Some terms to know:
First trench: The trench right outside your base
Second trench (and so on): The trench to the right of the (first, second, third, so on) trench
Second to last trench: The trench to the left of the last trench
Last trench: The trench outside of the enemy base.
Shotgun: Explained in the next section well enough; Second (from left to right) unit on the bottom HUD
Sniper: One of three selectable units to the 4th and fifth unit slots. Has farthest shooting range in the game, aside from artillery and gas
Artillery: Sometimes shortened to "arty" (by me only), it is two* unlockable weapons which cause certain areas to be bombarded. One of them has only one shell but is quite precise, the other fires three shells but is quite inaccurate.
Gas: An unlockable unit which kills any unit which does not have a gas mask or is not in range of an officer. Tanks and machine gun bunkers are immune, however the unit which hauls the machine gun is not.
Machine gun bunker: Not so much a bunker as a tool. It is rather weak however it has extreme firepower. It has (from what I know) the second highest range of any regular unit, aside from the Sniper. Shoots rather fast but is limited to trenches and cannot move, while also taking quite a lot of time to build (as a unit has to haul the machine gun out to the post for it to be placed)
Tanks: There are three** types: Reg. Tank, Machine gun tank, and Heavy tank. Reg Tank explodes things, Machine gun tank shoots things with a mobile machine gun bunker (but slightly weaker), and the heavy tank has tons of health, is really slow but has both a cannon and a machine gun, making it the most dangerous unit in the game. Tanks are slower then most regular units and cannot defend trenches making them only suited for attacking.

A small note on Weather:
This guide does not cover any differences you may encounter when weather and Day/Night Mode are activated. Assume this is played with Sun and Clear Skies.
Generally Weather will make strategies more difficult but make it easier to defend, if a bit more risky.
*: Unless you are playing the UK which has the unlockable Creeping Barrage which is just a straight upgrade to the other two mentioned but costs 400 stars.
There are a few more units and mechanisms but this mostly covers all relevant info for the less general strategies.
**: With the addition of the French faction, there is now a new tank: the Medium Tank! Basically, just the Heavy tank but a bit faster and with a little less health. Almost always better than the Heavy tank except for tank-on-tank combat.

These maps generally are defined together because they share only a single trench surrounding your spawn and all have two strategies, slow and fast, each with their own advantages.
Fast:
As the name implies, it's a very fast paced strategy and requires some skill, timing, and knowledge of the AI. Recommended for people trying to get more maps and show the brokenness of certain mechanics. (and of course speedrunners)
This strategy revolves around a single unit: The shotgun. The shotgun is a unit specialized at clearing trenches, and that's why it is the backbone of this strategy. The shotgun, when attacking, will fire before any other units, meaning if you have more shotgunners then your opponent has units in the trench, You will win any engagement provided not bad rng. You start off by unlocking shotgunners, and pumping out as many, as quickly as possible. You keep your shotgunners in the first trench until you have around 1~2 more than the enemy has in their farthest forward trench, and then the fun begins.
You then order an all out attack. Show them no mercy. When their first trench inevitably falls, push them back to their second to last trench. Take it, then retreat one trench all the while pumping out more shotgunners. Wait for the AI to retake that trench. Repeat taking it and retreating until you have a sizable force well enough to take the final trench, and then order an all out attack. If you fail on this step, fall back to the slow strategy.
With 1.20, I recommend making heavy tanks as a backup or finisher. The AI has in fact gotten MUCH stronger than before, and on certain maps this may be nonviable (E.G: Maps 4, 10, 11, 12).
With 1.30, the AI has not gotten noticeably stronger however the new buffs of the German Faction make it ideal for this strategy
Slow:
The slow strategy for these maps generally consists of building up a sizable defense over multiple trenches (preferably) and keeping a machine gun in the first trench all the time. Wait for you to get a large pool of medals, around ~7, and unlock the Heavy Tank (Note: Heavy tanks have been nerfed. Get around 2000 stars and 10 medals, and summon all the tanks but staggered. You will get a similar effect as the old tank). The heavy tank will typically carry the game, however in longer matches will require troop backup, which can be exceptionally hard to coordinate on brutal. The weaknesses of this strategy is that it is the ideal target of artillery and gas, however very little can be done about the former, and the latter can on occasion destroy your defense.
Nothing much for this one changes for 1.20, but the upgrades are more significant then in other strategies.
Again with 1.30 nothing much changes, and the Faction buffs will be discussed later near the end of the guide.

These two strategies remain more or less the same across all maps, aside for a few exceptions mainly pertaining to the sniper, however since the sniper isn't too powerful those exceptions are rather minor in my opinion (however do comment your reasoning for snipers if you wish)

These two maps get their own section for a fun strategy I like to call:
"mg op pls nerf"
(though do feel free to leave suggestions as to the name)
This consists of placing a machine gun on a certain spot where it can shoot into the next trench over but not be shot back at. This is much easier on map 5 than on map 4, but is still useful on map 4 (just not as useful). On map 5 you just don't spawn any units -aside to take the trench back at times- until you feel as if you have enough resources to crush the enemy AI, and on map 4 it mostly consists of the Slow strategy with minor retreats to save resources.
Note that the less troops you build the less the AI builds, so if you wait for a long time you can just skip to heavy tanks.
1.20 has not changed this part much at all aside from the nerf to Heavy Tanks
1.30 also does not change much about this one.

WARNING; Situations have changed with 1.20: This section is verified outdated.

Map 8 is special and deserves its own section simply because it is the only map where Snipers excel... a little too well. The AI for some reason or another thinks 3 normal riflemen versus 1 sniper is a losing fight for them (the side with the riflemen) which is obviously not. This strategy doesn't work so well that it's game breaking, as snipers are ineffective at best and terrible at worst for taking out the Enemy base, and since snipers cost medals to produce is remarkably expensive (and slow)
Wait? You don't see the obvious strategy here? Okay fine I'll say it... You make a sniper right at the start, okay? You move the sniper until it can shoot at other units. You wait until you level up. You make another sniper, put it with the first sniper. Rinse and repeat until you have enough money and medals to win.
This is a very painful strategy at this point in time and I do not recommend you use it.







Oh no, we're still in this section of the guide... that's bad

Okay so I've been testing it (shocking, I know) and you can get both unlucky and lucky at the same time. If you've built up a small amount of troops and rush the second to last trench with one sniper, you may be able to risk it and have the sniper shoot the enemy base... from the second trench over, provided the sniper is far enough forwards in the trench. If you have two snipers, you should have one shooting the enemy trench, one shooting the enemy base. I also recommend getting a machine gun for the second to last trench if you have one sniper shooting the enemy base just for security.

Note:
With 1.20 this map has gotten MUCH MUCH MUCH HARDER; The AI will attack lone snipers, the AI will also be an absolute PAIN to sniper squads. If you summon too many units the AI will summon TANKS and they will absolutely decimate your snipers which cannot retreat when they have targeted something. It is still doable but is WAY WAY TOO HARD compared to the Slow method.
With 1.30 You can now unlock the Sniper with only 1 medal allowing you to start off with 2 snipers theoretically allowing you to defeat the enemy's starting 3 Riflemen and not get charged (however this theory is unproven)

These are some of the hardest maps in the game! The uneven design combined with 2 rivers per map (Something only Map 4 featured before) makes for an exhilarating experience which is quite refreshing to play after beating every single map on brutal.

There are three strategies for these maps:
A: The slow method, same as described before.
B: The fast method which on these maps is much harder
C: The French method. The French method is probably the best way to beat these maps, and I'll show you why.

But first: What is the French method?
The French method uses a quirk in the AI that I briefly mentioned for Map 8 as the main gimmick, but it's a lot to explain. Quick aside, the other guide (the "How to always win" guide) does in fact mention this method, just with a little less precision than how I will explain it.

The AI has a "Threat" meter that fills up the more troops you spawn - The higher it is, the more likely the AI is to spawn tanks, launch artillery, and upgrade trenches, as well as increasing the amount of troops it will summon and their quality - Maxing it out is a very bad idea. However, there are a variety of actions you can take that won't increase the Threat Meter:

• Upgrading trenches
  
• Upgrading your home base
  
• Launching artillery
  
• Buying upgrades
  
• Unlocking units

None of these increase the AI threat level despite the fact 3 of those 5 most certainly increase the danger the AI is in.
The AI also does not use the amount of Stars or Medals you have as a factor in the Threat level meter, even if you have 500 or 5000 stars in reserve the AI will not care and will view it with equal threat - That is, weirdly enough, none.
Remember the second bullet point? The thing about upgrading your home base? Well despite the fact the Threat level doesn't change, the AI attack patterns do in response. The AI takes in consideration how much your base/trench is upgraded when choosing to attack or not. This means you can basically put up a wall that says "No AI troops past this point" and sit back, farm stars, shoot artillery all without any consequences because the AI can't summon anything more powerful than a rifleman.

Turns out the medium tank is really good. For some reason being able to summon three tanks at once, two of which have machine guns AND mini artillery is REALLY GOOD. Combined with the upgrades that the French get? Insanity.
Light tanks go even faster, medium tanks get more armor without any movement penalties, and heavy tanks can be spawned faster.
This strategy is doable with the UK, but it's much easier with the French.
Oh, I forgot to mention: Do not use Germany with this strategy - I'll elaborate further later.

I've compiled a step by step process with exact numbers that will give you the resources necessary to beat any map on brutal with little difficulty:
STEP ONE: Pick France, and hope that you get Clear Weather and Sunny Skies (I personally play with weather off however)
STEP TWO: Upgrade your base until it is maxed. At the same time, unlock artillery.
STEP THREE: Pepper the enemy forces with ARTILLERY ONLY (DO NOT SUMMON TROOPS) until you have leveled up enough to get all three tanks (MG variant, Medium tank and Heavy Tank (10 medals total)) and enough medals to summon them all (exactly 2 medals, adding up to a total of 12 medals needed, 17 with upgrades)
STEP FOUR: Cease the bombardment, save up to exactly 1930 (310 (Artillery) + 430 (MG tank) + 540 (Medium tank) + 650), and summon your tanks from slowest to fastest with a bit of delay each time. I recommend using trenches and rivers as benchmarks for when to summon (e.g. summon medium tank when heavy tank gets past the first river)
EXAMPLE:
This is what it should look like when you are ready - Tanks and artillery unlocked, 2 medals exactly, only thing missing is the 1930 stars.
STEP FIVE: Continue summoning tanks whenever you can. If possible, save up for the medium tank instead of the MG tank. Your heavy tank may become separated from the Medium and Small tanks but when it is needed it will be the bulwark of defeating the enemy base.
If everything is done correctly, the end screen should look like this:
Almost no units summoned, killed all enemy units, almost no casualties (even better if you manage NO casualties, one to two tanks still alive, and many abilities used.

Example video:
Note: This uses a lite version of the steps listed above, and is generally going to be faster then the above strategy, though it does end up with more losses. You don't have to watch it but I recommend watching it if you want to understand this strategy.

I like Germany, and I like the idea Big Play Games was going for when they gave Germany its faction buffs, but Germany is by far the worst of the factions overall. It is a mostly infantry based faction with no bonuses to things that aren't infantry which is just so disappointing. While the words "The Heavy tank gets a Flamethrower" makes me really happy, the fact you have to spend 9 medals to get the UPGRADE ALONE (By the way it costs 15 medals in total to make a single flamethrower heavy rank) makes me really NOT happy, especially since one of the upgrades is for a unit I rarely if ever use. I'll speak more on my opinion of the Stormtrooper later, but it's very lackluster.

Even with the extra damage of the flamethrower, why not just get a medium tank instead, get an extra cannon and a ton of extra health FOR CHEAPER? If you want to do a tank rush to the max for France compared to for Germany, let's go over the numbers: 6 medals for secondary tanks, 5 for the Heavy Tank. (Note: The UK can only spawn a MG tank and a Heavy tank, so it's numbers are a bit skewed) Since France unlocks Tank research for one medal cheaper, we already get our first saving for picking France over Germany: G: 10 medals, F: 9, UK: 8. That's just for unlocking things. Upgrades: You can skip an entire upgrade with the french side, so that's G: 9, F: 5. (With the UK you don't even need upgrades - there are no tank upgrades, but you could upgrade the artillery however you want). Summoning: G: 1 medal, F: 2, UK: 1. This is the only time Germany saves a medal for a max tank rush.
For a 3 max upgrade tank rush with artillery:
France: 16 medals, 1930 stars. (With the extra 4 medals you save [relative to Germany], you can save 800 stars!)
Germany: 20 medals, 1860 stars.
United Kingdom: Assuming all artillery used, (3+3+3+4+5=18), and all upgrades used, (2+3+4=9), along with 1 medal summoning cost, 28 medals used. Any cost saving you may get by not having a 470$ mg tank is wiped out by the extra 8 medals lost compared to the German numbers (which are rather generous themselves) which would be an extra 1600 stars if converted which itself covers the majority of German costs. Plus the 800 saved by choosing France at the start, you most likely would be able to both unlock AND USE the regular barrage with France if you got the 28 medals needed for a regular UK push with tanks and artillery. Despite the extra costs, all the extra costs go straight into making a better push making a UK push far far stronger then a Germany push.

The only time I've had over 20 medals spent in total was the time I went for every single infantry upgrade - The choice could not be clearer.

tldr; france outpaces the competitors for this strategy by miles.

This section is important as 1.2 has changed a LOT of things compared to 1.1:
Assume the following items are for Brutal Difficulty

• Tanks have been nerfed in favor of the AI.
  
• Accuracy has been nerfed in favor of the AI.
  
• New upgrade system is much longer and slowing
  
• Grenades
  
• (More features will be added as discovered)

GRENADES
Let's just get this out of the way: Grenades are overpowered.
It is 100% worth it to get all the way up to the maximum tier of Grenades, and you will see why.

Let's say a heavy tank is coming.
No wait- make that TEN heavy tanks coming... all at the same time.
But you have the Anti-Tank Grenades upgrade. Even worse if you are spamming infantry.
The tanks arrive and you just PUMMEL them with grenades.
Their health falls to 0 almost INSTANTLY

As that description may suggest, AT grenades are just a TAD yes just a tad OP.
No more do you dread tank pushes as you just explode them away!

Short version of my thoughts:
The UK and France have vastly superior benefits compared to Germany.
If you like tanks and want them NOW, pick France, they have an excellent late game buff for the cost of tanks.
If you don't particularly want to blitz the game, but also don't want tanks and want amazing late game benefits to artillery, pick the UK.
If you are Lightning McQueen and like speed, pick Germany (though France is also a suitable alternative).
Long version:
France's buffs help with games that aren't too fast or too slow, and the research tech it has makes your tanks even better, however it's potential isn't as great as the buff that the UK has.

The UK has the best long term benefits since its faction buff specifically makes all artillery cheaper and therefore is much more useful in late game situations instead of the very limited buff that Germany gets. I recommend the UK for every single map.

Germany gets a rather lackluster buff - It gets one new unit that isn't particularly good - running while firing isn't very useful when the range where you still run but also fire is very small. The other buff it gets - the one that reduces medal unlock cost - gets vastly outpaced rather swiftly, leaving Germany behind only for those who want to go remarkably fast - Shotguns with no medal cost are extremely good for the blitz strategy.


The Stormtrooper is the German Unique unit, and it fails. It tried to break into the attacking niche that the Shotgun and Tanks already completely filled. Like I said a moment ago, running while firing isn't useful when the range where you can still run but also fire is very small - There is almost no benefit to running while firing because of the minimum range. They don't run in circles to reduce the accuracy of those circling them, they don't intentionally spread out vertically, they don't do anything special once they reach the minimum range. Its just a slightly worse Machinegunner (Unit not the trench upgrade) without the defensive buffs. The stormtrooper is just... mediocre. It doesn't fill any new roles or do existing ones better, it just exists.

Do you like burning your hardware? Then this is the path for you.
Select Russia, and spawn only infantry while using all your medals for upgrading Russia's special infantry path. When you think you have enough, advance (though it's also a good strat for endless).
Tada, you will now beat pretty much anything through sheer numbers alone.
While it's a cool idea, in practice it's really stupid to let someone spawn 5 infantry for only 70 stars extremely often. It's just too many troops. Nothing can survive THAT many troops. Of course, artillery on the other hand has zero qualms quelling thousands of troops in a single strike.

ugh

So, with the french faction, you can now get a tank in twenty-three seconds EXACTLY (200 starting stars plus 23 seconds * 10 = one mg tank). I'm sorry everyone but we have a new blitz strategy - one that works on every mode and map and requires ZERO SKILL.
Currently the fastest time (*on brutal - i got it down to a sub minute on easy) I've gotten is on map 1 with a one minute and seven second victory.

I shouldn't even need to explain the strategy but here it is:
Step one: Select the French faction
Step two: Unlock MG tank with your starting 3 medals.
Step three: Wait exactly 23 seconds until you have enough stars (430 to be exact) and buy one MG tank.
Step four: Watch as your tank clears the entire map and destroys the enemy base. If you feel like being EVIL, spawn a second one to assure your victory.

Balance is not even in the realm of possibility with this one folks.
Even if normal tanks were to cost 4 medals WITH THE FRENCH FACTION (thats 5 medals the same as the HEAVY TANK IS NOW), the first level up would grant you one medal allowing you to get a mg tank and get this, WIN INSTANTLY.

I'm sorry Baron Von Games, but the speedrunning community surrounding your game suddenly no longer needs any skill, just luck.

Feel free to comment suggestions or new strategies for certain maps, as I will read them (I don't exactly have that many mail notifications so I see every one)