The full Armies of the United States: Third Edition review is live. And that means it’s time for some closer unit analysis, highlights, hot takes.

HQ

Officer
Gotta start with the Officer. In a similar fashion to Germany, US Officers can now add up to five additional men to join the Platoon or Company Commander. Players no longer need to cower their lone Inexp. Lt behind cover. You can now charge forth with a Platoon Commander and their five bodyguards to lead your force to victory from the front! Oh, and if you make use of By Air, Land, and Sea you can bring up to six buddies (Marines) or even seven (Airborne). Just imagine the might of a full seven-man squad plus your Platoon Commander rushing the enemy with SMGs. And looking at the assault options in the rest of the US Army List, that might actually be one of your most potent CC options. – Andrew

Chaplain
Seeing the chaplain added back to the army list is a welcome sight! They are a wonderful addition to any force if you have extra points to spare! Their ability to remove Pins from a unit on a successful roll can be extremely useful given the propensity for units to accumulate Pins throughout a game, especially in Third Edition. – Giuseppe

Infantry

Unit Consolidation
Armies of the United States cleans up the Infantry squads nicely, combining what were otherwise redundant unit entries from Second Edition. For example, why have three US Rifle Squads? Four Paratrooper Squads? The new book has combined and consolidated these repetitive units. – Giuseppe

The Browning Automatic Rifle
Pour one out for the king. The BAR in the current rules is painfully inadequate compared to its former glory. The adjustment to this one mighty weapon feels like an overcorrection by Warlord. There is no denying that it used to be one of, if not the, strongest small arm in Bolt Action, but the BAR in Third Edition is more expensive, less effective, and directly penalizes players for bringing it with the current iteration of Fire and Maneuver. – Ben

BARs are now in an interesting place. Fire and Maneuver places an emphasis on rifles compared to Second Edition. The new book also places a limit on the number of BARs taken in a US Army platoon. In Second, many US Army units could take up to two BARs per squad. Now the only unit that can take two for the US Army is the Engineer Squad. Marines still hold the throne of the BAR, as they can take up to three BARs depending on the unit. I am a bit surprised by this, as many Late-War US Army squads were able to “tactically acquire” additional BARs in the field, but it is such a minor detail that it can be overlooked. – Giuseppe

Merrill’s Marauders Squad
Previously relegated to Empires in Flames, the legendary American Special Forces unit is back on the roster. At the eyewatering cost of 17pts per model, you get a Rifle-armed Vet with Stubborn, Tough Fighters, Fieldcraft, and Long-range Penetration (re-roll the Order Test when arriving from Outflank). That’s four special rules! Granted, you are paying 1pt per rule, but still. You can equip up to four SMGs (the NCO and up to three men), and you can bring up to two BARs. I don’t imagine anyone rocking the full squad of 12, but these are a powerful option for anyone looking to add serious assault punch to their army. – Andrew

Armored Infantry
Available in three flavors the Armored Infantry Squads are exactly what you want to see in a new Third Edition book – units that change up the Platoon Structure. With these three units, you can create a bargain-brand Heavy Weapons Platoon. We are looking at:

• Armored Infantry Rifle Squad – Up to 12 men, option for 1 BAR and NCO SMG
• Armored Infantry Mortar Squad – Up to 7 men, option for NCO SMG, comes with a Light Mortar
• Armored Infantry Machine Gun Squad – Up to 12 men, option for NCO SMG and 2 LMGs

All three squads have both the Selection and Mechanized Infantry special rules. Selection allows you to bring an extra Bazooka Team in the Rifle Platoon, and Mechanized Infantry gives you an Order Test re-roll to mount or dismount a Transport, and if the Transport is destroyed, they take d3 hits instead of d6. – Andrew

These three units really allow a player to adapt squads to their needs. Want more Bazookas? Grab an Armored Infantry Rifle Squad! Would you like to add another Light Mortar without taking a Heavy Weapons platoon? Take the Armored Infantry Mortar Squad! Would you like to have a base of fire group made of two LMGs? Take the Armored Infantry Machine Gun Squad! – Giuseppe

Heavy Weapons Rifle Team
The introduction of the Heavy Weapons Rifle Team plays towards the theme of modularity. It allows the player to take Riflemen units instead of a Mortar or Machine Gun Team in any Heavy Weapons Platoon. Now it is unnecessary to take another Rifle Platoon if the player desires more infantry. This could be a good choice for a backline unit as the unit is limited to only five men and a single NCO SMG. – Giuseppe

Philippine Scouts Squad
Another Empires in Flame unit making the cut. The Philippine Scouts are perfect for the backbone of an Early-War US force. Shockingly, they do not have Fieldcraft or Behind Enemy Lines, but the option to take horses for +3pts per model, great to see. And because they have the option to be given horses, so can your HQ units. A Recce Platoon with a unit of these Scout Cavalry led by a mounted Platoon Commander is just asking to be hit the table. – Andrew

Artillery

57mm Anti-tank Gun M1
The classic Med. AT Gun has a new special rule – Airborne Carriage. If you field the gun with By Air, Land, and Sea (Airborne) the special rule kicks in and now this Med. AT Gun counts as a Light AT Gun for purposes of being towed. This nice little addition means you can tow some hefty AT support using just a Jeep. No need to invest in a heavier truck and you can keep your Airborne theme intact. – Andrew

Vehicles

Point differences in American Tanks are very interesting. While mainly the same, some units like
the Sherman M4A1 75mm increased in price while the M4A1 76mm lowered in cost! One interesting thing to note is that the American MGMCs can still fire while moving. I thought that they would for sure receive the same treatment the German MGMCs received with the Stationary Firing Platform special rule. – Giuseppe

Easily Catches Fire
There are seven US AFVs with the Easily Catches Fire special rule, and only one of them (M4A1/A2/A3/A4 Sherman 75mm) has the option to cancel the rule for +5pts. That is a whole lot of tanks that take d3 Pins instead of 1 if they get an On Fire result on the Vehicle Damage Results Table. Brutal. – Andrew

Armored Jeep with Twin Bazookas
Oh boy. The notorious Twin Bazooka Jeep is now an official add-on to any Armored Platoon! In Second Edition, this little number could only be a part of two specific Theater Selectors, and only if the player also included an I&R unit. Those requirements are now gone; however, the price has increased considerably. You will now have to pay a hefty price to field this unique unit to your platoon. – Giuseppe

M18 Hellcat
It has Fast now. That is all. – Ben

Ambulances
Ambulances for the US?? I have not seen the Ambulance unit for the US yet, so the fact that they get both a regular Ambulance and an Armored Ambulance is pretty cool. Are they useful? I’m sure they can be! For the points, however, I do not see many players choosing this option, although it will be cool to see on the tabletop. – Giuseppe

M7-7 Mechanized Flamethrower
Numbers manufactured: 4.
We Bolt Action players have an obsession with getting units on the table that, historically, either never really saw combat or were so specialized that only a handful were made. The M7-7 Mechanized Flamethrower is one of those units. It’s essentially a Stuart with a Flamethrower turret instead of an AT Gun that did see use in the Philippines. I just always get a chuckle from seeing rules for a unit that they only build four of. Four. Never change, Warlord, never change. – Andrew

Army Special Rules

There’s a lot thematic variety (Army, Marines, Airborne, Rangers), but not a lot of mechanical variety. Similar options and similar rules regardless of which sub-faction or theme you choose. You could have three different Bolt Action forces – US Army, Airborne, and Marines that all look different, but are identical on paper. That’s a problem. And one that doesn’t exist in Armies of Germany. FJ, SS, and Gebirgsjäger all look, feel, and play substantially differently from one another. – John

Fire and Maneuver
The quintessential American Army Special Rule since the dawn of Bolt Action, there is also no denying that it was due to be tuned down. Ignoring the movement penalty is significantly stronger in Third Edition with the comparatively low number of To Hit modifiers. However, a recycled version of the British Rapid Fire Army Special Rule (with the buff so the extra shot applies to Advance as well as Fire) feels like an unimaginative choice rather than creating an innovative and unique revision. One possible update to Fire and Maneuver to make it far more usable would be to also count BARs when determining the extra shots. This would make the iconic American weapon actually synergize with the Army Special Rule and not feel like you are shooting yourself in the foot with a 6pt investment. – Ben

Missing

What’s surprising is the lack of Bangalore torpedoes as a part of the Quartermasters’ Stores. These were an iconic part of the D-Day landings. The closest piece of equipment we have is the Demolition Charge, which works differently, given that a 3” HE template is used.

We are missing Beach Assault Squad, Beach Demolition Team, FSSF Section, FSSF Scout Team, US LMG Section, Reconnaissance Squad, 100th Battalion Nisei Infantry Squad, US 3rd Division Squad, US 45th Division Squad, Forward Naval Observer, T-20 Shoulder Mortar, Horse Limber Tow, and Mule Team. Not included are the Free French Units. It seems like Warlord may be trying to include those with their own French Army Lists.

There is still no Ford GPA “Seep”, which is just an amphibious Jeep. While a minor note, it is such a unique vehicle that I am surprised that they haven’t added it yet. It is essentially to the Jeep what the Schwimmwagen is to the Kubelwagen. I did note a photo of a Seep model in a Warlord email so maybe we will be pleasantly surprised in the future… – Giuseppe