Company of Heroes 2 – A Guide on how to abuse Lend Lease British.

Intro

 
Well, it has been a while. 
Hello again, this time around I will take a look at the rather underrated British commander introduced in the Community Commander of 2019, the Lend-Lease Assault Regiment. While at the first glance this doctrine is seemingly weak, in reality, it’s one of the best early game commanders for two reasons, mortar and assault sections. Without further ado, let’s jump into it. 
 
 

Doctrine itself.

 
 
 
0 CP, 240 MP – 81mm American mortar team – Call in an American smoke dispenser. In classic builds of lend-lease it’s quite useful, but I hardly ever use it because of the strategy that I will describe in the next section. All things together, this tool is quite useful if you don’t really have tools to outmaneuver your opponent’s MGs or emplacements. 
 
 
 
0 CP, 280 MP – Assault Infantry Section – The selling point of the doctrine, this unit is in its basic form a carbon copy of the USF’s Cavalry Riflemen, boasting the same weapons (at least stat-wise), 5 models, almost the same RA stat, and a similar upgrade in form of two Thomsons and a war crime grenade. Tactics, usage, and counters will be written below. Oh, and unlike the future Raid Sections, they can build things that normal/AT sections can at their normal speed. 
 
 
0 CP – M10 Achilles (available in T3 for 300 MP and 80 Fuel) – Budget Tank Destroyer, it’s pretty good at countering either Stugs or Pumas due to its mobility and above-average range of 50, same as the Stug. It also has access to Flanking Speed, allowing it to dive more efficiently, and Vet 1 unlocks the HVAP shells, which increases the penetration of its 3-inch gun. All things considered, it’s not really useful in most cases due to AEC existing in the role of light AT hunter and recently buffed Cromwell, which it’s good in AI and AT departments. Also, Cromwell accelerates a bit faster and has better veterancy. 
 
 
3 CP, 240 MP 30 Fuel – Contrary to the description, this is the most armored halftrack in the game, boasting decent 28.5 armor on the front and 20 on the back, meaning that infantry has a 3,5% chance to penetrate its armor with small arms on the front, and 5% to pen its rear. This speed demon is a perfect replacement for the AEC if you prefer to have AT wall instead of a mobile light tank destroyer, due to versatility. 

• First thing, it can reinforce troops on the frontline, which can tip the scales in your favor. 
• Second use is the PIAT bus, where you load two infantry units with PIATs and dive a distracted tank. This strat is more effective than the USF’s Mechanised Bazooka Bus since the PIATs do more damage and have a higher penetration, as well as the M5 itself is more survivable due to its higher speed and armor. I mean, it’s not going to bounce snares or Schreck’s, but it’s going to save your skin somewhat more than the M3. 
• Just load up the halftrack with assault sections/officer and wreak havoc on support equipment. Most risky out of all the uses, since, you know API exists, and two AT gun shots and your M5 is good as dead. Also if you dive place filled with mainlines of your opponent, it’s going to be at least snared two times, so be wise if you want to do that. 
• Lastly, the most straightforward use of M5, Meat Chopper. Excellent suppression on distance, good for stalling enemy infantry pushes but reduces its flexibility by giving up the three uses mentioned above.

 
6 CP – Vehicle Crew Repairs – For 40 munitions you can repair any and all vehicles that you have, including captured ones (I think). It’s pretty good, since you can have one less engineer squad on the field, and you’re going to float on a literal crapton of munitions anyway (unless you spam grenades or Gannon bombs). 
 
 

Strategy and basic build order.

 
Let’s say that you have a game against Wehrmacht on Nexus, with standard early game composition of MG-Gren-Gren-Gren. 
The first thing that you’d want to do is to instantly build the Universal carrier and lock to lend-lease. Send the starting section to capture the fuel and the cutoff opposite of your first strike. Once your UC is ready, spawn the Assault Tommy section and load it up into UC, and drive to the cutoff or opposite fuel point. Now, there’s a 50-50 shot that fuel will be capped by a lone pioneer, and MG is on its way. Drive to the pioneer as close as you humanly can, and drop off the section, and simply wait for it to either wipe or cause a retreat. Repeat the same for the MG. If you manage to get the MG, then it’s good, since you have a decent suppression platform to deal with possible infantry pushes. 
With your first engagement won, you want to secure both fuels, while pumping another assault section and repairing the UC if it’s snared/seriously damaged. 
Fast tech to T2 and get medics as the replacements for your regular section medkits. Also, don’t forget about your AEC. If played the enemy well enough, you can get the AEC acquisition first instead of medics. 
Now, there’s a bit of breathing room that you could use to get either an Assault Officer (for bundle grenades and commando levels of CQC DPS, as well as combat boost and sprint for your assault sections), an AT gun (for 222 wanting to counter your UC), or MG if you didn’t steal it already. Also here you should get upgrades for your assault sections to deal even more CQC damage, since the vet 3 Assault sections win almost every engagement with CQC axis infantry on close distance, upgraded or not. The only way that you could lose engagement would be if the opposing site had support in form of additional squads or an MG or a vehicle of some sort. 
The late game is pretty standard. Your infantry, which dealt a literal ton of damage to the enemy infantry will now be supported by a mix of AECs, Cromwells, and Comets, as well as AT wall, Assault officer and engineers somewhere in the background, and with such a build, practically nothing will stop you from winning the game, unless something bad happens. 
 
Build order : 
UC-AS-AS-T2-MED-ENG/AO-AEC-T3-CROM-COM 
This is the most basic build that I use, and it is pretty good at dealing with most treats that both OKW and Ostheer will bring. The only weakness is that it’s really bad at assaulting a dug-in position, and without enough munitions, you will be bogged down by MGs. For such a situation, I’d recommend a mortar to deal with MGs. 
 
 

Counters to specific unit compositions or strategies.

 
Assault Grenadier and Tier One skip 
This one is tricky, and in the early game you will have troubles dealing with them, since assault grenadiers go toe-to-toe with assault tommies, BUT there’s light at the end of the tunnel, since the Thomson upgrade tops the assault grens, regardless if they have 6th man or not. The only things that could save them are grenades or MG or light vehicles, but considering that you and your opponent both bleed hard during engagements, it’s tricky to say if 222 or your AEC will be delayed or not. Pgrens maybe seem formidable at the first glance, but keep in mind that they get absolutely destroyed by the Thomsons. And lastly, assault sections in UC essentially hard counter any MG in the game, and since it takes a stock MG42 five bursts to kill a UC. 
 
General OKW 4x Volk builds 
This strat is perhaps even better for OKW since they don’t start with snares, so you can trample them with your UC if you are not scared of damage on it. This will force OKW to get either Panzerschercks on their sturms (making them borderline unusable against Assault Sections) or to build an early AT gun, which will hurt their manpower. Later, sections are still superior to volks in every CQC engagement, and the only chance to beat them is to catch an unupgraded one or use a buff like For the Fatherland or something like that. 
 
Schweres 
Tier 4s are very easy to deal with as the brits, you only need your starting section to be upgraded with pyrotechnics, and the anvil specialization. Drop smoke to block LOS of the schwere, lob an arty flare, and then heavy Gannon bomb to finish it up. And just like that, your opponent is punished for overextending with his Panzer HQ. 
Alternatively, you could just use two AT guns, but keep in mind that it’s a bit slower and that your AT guns will be exposed during the process. 
 
Axis Ultra Lights 
Just upgrade the UC with the Vickers to deal with them. And honestly, that’s it. Snare from an engineer section or an AEC dive would not hurt as well. 
 
Fuseliers 
Fusiliers are a tricky bunch to deal with in general, but there’s a way to exploit their weaknesses. Firstly, just like grenadiers, they have a 30 range snare in form of AT rifle grenade, which isn’t telegraphed at all, lelic pls fix REEEEEEEEEEEEEE renders UC dives nearly impossible. To counter that, try to unload your troops a bit further, and use the Bren carrier as a fire support platform, something like Kubel. Now, as you probably know, fusiliers are the second worse stock unit in terms of out-of-cover engagements, and their very low close range DPS reassures that they will get literally melted in the early game by your units if you close the gap. 
Now G43 Fusiliers are a problem and will need either pick an engagement in close quarters (like the southern muni point of Khlodny Ferma) or use the Assault Officer’s heroic charge to close the gap with Thomson Sections. 
 
Osttruppen 
That one is a pickle, even worse to deal with than Fusiliers. My only real advice is to not recklessly charge into their prepared kill zone, and instead either flank or smoke it. I didn’t meet any opponent that used Osttruppen against me with my build order, so I’m left in the dark in this one. 
 
Sniper 
Simply dive him if he’s isolated. Keep in mind that snipers have higher RA than the other units (1.15), so both UC and the Assault Section will have an easier time hitting him. 
 
 

General Tips and what you shouldn’t do

• Always try to pick your engagement. If the enemy attacks you, you will be most likely boned, since Assault sections aren’t really good at defending. If you really have to defend, consider building an MG. 
• Keep your UC as far as possible when you want to rely on its fire since it benefits from the same reverse DPS as the regular Bren has (though it has waaay higher DPS, 11 in comparison to regular Bren DPS of 6, albeit commando Bren’s still superior it seems) 
• Emplacements are irrelevant for lend-lease since you already have a smoke dispenser (hell, it’s even mobile!). 17pdr is only really useful if can’t deal with enemy tanks in some sector deal with emplacements in other ways than the mortar pit, and you float munis in the mid-late game anyway. 
• Keep in mind that Assault Sections still can build things. Abuse sandbags, trenches, or build cashes (if you really ran out of stuff to do with manpower) 
• Spam mines. Also, destroy cover if you can. 
• Learn to spam heroic charge on your infantry. It will save your skin. Also while on the topic of officer, don’t give him brens. He’s not Airlanding Officer and doesn’t benefit from Super Brens anymore. 
• Don’t bolster. Assault Sections came as 5 men squads regardless of bolster’s upgraded or not. 
• Learn to combo grenades – The WP grenade on the retreat path, and then throw a Gannon bomb or a regular grenade.

Outro

 
Hey, thanks for reading! I mean it, since not everybody plays UKF, especially on 1v1. While it’s not meta and the strat is god awful on 2v2 and above (well, MAYBE it’s effective on 4v4s on lane maps, but what do I know, I don’t play 4v4s. Also let’s be honest, Lend Lease it’s not very effective in the late game). 
Well, that’s about it. Keep in mind that I suck at the game, and if you bring this strat to the top 100, I will salute you. 
Good luck, and for King and country! 
 

This is all about Company of Heroes 2 – A Guide on how to abuse Lend Lease British.; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!