Axis strat on Semois

[Sverige!]

It seems to me that if the americans get an mg team or a sniper in that church it is really hard for axis to win this map. Whoever owns the church pretty much owns the town and seeing as how american infantry may be a tad better it is very difficult to get that middle point back. The problem with sending troops to the western capture point is that the allies can then procede to take the strategic point connecting the axis main to the eastern capture point.
Anyone got suggestions for this map because i have no problem winning 1v1 on Hilaire but it is a pain to win this map

[Starfisher]

Get to the church first, or destroy it with a mortar team.

The Church is a very powerful building. Whoever has a sniper in it forces the enemy to deal with it.

[ninjin]

or bombard it with an assault gun, or use infantry to assault it with a flamethrower to get rid of the guy. Optionally, you can put a sniper on the ground somewhere and 'bait' the enemy sniper into revealing himself by using a regular volks squad to have the enemy sniper fire so you can get your own sniper to fire back. However, if he's got troops in that building, then your sniper will just shoot the people, and will get counter sniped.

When that happens, i just use a tank and assault it with infantry and a flammenwerfer and BBQ the whole place down :)

[Hellraiser]

Personally the first thing I build is an MG squad and I send it to the building on the other side of the bridge close to allied players base. This denies him access as his squads will most likely get pinned and retreat.

Then you should take the small island that is connected with the village center(the one with one building a strat point and a munitions point) by putting a volks squad in the building and later replacing it with a MG squad.

After that just kill everything that managed to get through and get a bike to scout for snipers. Remember to have pioneers capping and decapping points all over the map.

Chokepoints are the key in winning on Semois.

[Pengu]

Semois is a really tough map IF you don't get the center. There is really little difference in strategy on this map between the teams.
Objective #1 Hold the the town at all costs.
The town is an absolute deathtrap to any attacking force. If you can't get the church first retreat and build snipers lots of them.
Objective #2 Take the island. The island is Way more important for axis than for the allies. With out it you cannnot get the valuable fuel in the east and its the most easily defended spot on the map. for axis. It helps to deny the enemy from flanking you and attacking the town from the rear.
Objective #3 Take the Eastern hill. Again easily defendable spot for axis and allies and in VP games will get you a vp.

So what I always do is build a barracks as close as possible to the edge of your base to begin with. Immediatly build an mg team followed by a sniper. Rush engineer teams to the center points and capture them. If the enemy is also attackign them abondon the points and GET IN THE CHURCH. Even if engineers can't hold the church they will stop the enemy from getting in. Put the mg team and sniper in the church asap. After that Build vg's, mg's and snipers as needed to hold above objectives. It is also extremely important to make the church a hq as soon as the area is secure or you have the excess money. I have only ever lost twice on semois after taking the church out of 10+ games as axis on it.

[TNT]

It is my opinion that, if you are facing a competent enemy who is entrenched in the town (and still fairly early in the game) it is useless to try to attack it. Get engineers/pioneers (or riflemen if you are american and chose infantry commander) to barb wire up all approaches but one at the top and bottom VPs. Keep a good-sized garrison, like 1 rifleman/grenadier squad behind sandbags, one HMG, and one mortar team. This should be able to hold against any good sized attack force as long as you keep your mortars in the rear and your men behind sandbags. At the top objective it is very important to build sandbags, but at the bottom there are walls that offer "good" cover. With this setup I held off a force twice my size. Note: it is a VERY good idea to have a jeep AND sniper if possible (jeep more important) so one sniper does not wipe out your entire force one by one.

If he is concentrating in the town, and you are slowly bleeding his VP score out, it is a good idea to send a squad of volks from one of the points to cut off the town from supplies. By doing so you render the town worthless to him, as his VP score is still being bled out, and he is not receiving any resources. If he dispatches troops to deal with your squad, and you have a buildup, you can then rush the town and secure it yourself. My advice would be, if he has the town garrisoned early; rush the bottom and secure. Mortar/AT gun the building watching the road on the western outskirts of the town to hell (if he has garissoned it with a machinegun or sniper), rush squads north and secure the VP. This is the strategy from starting point #1, from #2 you basically do the same except clear any trouble buildings in the south.

By cutting supply lines and holding the points, you almost insure victory on a VP game. Now, actually getting in to PLAY a game is a whole 'nother matter. :P

[Pengu]

The problem with that is that if the enemy gets a good enough hold on the town they can block off all exits from your base very easily. You are right though if the enemy does take the town it's usually best to just surround it before they can expand from there too much. Snipers and tanks are really the only effective way to clear the town once its secure. That said I did get my 2nd loss on that map from a guy who charged through the town and threw LOTS of grenades at the church. Really I don't know how he did it though his squads were shut down by my mg's and my sniper and vg were picking his troops off. He also some how managed to pay for it all. He literally threw 15+ grenades at that church over 4-5 minutes.

[Bentguru]

The church is really the key to that map.

I usually start off buy building a barracks with my 1st pioneer AND my 2nd pioneer squad. Once it's finished get an hmg squad building and immediately send one of the pioneer squads to garrison the church. Forget capping points, just get the men inside the church so the allies can't. The pioneer's wont do much damage, but they'll hold out until the hmg squad arrives. Once the hmg squad gets in the pioneers can start capping the points around there. Follow the hmg squad with a sniper and it gets very painful for allied infantry around that chokepoint, though they can still get out toward the eastern hill.

Also, if you lose the initial church rush as axis. Your best early game choice is to get a flamethrower on a pioneer squad. Use some volks to draw enemy fire while the pioneers get close enough to use their flamethrower. Even if you aren't able to roast everybody in the building alive, the church will actually continue burning to something like 5% of it's HP, at which point you can mortar it to finish the job.