Warlord Games are back with their second Intelligence Report for Armies of the United States: Third Edition! This time, get a sneak peek at new units from the book...
We asked what you wanted to know about the upcoming Armies of the United States: Third Edition, and you answered! We started off with a look at the national special rules, and today we’ve got the second of our Intelligence Reports on the latest book to join the Bolt Action roster – let’s look at some of the new units you’ll find within this tome!
(We’ve also dotted in some images which may contain some other new units not mentioned in this article – can you spot them? – ed.)
Armoured Infantry Mortar Squad
We’ll lead off with a pair of infantry squads. First up is the Armoured Infantry Mortar Squad, a unit absolutely packed with rules and abilities. At the most basic level, it’s four chaps with a light mortar, who can be taken at all three experience levels, with the option to expand them to a seven-man squad. In itself this is a great way to get a multipurpose unit that can also sling a bit of HE around, but it’s the special rules that really elevate this squad. Mechanised Infantry makes these Armoured Infantry much better at riding in transports (as one might expect from a unit specifically designed to represent half-track-mounted troops), and their Selection rules mean that, while you’re only able to field one of these units per Platoon, having one in that Platoon allows you to take an extra Bazooka team, over and above your usual allocation! This is a really cool example of a unit ‘unlocking’ more units by its inclusion, and is something you can expect to see more of with the other Armoured Infantry units found in the book. Modelling them is as simple as combining our plastic GIs with the light mortar team – no fancy conversions needed!
Heavy Weapons Rifle Team
The second new infantry unit we’re checking out is the Heavy Weapons Rifle Team, a nice, simple 3-5 man infantry squad that can be taken at Inexperienced, Regular, or Veteran, and which has access to the full range of By Air, Land, and Sea variations. So what’s the deal? Like the Armoured Infantry we just looked at, the Heavy Weapons Rifle Team also has some cool Selection rules – in this case, you can include them instead of Mortar or Machine Gun teams in your Heavy Weapons Platoons! This allows US players to get even more infantry into their force, without having to field entire extra Rifle Platoons. Sometimes, you just need one more squad in your list, and the Heavy Weapons Rifle Team provides US players with that extra tactical flexibility.
Mortar Jeep
Moving on to vehicles, we come to the Mortar Jeep. This is very much a case of ‘does what it says on the tin’ – it’s a Jeep with a Light Mortar in the back! While it may not seem particularly devastating, the rules allowing vehicles to make use of Spotters for Indirect Fire mean that, for 45 points at Regular, you get a mortar that can hide behind cover and fling HE at the enemy, whilst being able to redeploy very quickly if it’s targeted. It’s also a great low-cost option for anyone wanting to field an Armoured Platoon but wanting to limit the number of points allocated to bigger vehicles, as well as players who want a fast, mobile force where the fire support has to be able to keep up with the infantry. This is a really simple vehicle to build – get a Jeep, slap a light mortar in the back, and presto – Light Mortar Jeep!
Rocket Truck 1-Ton 4×4
The final new unit we’re looking at today is another vehicle with an indirect fire capability, but one that packs significantly more wallop that the Mortar Jeep! The USMC International M2-4 Rocket Truck 1-Ton 4×4 (what a mouthful – we’ll just call it the Rocket Truck for now!) gives US players a powerful vehicle-mounted Multiple Rocket Launcher to cover their US Marines as they fight ashore. Able to lay down a deadly barrage and clobber multiple units in a single strike, albeit not while on the move, and quickly redeploy to find the best firing positions, the Rocket Truck requires some skilful handling and good dice rolling, but can be absolutely deadly on its day. This profile can equally be used to represent any of the American multiple rocket launcher systems that would be mounted on trucks throughout the war – eagle-eyed visitors on our weekly HQ tours may have seen something of that ilk in the soon-to-be-released cabinet! For those fans of rocket launchers deployed as more conventional artillery, fear not – they’re in the book too, of course!
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Bolt Action: Armies of the United States: Third Edition is out next month in the US and UK.
Find the official miniatures from Warlord Games on their website.
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