Box Contents

The US Army Starter Army is a mix of plastic and metal models containing:

• x6 US Army Infantry sprues (36 Infantry) – Plastic
• US Army MMG Team – Metal
• US Army Medium Mortar Team – Metal
• US Army Medium Howitzer – Metal
• M3A1 Half-track – Plastic
• M4 Sherman Medium Tank – Plastic

The Brawling Boys 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.

The excitement and hype for this new Edition of Bolt Action is fantastic, and when Andrew pointed out that we’d need to revise our Starter Army Box Breakdowns for the new Platoon structure, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to play around with a few lists for the various US Starter Armies. Unfortunately looking at the US Army, it was immediately apparent that due to the new Platoon structure we wouldn’t be able to run that M4 Sherman with the contents of the box alone. But more on that later, for now, let’s dive into what we’ve got!

This list consists of three Platoons. The required Rifle Platoon, a Heavy Weapons Platoon, and an Artillery Platoon to round it out. We’ve got a mixture of Regulars and Veterans throughout this force, and it comes out to exactly 1,000 points with 13 Order Dice in the bag, which is respectable. This list has some hearty infantry units to push up the field along with a sizeable portion of backline firepower, with both indirect and direct fire options. The weak point will probably be anti-tank, but the Medium Howitzer can put Pins on just about any armored vehicle you’d face (if not kill it) and the Bazooka is a serious threat if you can get it in range.

The core of the force is your required Rifle Platoon, which I wrote as a group of hardened veterans who love to get into a scrap. You’ve got your Platoon Commander and a buddy (who I would run with SMGs since with only two of them you lose out on any bonus from the new version of Fire and Maneuver, and for this particular Veteran Commander he’s going to be following the troops in to provide support). Following them are two eight-man squads of infantry with a pair of BARs each. With six riflemen, you are netting two bonus shots from Fire and Maneuver, along with two BARs putting out two shots apiece, for 12 shots total from the eight men. Additionally, each squad has the Tough Fighter special rule meaning they get to re-roll any misses in close combat. So if they do end up in a brawl they should perform admirably. These two squads will likely want to move up field and challenge objectives but will also work well sitting and providing covering fire depending on the objective of the game. But their main job is supporting your third squad which is the heavy hitter. This squad is ten Veterans carrying a total of four SMGs and a BAR in addition to having Tough Fighter themselves. This squad is going to want to get in people’s faces, and do so quickly. Now, we don’t want them to get withered down by gunfire on their way across the board, so we’re also bringing along an M2A1 Half-track to drive them around. We pay a few points to upgrade the Half-track so that it has a 360 degree field of fire on the HMG, which can reach out 48” and put some pressure onto infantry units or soft-skins, or even Pins on any non-Veteran armored vehicle. And rounding out the Rifle Platoon we have a Vet Bazooka team, which can either footslog or ride in the Half-track themselves for a bit of protection. They are your primary Anti-Tank asset on the field, but only have 24” range. But remember that they can Advance out of the Half-track to shoot, so you could potentially threaten an enemy vehicle from up to 39” away (9” Half-track advance, 6” Bazooka Team advance, and a 24” shot).

The second Platoon is our Heavy Weapons Platoon. This one, being more of a backline force, is all Regulars. In addition to our Platoon Commander and his buddy (I would build these with rifles and keep them near your weapons teams), we have a pair of Medium Machine Gun Teams to lay down small arms fire on enemy infantry or soft-skin units, and a Medium Mortar to bring the rain. I have included a Spotter with the Medium Mortar so that you can keep it hidden behind terrain while it engages static enemy assets. This will be a great unit for trying to clear out your opponent’s Fixed units since they won’t want to move and will therefore be easier to range in on.

And last but certainly not least is our Artillery Platoon. We have our required Platoon Commander and his buddy, who I would again arm with rifles, and then our Medium Howitzer with a Spotter. In Third Edition, Mortars and Howitzers can use any of the Spotters on field for line of sight. I chose to bring two Spotters along for two reasons: First, if one gets killed, you might still have line of sight on your target thanks to the other Spotter, and second, you can position the Spotters with views of different parts of the battlefield, allowing your Howitzer and Mortar to cover a wider portion of the board with their indirect fire. Now the Medium Howitzer does have a large minimum range for firing indirectly (36”), so you will want to position it so that it has direct line of sight on at least a portion of the board and is able to fire at targets without using the Spotters. If you are able, try to deploy it in cover with a view of at least one objective so that it can provide a major threat to any opposing infantry trying to claim it, and don’t forget that direct fire from the Howitzer is a viable choice for firing at enemy vehicles, since even if it doesn’t kill them it will add d3 pins if it hits. 

When it comes to building, this list should use up every infantry body in the box along with the weapons teams, artillery piece, and halftrack. The only model being left out is the Sherman tank. You’ll want to make sure you were building two of the infantry bodies to work as Spotters, as well as three Platoon Commanders, so make good use of pointing arms, heads with caps, or other pieces that will help you distinguish those models from the rest.

What’s Next?

Thoughts and musings on where to go from here:

• Additional Vehicle – The first instinct is going to be finding a way to get that nice Sherman into the list. To do so you’d need a second vehicle, which can be something as small as a Jeep with an MMG on it. If you decide to up your games to 1,250pts (which is a ‘standard’ and very popular game size along with the 1k game), you should be able to just add the Sherman and an MMG Jeep to the list with no or minimal adjustment. If you want to play at 1,000pts, you’ll have to make some changes and drop a few units to fit your Armored Platoon in.
• US Air Power! – A Forward Air Observer could be a worthy addition here. The plane call-ins remain somewhat easy to stop if an opponent has Flak shooting available, and I would not recommend bringing one if you have your own Flak units or 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 Third Edition revised the Rookie Pilot result on the Air Strike table so that it isn’t as devastating as it was in Second. I don’t think US Air Observers will be ubiquitous, but they will be a viable choice in some lists.
• Bring the Rain – Mortars. The Light Mortar got a big boost in Third Edition, and while it still doesn’t put out a lot of hurt, it is cheap, mobile, and can cause problems for your opponents while following your infantry around the field. You can also fit a pair in your Rifle Platoon, which makes fielding  them quite easy to do. I probably wouldn’t think of bringing a single Light Mortar, but two of them have my attention. Another alternative is bringing a second Medium Mortar in your Heavy Weapons platoon, since the MMGs and Mortar it contains are solid fire support.
• Additional Rain – Light Howitzers – I love the Medium Howitzer and the big boom it provides, but a strong option is replacing it with a pair of Light Howitzers. Approximately the same points cost, you lose out on a bit of the big-hitter mentality but gain an additional Order Dice that can sling high explosive shells.
• Additional AT Assets – The current list certainly struggles with a lack of AT, so either adding additional Bazooka teams to your Heavy Weapons Platoon, or an AT gun to your Artillery Platoon will be good choices if you don’t want to add anti-tank via vehicles or other methods.

– Ben

Return to the Starter Army Box Breakdowns.