Assembling The Rifle Company: The Mid-war  & Late-war US Rifle Company with Blake Coster The American war effort is carred on the back of its GIs. Equipped with the latest technology and backed by the industrial might of America, the GI presses forward to victory. When the situation becomes tricky, they will quickly overcome obstacles to win the field of combat securing freedom every step they take!

Learn more about the Plastic Rifle Company here...

In this article, I'll demonstrate how to assemble the contents of the new plastic Rifle Company for both Mid-war and Late-war (the organisation is the same for both periods). So let's break out the hobby tools and plastic cement and get started assembling the Rifle Company! But before we begin any assembly, let's ensure the contents of the Rifle Company box set are all present and correct. If you have any problems or issues with the contents of your box set, please feel free to contact our Customer Service team at: [email protected].

The Contents of the Rifle Company Box Set

Description of Components

a. 6x Plastic Infantry sprues.

Rifle Company Command Sprue Description of Components a. 2x Plastic Command sprues. Bases Description of Components a. 2x Base plugs. c. 4x Small two-hole bases. b. 5x Small three-hole bases. d. 25x Medium four-hole bases.

Assembling The Rifle Company What Is A Rifle Company? A Rifle Company contains a Company HQ made up of a Company Command Carbine team and a 2iC Command Carbine team and the compulsory Rifle Platoons: two platoons, each containing an HQ Section and up to three Rifle Squads. The rest of the force is made up of whatever Combat, Weapons and Support platoons are available in the company organisational diagram.

Assembling The Company HQ Highlighted to the right and below are the figure options required to assemble the Company Command Carbine team and 2iC Command Carbine team. I've kept with the same colour coding as seen on the back of the box: the officers highlighted in red; the NCOs highlighted in white; the Radioman highlighted in pink; and  the Riflemen highlighted in blue. There is also an option to add Bazooka teams to the Company HQ for +20 points per team; these optional Bazooka figures highlighted in green. Right: The highlighted figures on the Command sprue. Below: The highlighted figures on the Infantry sprue.

To represent the Company Command Carbine team correctly assemble two Officer figures and one the Radioman figure on one of the small three-holes bases provided in the box set. The 2iC Command Carbine team is made up of one Officer figure, one Radioman figure and a one Riflemen figure, again modelled on a small three-hole base. If you decide to add any Bazooka teams to the Company HQ, simply assemble a Bazooka gunner figure and a Bazooka loader figure on one of the small two-hole bases. The Colour-Coded Company HQ Organisation Diagram In the Company HQ organisational diagram below I've taken the opportunity to do a little virtual modelling, if you will, by taking the colour-coded image above a step further and arranged the figures types correctly for each Command team including the optional Bazooka teams.

Assembling The Rifle Platoons Highlighted to the left and below are the figure options required to assemble the Rifle Platoons. As before, I've kept with the same colour coding as seen on the back of the box: the officers highlighted in red; the NCOs highlighted in white; the Riflemen highlighted in blue; the BAR gunners in purple and the Bazooka gunners and loaders (an optional upgrade in the HQ Section) highlighted in green. Right: The highlighted figures on the Command sprue. Below: The highlighted figures on the Infantry sprue.

A Rifle Platoon is made up of an HQ Section containing a Command Rifle team and either two or three Rifle Squads depending on which option you decide to field. Each of these Rifle Squads contain three Rifle teams. To model the Command Rifle team, arrange one Officer figure, one NCO figure and one Rifleman figure on a small three-hole base. Like in the Company HQ, the HQ Section of a Rifle Platoon can be upgraded to include a Bazooka team for +20 points. To do this, simply arrange a Bazooka gunner figure and a Bazooka loader figure on one of the small two-hole bases. To correctly represent a Rifle Squad, the first Rifle team needs to contain one NCO figure and three Riflemen figues. The second Rifle team need to contains three Riflemen figures and a BAR figure. Finally, the third Rifle team is made up of four Riflemen figures. All of teams are modelled on the Medium four-hole bases provided in the box set. The Colour-Coded Rifle Platoons Organisation Diagram In the Rifle Platoon organisation diagram below I've taken the opportunity to do some more virtual modelling and have arranged the figures to correctly represent the both compulsory Rifle Platoons that need to be fielded as part of a Rifle Company in Flames Of War

Below: The First Rifle Platoon.

Note: For the second Rifle Platoon, I've substituted some spare NCO figures to make up the numbers in terms of Rifleman figures. See the organisational diagram below for more details.

Below: The Second Rifle Platoon.

Assembling The Weapons Platoon While not a compulsory option for a RifleCompany, the box set include enough figures to represent the optional Weapons Platoon. This Weapons Platoon (found in the Combat Platoon options in the Rifle Company organisational diagram) is made up of an HQ Section containing a Command Carbine team, a Mortar Section containing three M2 60mm Mortar teams and either one or two Machine-gun Sections; each containing two M1919 LMG teams. Highlighted below are the figures required to assemble the Weapons Platoon. As before, I've kept with the same colour coding as seen on the back of the box: the M1919 LMG team highlighted in black and the M2 60mm Mortar team highlighed in yellow. Please refer to the other highlighted diagrams when it comes to determining the other figures (Officers, NCOs, & Riflemen) required to make up the Weapons Platoon.

Below: The highlighted figures on the Infantry sprue for the Weapons Platoon.

To model the Command Carbine team, arrange one Officer figure, two NCO figures (again I've done this to make up the numbers in terms of Riflemen) on a small three-hole base. There is an option to add a Jeep with a .50 cal AA MG to the HQ Section for +5 points. If you wish to field a Jeep as part of the HQ Section, you'll need to purchase this seperately. Check out the American Jeep in the online store here... To correctly represent the Mortar Section, the first M2 60mm Mortar team needs to contain one NCO figure, the two-man mortar crew, and the mortar itself. The other two mortar teams need to contains a three-man mortar crew (use the addtional mortar crew figures found on the plastic sprues; there are enough to create six mortar teams in total but we only need three) and M2 60mm mortar. For each of the Machine-gun Sections (remember one is optional) one M1919 LMG team needs to contain the two-man machine-gun crew (the gunner and loader) and an NCO figure. The other M1919 LMG team contains the same two-man machine-gun crew and a Rifleman figure. The Mortar and LMG teams are modelled on the medium four-hole bases included in the box set. But since these are three-man team rather than four, the extra figure hole can be filled using the Base Plugs found in the box set. The Colour-Coded Weapons Platoons Organisation Diagram In the Weapons Platoon organisation diagram below I've taken the opportunity to do last of my virtual modelling and have arranged the figures to correctly represent the Weapons Platoon that can be fielded as part of a Rifle Company in Flames Of War

Below: The Weapons Platoon.

I hope you find this assembly guide useful when it comes time to assemble your own Mid-war or Late-war Rifle Company. Till next time, happy modelling! ~ Blake.