Company of Heroes 3 Afrikakorps build order: call an ambulance, but not for me

Learn how to get a great start as the Afrikakorps in team matches

Company of Heroes 3 is finally out and players all over the world are busy liberating Italy, driving the British out of North Africa, or clashing in the real-time strategy game’s multiplayer mode. We have already prepared you for those battles with our Company of Heroes 3 beginner tips as well as giving you some pointers in the best infantry units and best tanks guides, but if you want to dive a bit deeper into things, we need to talk about build orders.

Since Company of Heroes 3, unlike StarCraft 2 or Age of Empires 2, does not heavily focus on the economy, we won’t mention any precise timings here, but rather talk you through a general set of opening moves you can use in team games as the Afrikakorps to get a good start.

Afrikakorps build order in Company of Heroes 3

Begin the game by immediately sending your Panzerpioniere to the closest resource point, then build a unit of Panzergrenadiere at your HQ. You’ll want to rally these to another resource point closeby as your pioneers advance forward. Add another unit of Panzergrenadiere as soon as your resources allow, rallying them to wherever your Panzerpioniere are.

Push aggressively with those three units, because both US Forces and British Forces will often have out an early machine gun team. If you can surprise this squad and loot the gun for yourself, that’s a great early win for you.

To make this easier, we’d recommend getting the upgrade for infantry grenades in the small building next to your HQ as soon as you can. Split up your three infantry units and try to flank and rush a MG team that’s just setting up its gun, if you catch one. While your starting infantry is specialized in long-range combat, you’ll want to get close and personal with any MG team, keeping out of its fire arc.

Keep an eye on your resources during this time and build your next production structure in your base as soon as you can. Once that’s done, the first thing you’ll want to do is produce a medical truck.

The Afrikakorps' medical trucks are fantastic units, allowing you to keep the pressure on your opponent / Relic Entertainment

We can’t overemphasize how good of a unit this truck is. It will heal and reinforce all your infantry close to the front line, saving a ton of time that would otherwise be wasted by the units running all the way back to HQ. Using the medical truck to keep your forces fresh will allow you to keep up relentless aggression and grind your opponents down, for they will need to retreat their units back home to freshen them up. You can use this to make territorial gains or, later in the game, infiltrate their backline, where their unprotected mortars and anti-tank guns are. Raid these before their infantry comes back.

If you weren’t able to capture an enemy MG, you should build one now to strengthen your own line and perhaps protect the position you’ve stationed your medical truck at. Ideally, you should now tech up to access your mechanized reinforcements and call in a Panzerjäger group.

A Panzerjäger squad will keep you safe from most Allied early game vehicles / Relic Entertainment

These men will keep you safe from enemy vehicles, while their half-track vehicle allows you to buff them and your other infantry up by keeping it closeby. The Afrikakorps really thrives using combined arms tactics. You can also research the conversion technology for your half-tracks, making the vehicle into a highly mobile mortar a bit later. This is where things can get much too varied to give specific advice. If you’ve done as described, you should have a solid position on your part of the map, holding or pressuring a victory point with a strong infantry force that can be healed and reinforced very quickly. From here, you can use your short supply line to ramp up the pressure on your side or shift your mobile forces to support an ally.

At this point you can probably decide on your Battle Group, adding Guastatori or Bersaglieri to your infantry or going down an armored route. You’ll likely want to tech up soon as well, adding a Walking Stuka Rocket Launcher and a big PaK-38 to your roster. While tanks are popular in the meta, big anti-tank guns seem to absolutely shred them at the moment – even a Tiger has a third of its HP shaved off from a front armor hit of the big guns the Allies can field.

A well-protected anti-tank gun will be enough to deter enemy tanks from assaulting your territory, though it’s wise to have additional measures in place in case artillery or air support wipes out the big cannon.