[Mobhack]

In the late game era - you need more points to buy the hideously expensive modern kit. Before starting your campaign, go to the preferences screen, and set the min points for player 1 to something more like you want for the basic starter core.

As to what to buy - the local terrain is a major determinant. e.g. I have just finished the Iranian war side as Iran, and am now repeating for Iraq, 15 battles from 82-88 or whatever (in part, to test the new Iran/Iraq war batlocs, but also because that war pits reasonably even sides with interesting tweaks available to each ). Armour tends to dominate here as it is mainly open desert/arid.

However I still took a leg company (Pasadran for Iran, Mountain troops for Iraq) each side in the core - good for defending, and to walk forwards as a screen well ahead of the armour in the advance to detect/deal with milan/dragon teams etc. (Snipers with the infantry and overwatching 12.7 HMG (longer range than rifle calibre MG)are good for dealing with these as well). In that sort of terrain, I advance the leg grunts for 3 or 4 turns across the open areas while the armour and BMP overwatch, the only vehicles that step off the line quickly are recce, or those which are behind a screening ridge or similar - to take that dominant position and use it to fight from or in flank ambush from behind of it.

Generally though I tend to play BAOR in the early 70s. There I prefer to use the infantry heavy company team as my force base. Germany affords reasonable cover to work with and so infantry is better, so the building block there is such a team - mech co HQ, LAAD section in land rovers, 2 mech platoons, milan platoon, chieftain troop, and a section of fox or scimitar for recce and APC-killing, plus a SP mortar section.

But I always buy a core leg company - good defender, and useful for screening in the meeting engagement, or to defend the arty park or a refused flank, or use the "Zulu" APCs of a company team to act as a taxi shuttle to bring them up to "go firm" on a taken objective, then the comapny team can move on to the next item. The core rifle coy is usually a pure company - if I attach something to them later in the campaign, it is usually a MAW section, or a section of SP WOMBAT RCL for tank hunting.

If playing the USSR in that era, I usually go for the 10-tank T62 company as a base, with a BMP or BTR attached pplatoon. The problem with soviet kit is they go through the limited ammo quickly - so the extra platoon is a good reserve of ammo, while the emptied platoons cycle to the ammo carriers. I quite like the BTR with the 14.5/CMG combo as the 14.5 can reach out and touch ATGM teams at long range(and deal with M113 and FV432 quite handily at 2-300m or so). Also, you can usually squeeze some additional snipers, RPG teams and/or SAM teams into them as they have a decent load capacity. Plus they are much cheaper than BMP - which tend to die if they stand still to utilise the sagger.

"cavalry tank" is just a name for a tank class - the OOB designer might use that class for the armoured cavalry troops who may have lighter and more mobile tanks perhaps. e.g. Cromwells for post WW2 UK.

Cheers
Andy