Combat Tactics

Weapons

Whether in multiplayer or singleplayer, you're only going to be able to pick up and use two weapons at a time. You won't be able to pick which weapons you start out with, but you will be able to exchange a weapon that you don't like for a new one after you kill an enemy or after one of your soldiers dies and drops his weapon.

In general, you're going to want to have one weapon that's accurate at long range and one weapon capable of automatic fire for short range encounters. (There are also special situation weapons, such as sniper rifles and rocket launchers, but these are encountered quite rarely and only when you actually need them.) We'll discuss some of your options here.

Accurate Weapons

When you have to hit a German in the head at 200 yards, you're going to need a weapon that you can hold steady and that will fire accurately at a distance. There aren't a large number of these, so your options are limited.

M1 Carbine: The M1 carbine is going to be one of the first Allied weapons you're issued at the beginning of the early missions, and a decent weapon it is. It has a large clip of 15 rounds and can be fired in semi-automatic mode, but it has less range for accurate fire than do most of the other weapons in this category. After you clear the first few missions, you'll start getting the M1 Garand at the beginning of levels, and won't see the Carbine any more.

M1 Garand: Like the Carbine, the M1 has semi-automatic fire, but for the purposes of firing at range, this isn't very useful, as there's a significant amount of kick from each fire, so if you want to actually hit something, you'll need to fire, then wait for your aim to center back on your target before firing again. You'll be able to zoom in a decent distance when aiming down the sights, though, which should let you scope out the heads of your foes from a good way off, even when they're hiding behind cover.

The K98 is going to be your weapon of choice for dealing with enemies hiding behind cover.

K98 Rifle: The favored weapon of many German infantry, the K98 is worse than the Garand in most ways: it's bolt-action, meaning it can't fire as quickly; there's only five rounds per clip; and you can only find it by picking it up off of dead Germans. Fortunately for it, though, you can zoom in a bit further than you can with the Garand, giving you the ability to hit enemies a bit further away. This alone generally makes it a better choice for one of your weapon slots, although the decision between this and the Garand will depend on personal preference a bit.

Automatic Weapons

Brothers in Arms isn't Call of Duty or Medal of Honor, though; if you attempt to rush forward and take out enemies by yourself, you're going to get killed quite quickly, even if you do have an automatic weapon at your side. That said, if you flank an enemy and can get close to them without having them notice you, then an automatic weapon will let you mow them down without having to worry about delays between individual rounds. Automatic weapons are notably less precise than rifles are, though, so you'll want to aim down the sights and get your targets in view before you squeeze off a clip.

M1A1 Submachine Gun: The M1A1 is going to be the first automatic weapon you receive in the game, and it'll generally be one of the two weapons you get at the beginning of the missions throughout. For an automatic, it's not bad, but it does suffer from poor ammo capacity (it can only hold 20 rounds) and poor accuracy at anything but very close range. When you can, you'll want to trade up for a German SMG.

BAR: The Browning Automatic Rifle is a powerhouse weapon, and probably the most preferable automatic weapon you can find. Although it has the same ammo capacity problems as the M1A1, it's much more accurate than any of these weapons when firing single bullets or short bursts. It also seems to have more stopping power than they do, so shots that land will do more damage. That said, the BAR is a pretty rare weapon to come across, unless one of your assault team soldiers bites the dust and drops it, so enjoy them when you do manage to find one.

When you've got to put a lot of lead in the air, the MP40's a handy weapon to have around.

MP40: The MP40 is going to be the most popular automatic weapon for the German soldiers in the game, and you'll be able to easily tell who has one thanks to the distinctive sound it makes. It has the same accuracy problems as the M1A1, but benefits from the presence of a much larger clip (32 rounds in all), allowing you fire for a longer space of time without having to reload, which is especially important when you're trying to suppress an enemy team, where sustained fire is more important than the power of the shots.

Stg44: If you can't find a BAR, then the Stg44 is likely going to be the best alternative. It's relatively powerful, more accurate than an MP40, and has a similarly large clip (30 rounds). You won't find these until the last few missions of the game, though.