Box Contents

The Semper Fidelis – US Marines Starter Army is a mix of plastic and metal models containing:

• 7 USMC Infantry sprues (42 Infantry) – Plastic
• 1 M3A1 Half-track – Plastic
• 1 Corpsman (Medic) – Metal
• Flamethrower Team – Metal
• 1 Medium Mortar Team – Metal
• 1 Light Anti-Tank Gun – Metal
• 2 MMG Teams – Metal
• 2 US weapon sprues – Plastic

The Burn ’em Out List

Breakdown

(x) denotes a vehicle-mounted weapon.

Notes and Analysis

The objective of this list is two-part – 1) use as much of the Starter Army as possible and 2) make a List that works at a competitive level. Please keep in mind, this List was written using only the contents of the Starter Army.

US Marines were my first ‘competitive’ army in Bolt Action (I dallied with Airborne back in First Edition, but we did not play too often before Second came out). I also have a slight addiction to the beautiful vehicle known as the LVT. But we will get to that in the ‘What’s Next’ portion of this breakdown. The USMC Starter Army includes seven US Marines sprues, a pair of weapon sprues, a Half-track, a Medic, a Flamethrower, a Mortar, a Light AT Gun, and a pair of MMG Teams. A decent spread, and one that we can adapt perfectly to the new Platoon structure for Third Edition. 

This list actually includes 4 Platoons, and reaches a potent 15 Order Dice at 999pts. We of course have our core Rifle Platoon, supported by a platoon of Engineers, and then a Heavy Weapons Platoon and an Artillery Platoon providing fire support. 

Our Rifle Platoon is made up completely of Regulars. Our Platoon Commander has a buddy, and then two squads of eight Marines provide us with some strong bases of fire with three BARs and five rifles in each squad. This setup doesn’t truly take advantage of the US Fire and Maneuver Army Special Rule since we are only getting one extra shot from the riflemen, but three BARs means we have six shots per squad reaching out to 30”, along with an additional six shots at 24”. These two squads should provide a decent amount of threat to opposing infantry in the middle of the board, you’ll probably want to keep them near your rear objectives or slowly moving up on the middle of the board in support of your Engineers. Rounding out the Rifle Platoon we have a Medic and his buddy, and a Bazooka team for a bit of AT threat.

Your 2nd Platoon is the Engineers. This Platoon was needed to utilize the Flamethrower that came with our Starter Army. I made most of this Platoon Veteran, since it will be a more aggressive Platoon due to the short-range nature of the Flamethrower, and the benefits provided by the Engineer special rule, which includes getting to fight simultaneously when you assault a building (most of the time you’ll want to light the building on fire, but occasionally you might want to try and take and keep it). We have our Platoon Commander and his buddy (who I would arm with SMGs in this platoon so he could aggressively support his men), and then two squads of eight Vet Engineers each. The first squad is armed with a pair of SMGs, five rifles, and the Flamethrower. The second squad is armed with two SMGs and six rifles. The first squad is your heavy hitter from the platoon, the second is more of a support squad that will still want to be aggressive and threaten objectives, but can be used to pressure defenders and possibly draw fire off of the Flamethrower squad. This platoon also includes the Half-track from the box, which I paid an extra 5pts for so that its HMG would gain 360 degree field of fire. To get the Flamethrower unit into the thick of it quickly, I’d start them inside the Half-track in many situations so you can drop them off at the front line early in the game. Running up the board would likely get the Engineers shot up badly, nobody likes a Flamethrower getting close.

Our third Platoon is our Heavy Weapons Platoon so we can bring in those classic US .30 cal machine guns. Another platoon of all Regulars, with a pair of MMG Teams and a Medium Mortar with a Spotter. I’d recommend trying to deploy the Mortar in one of your table corners and then the Spotter either in the middle or opposite side of the board to get you the best field of view/fire for your indirect shots. The MMG Teams can be kept on or near your backline objectives to help hold them and put fire downrange, or overlooking prime avenues for an enemy infantry push.

Finally, our Artillery Platoon brings along another Platoon Commander plus our Light AT Gun. The Light AT doesn’t put out a lot of hurt with only a +4 pen or 1” HE template, but it is still strong enough to threaten most enemy vehicles and can be positioned to watch over likely avenues of advance, or objectives (ideally both!)

This list is going to play aggressively with the Halftrack-riding Engineers. The Flamethrower can threaten infantry and vehicles alike, and can obliterate enemy units trying to hunker down in buildings or other cover. Your Medium Mortar should be used to work on any enemy unit that wants to remain static (Snipers, MG Teams, Artillery, Mortars, etc). The Bazooka will usually want to be near the Engineer units to protect them from any vehicle assets getting close, or to put a hole through a building wall if enemy infantry are inside. I’d also strongly consider trying to keep the Medic close to your Engineers most of the time to help with keeping them in the fight. Between your BAR-heavy Marine squads, your MMG Teams, and your Light AT Gun you also have a lot of direct fire for enemy units trying to make moves up the board.

What’s Next?

Thoughts and musings on where to go from here:

• Another Flamethrower – A second Flamethrower would be a big boost for this list. Since you are running the Engineer Platoon you’ll have to have two squads of Engineers, and the squad with two SMGs and six Rifles is a bit lackluster, so tacking a Flamethrower in there will give them a lot of bite. Additionally it could be worth considering a truck or halftrack for that second Engineer squad to get them into the fray with their new toy. Mobility is critical for the short range squads.
• Mortars – Adding on either a pair of Lights or another Medium Mortar would provide additional indirect fire for digging units out of cover or wiping out enemy Fixed units.
• Anti-Tank – I’d recommend either adding a second Light AT Gun or upping it to a Medium for some additional AT firepower. Currently, the list has a decent quantity of AT between the Bazooka, Light AT Gun, and Flamethrower, however the quality and (relatively) limited range of all three options means it may be difficult to actually apply damage onto armored targets if they are sitting back. The Light AT gun only has +3 Pen at Long Range, so the likelihood that it actually damages or kills armored targets is slim. Adding additional guns (or improving the one you’ve got) will help with that.
• US Air Power – The off-board airplane call-ins remain somewhat easy to stop if an opponent has Flak available, and I would not recommend bringing one if you have your own Flak units or multiple vehicles with pintle-mounted machine guns due to the risk of a friendly shoot-down. But they do provide a potent threat to units on the board and aren’t as risky to use as they were in Second Edition. Since we only have one pintle HMG on our Half-track (making an accidental shoot-down unlikely), adding a Forward Air Observer could be a solid choice for additional firepower that can also act as a Spotter for your Mortar and any other indirect fire you add to the list. 
• Landing Vehicle, Tracked (LVT) – This isn’t the most competitive recommendation. But it will promptly provide you with a win on swag. The Marines rode LVTs in to the beaches on many islands in the Pacific campaign, from Tarawa onward. Currently in Third Edition there are two varieties of LVT available, the basic soft-skin version which is cool I guess, or the LVT-4 Water Buffalo, King of the High Seas and Lord of the Reef. For a measly 100pts you can wield a pair of MMGs on an amphibious transport that can haul 30 men, an Artillery unit, or a Jeep, with the option to up those to HMGs for 20pts, and/or add a hull MMG for 10. Now, I haven’t received actual confirmation one way or another from Warlord at any point on this, but I for one believe in the Buffalo Nesting Doll where you could have a Flamethrower inside a Jeep, inside the LVT, thereby giving that Flamethrower an eye-watering 33” threat range. Is actually that far? No. Does it make sense points-wise? Not really. Would it be glorious? Yes (Bazooka teams are also viable users of the Nesting Doll giving them a 51″ threat range). But in all honesty, while the LVT-4 remains not the most competitive choice (you should never stack 30 guys in a single vehicle, and it’s still very pricey for a transport), I don’t think I have ever seen someone besides myself run one at an event, so you’ll be part of a select crew. And Rubicon makes fantastic kits for them.

– Ben

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