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Hi all! I am a Warhammer 40k player looking to get into Bolt Action. I have some questions, though.

Is there any real difference between units (infantry), or are they basically the same?

I am torn between British Commandos, Falschirmjager, SS Waffen, US Airborne, and US Marines. Could say I wanted a Marines force, could I use Airborne with them? Or just marines only. Same with Falschirmjager. Could I use SS with them? What are the advantages to each army?

Thanks in advance!

To answer your first question by themselves yes infantry are generally the same. However, national rules (and USRs some specialists get) can make all the difference. For example US infantry have a rule that lets them advance and fire without penalty to represent plentiful ammunition supplies and the fact that they used semi-auto rifles en masse while other nations were using bolt action rifles by and large. The Germans have a rule that allows them a chance to promote a regular soldier to NCO status after their NCO dies to represent the fact that Germans trained their soldiers to act on independent initiative and to think creatively rather than to rely on their NCOs direction like your basic US grunt.They also get +1 to the amount of shots their LMG gets to represent the bullet hose that was the MG34/42.

Germans and US infantry squads get very different load outs. For example, US troops can only have rifles, the BAR and some SMGs. US infantry squads tend to be more homogeneous in this way as the US was fond of taking one thing that worked and stamping out a metric gak on of it. Meanwhile, the Germans are very variable in what they can take. They can take LMGs, Assault Rifles, rifles and SMGs along with AT grenades and Panzerfausts. The Germans were never fans of standardization like the allies were as they always made three solutions to one problem!

The end result is that a US infantry squad is plays and feels very different than their German counterpart despite having the same basic statline. US infantry squads tend to focus on offensive firepower and manuevrability. German infantry squads work best in the defense and tend to have more concentrated firepower but they are also much more flexible. A German squad, kitted out right, can defend against infantry and tanks alike. A US squad can only be relied to do one thing (shoot the gak of something) but what they do they do very well. This nicely reflects the roles the US and Germans played during the ETO from 44-45.


As for your second question yes you can mix different branches of service in the same lists when using the generic selector list. You can have some SS troops fight alongside some Fallschirmjaeger to represent a cobbled together Kampfgruppe put together out of the stragglers of a huge rout. Such situations were common as Germany was driven back. The advantages to this is that some troops have unique load outs that can compliment your list well so mixing and matching can be beneficial. Airborne and marines can also be taken in the same lists though the historical authenticity of this is questionable outside of a couple of scenarions, IIRC.

However, in each army book there are theatre lists that are intended to guide the player to build a historically accurate list (with mixed success!) for a particular time and place. I'm not sure how many allow different branches of service to fight together as they often preferred to work separate from each other but I don't think it's that many.

What about British commandos?

Also, what is the average list size? 1k, 1500, 2k?

I believe the average list size is 1k.

I believe British Commandos are able to equip more SMGs but I can't speak to their national rules as I do not collect the British.

Ok thanks for all the answers guys. I think I'm gonna go with US Marines


Automatically Appended Next Post:

++ Generic Reinforced Platoon (Armies of the United States) [996pts] ++

+ Headquarters +

Medic Team [30pts]
. Medic: Pistol, Veteran

Platoon Commander [75pts]
. First Lieutenant: Regular, SMG

+ Infantry +

Regular US Marine Squad (Mid-/Late-War) [105pts]
. Regular NCO: M1 Garand rifle
. 8x Regular Soldier
. Regular Soldier with Bar M1918A2: Bar M1918A2

Regular US Marine Squad (Mid-/Late-War) [105pts]
. Regular NCO: M1 Garand rifle
. 8x Regular Soldier
. Regular Soldier with Bar M1918A2: Bar M1918A2

Regular US Marine Squad (Mid-/Late-War) [105pts]
. Regular NCO: M1 Garand rifle
. 8x Regular Soldier
. Regular Soldier with Bar M1918A2: Bar M1918A2

+ Infantry Support +

Bazooka Team [60pts]: Regular

Medium Machine Gun Team [50pts]: Regular

Sniper Team [67pts]: 2x Pistol, Veteran

+ Artillery +

Medium Artillery [80pts]: Regular, Spotter

+ Tanks, Tank Destroyers, Self-propelled Artillery and Anti-Aircraft Vehicles +

M4A1/A2/A3 Sherman 76MM [250pts]: Pintle-Mounted MMG (360), Regular

+ Transports +

DUKW Amphibious Truck [69pts]: Pintle-Mounted HMG (360), Regular

++ Total: [996pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

I've made this list for Marines

Oddly enough I play a lot of small 500pt games. Those can be fun.

If you like artillery then Britain is the list for you.
The British national traits let you bring a free Forward Artiller Observer, which is a major thing in games of Bolt Action as they usually cost nearly 100 points. It also means that you can bring two of them, if you really want too.
I cannot remember the 2nd one, and I am too lazy to fetch my books, but there is one more
Where most nations get one trait the British get three, but this last one is interesting as it is not fixed. You have a number of traits, each of which offers a slight advantage, such as giving you an extra shot for every 3 rifles in the unit, removing a pin at the start of the turn, etc.

Britain is a great nation if you enjoy flexibility.

 master of ordinance wrote:
If you like artillery then Britain is the list for you.
The British national traits let you bring a free Forward Artiller Observer, which is a major thing in games of Bolt Action as they usually cost nearly 100 points. It also means that you can bring two of them, if you really want too.
I cannot remember the 2nd one, and I am too lazy to fetch my books, but there is one more
Where most nations get one trait the British get three, but this last one is interesting as it is not fixed. You have a number of traits, each of which offers a slight advantage, such as giving you an extra shot for every 3 rifles in the unit, removing a pin at the start of the turn, etc.

Britain is a great nation if you enjoy flexibility.

Second one allows you to re roll the dice for preparatory bombardment. The british commandos have basically tough SMG spamming veterans, mostly used in outflanking, and can get some extra special rules thanks to a trait in the armies of great britain book.