missiles, though it also comes with the benefit of being on wheels, unlike the PAK. If you couldn't tell by now, the 4th much enjoy their ATGMs, and the relative weakness of your tanks against enemy heavy tanks can be made up for with a liberal application of missiles.

Most of your recon is done by the usual American soldiers you'd expe-hold on, American? This division has exclusive access to two very special recon units, the Fs-Einsatzgruppe and Fs-Sprengtaucher, both of which are East German special forces operatives dressed in stolen American uniforms, giving them the false flag trait (and a one way ticket to a firing squad if they get captured, but well, that's on them). The false flag trait causes them to be targeted last in a firefight by the enemy, you wouldn't want to shoot your own allies after all, which gives both squads an opportunity to get close and make deadly use of their shock trait. The difference between the two squads is that the Fs-Einsatzgruppe carry LAW AT launchers to pop vehicles while Fs-Sprengtaucher bring stachel bombs to be better against infantry, though this leaves them with no protection against enemy vehicle. Even though they don't have airborne forward deployment and instead use regular recon forward deployment, these guys are still really good and frankly, both cards are worth taking, though if you're only gonna bring one, the Fs-Sprengtaucher are generally more useful (false flag works really well with satchel bombs).

The AA tab is adequate, Kubs, Iglas and Strela-10Ms are all you really need anyway, it's a good tab. Helicopters in 4th do much better than most of East Germany, packing a good amount of Mi-24s at high availability and a cheap price, whilst having a bit more high end stuff than usual. Its not that impressive but its an improvement over what East Germany normally gets.

The Air tab is above average for East Germany, with access to the Mig-29 for your "high end" ASF whilst getting a high availability on Mig-21s and Mig-23s to really swarm the skies with cheap planes. In an air to air engagement, 4th aren't lacking, and neither are their bombers, with lots of cheap anti infantry and anti tank options that tend to be very reliable despite their low price tag. 4th gets a lot and they get them cheap, a very good air tab.

A pretty straightforward infantry division, 4th get an early foothold in cities and forests with strong forward deployment special forces and work from there, either defending with infantry, ATGMs and the PAK anti tank gun or attacking with infantry under the cover of smoke, tanks and artillery. Thanks to solid budget bombers and competent resolute squads, 4th do quite well in urban combat, though not to the same level as urban combat specialists like Berlin Command or any of the airborne divisions. Still though, you can definitely hold your own even in those matchups and beat the breaks out of anyone who isn't specialised for those conditions quite easily. All in all, pretty standard infantry division stuff, your soldiers are just really good at what they do (and incredibly brave, too).

4th Motorized is easy to play. They're definitely the easiest East German division in the game currently, so if you want to try the nation out, starting with this division is a good call.

Strengths:

• Really good forward deployment, with a large amount of Fs-jägers that can easily overwhelm an uprepared opponent.
  
• Effective light tanks, both for close ranged brawls and longer range firepower (AM2B ATGMs).
  
• Good infantry AT weapon in the RPG-7 make your troops very potent on the defence and in ambushes.
  
• Abundance of dangerous special forces and shock troops to dominate in urban combat, including some false flag units with two cards of special forces disguised in American uniforms.
  
• Cheap and spammable air tab with above average ASF options for East Germany.

Weaknesses:

• With no heavy tanks of their own and no high penetration ATGMs, 4th can struggle against extremely well armoured enemy tanks. Superheavies can be a nightmare for this division to deal with, and any heavy with ERA is gonna be rough to finish off.
  
• The IFVs you have aren't great at killing infantry and they aren't great at killing vehicles. They're simply not that good.

Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: T-72M, T-72M1, Su-22M4K [AT]
The 7th Panzer division get to enjoy the strength of East German tanks the most, being the main user of the the T-72, a very solid medium tank that doesn't cost a whole lot. The gun of the T-72 in particular is really good, packing the same penetration as the main gun of the T-80, though with reduced range (it also has an autoloader, which is really nice). Coming with three variants, the original T-72 is the weakest that lacks smoke and has terrible range on its main gun, though it can still pack a decent punch if the tank manages to get in range. The T-72M improves on the flaws of the original, bringing the gun's range up to 2100 and adding smoke (this is the variant you'll be using the most). The T-72M1 is the best of the three, adding additional armour to the T-72M to reach heavy tank levels of front armour, though without the ERA that high end Soviet tanks get to enjoy. With a great balance of firepower and armour for its cheap price, the T-72 serves as a super solid medium tank and the reason you're playing this division in the first place, though it's not the only good tank they have, as the T-55 comes in as their light tank to provide further numbers to the East German tank hordes. 7th Panzer has a lot of solid options for swarming the battlefield with cost effective tanks, outnumbering any opponent they come across and throwing a frankly excessive amount of shots down range thanks to their autoloaders. Ranges do tend to be pretty low across the board though, so try and use the terrain to ensure closer ranged tank battles where you will have the advantage.

Infantry in 7th follows the usual armoured division formula, focusing on 7 man line infantry squads in IFVs, your IFV options being variations of the BMP-1s, but thankfully, you get the BMP-1P. The BMP-1P is essentially just the Soviet standard variant of the BMP-1, packing a much more reliable ATGM that won't miss every single shot you take like all the other variants will. The infantry inside of those IFVs tend to be a bit more on the pricey side thanks to Resolute and an above average number of LMGs, though that makes them much better in a fight than you'd expect, so all together, the 7th can do well in infantry combat. Surprisingly high quality infantry and a, well, an acceptable IFV choice leads to this division having a pretty comfortable time in terms of infantry. Hard to complain, Mot-Schützen kick down doors and clear forests as well as they should.

For AA options, its very standard, Kubs, Iglas and Strela-10Ms into the sunset. Its not flashy but its very effective, and thanks to the cheap price of your tanks, you can get away with not having the most impressive AA network, your tanks are very much replaceable (though still, don't disregard AA!).

Helicopter tab is mediocre and uninteresting, its pretty standard for East Germany. Air tab is more interesting, with the Mig-23 in particular being a very good budget ASF. You don't have the high end ASFs of other armoured divisions so you might struggle for air superiority, but you have enough chaff to throw at the enemy you're bound to get lucky and kill their valuable air assets eventually. The bomber fleet is pretty good, possessing lots of options for the high end Su-22 strike craft, all of which have some of the best ECM values that East Germany can afford and anti air missiles to protect themselves with, making them pretty reliable choices if you want a bomber that can survive the return trip. Special attention is deserved for the Su-22M4K [AT], which would normally be a pretty solid anti tank plane coming at a decently affordable price tag, but for some reason, Eugen gave it 3 availability. 3 availability on a high end jet like this is pretty rare for Pact, and it means you can spam out a hilarious amount of solid AT bombers into the skies, taking both cards can be very funny. On the budget side of bombers, the Mig-21bis [HE] is fairly decent, though the other budget options are pretty sucky and not worth your time, you're better off upgrading to Su-22s.

For artillery, its pretty light on options, a 120mm mortar and a few self-propelled artillery howitzers come as expected, though there's no field gun howitzers anywhere. What does stand out however is the RM-70, East Germany's premier method of throwing 80 HE rockets at the whole forest in which an enemy scout was spotted. 7th Panzer gets two cards of this thing, and both cards have 2 availability, which means you can bring a grand total of four rocket artillery trucks to unleash hell on your opponent. Its not exactly practical to set up in a 1v1, but in larger team games, you can get a little silly with things. Make sure to bring lots of logistics (or at the very least, an FOB) if you plan to do this alongside your already supply-hungry tanks, otherwise you'll run into issues once your ammo starts running dry while your tanks still need repairs.

While most armoured divisions do best when keeping engagements at long range, 7th are pretty much the opposite. The tanks of this division really thrive at closer ranges, being well suited to close range brawls thanks to a combination of strong armour, high numbers/availability, the resolute trait and their autoloaders. You'll usually be outnumbering your opponent and you can easily unleash an impressive amount of firepower at closer ranges, firepower that is less affected by stress loss due to the aforementioned trait and autoloaders. Use the cover of forests to get in close and force the close range brawls you thrive in while using your infantry and AA assets to handle the threats that a tank wouldn't be able to.

7th Panzer division is tricky to play. Being outranged by every opponent and playing around that can be difficult, especially on more open maps, so learn how to play normal armoured divisions before you play this division (unless you REALLY want to, I can't stop you).

Strengths:

• Good air tab for bombers, both at the low end and high end.
  
• Pretty great infantry tab for an armoured division. Lots of high quality soldiers that come at high availability and with good vet curves.
  
• Good AA tab that can handle any threats to your tanks pretty easily.

Weaknesses:

• Tank main gun ranges are below average on most of your tanks, you're gonna get outranged by most opponents.
  
• No high end fighters, something armoured divisions tend to benefit a lot from. In a 1v1 dogfight, you'll be losing a lot, which isn't great.

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: BMP-2, RM-70 [NPLM], T-72S
Front and centre in any parade, the 9th Panzer Division is the pride and joy of East Germany, stacked with the best tanks and the most advanced IFVs they can get their hands on, making this division uniquely elite and expensive by East German standards. You're paying for the quality and overwhelming power of your units, and this division is sure to not disappoint.

Starting with infantry, and wow those slots are expensive. Mot-Schützen come standard as your main line infantry, excellent troops with solid availability coming in either trucks or BMPs, with Pioniers around to flamethrower enemy infantry or gun them down with their SPW-70 transports. All very standard East German stuff so far, but the one unique thing this tab gets are Mot-Schützen (RPG-27), who bring deadly Tandem rocket launchers and come in BMP-2s, IFVs East Germany doesn't normally get. The autocannons of the BMP-2 really do help this tab out in infantry fights, and while you'd assume a tank division like this might struggle in urban environments, Mot-Schützen are proud to prove that assumption wrong. While not quite on the same tier as 7th Panzer's infantry tab, this division does acceptably fine in an urban brawl.

But, for the reason you're here, the tank tab. There's not a single T-55 in here, you're getting the best of the best and there's no time for fodder. Starting at the very best, the T-72S! This behemoth of a T-72 can make even the Soviets jealous, coming with 18 front armour, ERA, a 2800 range ATGM with 21 pen alongside the 19 pen main gun standard of T-72s. Since the biggest weakness of T-72 tanks is their poor range, the Svir ATGM can counter that and it provides a crucial method for your tanks to punch out further. Way further down on the tank totem pole comes the T-72M1, the former best East German tank, coming with great armour and a potent gun for a medium tank, but limited by its 2100 range gun. The last tank, the T-72MUV, is basically a repeat of what I've just said, but replace "great armour" with "good armour", as that's the only difference. All of them have smoke, all of them have resolute crews, and all of them are ready to brawl on the frontlines and punch up against the more expensive Abrams and Leopards of the opponents and do very well.

After the menace that is the tank tab, the division takes a breather in the recon tab, as it's the most painfully generic mechanized infantry recon tab you've ever seen (which means its pretty good). Mot Aufklarer in recon BMP-1s, SPWs, BRMs and a few helicopter (including a jammer helicopter) is what you get. If vanilla is your favourite ice cream flavour than you'll probably like this tab, I guess.

The AA tab is also pretty generic, but you'll be glad it is. Kubs are your saving grace against enemy anti tank bombers, providing a long range umbrella of missile throwing to keep them safe and sound. For shorter range AA, Strela-10M vehicles and Igla MANPADs are provided, SEAD-proof solutions to any enemy air assets, with the Shilka also there if you want a SPAAG for enemy helicopters. Plenty of cards, good amount of slots, go wild. Artillery starts off on a similar boat of "generic, but in a good way", with plenty of 152mm SPGs and RM-70 rocket trucks to mess around with, but then jumps off said boat to board a damn battleship with the Napalm RM-70. I don't know why Eugen thought it was okay to give the spawn road obliterator 9000 to a non-reservist division, but if you want to watch the world burn and can afford the high asking price, go crazy.

Helicopter tab is alright, few slots with good options, with the Falnaga Mi-24 standing out as a particularly nice AT helicopter in this division. For the air tab though, you're back to eating good, geting a lot of Su-22 strikecraft to play with. The Su-22 [AT] is the most noteworthy, coming with two cards and being an excellent solution to making sure you're the only armoured player having fun out there. Cluster and HE munitions are also provided, and the Su-22 is a pretty good bomber for both. While I can't exactly call the Mig-23 a masterpiece, it does do a pretty decent job in the skies as your ASF of choice, and at 3 availability a card, just being decent is acceptable enough for that role. Solid air tab.

Anyway, notice anything about what's just been written? I've never used the word bad once. Everything in this division is varying levels of okay to excellent, with even the weakest tabs having something good in them to make use of. In short, this division is a monster of combined arms warfare, you can do it all and do it all well, against any opponent, on any map. While you should lean into your tanks and try and get the closer-ranged tank battles that this division is aiming for, you're not limited to just doing that, there's plenty of options at your disposal. Still though, abuse those tanks, this division is the king of T-72s and you should wear that crown with pride.

Strengths:

• T-72s are incredibly cost efficient tanks, and you get the best of the best of them. The tanks of this division feel like they're 30 points undercosted for what they should be, they're that efficient at trading up.
  
• Very well rounded division, with no major holes in the roster.
  
• Above average infantry tab for an armoured division, which also includes BMP-2s, a vehicle East Germany doesn't tend to get.
  
• Scary artillery, like, napalm MLRS scary.

Weaknesses:

• T-72 Range is bad. All of your tanks sit at the 2100 range, while most NATO tanks have 2275 range. This doesn't sound big, but it really is, getting shot before even being able to get in range to fire back will ruin your chances of winning tank fights.

Link to Eugen article

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: Infantry
Standout units: Wachsutzen (all variants)
While NATO's Berlin Command is the division expected to defend Berlin, Berliner Gruppierung is the Pact division expected to attack Berlin (alongside the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of the Soviets). Clearing out entrenched enemy infantry in urban combat is the mainstay of BG, and they get a lot of tools for doing just that. Strong artillery, thermobaric rockets and resolute assault squads define Berliner, with the SPW-70 transport being particularly lethal against anything with two legs, but less so against anything with four wheels. The SPW-70 is available as a transport to a lot of your infantry, so its quite easy to spam out. One of the best options (best in a comparative sense) to bring with that SPW-70 is the Wachsutzen, resolute shock infantry that come with RPG-7s, though can also be given Satchels or RPOs instead for even better infantry killing. You have plenty of ways to make life extremely painful for anyone willing to use infantry against you, and that's probably the biggest appeal of Berliner Gruppierung.

Outside of that though, BG doesn't bring much else to the table really. Almost all other tabs are, to but it bluntly, quite lacking. The tank tab is adequate, I guess. You get quite a lot of the really good Pak AT guns in this divisions, the ones with Bastion ATGMs, which can be really strong when you're making use of their stealth and 2800 range. You also get a few cards of T-55s and T-34s. T-55s are an East German staple, while T-34s are dirt cheap. Both tanks are pretty nice to have for fire support, especially since BG don't have any IFVs, so those cheap tanks can often come in handy. Its a mediocre tank tab, but it does what it needs to and the AT guns are nice to have. It could definitely be worse though, as I'd take Berliner's tank tab over KDA's tank tab any day.

The AA tab for BG is actually pretty solid. Two cards of Kubs are the main attraction, the radar AA of choice for punting planes out of the sky, they're great at what they do. As for helicopters, my recommendation is the Shilka, the precursor to the Tunguska, it can shred Apaches and other high tier gunships pretty effectively, so long as a stray SEAD doesn't hit it in the face before it gets in range. It's a good tab that gets the job done.

For helicopters, only Mi-8s and you don't have any anti tank options, just purely bad anti infantry missiles and medicore gunpods. Serious contender for the worst helicopter tab in all of Pact, it just doesn't do anything. Things improve for the better in the air tab though. You get some dirt cheap bombers with the L-39ZO, basically a training plane with a 500 KG HE bomb or two 250KG Cluster bombs, and for only 80 points, they can perform really well for their price, especially early in a match when AA defences aren't quite set up in places. Mig-21s are BG's main fighter, a solid 4 availability budget fighter, its good in all the other East German divs that get it so it stands to reason it's also pretty good here. Su-22s round out the high end as competent fighter/bombers with high ECM, they can bomb ground targets while defending themselves against enemy fighters to a certain extent. The AT Su-22 is particular is an excellent AT plane that's also a fair amount cheaper than its other cluster or napalm variants, and it also comes at 3 availability for some bizarre reason, solidifying it as one of the best AT planes in the game. Honestly, a pretty solid air tab, I don't have any complaints.

Making BG work is pretty tricky. Last patch, they lost the very good artillery they used to be known for, and their tanks absolutely will not hold their own against even other infantry divisions, so you're even more skewed towards defensive city and forest fighting. Your best bet will be to secure an important capture zone with a city in it and force your opponent to engage you on your terms, a task easier said than done thanks to your lacklustre forward deployment, especially for an infantry division. If you can't get a lead and force the opponent to rely on infantry you can easily eviscerate, you'll be relying a lot on your ATGMs from PaK guns and Konkurs teams while trying to get any sort of foothold in urban terrain, calling in the Su-22 for any particularly dangerous enemy heavy tanks.

Planned to be buffed next update. They really need it, so it's a relief to see buffs confirmed so soon. The division was buffed, particularly in terms of infantry. The infantry in Berliner is really nasty now and the general buffs to artillery really benefit them. They're probably no longer a meme pick and definitely have some appeal now. I don't really see them being anything other than low tier, but at least their infantry is really good now. Making them better at what they where already good at doesn't really help their crippling flaws, but it is nice to see!

Berliner Gruppierung is difficult to play and not recommended for beginners. 4th Motorized is a more beginner friendly alternative if you want to play an East German infantry division.

Strengths:

• Solid resolute line infantry that are surprisingly affordable for how dangerous they can be.
  
• Pretty good anti-infantry options, with some particularly lethal shock infantry in the Wachsutzen. Lots of dedicated anti infantry weapons like RPOs, SPWs, sniper rifles and satchel bombs are passed around for everyone to enjoy.
  
• Good bombers and fighters, air tab does well.
  
• Flamethrowers in the recon tab is pretty funny and unique to Berliner.

Weaknesses:

• If your best option for popping heavy tanks, the AT Su-22, wouldn't work, this division can struggle dealing with enemy heavy tanks. Your tanks and ATGMs really struggle to crack that front armour and you'll often need to land sideshots to start dealing good damage.
  
• Lacking in forward deployment for an infantry division.
  
• Helicopter tab is bad, even for East Germany.
  
• No IFVs at all in BG, though seeing as it'd probably be mostly BMP-1s, its not the biggest loss in the world. Still though, having a few IFVs would be appreciated, but BG don't have any.

Division Type: Infantry (Reserve)
Standout units: BM-21 [Napalm], K.d.A Schützen (+ Zagradotryad)
KDA saw how many tanks and planes that the other East German divisions said and went "That's cool and all, but what if we did the same with infantry?" and then proceeded to re-enact Stalingrad. KDA Schützen are huge 14 man reservist squads with an extremely high 12 availability. With 3 cards worth of Schützen to throw into the meat grinder, combined with even more cannon fodder in Reservisten squads, the KDA won't be running out of men anytime soon and can outnumber any opponent they face with an overwhelming amount of infantry. This infantry tends to not be the bravest however, with much of it being disheartened, but thankfully, you can handle that. Zagradotryad, or "blocking troops" are a potent military police style squad that make sure the rest of your forces have ample motivation to take not one step back. They're pretty competent in a fight compared to regular military police, so don't be afraid to commit them to the battle if you think you'll need their help.

The tank tab is, weird. You get a very wide range of units, and while some tanks are quite nice, you only get one card of each. The T-62M and MV in particular are pretty okay (despite not having autoloaders) and it would be incredibly nice to bring multiple cards of them, but alas, you can't. The strong Pak AT gun with the Bastion ATGM in your tank tab, and some really cheap fire support from T-34s and T-54s, aren't enough to make up for KDA's lack of availability, and also that T-62s simply aren't that good in an offensive role (they really want to sit far back at ATGM range). Its a bad tank tab, nothing more to say.

Things improve for the better in the AA tab. Infared AA is merely okay but radar AA is very competent thanks to access to the Buk, one of the strongest radar AA pieces in the game with extremely long range missiles that hit hard and hit often, you can really lock down the skies from enemy planes with just a single Buk and a couple MANPADs. The Buk is so good it single handedly makes the KDA have a strong AA tab.

The artillery tab is really good, having acceptable howitzers but an amazing rocket arty choice in the Napalm BM-21, a menace to any enemy that think themselves safe in their cities and forests. With other high end artillery options like the Smerch and Malka, you can pound the living hell out of your opponents with some of the best artillery in the game.

Helicopter tab is below average, even by East German standards, you don't have the cheaper Hinds that East Germany normally does so you have to buy the Mi-24P for any ATGMs, not ideal. Plane tab does much better, particularly in terms of strong budget bombers that come at high availability. With the Mig-23 serving as your main ASF, the KDA's air tab is adequate for any task you need it to do, though its particularly good at bombing things.

KDA are pretty much the archetypical Reserve division. Enemy tank divisions overpower you in the open whilst enemy infantry divisions significantly outclass you in an infantry fight, your tech is obsolete for a reason, it can't really compete directly with the modern weapons of all your enemies. What they have in quality, you have in quantity though. Overwhelm cities and forests with a frankly unreasonable amount of KDA Schützen with MPs following close behind, there's only so much the enemy can do when there's 10 of your soldiers for every single 1 of theirs. For any targets that human wave tactics won't work on, you can rely on more advanced murder machines like the Napalm BM-21 or your various strong bombers and howitzers to destroy any particularly troublesome enemies, while preventing any enemy air response with the potent Buk. You're usually playing this division for waves of massed infantry supported by strong artillery, and that's exactly how you'll be winning most of the time.

The KDA are difficult to play and not recommended for beginners in smaller games. In larger team games, like 10 v 10s, KDA becomes significantly easier to play. Your artillery and AA become incredible when supporting your teammates to give them the chance to use their own tools to the fullest, but in 1v1s, it's gonna be rough.

Strengths:

• Manpower.
  
• Manpower.
  
• Manpower.
  
• Ow yeah you have really good artillery and AA. Bombers are great too!
  
• Manpower.
  
• Manpower.

Weaknesses:

• You cannot take more than one card of each tank in the tank tab, which is horrifically crippling and really holds KDA back. All the tanks you do have don't have autoloaders so they all have a pretty slow rate of fire.
  
• Disappointing helicopter tab.
  
• Disappointing recon tab.
  
• Most of your line infantry tab is locked to vet 0 and there's not really any alternatives (beyond like one card of Mot-Schützen). Expect your infantry to get suppressed quickly and often, especially if there's no MPs nearby.

Required DLC: EA Pack
Division Type: infantry (Reserve)
Standout units: 2KM11M3 Krug-M3
While the Rügener Gruppierung may be a reserve unit tasked with defending the island of their namesake, the quality of their soldiers at a baseline is much higher than you'd expect, with further reinforcements provided by the Polish military. This division is not a reserve division in the "send wave after wave of conscripts at the machine gun" sense like the East German KDA is (though you can certainly do that if you want). Still though, don't expect the most modern of equipment for your relatively skilled soldiers.

Speaking of infantry, the infantry tab has quite a few options. You get a fair amount of Mot-Schutzen to play around with, and they're as amazing as always, but you're also forced to only bring them upvetted. If you want some unvetted troops for high availability goodness, you can instead call in the Reservisten, a fairly durable 9 man squad that don't actually have the reservist trait, though they do lose the Resolute trait that comes standard with this nation, making them much more prone to run away. Rounding out the East German side of things, Panzerjagers are your close range anti tank specialists thanks to two RPGs with Tandem warheads and Marinepioniers are very chunky 12 man assault squads, equipped with either a flamer or a stachel bomb for busting through entrenched enemy infantry (and they're really good at doing that). That's all for East Germany, but you don't stand alone, and as previously mentioned, the winged hussars arrive Polish provide their aid. They mostly provide more line infantry, with troops that are worse than Mot-Schutzen, but better than the Reservisten, so if that's what you want, go wild.

The tanks supporting these infantry though are on the weaker side of things, mainly relying on variants of the T-55, though with none of the variants with ATGMs. The Polish T-55AM Merida is gonna be doing most of the work for you here. Compared to the East German T-55AM, the Merida is more accurate in exchange for losing the resolute trait. As both units cost the same, this is pretty much a downgrade, the extra accuracy is nowhere near the same value as Resolute (It's still a great tank though, and the best tank in this div). For your most expensive tank, you get a single card of T-72s for punching through the armour of enemy heavy tanks (just beware of its short range and lack of smoke). Finally, you get a good stealth SPW to fire Malyutka-P ATGMs at people, which is very nice to have and can help make up to the lack of range of many of your tanks (only the Merida has 2275 range). Mediocre tank tab, but it gets the job done.

For artillery, this division suffers, few choices and they're all pretty sucky, but you do get the 50PK mine clearing vehicle (affectionately nicknamed the Pooratino), a very very very short range rocket lobber that can pretty badly hurt any infantry it hits (hopefully it hits the enemy). It's quite a fun unit, and cheap enough to be practical support for urban combat. Heli tab is mostly a repeat of what I've just said, few choices that kinda suck and one funny gimmicky unit, the Mi-14PL. The gambling starts with this unit, as it carries a huge 30 pen ATGM basically ripped from a plane, but it forgot to steal the guidance systems in said plane as the missile only has 35% accuracy, very low for an anti tank missile. If it hits, the opponent will be feeling it, but more often than not, it will take a couple tries, so make sure to keep some supply nearby at all times so you can keep gambling until it does hit (it does help the missile has quite long range, so you can stay safe at longer ranges).

Speaking of gambling, it's AA time. For the third tab in a row, all the choices are pretty sucky, with one exception, the Krug. The Krug has poor accuracy and a low ammo count with only two missiles, but in exchange, it can one shot any plane in the game it ends up hitting. If you're a lucky gambler or manage to amass enough Krugs to reach critical mass, the opponent simply won't be able to use their jets without them all instantly dying. This unit is the main reason you play this division, no other radar AA unit currently in the game comes close to the oppression of the Krug.

Recon tab has a couple unique options that aren't too powerful, but are nice to have (and one particular spec ops squad is quite powerful). Reservist Aufklarer serve as very cheap 20 point scouts, horrible in a fight, but well, they shouldn't be fighting (and they also get a nice 30 point recon jeep transport). Pio.Aufk are your 8 man shock teams that can actually fight, but if you want someone that can really fight, the div has the KSK. These guys are basically East German Navy Seals, special forces shock infantry with both stachels and RPGs, and they also come with improved forward deployment! Quite a scary unit, make sure to use them!

For the air tab, most of it is pretty much a repeat of Berliner, lots of cheap training planes with impressively big payloads that are great for the first few minutes of a game while Su-22s provide more competent (but expensive) air power and Mig-23s serve as your ASF. It isn't a full carbon copy though, as Polish Su-20s provide an alternative cluster bomber to the Su-22, increasing the payload at the cost of reducing the plane's ECM and survivability. It's cool, but it's not the star of the show, as that'd be the Mig-23 [KMGU], the East German counterpart to the West German MW1, basically a cluster bomb specialised to only kill infantry. Because apparently they had space, the Germans also attached 4 250kg bombs to the plane aswell, so before it dives to unleash the KMGU, it also drops a bunch of FAB 250s on the opponents head, just to really make sure nobody survives. A very fun and powerful way to delete an entire infantry push, the Mig-23 [KMGU] is great.

This division is very much defined by the Krug rolling the dice and threatening to instantly kill the opponent's expensive Eagles, Tornadoes and other similar high end jets. Even if your opponent avoids the Krug's area with their jets fully to stay safe, it's still doing its job by denying that airspace. This division uses the opportunity that shutting down NATO's airpower gives by brawling with competent infantry, lethal bombers and whatever tanks they still have left to victory. They're a lot better than I thought they'd be, to be honest, but definitely the sort of div you want to be bringing to team games and not 1v1s. Rügener isn't horrible in a 1v1 but they really do excel when they get the opportunity to shut down the entire enemy team's air support, giving their teammates the space to play to their strengths without getting bombed into oblivion for trying.

Rugener Gruppierung are difficult to play and not recommended for beginners (in 1v1s). In team games, they're a bit easier, but still on the difficult side.

Strengths:

• The single best Radar unit in the game with the Krug. One shotting any plane in the game is insanity.
  
• Competent infantry with plenty of large durable squads to enjoy. SPW transports provide useful fire support and make up for the lack of IFVs.
  
• Very dangerous bombers, with exclusive access to the KMGU, anti-infantry cluster bomb.
  

Weaknesses:

• God awful artillery tab, not just by East German standards. One of the weakest artillery tabs in the whole game, to be frank.
  
• Tank tab is hard carried by the T-55 Merida, but you only get one card of those so you'll run out fast. All other tanks don't have smoke, which is rough.
  
• Infared AA options are pretty awful, and since the Krug can't shoot helicopters, well, I hope you like missing an Apache for 10 seconds straight with FASTAs. Make sure you bring some gun AA, it's pretty much mandatory.
  

The Polish, ever the underdogs, don't really have a lot to work with, especially in comparison to the rest of Pact. Much of their gear is getting pretty dated by this point, having been left in the dust by the Soviet in terms of R&D, and the Polish tend to be low on the list for who they send the new toys to. Unlike their East German peers, the Polish aren't too big on the whole world war 3 thing, and their troops don't have the bravery that the Stasi have spent decades cultivating. The rest of Pact exceptional in some way, but the Polish are not, there's not some defining ace card up their sleeves that they can crush NATO with. As always, Poland is the underdog.

So why play Poland? As it turns out, being unexceptional has its benefits, particularly in terms of price. Polish units are often very cheap in ways that sometimes border on unfair, and thanks to that cost, your armies can balloon out of control. It does not matter if you have inferior infantry if you have 4 squads for every 1 of their squads. it does not matter if you have outdated tanks if you have 5 tanks for every 1 of their tanks. This budget surplus really does help out when you need to afford some expensive artillery pieces, as its the one tab where the polish consistently hold up, they tend to love their rocket artillery. Like, seriously, they get a lot of MLRS, even their dedicated airborne division joins in the fun with two cards of Grads (not the mini VDV ones, full sized BM-21 Grads). If you're an enjoyer of the Katyusha strategy, the Polish have got you covered.

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Mechanized Infantry
Standout units: BWP-1, T-55AM Merida, BM-21 Grad + RM wz.70/85
4th Zmech have been given a budget, and they are doing their best to stay within those limits. A Mechanized Infantry division with BWP-1s (Polish name for BMP) and T-55s is already pretty cheap, but the 4th have also elected to cut costs further by not bringing smoke on their BWP 1s and wheeling out world war 2 howitzers for their artillery. If you absolutely hate the idea of paying more than 150 points for a frontline combat unit, but want a professional non-reservist army, the cost cutting of 4th Zmech might have your interest.

Speaking of your BWP-1s, they're 25 points in this division and come with a Maluytka ATGM. 25 point IFVs, even without smoke, are kind of crazy, and you can easily cover a whole frontline in ATGM boats for a criminally low price. It doesn't really matter how outdated Malyutka ATGMs are when you're firing 10 of them at the same target. Riding in those BWP-1s comes the Piechota Zmech, a squad very similar to the Motostrelki of Soviet divisions, though with a noticeably worse RPG. If you want them to have a good RPG, you have to bring the Druznya Ppanc instead, dedicated tank hunters who trade their machine guns for two solid RPG-7s (they're also the cheapest way to bring out BWP-1s, I like bringing a card of these guys downvet mainly for that). Alternatively, you can make your Piechota better against enemy infantry with their SVD variant, a squad that's pretty good at killing enemy infantry. For non-IFV infantry, mostly upsized Piechota and the Engineers you'd expect that come in either solid APCs or cheap trucks, but it is worth noting that your satchel engineers do come with a (very mediocre) RPG, giving them some defence against light vehicles for a change. Finally, Komandosi are 6 man special forces teams that come with the shock trait and smoke grenades, they're well suited for leading an assault into a forest for the rest of your troops, and they're pretty cheap for a special forces unit, though you'd kind of expect that in this division. Unfortunately, no Konkurs teams, but the ATGM teams you do get have pretty fun SKOT-2AM APCs with Malyutkas, so that's a nice bonus.

The other big part of mechanized warfare lies in the tank, so how's the 4th Zmech tank tab? The answer is, well, it's usable but not great. The T-55AM Merida is the main workhorse of this tab, a light tank with good armour and 2275 range, though lacking in speed and firepower. It's fine for infantry support and fighting enemy vehicles that aren't tanks, and when you don't need 2275 range, the T-55A is also available. What's unique about tanks in this division (and also Polish 20th) are the mine clearing T-55s, equipped with coffin launchers. You won't be clearing mines with them though, and instead they're a short range anti-infantry artillery weapon that excels in urban and forest combat (Close enough, welcome back Sherman Calliope). As you can tell, this tab is great at dealing with enemy infantry thanks to all your cheap and reliable T-55s, but for dealing with enemy tanks, you have a few different good stealth ATGM cars to choose from, and all are decent, with the single card of BRDM Konkurs being the best. Your T-55s will get slaughtered trying to fight something like a Leopard 2, but a stressed out and damaged by ATGMs Leopard is a much more manageable fight for your light tanks to handle.

The artillery tab is pretty well rounded and the howitze- you know what, I'm not gonna pretend, you're here for the 4 Grads aren't you? Is it a good idea to spend most of your starting income on 4 MLRS trucks? Probably not. Can I stop you? Nope. AA tab is similarly top heavy, you get 3 cards of Osas and a bunch of 30+ year old equipment that's pretty trash (although the Hibneryt-Kg truck is actually pretty decent, so props to it). Rely a lot on those Osas and you'll be okay.

Recon tab doesn't have anything too flashy, but it follows the core tenets of this division by being cheap and efficient. Zwiadocy are passive recon that can come in a very nice recon transport with the OT-65, while the Zmot. Zwiad are an active recon squad that can come in a very nice recon BWP-1. The Rozp. Specjalne are the only unique thing here that's different from what you'd see in a Soviet mechanized division, a 4 man squad of special forces professional racers. With them behind the wheel, their Honker car is obnoxiously fast, and they can speed into the middle and be used not too dis-similar to an airborne forward deployment unit, establishing forward positions and spotting for the forces coming in behind them. Nice to have, though they aren't on the same level as an actual proper AB unit, so don't get too greedy.

Heli tab is pretty decent actually. The Mi-2 Gniewosz is very much a "We have Apache ATAS at home" situation, coming with Strelas and Malyutka ATGMs as one of the few AT/AA helicopters in the game, which is pretty nice. Like the East Germans, the Mi-24s you get also come at 2 availability and come with Falnagas, with a single Soviet Kokon variant at 1 availability if you'd prefer that. The difference between the Falnaga and the Kokon is range and travel time, with the Kokon being longer ranged and much faster (Personally, I prefer Falnaga variants for that 2 availability). Air tab is very limited in slots, cost and options, so it's a good thing the Su-22 is here. Both the cluster and AT Su-22 are particularly valuable in this division for dealing with enemy heavy tanks, so make sure to bring one of them. For ASF, you get Mig-23s, and while they're pretty decent as far as budget ASF go, slots are so tight in this tab that you might struggle to fit them (if you do take one, take the first variant).

For playing 4th Zmech, this is a division that very much likes getting into infantry urban combat, but you unfortunately can't rely on strong forward deployment to force this (like with 4th MSD), though you can get pretty close. Open with Honker scouts and recon BWP-1s to rush into the midfield, securing a foothold for a horde of BWP-1s and T-55s to come in and ideally push the enemy back enough for you to stay in the midfield. When that foothold is secure, push the Piechota that came in your BWPs forward into urban combat. Don't be afraid to re-arrange the terrain for them with your coffin launcher tanks if they need the support, and you should hopefully do well! I don't think I've emphasised the BWP-1 spam enough so here's your reminder, do that, its really strong, they're 25 points, its ridiculous. All hail our BWP-1 overlords.

4th Zmech are moderate in terms of difficulty.

Strengths:

• 25 point BWP-1s deserve a mention for being the absolute cheapest IFV in the whole game. You have to pay more to get a BTR, which is incredibly funny
  
• The rest of the roster stays to a very low cost too. You'll easily to able to outnumber most opponents thanks to dirt cheap prices.
  
• Most availability for rocket artillery out of any division. If the only thing you care about is spamming Grads, this division has the most.
  
• Coffin launcher artillery tanks are unique to Poland and will likely stay unique. Very useful for cheap indirect urban support that can really help your infantry out.
  

Weaknesses:

• Konkurs are a rarity, and T-55s aren't known for their ability to deal with armour. Enemy heavy tanks can be nightmarish to deal with.
  
• Suffocatingly expensive air tab in terms of slots and activation points.
  
• Your Piechota + Piechota Zmech line infantry are pretty mediocre against both tanks and enemy infantry. They often rely on specialist squads to help deal with either (Druznya for tank, SVD variant and Saperzy for infantry) since they don't do very well on their own.
  

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Armoured
Standout units: T-72 Wilk, Specjalne, Dana 152mm
20th Pancerna doesn't hold anything back, bringing forward an armoured fist of the best equipment Poland can afford. Exceptional tanks, strong AA, great artillery and potent IFVs all work together to let the 20th Pancerna smash straight through an unprepared opponent and hold their own when the enemy swings back (and attack much earlier, I might add, the 20th opener is solid). In comparison to other tank divisions, the 20th certainly follow the Polish tradition of cost efficiency, with many of their units being very affordable and efficient in comparison to the expensive heavy tanks of most tank divisions. There is one big scary expensive heavy tank, but we'll get to that later.

Infantry start us off, not really on the best foot, but far from terrible. Piechota Zmech and Zmech SVDs are your main line infantry choices, with the latter doing most of the heavy lifting thanks to coming in BWP-2s (polish name for BMP-2) and having very effective anti infantry firepower in their own squad. Watching these guys fold enemy infantry, your Saperzy get a bit jealous, and then try to steal their job, coming with a Komar RPG in their satchel squads. Normally, engineer type units have no protection against vehicles, but the Komar does punch up against APCs and IFVs, though it lacks the penetration to do anything to an actual tank. Pretty cool, but that's kinda it, and the slots aren't the cheapest in this tab, and you don't have any Konkurs. Pretty eh tab, but it'll have to get the job done.

Thankfully, the tank tab has the opposite "problem", these slots are insanely cheap, and it's more than possible to run out of non-CV tanks and still have 1 cost slots leftover. What you get to bring through this is, well, a very well rounded and effective tab. T-55s are your main light tank, you've probably used them before, but there is a special T-55AS unique to Poland here, an artillery tank with very short range rockets for supporting your infantry thanks to its coffin launchers. For mediums, it's the T-72M and the M1, the respective kings of punching up thanks to their big 19 pen autoloaded guns, though they're usually outranged by most opponents. Finally, you get a heavy, the T-72 Wilk, basically a T-72M1 with ERA and a 2275 range gun, both pretty useful upgrades, though the asking price for such upgrades is really expensive in comparison to the cost efficiency of regular T-72s. Honestly, the price of the Wilk is kind of ripping you off, but that 2275 range can be extremely useful as it negates the biggest weakness (poor range) of all your other tanks. Just be careful, only the highest tier of tanks here have smoke, your regular T-72s and T-55s should be used a bit more cautiously if you want them to stay alive.

Recon tab pretends to look very ordinary and boring, but the devil's in the details, and apparently behind the wheel too. Specjalne don't have airborne forward deployment, but they may aswell be in their special forces Honkers, speeding to the midfield to pop overeager enemy transports with RPG-7s. Like, I have to emphasise this, the Honker is obnoxiously fast, and they really help carry your opening to be unusually great by armoured division standards. For the more typical stuff in this tab, the Zwiad are a big durable squad who come in recon BWP-1s while Zwiadowcy serve as your cheapest passive recon squad, still with an RPG-7 though. There's a lot of AT in this recon tab, and your Honkers can quickly get your specialists to where they need to be, whenever they need to be there. Really good tab, you got everything you need in here.

For AA, pretty standard package for an armoured division. You get Kubs for long range anti-plane, Strela-10M for short range anti-air, a SPAAG for short range anit-helicopter and some Strela-2M MANPADs to pester anything in the skies. Your MANPAD being pretty weak and outdated is unfortunate (its certainly no Igla), but having two cards of Kubs should keep you adequately protected from the skies. As for artillery, you don't have the quantity of other divisions, but the quality here is pretty excellent. The Dana 152mm SPG and the BM-21 GRAD stand out particularly well as being an absolute nightmare for the enemy, while your humble 120mm Mortars can deploy smoke and pester suspected enemy ATGMs positions to help out your tanks. Solid tab.

Capping things off is the air tab, and the numbers are on your side here. The Mig-21 is your main ASF, not the best plane in the skies, but absolutely saved by coming at 4 availability, you get so many with each card that you're bound to get lucky and spike against an F-16 eventually. For bombers, 3 availability Mig-21s are an incredibly efficient budget HE bomber, while at the high end, the Su-22 is present with the AT missile variant being a particularly impressive anti-tank option. The tab's pretty small, but the options you can pick from are all solid in their own specific ways, so this tab is pretty nice, especially if you prefer quantity to quality.

Those are the tabs, and it should be no surprise that the tank tab is gonna be doing all the work here. T-72s are incredibly cost efficient tanks, held back by their lack of range, but absolutely dominating when they do get in range with their numbers, high powered guns and autoloaders. The T-72 Wilk and your BWP-2s gives you some solid options for contesting those long open fields, but your goal is the same as all the other T-72 divisions, get close to the enemy (but not too close as to be in infantry AT range) and give them hell. Thanks to your Specjalne in the recon tab, getting a foothold in those areas shouldn't be too difficult, and results in this division being really quite scary, doubly so in the early period of a match where T-72s are easy to afford, while the enemy heavy tanks are not.

Strengths:

• T-72s are undercosted for their performance, and you can trade up so efficiently against pretty much any opponent with them when you get in range.
  
• Specjalne are a pseduo FD unit that helps give you a surprisingly good opener for an armoured division.
  
• High availability, lost cost aircraft.
  
• Great artillery options, further helped out by artillery tanks. Plenty of ways to make the lives of enemy infantry miserable.
  

Weaknesses:

• Mediocre infantry.
  
• Lack of smoke on an uncomfortable number of your tanks.
  
• Most tanks have 2100 range instead of the 2275 range as standard. Other than the Wilk, all your tanks are going to be outranged by most enemy tanks.

Link to Eugen article

Required DLC: NORTHAG
Division Type: Airborne
Standout units: Desant. Komandosi, Niebieskie Bretey, Su-22 [CLU & AT]
The Korpus Desantowy are not an archetypal Airborne division, but all the units you'd expect from an Airborne division are there, and you will be starting every game with a strong forward deployment rush. How they break the mold is with their distinctly not-airborne units, as the Korpus Desantowy bring in Polish marines and other naval forces along for the ride. If you want the most impressive of Poland's infantry, this division is where you'll find them.

Starting with that infantry, and starting with the airborne half of your soldiers, Komandosi lead your forward deployment rush, and they're kind of insane. Each squad of Komandosi brings three machine guns and an RPG-7, which is a ridiculous amount of dakka for 8 guys to be carrying, especially given their dirt cheap price, best squad in this tab by far. The rest of your AB rush is padded out with FD ATGMs and Spadochroniarze, your main airborne troops, who come with the option of bringing a Metis. That's more than enough quality for 1500 points, but once the opener is over, the second marine half of this tab comes to life. Niebeskie Berety, the blue berets, are those marines, large 12 man squads with the resolute trait, the shock trait and a very good vet curve, they tear apart regular squads and overwhelm special forces with their numbers. They eat crayons, kick down doors and refuse to die easy, an excellent squad all around, if you can afford their expensive price. For even better door kicking, you get two marine sapper variants, and naturally, both are some of the strongest in the game. The first variant brings a combo of satchels and an RPG, letting them join the fabled "sapper with AT" club. The other variant is ridiculous, three flamethrowers. Just, three flamethrowers. Seeing as most flamer squads only come with one, you can probably imagine how bad of a day it is to be on the receiving end of that. If it isn't obvious by now, this is one of the absolute strongest infantry tabs in the whole game, everything is damn consistent at being excellent, so long as you can live with having no Konkurs ATGMs, which is a pretty big deal.

Wall of text over, back to ordinary busi-what do you mean they get tanks? Korpus are privileged to have equipment heavier than a BMD being shipped in by the marines, making them unique among airborne divisions. Now, granted, the heaviest thing on those boats are a handful of T-55s, but some tanks is definitely better than no tanks! While PT-76s are kind of a meme pick, ASU-85 are your first reliable budget tank choice, having a gun that might just about do more than scratch the paint off enemy light tanks. T-55s are an upgrade in everything except gun, though they do come with more machine guns, making them more effective against infantry. Also, being a polish div, you get your single card of mine clearing T-55s for short range rocket barrages into infantry fights, which is appreciated as winning the infantry fight is this division's gameplan. That's it for tanks. When I list it out, it probably doesn't sound that impressive, but there's a pretty big leap from zero to actual workable light tanks that can threaten enemy infantry and IFVs, and hey, if 4th Zmech can live with just T-55s, you can to!

As for artillery, again, this is not a normal airborne division, you're loaded here. The Korpus get a small tab with some real heavy hitters, such as a 203mm Howitzer and even some Grad MLRS systems, for giving people a real bad day. With even some wheeled SPGs rolling about, this division has the tools to hammer points and provide some really damn nasty support for your marines and airborne troops on the front.

The recon tab, by most standards its pretty good, but compared to other airborne decks, it's pretty mid. Zwiadowcy are cheap 6 man airborne forward deployment squads with a Komar, which makes them good to keep watch and pop any transports sneaking around the sides. Specjalne are the same thing but better, coming with an actual RPG, the GSR trait and a faster car thanks to being special forces. You also get recon PT-76s, the super light amphibious tank, and a SIGINT helicopter, both of whom can be pretty useful in their niche, the helicopter especially. Also, snipers are here too, put them on return fire in a building or treeline and (once their trait is active) your opponent won't be seeing them until they're really close. That's about it, rush your dudes forward in the opener and try snipe transports if you can, otherwise its a very ordinary tab.

AA tab is ordinary airborne affair, aka bad. The Hibneryt-KG is a surprisingly great AA truck though, so take it. Heli tab is ordinary airborne affair, aka good. Mi-24s as you'd expect, but also the W-3W Sokół, a domestic Polish design. They fill basically the same spot an Mi-8 would, but they're a straight upgrade, especially with the AA variant for getting those pesky NATO helicopters to go away (and firing a few rockets at infantry as a nice little bonus).

Ending with the air tab, you might think it might suffer after Korpus went ahead breaking every airborne div standard, but well, they thankfully remembered that the airborne likes their air. The Mig-29 is the fighter keeping the skies yours, with two variants. The [AA1] is a medium range brawler while the [AA2] is a close range shotgunner, but both work fine if you're not trying to take on an eagle head to head (and even if you do make that mistake, the AA2 can sometimes punch up REALLY hard if you get lucky on approach). As for your strike craft, it's the Su-22M4, a 30% ECM dive bomber, an excellent plane with particularly awesome anti tank capabilities. Both the AT and CLU Su-22 are lethal against enemy tanks and can help make up for your weak ATGMs.

I've spoken enough about the Korpus playstyle already, but I would just like to re-iterate one part in particular. This division has some of the absolute strongest infantry in an inf v inf fight in the whole game. Any enemy who isn't also running a specialised urban combat division will get butchered, and even those that do have good urban capabilities aren't on your level, they're fighting uphill. You will almost certainly win an infantry fight, and your strategy should be forcing your opponent into taking that fight. Do that, and you've already won, Polish marines do not disappoint.

Strengths:

• Excellent infantry tab, packed with some of the scariest squads in the game. Triple flamethrower squads, sappers with AT, 12 man resolute marine death squads, forward deployment special forces, FD squads with Metis, the list goes on. Even other airborne divisions would be jealous about how obscene some of your stuff is.
  
• Actual tanks in an airborne division!
  
• Surprisingly solid artillery
  
• Excellent anti tank bombers.

Weaknesses:

• No Konkurs anywhere, you're stuck with lower pen ATGM choices like the Malyutka. Enemy heavy tanks are going to be a real pain.
  
• You're very reliant on your Mig-29s for air superiority, and while they're solid jets, they tend to struggle against high end NATO jets like Eagles. Your AA tab isn't good enough to pick up the slack if your Mig-29s can't do it, which is bad news for you.
  
• Slots get expensive quickly in the tabs that airborne divs aren't usually good at, like tank or arty. While you have great options in those tabs, they'll be expensive to bring in terms of AP.
  
• Expensive infantry. While the squads are really good, and you can somewhat avoid the forward deployment tax, your squads still cost a ton. Losing even just one or two squads of marines can be crippling.

Link to Eugen article

(USA section) USA Soldiers running past a Bradley in Reforger 84[commons.wikimedia.org] - Credits to SSG RICHARD HART.

(UK section) Royal Marines in the Falklands War[www.plymouthherald.co.uk] - I got the image used in the guide from the Plymouth Herald, though the oldest use of the photograph itself I could find is on the front cover of "By Sea and Land : Story of the Royal Marine Commandos" written by Robin Neillands.

(France section) Still looking for this one, not sure how I found it the first time but I'll definitely track it down again

(West Germany section) Bundeswehr soldiers in the 1960s[commons.wikimedia.org] - Credits to U.S. Army Heritage Education Center

(Belgium section)
Belgian tanks on the move - Credits to Jean-Paul Van Den Broeck

(Netherlands section)
Dutch soldiers with long hair[www.jemimafawr.co.uk] - I got the image from Jemima Fawr's blog, though I'm not sure what the original source is yet.

(Soviet Union section) Soviet tanks in a column withdrawing from Hungary 1990[commons.wikimedia.org] - Credits to Miroslav Luzetsky and the RIA Novosti archive

(East Germany section)
Two soldiers running through fire during a NBC exercise 1980s[www.pinterest.co.uk] - Credits unknown, the oldest websites that originally used this image are all defunct and a re-post on Pinterest is all I could find. Probably won't be able to find the original at this rate.

(Poland section)
Polish Armed Forces military exercises during the cold war [x.com] - Credits to @Remnantize on twitter/X.

WORK IN PROGRESS WRITEUP:
Required DLC:
Division Type:
Standout units:
"Quantity has a quality of its own" is a quote that gets attributed to a lot of different people, and I think we might need to add the Belgian police to that list too. Divmob brings an unruly and overwhelming wave of extremely cheap reservist fodder to throw directly at enemy machine guns and cause them to run out of ammo, holding them in place for the massive stacks of 155mm and 203mm artillery to do its job. Essentially, this is the East German KDA but for the NATO side, just replace any mention of 'Blocking troops' with 'Gendarmes' and you're pretty much set.

WORK IN PROGRESS WRITEUP:
Required DLC:
Division Type: Infantry (reserve)
Standout units:
You know the dutch are strapped when even their reservists are bringing in Leopard 2s.