Working in a wargames company can be dangerous.
Not due to the equipment we work with, not due to the current virus going around, no for me it’s dangerous because I constantly have new armies popping up all over my house. One day you’ll be satisfied with what you’re working on and ploughing through painting a horde of Soviets, or maybe a super elite Afrika Korps force. And then one day you’ll be down in Warlord game’s warehouse and spot a kit you’ve not really paid attention to before and think to yourself “hmm i could do an army of them one day”.
So on a completely unrelated note I have just started a brand new WW2 US force…
Then I found out Marcus (also of our customer service team) was doing a blog about his new force on the Warlord website and heck I already blog over on Facebook, so I thought I should also hop on board and get my own on the site! Working from home has given me a lot of time saved thanks to having no commute and now that we’re on full lockdown my painting is coming along in leaps and bounds!
The inspiration for this force comes from a desire to have a force to face off against my Afrika Korps and because I very rarely see the mid war US forces out in the desert campaign in general which is something I really would like to see more of! It also means an army with plenty of bodies, as I didn’t want to run a late war army where the Yankees have started getting some fancy toys. I want a bunch of GI’s fresh off the boats supported by a tonne of Lead spitting 30. Cals as they learn how to fight in the desert hell!
I’ve also always thought Americans in WW2 were just plain cool, you read about them in the histories, and they just had a bold attitude about them. They so frequently in photos and footage have a swagger to them with slick uniforms and cool hardware like the iconic Thompson or troops tooling around on Harley Davidsons! On top of that throughout the years Hollywood has made so many excellent (and even more terrible ones!) war movies like Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers about US troops in WW2 that reinforces the ‘cool factor’ the US troops had during WW2.
With this in mind I wrote up a list that is designed as a direct opposite of my last project (Afrika Korps): a highly mobilized veteran force.
The List
I wrote a 500 point list as my start point, and at time of writing have built about 2 thirds of it (Max doesn’t hence the above picture of the whole list assembled and ready for painitng – ed)!
I made the list with the Rommel’s Defeat force selector, I chose this one as the earlier desert lists force you to play with Inexperienced troops for your infantry squads, and I want to get a basic force painted up and on the table-top quickly, so when I have more men I’ll revert to the earlier inexperienced lists, but for now I’ll stick to regular units so the armies smaller!
| Unit Name: | Upgrades: |
| Regular Second Lieutenant | 1 extra man, SMGs |
| 10 Regular GIs | SMG, BAR |
| 10 Regular GIs | SMG, BAR |
| Regular Bazooka Team | N/A |
| Regular Medium Machine Gun | N/A |
| Regular Medium Machine Gun | N/A |
| Regular Mortar Team | Spotter |
| Total Points Cost: 500 pts |
And I roughly know where I want to expand for a 1000 point list with more infantry, a tank of some flavour and maybe one more Machine gun, because might as well play to the theme right?
The Project so Far
So far on the modelling front I’m having a whale of a time, I’ve converted up a lieutenant and assistant out of the Oddball heroes set and also used the Machine gunner out of that kit and added him to a loading crew of spare metals to make a unique 30 calibre team on the move, and mounted them up on a spare base from an old game i had kicking around, looking good! The only other conversions were a few cut and shuts to re-pose a sergeant and a BAR gunner, as I want to make sure they don’t end up looking too similar between the squads.
I built the models over a few nights and started painting, at time of writing I have 2 squads fully painted! Not bad going for a week’s work as I think these were started around the 21st and had them primed on the 25th, now here on the 30th I have 2 squads. I’m pretty happy with that progress! And I think the results are some of my better work. I’ve always liked desert colour schemes, as they usually end up with a sort of drab tone that i find really compliments my painting style.
Next on the painting table is my command squad, the Bazooka, a mortar and the first 2 MMG teams! No rest for the wicked, plus I have free time for days!
Get Involved
Max and Marcus have set the gauntlet, and many of us at Warlord are taking up the challenge. We will of course be catching up with Max and Marcus to see how their projects progress, as well as chasing many other members of the Warlord staff for their writeups (virtually in the current climate, of course). You too can get involved and share your army building projects. Get in touch at articles@warlordgames.com and be sure to include plenty of images!
If you want to follow Max’s example the US infantry plastoc box set is an excellent starting point, with enough components to make 30 US GIs including options for the following weapons:
- M1 Garand rifle
- Browning Automatic Rifle
- Thompson and Grease Gun sub-machine guns,
- M1 carbine
- Bazooka
- Colt .45 pistol
- Fragmentation grenades
- Bandoliers
- Combat shotgun
Dan Hewitson
Conor Trainer
Tom Mecredy
Craig Nixon