Theater of War Guide (July 2021)

General advice for Theater of War game mode updated to July 2021

Introduction

I understand that most of the players will not even bother with Theater of War, as even the developers stopped caring about it years ago. However, this left tiny minority of people struggling to complete it without much help on the matter. Most of the guides on it were published in 2015 and therefore are completely obsolete by now, with thousands of changes to both Soviet and Ostheer factions. So here is my small attempt to help anyone longing for those achievements.

Unless stated otherwise, this guide is meant for General difficulty and will focus mostly on Solo or Co-op battles against AI. While single-player narrative missions are also part of Theater of War, they remain largely unchanged, despite several changes to units in multiplayer, and older guides will cover them much better than I could.

General advice

Whether you are playing Soviet or German forces, you will always face the same opponent - the Artificial Intelligence. Its playstyle will vary from mission to mission, depending on the type of objectives and map, but there are few key mechanics of it, that will almost always give you advantage, regardless of the map you play on. Those are not ironclad rules, as few map-specific playstyles may negate those weaknesses to some extent, but they apply to most of the cases.

1. Computer is a cheating bastard
   Forget about starving the enemy of resources by holding most of the map, or trying to prevent them from making tanks by denying them a fuel point. AI will always have necessary resources to send whatever it is programmed to send. Some of its units are not even produced, but come as off-map call-in. As such, the only way to stop enemy from making some type of unit is to destroy specific building in a base, or finish the game before it comes in. Fortunately, AI is not cheating as much as to produce units if it has no base building to do so.
   
   
2. Bad at micromanagement
   AI has, by large, poor micromanagment. Or rather, weird micromanagement. It does not behave in a fashion similar to what your opponent in online matchmaking does. For example, it usually retreats squads only once they reached a pre-defined number of dead members and vehicles once they reached sufficiently low hull points. It does not plan ahead retreat routes , does not make reserves stand in backline to flank you halfway through the fight, and does not try anything you might expect human player to do.
   
   A general tactic (and strategy) of AI is to simply crush you with overwhelming force. Its units will very rarely, if ever, try to break contact until very last moment, when instead of backing off a bit, they hit "Retreat!" button. While it becomes more of a problem in lategame fight, when AI will almost always have numerical advantage, in early game it allows you to mow down single enemy squads with ease, as long as you use your units accordingly and have local numerical superiority. It is also very easy to bait enemy units deeper into your territory and encircle them or flank with reserves to finish them off. Works best with vehicles, as AI does not care about facing you with front armor.
   
   There are, however, few things that AI does better than average player. Namely, it uses its forces abilities to full extent in every place at all time. I have said earlier that AI plans to overwhelm you and I have to add "by any means available" to this statement. You have to be fully aware what enemy units are capable off, as they are programmed to throw their grenades, special strikes and all other surprises at you in mass quantities, very precisely and without warning. Oh, and AI may not be precise enough to hit your infantry with grenade throw while they are on the move, but if you leave them in the building or entrenched behind cover for too long, they are in real danger of dying, while you were looking somewhere else. And remember - AI cheats Ammunition just like any other resource.
   
   
3. Distraction
   As AI is not programmed to react differently to the same situation, it is really easy to divert its attention. if you are running short on time to prepare defenses or just want to divide enemy army, a single unit will usually suffice. However, plan its movement carefully, as it is easy to lose against numerically superior enemy units, if all of them start chasing your distraction at once.
   
   One of the best distractions in early game is HMG inside a building deep into enemy lines, preferably next to the point. AI is programmed to recapture such point and tries to do so constantly, usually sending single squads, which get pinned and retreat after taking some damage.
   
   
4. Early game is yours
   Due to what was said in point 2, early game is the time for you to make most of it and prepare for ever increasing pressure of AI forces. As AI will have little number of units at the start and will always spread them thin to cover as much land as possible, it is really easy to repel them. Early game is a time for you to push enemy as far back as you can and try to estabilish some kind of defence line deep into hostile territory, or at least covering Victory Points. Mind that you cannot just lay down after initial success, as AI will send more and more forces at you and they will start coming with all sorts of heavy weapons and vehicles.
   
   In other words, the main job of your defense line by mid-game is to be prepared for anything that might come your way without retreating. Once you lose your estabilished position to the swarm of enemy minions it is usually very difficult to set it all up once again. Therefore deploy some kind of replenishment/healing on the frontline instead of just base and keep fresh reserve units few steps from the front, so they can replace injured squads without breaking coherence of the entire defense line. Early game serves as preparation time for all of this.
   
   
5. Difficulty ramp and LCF
   The AI will have sudden jumps of difficulty level at few points in the game, most noticeably when first vehicles come in (light, then heavy) and if it is losing decisively. It will usually receive a counterattack force, that I like to call "Last Chance Force" (LCF) once their counter of points falls to specific number (usually 100, in one case, I think, it was 130). Be aware of that and do not wait with AT to the moment when first tank shows up. Also, never think that if you managed to stay through 400 points on enemy counter, rest will be easy. Quite the contrary! If you struggled to keep enemy at bay to this point, the LCF may just be the breaking point of your defense. It is not uncommon to lose to AI when it has around 50 points left, after losing most of your forces and retreating to base. If this happens the counterattack is very hard to pull off, although not impossible, if you have most of your 500 points left.
   
   
6. You can win the battle by destroying enemy base
   This is something game never tells you, and is very important on some maps, as it makes them noticeably easier. Destroying all buildings in all enemy bases (main building model will not be removed, but it will count as destroyed once it reaches 0 HP) will grant you automatic victory regardless of the state of Victory Points. This allows you to avoid AI difficulty ramp and LCF by ending the game before it even happens. Be warned though that on several maps, where you are given large force from the start, enemy base will be more heavily defended to prevent rushes.
   
   Also called offensive strategy, contrary to the usual defensive one, this is most viable option on smaller maps, when it takes less time to send an attack force from your base to the enemy base, or estabilish a supply line to build frontline base from bunkers. Destroying the base of AI will usually take some time and probably more than one attack, depending on how many forces you will meet on the way. It serves, as a nice distraction too, if you have some frontline trouble, as AI will have to retreat its forces to base at any time it is attacked.
   
   I myself used this strategy for example in Victory at Stalingrad: Wintergewitter. I highly reccomend base destruction strategy in this one, as enemy LCF are devastating vet 2 Tigers, and there's two of them.
   
   
7. Protect your backline
   In most of online matches, enemy will not dive too deep into your territory, knowing that it is very risky tactic that can easily cost him any unit he sends to do so. AI however, has no regard for its units, as it has infinite resources. Therefore you will notice that any part of map left unattended will quickly be captured by wandering enemy units, going as deep as the outskirts of your base and retreating only if you repel them by brutal force. Closing paths with barbed wire or HMG bunkers is a good way to protect key points.

Several concrete anti-AI tactics

1. HMG mobile and stationary
   AI is very bad against HMG (or any other pinning attack) While normal player would simply remember the position of enemy HMG and produce a counter or try to flank it, the AI response will be mostly to send more squads and maybe upgrade them with flamethrowers. However, they WILL eventually wear down the HMG and succeed, or it will have to reload, so remember not to over rely on a single HMG squad. Two of them, however, or few bunkers, can hold position until heavy armor arrives (usually for first 10 mins, and even more if you support them with AT).
   
   
2. Grenades
   AI is very bad at dodging grenades, except satchel charges, as it starts to avoid it once it lands on the ground, when it is simply too late. That is a sole reason while you might consider recruiting Panzergrenadiers ,as their grenade can one-shot most of enemy squads. They are terrible at anything else though.
   
   
3. Smoke
   Do you have trouble with AI squads with HMG? No problem! Just throw any smoke at them and they will always and immediately pack up their gun and change position, usually charging straight ahead into your units. Easiest to work out on Soviet shock troops, but mortar or doctrinal smoke can be just as effective.
   
   
4. Close combat units
   As AI is bad at micromanagement, it reacts poorly to movement of your units. It also does not calculate the odds of winning engagement, but simply retreats once beaten too badly. And as shock troops or sturmgrenadiers can dish out huge damage very quickly, the AI usually has no idea how to deal with them. As it retreats only after losing a large portion of squad, destroying entire units with a group of close-combat soldiers is the easiest thing to do. Coupled with the fact, that AI is weak to grenades (in case of Soviet shock troops, both of them, smoke and frag), making shocktroopers your main combat force is a good idea, especially in narrow maps like cities.
   
   
5. Mines
   AI by large never uses minesweepers and will push through minefields regardless of the loses caused by previous explosions. On some maps you can esily mow down enemy armies with mines by building narrow paths and filling them with explosives. Russian engineers explosive charge can also be used for some extra damage.
   
   
6. Barbed wire and tank traps
   AI is not programmed to react to barbed wire blockades in any way. It simply treats them as any other terrain and just looks for path around it. As such, barbed wire lines can be extremely useful to prevent AI from flanking your units or breaching outskirts of your defense line. The tanks will not specifically react to it either, but will also not treat it as an obstacle, so they can make an opening in it for enemy infantry, even if not intentionally.
   
   Tank traps are simply marvelous against AI and combined with barbed wire they can cut off huge amounts of land ,denying enemy the access to them. If you create tank trap line and barbed wire line right after it, this construction basicaly makes the AI unable to go through for the rest of the game, unless of course some kind of artillery strike breaches it by accident.
   
   Important warning - if you reduce the width of the frontline with tank traps and wire, you will notice that the enemy sends the same amount of units as before, but they are packed together on smaller area. Your defence line can have serious trouble if you divert too many enemies into single point.
   
   
7. Artillery and doctrinal abilities
   Although there will not be many opportunities to use this fact ,as mobile artillery pieces are not available in many ToW missions, AI is unable to effectively dodge artillery strikes, for the same reasons as was the case with grenades. AI will also not dodge Stuka strikes or strafing runs effectively, making it an excellent pinning tool.
   

Major threats on the field and how to counter them

Here is what to look out for in more details, depending on which faction you play against. You have to remember that your units are not on par with the enemy ones, as on General difficulty enemy army is boosted compared to their normal difficulty/online matchmaking equivalent.

If you play as Soviet against German Ostheer major threats will be:

1. Grenades
   Not as much of a unit, but more of all-around threat. As German grenade packs on Panzergrenadiers and Grenadiers are excellent in terms of damage on normal level, they become devastating once boosted on General. One more reason for Soviets to switch covers often. Counter it by checking on all of your units often and move them if necessary. Remember to build several heavy covers with Conscripts, to have room for maneuvering if you plan to stay in one area.
   
   
2. MG42 teams
   The same excellent MG42 that rips your enemies to pieces can be used against you. However, AI does not recognize good positions to place MG, it simply tries to move and shoot with it like with any other infantry. If you meet the MG42 team in open field or on the move, using two squads will always make flanking and killing it possible. "Urrah!" can also help you here. Never try taking it head on, as it has boosted stats all around and pins fast. Shocktroopers smoke grenade is also a counter, as enemy will abandon position and come closer to you. You can also use smoke from mortars ,if you happen to have them. After killing the team, take MG42 for yourself, as it is much better than Maxim. Otherwise, destroy it to prevent AI from recrewing it.
   
   
3. Mortar teams
   If you are faced with abundance of enemy mortars, try to construct a mobile infantry team for removing them fast. Usually it will be either shocktroopers or penal battalions. Both can kill it with regular fire and grenades/satchel. Mortars can become really dangerous if left unattended. Grenatenwerfer 43 is more precise than your regular Soviet mortar, so it is usually a bad idea to try countering it this way. Unless of course, your mortars are already veterans. But fresh new Soviet mortar will generaly lose against Gw43. Same as with MG42, recrew or destroy it after killing the team.
   
   
4. Sdkfz 251 Flammenwerfer
   Seeing this one might be a surprise after some time, because usually AI will not deploy it straight away, but will send several unupgraded ones first. It is extremely dangerous in close quarters and can easily rip your defences apart by melting your entire infantry. In the moment it comes, you have to have some kind of AT, preferably a vehicle. Early T-70 is great to get rid of those and anything bigger will be even better. In case of immediate danger without vehicles nearby, Conscript AT grenades or Guard vehicle disable can save your troops. Fortunately Sdkfz 251 is unarmored and has little HP. Even HMG can deal with it (especially armor-piercing DshK).
   
   
5. "Long-barrel" Panzer IV
   Once the initial 1941 mode is replaced with later ones, the pathethic, castrated version of PZ4 will be replaced with a regular one. It is decent all-around tank in and of itself, but on General can be devastating to your infantry. Main reason is its AoE damage on regular shells, and large number of hull-mounted HMGs. If you blob too tightly (especially in snow) you can lose entire squads in a single cannon hit.
   
   
6. Tiger
   Most of German armor is inferior to T-34 and KV-1 ,but sometimes you will face the ultimate weapon of Ostheer. Tiger can rip apart both infantry and vehicles. You will have to engage most of your army if you happen to face one of them. Conscipt AT grenades are crucial in slowing it down. Guards can disable it, if you have them. Use KV-1 as damage sponge and try targeting rear and side armor with rest of your AT. Never let TIger aquire any vet upgrades. Take it down as soon as you can. Or just destroy enemy base early if you know that they will spawn Tiger later in game.

If you play as Ostheer against Soviet major threats will be:

1. Penal battalions
   Upgraded damage of penals, passive bonus after they lose squad member, size of 6 men and satchel charge make those units really dangerous line infantry. They are also a bane for any of your light vehicles once they aquire PTRS, and can severely damage any tank that closes on them. Try to pin them as often as possible or wipe them out with Sturmgrenadiers. Never let them into close range of your tanks or static defenses. Unfortunately they often come in great numbers.
   
   
2. Guard squads
   Guard is not exaclty that hard, but annoying on several levels. It has decent grenades and performs extremely well in static cover as double LMG works fully only when standing. However, as Ai moves them often, they rarely pose that much of the threat. If they do stop in cover though, flush them out with grenades ASAP, or they will mow through your units. To add to their annoyance, they can often completely disable your vehicles, as AI uses them in great numbers, and each squad can disable single vehicle for 20s.
   
   
3. ZiS weapon team
   Main reason for ZiS to be so annoying is the fact, that it doubles as artilery and not only AT cannon. AI will use the barrage ability all the time, and can easily kill any unit standing in place. It is also devastating to static defense. Just try to kill the squad with any infantry at hand, but REMEBER TO DESTROY THE CANNON. If you leave cannons uncrewed in place, you will soon be flooded with them and their barrages, as AI will always pick them back up with any infantry unit at hand.
   
   
4. M5 meat grinder
   AI will spam those a lot if possible, and they are ridiculously powerful. Pinning several squads of infantry can easily happen with just one of those. Completely eradicates infantry, but it is weak to any armor or AT cannons (because they are impossible to pin and have self-made heavy cover). If you bump into them early on, use MG42 special AP rounds or Panzergrenadiers hidden inside buildings.
   
   
5. T-34
   Stay away from it with any infantry squads. On General it is severely boosted and rips infantry units apart with its main gun and mounted MG. Try to bait it into attacking you tanks and aim at the rear. T-34 is far less dangerous if flanked, as its MG is only on the front and the turret turns slowly, greatly reducing the DPS. In most cases, you will have to deal with it with mass of PaK 40, preferably in some kind of clever ambush placement. If you have PaK 43 or PZ4 J then use them here, as they are better than T-34 in AT fights.
   
   
6. KV-1
   First one of boosted Soviet heavy armor. You will face them often, and using some kind of heavy AT is advisable. They deal mediocre damage for a heavy tank, but it is still a damage. Avoid shooting the front and try to bait the tank into turning rear into your AT guns. You can also use Teller mines in narrow passages or sink them into rivers,
   
   
7. KV-8
   Extremely dangerous and not to be taken lightly. Although your vehicles can completely ignore its presence, it melts infantry like butter. PaK 43 of PZ4 J is advisable if you know you will face them. If it is impossible to take any of the aforementioned AT, try lots of PaK 40. It is the only way if you play Case Blue: Assault on Voronezh, as you vehicle department will be cut off.
   
   
8. KV-2 / IS-2
   Rarely present, but devastating to both infantry and vehicles. Think of those as Soviet equivalents of Tiger. Try to disable them with Pak 40 and Pak 43 veteran 1 skill, to avoid taking unnecessary amounts of damage. KV-2 is more sturdy, has ridiculously impenetrable front armor and is generally slow, with bad turret turn. Its attacks are also slow, but devastating. IS-2 is faster, and more universal, with good damage against anything it faces, but worse armor and HP than KV-2. It poses significant threat to infantry, but has slow reload and poor penetration, making it surprisingly weak against tanks.

Soviet overlook and advice

The Soviet forces are the faction that is much easier to play out of the two available in ToW. In some aspects, with 1941 restrictions, they are more effective than in regular matchmaking game. They pay for it with astonishingly low defensive capabilities, as they are army built around the concept of aggression, so it might sometimes be challenging to hold the overwhleming enemy assault with them.

Soviet advantages:

• Much better heavy armor than the enemy in 1941 outfit
  
• Very big infantry squads
  
• Versatile units with wide range of uses and abilities, especially doctrinal call-ins
  
• Tanks capable of capturing points

Soviet weaknesses:

• Need for Amunition to be fully effective
  
• Lack of frontline healing /replenishment
  
• Lack of infantry AT
  
• Low defensive capabilities

It is usually good to have previous experience with Soviet, especially considering Conscripts. They are a core unit of any Soviet army ,but need some time to get used to playing. Key points to remember are that without vet they should stay in cover and that they will always cripple enemy engine if their grenade hits a tank with less than full health. Look for full guide on them somewhere else.

I already said that in previous section, but I will say this again - shock troops are awesome. Two or more units of them can deal with most infantry enemy throws at you.

Guard units are good choice against enemy tank spam. As on General your infantry is vulnerable to tanks, shock troopers will not be that effective. But Guard can put any enemy tank out of fight for 20s. Always give them two LMG upgrade.

I used to state here that all weapon teams are bad, but it got changed. Now Maxim is a decent HMG "tarpit" unit. Although it does not deal very much damage and has slow pin, the size of six men allow it to stand ground for a very long time. Mortars are still a hard sell, as AI rarely builds defences they are best against. It can still be used to siege enemy base. ZIS is a "last chance" AT option, if you still have no tanks when enemy hits you. Or if you do not have Guard or Tank Hunters. Its poor mobility kills it.

Finally ,the armor department. KV-1 is almost unbeatable for German tanks in 1941. Only thing that can reliably penetrate it is PaK 40, and it is pretty immobile. Make good use of your heavy tanks, as you do not need doctrines to produce them, and they have rock bottom cost of 80 fuel. They do cost huge amounts of manpower though. Another great option is T-34 ,as it is much more mobile than KV-1 and has awesome anti-infantry capabilities, though it is also much more vulnerable. Lastly, you may sometimes use one T-70 in mid-game to wreck large amounts of enemy light vehicles and later on for scouting and anti-infantry support or protecting your backline.

What is the biggest downside for Soviet forces? Lack of transport, replenishment and frontline healing. The only way to heal your ravaged soldiers is to retreat them all the way to base, and as I said before, it is not good idea versus AI. You will just have too keep your transport behind frontline and replenish troops with it. Replenishment vehicle will usually be an awful ZiS truck, literally worst transport in the game. Only alternative is M5 from Lend Lease commander.

Useful Soviet doctrines

Soviet - unlike Germans, which in ToW are very reliant on their doctrines, have base build good enough to just complement it with their doctrine. As such, their choice is less strict and more depends on your playstyle. There is only one massive boost you can get through doctrines - static defense bunkers.

1. Best ones:

• Tank Hunters
  Soviet never had any decent AT infantry until this one arrived. Your conscipts from being able to just kill the engine of enemy tank suddenly can kill an entire tank. What is more, if you spam 3 or 4 squads of them, they are good enough against enemy infantry too. And it comes with static defense bunkers, And a bombing run that is devastating to both infantry and tanks. And even B4, which stopped being a meme and is now legitimately useful against most targets ... if it hits them, that is.
  
  
• Defensive (Communi(s)ty)
  You guessed it, tank traps. Also it is nice to have upgraded weapon team versions and bunkers. And finally, the AT barrage on 12 CP is simply devastating. Used correctly it can obliterate any number of enemy tanks. You can create killzones by making enemy tanks converge in one spot with tank traps and then hitting them with AT artillery.
  
  
• Lend Lease
  Yeehaw, comrade! This thing patches your lack of decent transport/replenishment by providing you with brand new M5 close combat Guards. Add to it famous DshK , some yankee capitalist Shermans with big guns and ability to repair all of this lightning fast with Conscripts and you are good to go. You can also aim for decisive resource advantage with brand new ZIS transport trucks.

2. Other viable ones:

• Counterattack
  If you want meme Stalin's Hammer B4 and have fun aiming it using recon plane. Also has shocktroopers.
  
• NKVD
  First rule of NKVD, never speak of NKVD. Good anti infantry support with KV-8 and Commisar. Radio tap can alert you before danger comes in. And this is the second doctrine with awesome AT artillery barrage at 12 CP.
  
• Anti-Infantry
  It has bunkers and that is its biggest advantage. Also if you are a sadistic pyromaniac, it has both KV-8 and flame barrage.

German Ostheer overlook and advice

Here is the hard part, and much more tricky army. Although in default matchmaking it is the other way around (Germans act as straightforward snowball and allies as gimmick faction) the ToW version of Ostheer is so awful, so stripped from their best units, that it is not even funny. Most of hard missions in ToW will be German ones.

German advantages:

• Great weapon teams
  
• Wonderful static defense
  
• Very good doctrinal units and bombardments
  
• Huge amounts of healing and replenishment options

German weaknesses:

• Awful heavy armor except doctrinal
  
• Almost nonexistent AT except doctrinal
  
• Smaller unit sizes result in lower staying power
  
• Regular line infantry underperforms without boosts

Just like before, let's start with infantry. And here comes the first problem. What is supposed to be your basic line infantry is hardly useful on General, as low unit count makes it struggle against larger and more numerous enemy squads. Grenadiers may win a few fights, but they will inevitably wear off quickly and will require replenishment. Oh, and forget about Panzerfaust. In 1941 they have only AT rifle grenades, which deal a third of Panzerfaust damage and are generally worth it only for a chance of engine shot down.

Therefore either double Pioneer or HMG is much better starting option, especially that it saves you time and resources, as you do not need to build Infantry Company building. In some cases you might want to omit this building alltogheter. It is sometimes viable (or even necessary) to spam HMG in early game, especially if there are lots of large buildings available at the area. I won one of the hardest missions in ToW - Case Blue: Kharkov Pursuit, by spamming 7 HMG teams, putting them all inside buildings in the village (blocking partisan spawns at the same time) and holding out until I had enough Fuel to deploy doctrinal PZ4 ausf. J.

Pioneers will generally be a unit used a lot, as German static defense with bunkers, barbed wire and doctrinal defense units is really strong. In normal matchmaking enemy would level it to the ground with long range artillery, but AI does not deploy it that often and if it does, it is at most a single Katyusha with bad targeting. Unless AI decided to spam mortar teams, you will not be that much bothered by it. If you have a possibility, use PaK 43. AI is useless against it.

And ,of course, there are Sturmgrenadiers from doctrinal call-in. They are your best pick for line infantry. They have larger squad count, larger DPS in close combat, and the largest grenade strike in the entire game, as well as sprint. AT rifle grenade is just a cherry on top. They can face and win with any enemy infantry.

Avoid Panzergrenadiers, unless you face an entrenched enemy in city, with some light vehicles. Then you can take a single unit mostly for their grenades, with some sturdiness to boost. But they are AWFUL in general, as they have regular anti-infantry weapons (instead of their usual Stg 44), there is only 4 of them, and the AT carabine they start with (so you cannot pick up any other weapon) is bad for anything bigger than M5, save maybe T-70. Compared to their usual, Panzershreck version, they are useless.

MG42 needs no introduction. It is the best anti-infantry HMG in game, so make use of it. Mortar teams are also viable pick, as they are much more accurate than Soviet ones, and have bigger range. Supporting HMG with one squad is not bad idea. PaK 40 is awesome and will be your core in many games in ToW. Use it often, as it is only non-doctrinal AT effective against KV-1.

Sdkfz 251 is a very nice addition to your forces, as it serves both as a replenishment and healing unit, in addition to being mobile. It is almost like having two bunkers move with you. Almost, as if you do not plan to move, bunkers are better option, because they are tougher and more effective in what they do. Nevertheless, Sdkfz 251 will be your primary support for any mobile force. Sdkfz 222 is not that good, as it is squishy, and enemy will move PTRS to the field really quickly.

And lastly, the tier 3 units. NEVER USE THEM. Your Panzer 4 F1 and StuG E cost an arm and leg and are castrated , short-barrel versions of themselves. They are terrible against infantry and have trouble penetrating even T-70. Once again, NEVER use them. Patching the hole lack of heavy armor makes in your build is the job for right doctrine.

Useful Ostheer doctrines

German in general want to have some kind of replacement for lack of viable AT. It will probably be PaK 43 or PZ4 ausf. J ,but some people may use Puma if they like it. Depending on the map you can even ditch AT in some cases, relying only on PaK 40, and focusing on support and bombardment.

1. Best ones:

• Strategic Reserves
  THIS GUY. He will make most of the 1941 battles easy and you get him for free, no need to pay Relic. As most of the newer doctrines are not even patched for ToW (I said developers do not care) this commander allows you to basically get around limitations by deploying PZ4 ausf. J , which is full blown, regular German armor, instead of pathetic PZ4 ausf. F1 or StuG ausf. E. What is more, he comes with 0 CP Sturmgrenadiers to boot and gives your Pioneers possibility to repair faster. After all this his unusable two other abilities do not really matter, he single-handedly makes Ostheer great again.
  
  
• Defensive Doctrine (Community)
  Forget about Osttruppen. I would love them to be as good as in matchmaking, but sadly, they got nerfed too and have no Panzefaust (and nothing in exchange for it). Only time you would like to call them is once you need to crew any cannon that enemy left for you. No more than one unit will ever be needed, as using them as cannon fodder is still too expensive.
  
  But aside from that, everything else in this doctrine is awesome. Tank traps are one of the best tools against enemy armor spam, Heavy bunkers work wonders, and repair bunkers are saving grace for any armor you might have, while pioneers do not have to bother with regular repairs. StuG ausf. E suddenly becomes useful when it changes ammo from AP to HE and ravages enemy infantry (or sometimes drowns tanks in rivers). The barrage is nice for defending against larger enemy hordes.
  
  And the star of the show, the magical cannon PaK 43. IT CAN SHOOT THROUGH ANYTHING. Regardless of where the enemy tank is, as long as you have any vision on it and it is in range, it will be destroyed (the PaK itself can even be sitting in smoke, it will still shoot). Contrary to intuition, this cannon works best in densely packed cities, as walls mean nothing to it, while enemy tanks have trouble escaping. For extra ROFL value, you can barrage it with mortar smoke to make it basically invincible.
  
  
• Festung: Armor
  Ever since the patch that changed command tank to PZ4J, this doctrine got progressively better and deserves its place as the third "best one". While it lacks the tank traps ,heavy bunkers and assault grenadiers of previous ones, it allows you to completely obliterate any armor enemy might throw at you. No tank stands a chance against combined might of PaK 43 and PZ4J boosted with smoke launchers. Remember that PaK 43 needs no direct vision, so it can shoot through smoke, as long as you see the target with any other unit.

2. Other viable ones:

• Mobile Defense
  If you like Puma and prefer your defense not to be so stationary. Smoke for vehicles and command tank boosts survival. Fast point cap allows quick counterattacks.
  
• Mechanized Assault
  If you think you need no extra AT and just want to screw infantry all over with Sturmgrenadiers and StuG ausf. (H)E.
  
• Close Air Support
  As both sides lack any AA defense, this one provides both solid AOE and resources to call it in as often as necessary.

Last warning - if you plan to take another doctrine to try winning with Tiger or Elefant - you cannot. Older guides will tell you that Tiger is best pick for most missions, but there was a multiplayer patch, which made it impossible to send doctrinal heavy armor without building Tier IV base building. And in 1941 setting Germans cannot build it, so you cannot use Tiger anymore.

Specific mission tips

Just a few details on missions that you may find hard. And remember, having a friend help is always better than playing with AI ally. Sometimes a friend is all that is necessary to finish almost impassable solo mission.

• Barbarossa: Shildkrotenberg
  It is a very roundabout way, but easy and effective. When the first wave comes in, counter it with HMG, but DO NOT KILL THEM. Leave a squad or two shooting mindlessly on your main base, dealing it no damage (they stop throwing Molotovs after one or two throws). After that , surround entire area with barbed wire, then leave the game going for 10-20 minutes, while you read a book or something. Afterwards you will end up with only one entrance to the base (you cannot completely barb wire right bottom part of map) and ton of resources. Rest is easy and needs no explanation.
  
  
• Barbarossa: Crimea
  Infamous for being hardest non-solo mission in entire ToW. It is so for several reasons, but most noteworthy: big map and huge unit spam in late game. Completed it with a friend, I never actually made it solo. Our tactic was a bit cheesy, as it involved surrounding Victory Points with barbed wire and tank traps, to prevent enemy from capturing it. To fortify ourselves, we pushed our HMG all the way to enemy base. It bought us enough time and we held all three points for 500:0 victory. We basically just avoided late game with AI, as it turned out to be pretty much unwinnable.
  
  
• Barbarossa: Minsk
  It may be hard if you do it solo, as your 2 ally AI simply suck. Good, old PaK 43 should save you from trouble.
  
  
• Case Blue: Assault on Voronezh
  Always take infantry commander position. Your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ally should be able to hold point on the other side, provided that you destroy most of enemy forces there (enemy has no base on that riverbank, so once destroyed, they will not come back). Take an infantry doctrine, push and hold a second VP to win after clearing your side of river. In this mission I used German Infantry doctrine, as it provides you with larger squads necessary for prolonged skirmishes as well as close combat units.
  
  
• Case Blue: Kharkov Pursuit
  Infamous as the hardest solo AI battle in ToW. Enemy has huge numerical advantage and will flood you really fast with infantry, M5 meat grinders and then heavy armor. As I said before, I used mass HMG spam, combined with barbed wire, to hold on early. I omitted Infantry Company and just rushed tech, although I made PaK 40 on the way (as it is impossible to aquire PZ4 J soon enough). Save often and redo each small step if you fail. Be prepared for multiple attempts.
  
  
• Victory at Stalingrad: Kalach Pincer
  Made it solo, just took me a few attempts. Simply save your victory counter points and amass an army including sufficient AT, tanks and mortars. Be prepared for when enemy reaches 100 points to assault the bridge after softening it up with mortar and artillery strikes. Cap it with just one or two squads, quickly retreat to one side of it and then obliterate counterattack forces one by one (they come from both sides of bridge and can easily wipe you out). It is simple if you know what you are doing, but many players are surprised with a drastic change of situation after dropping enemy down to 100 points.
  
  
• Victory at Stalingrad: Bridge Defense
  Hardest mission of entire ToW hands down. I finally beaten this blasted thing with absolute cheese. If you manage to kill entire enemy infantry and leave just vehicles, then thay cannot capture your points. So I just abandoned my post on the bridge entirelty to two PZ4 and waited long enough to have inexhaustible reserve of manpower and munitions. Similar effect can be achieved on wave 15, if you leave enemy StuG exchanging fire with infantry. Point is, you can do it. And once you do, you also have all the time in the world to mine all entrances and just mop up whaterver did not explode.
  
  How should you hold until wave 14 or 15? Buildings and PZ4 wreck. You should hide most of your partisans in buildings, leaving only few to physically hold the point. Dispersed enemies are much easier to eliminate. Moreover, you should recruit AT partisans early and make them repair PZ4 stuck in one of the houses. It is worse than enemy PZ4 by large margin, but there is nothing better for you against enemy infantry and light vehicles. Just watch out for any AT, even carbines. It has only one crew member (yes, the gunner) and that means the effect of "Machine gunner killed" will turn it into wreck again, with guaranteed huge HP loss and engine damaged.
  
  
• Victory at Stalingrad: Wintergewitter
  This one is hard, as enemy has PZ4 by 3rd minute into the game. I used Soviet AT doctrine and turned my Conscripts into ultimate blob of destruction. However, it was still not enough to counter two vet 2 Tigers that come as LCF in last moment. So on my next attempt, I just destroyed the enemy base with my PTRS Conscripts, never letting Tigers spawn. Be warned - you NEED transport to reinforce and carry your troops. Heavy snow makes them unbelievably slow and prone to be killed upon retreating.
  
  
• Southern Fronts: Spring Rasputitsa
  Mortars are your best friends. You must act quickly, as tanks will start moving very, very soon if you do not kill enemies digging them out of mud. Also, you can get hidden achievement here for manning all 5 observation towers (do it on Easy). Similar hidden achievement is in Southern Fronts: Occupation (look up a guide for them).
  
  
• Southern Fronts: Kharkov Divide
  Did it with a friend on a coop strategy, with Community Defense and Close Air Support. I provided bunkers to repair Tigers and slowly built defense armaments, while he kept enemies in check with large amounts of air strikes. Tigers are a key to effective defense all the way up to lategame. This one is really hard solo, as your stupid ally AI will lose its Tiger within first few minutes.

Conclusion

There you go, whomever might want it. Hope it helps you a bit. I was planning to add some photos, because plain text looks awful, but Steam is a ♥♥♥♥♥ and runs into an error any time I try. Happy hunting for achievements.

Also, if I made any translation errors (my version of game is NOT in English, so i might got a unit or mission name wrong) please let me know in comments.

[Cpt.Macmillan]

Well, in the Case Blue: Assault on Voronezh mission, I suggest you can take the panzer command position(the default position). You can choice the mechanized assault doctrine or the spear head doctrine. Thanks to the Tiger tank only require you to finish the phase 3 building and 11 cp. So sweep the enemies out around your base and prevent any tanks loses. When you have 1 Tiger and 4-5 Panzer IVs you can rush the soviet's base and finish them even in General difficulty (they have at least 2 KV1, 1 zis or t34. kill every hostile unit in the soviet base will make you win directly instead of destroy all their buildings). The battle will be finished in 30 mins. If you want to wait the enemy down to 0 point, they will have a massive cheat army and throwing rockets anything they can on you, beat you very hard. In my opinion, this scenario may be the most interesting mission of the the ToW.

[generic cardboard boi 45]

What about case blue tiger ace mission on TOW? that one is pretty challenging for me

[Fourmi]

Just tried out the Crimea mission on general difficulty on my first try with a friend, without any cheese. It was not that difficult, so maybe there were some nerfs?

[Tommy Gray x Land Raider]

Another useful doctrine, at least for the Soviets in 1941, is Partisan Tactics. Partisan Troops work well with M3A1 Scout Cars, which can quickly close the distance and rip apart unprepared infantry. Partisan Tank Hunters are also nice as they have a Panzerschreck for armor and other hard targets. Radio Intercept can remind you on incoming threats so you can determine how to counter them. Spy network, for a price of 40 munitions, can briefly reveal the location of all enemy forces.

[UMP45_GF]

@hackboi, the reason they're not good for ToW, is they by default get "one" Anti-Tank Rifle and you can't get another special weapons in, whilst the Soviets get 2 or 3(Penals). and even in an infantry section, you are better off with Assault Grenadiers or Grenadiers for dealing with infantry

[M for Masochist]

Enemies at Assault on Voronezh are getting more harder and aggressive, they almost don't use mortars and katyusha trucks (not the sector barrage) in the past, now they do.

[Joseph "Joe" Nuts]

Wait, I always thought panzergrenadiers were a good unit and always got at least one squad, why are they bad?

[Fourmi]

I actually managed to do General Assault on Voronezh as the Vehicle/Tank commander with an AI ally. Perhaps I was lucky? I lost a lot of my vehicles to Soviet AT guns which seem to have perfect aim and greater range in this difficulty...

My AI ally was little help, though they did serve well as distractions for the enemy, and usually helped me repair.

[ZeGuardsmen]

Never mind my old comment i managed to do Tiger mission with just kitting for 1hr....it worked but took me 3 tries.

Also Case Blue Kharkov persuit......well seems for some reason i didnt need to worry about a specific commander since i noticed both the Stug and P4 where current G and H version(current multiplayer versions) so i jused used the tactic of spaming MGs into buildings in a defensive line while using the Defensive doctrine and made Forti MG Bunkers and managed to hold off enemy armor with 1 Pak till P4H came and had 3 on the field to help my lines

[Fourmi]

Thank you for the guide. Just one translation error I can observe: Woronezh is Voronezh.