Building a List Using The Marine Rifle Company Army Deal By John Lee With the launch of the Mid War Pacific Army Deals, I thought I would look at how a new player, or someone on a budget, can get a US Marine force on the table that would be semi-competitive or at least hold its own. For the new player, it opens the door to playing Flames Of War without needing to buy, assemble or paint too much and get into playing the game quicker.

Check out the Marine Rifle Company Army Deal in the online store...

Overview So, if we look at what we get in the excellent value army deal (Marine Rifle Company), that will help decide what formations to run (other than the obvious one on the box!). The army deal contains the following: 1x Marine Rifle Company HQ 2x Marine Rifle Platoons 4x 37mm Anti-Tank Gun Teams 2x 75mm SPM Self Propelled Guns 4x Stuart Tanks 7x Unit Cards 1x Flames Of War Mini Rulebook 20x Limited Edition Marine Dice 20x Limited Edition Marine Tokens and 2x Objectives

This is not your normal army deal you usually see comprising mainly plastic sprues. This army deal has metal infantry, guns, and gun crew along with resin half-track gun teams. The only plastic sprues you will see in this box are the Stuart tanks. To top that off, it comes with the themed dice, token and standard flat objective markers. The cost for the army deal is a bit more expensive but the extras are well worth it, and you save more money overall with all the goodies inside the box!

Now this box has been primarily designed for running the Marine Rifle Company in the new Pacific Compilation book. We will look at building a 100pt list around that first but there are two other options to build where we can also maximise what we get in the army deal box. The first is the Marine Raider Company and the second is the Marine Stuart Tank Company. Just a note on the points – for this article we are using book points. Feel free to modify any list using dynamic points to play around with how they could look.

Marine Rifle Company Onto the formations now and looking at the Marine Rifle Company, let us look at what units comprise this formation: 1 Marine Rifle Company HQ 2-3 Marine Rifle Platoon 0-1 Marine 1917 Machine-Gun Platoon 0-1 Marine 81mm Mortar Platoon 0-1 Marine 37mm Anti-Tank Platoon 0-1 Marine Scout Platoon 0-1 Marine 75mm SPM Self-Propelled Gun Platoon Based on the formation and what we get in the army, we can use all the contents of the army deal box and add a couple of extra boxes to get to 100pts! This is how it could look based on what is pictured on the box and force diagram:

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Six units for the formation break for the formation. Two nearly maxed out rifle platoons – hard to shift and can assault or defend. Supported by mortars to provide one artillery template, AT7 with the 37mm guns and the Stuarts. AT9 with the 75mm SPMs and AT10 (with stabilisers) from the Shermans provide decent firepower against other Pacific and most Desert armies. Might struggle against certain Eastern Front type of armies but you can consider taking a couple of other units instead of the Shermans. You can see these two units in the following lists in the article.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $221: 1 x USAB15 Marine Rifle Company Army Deal  150 1 x UBX99 Marine M4 Sherman Platoon  55 1 x US815 Marine 81mm Mortar Platoon  16 TOTAL $221

US Marine Raider Company The next formation we are going to look at in detail is the Marine Raider Company. It comprises the following units: 1 Marine Raider Company HQ 2-3 Marine Raider Platoon 0-1 Marine Raider Demolition Platoon 0-1 Marine 81mm Mortar Platoon 0-1 Marine 37mm Anti-Tank Platoon 0-1 Marine Scout Platoon 0-1 Marine 75mm SPM Self-Propelled Gun Platoon As you can see its pretty like the Marine Rifle Company except you swap out the Machine Platoon with the Demolition Platoon and each Marine Raider Platoon only has seven core teams instead of the option of seven or ten. We introduce another unit here with AT12 to provide some more Oomph. Here is what you can get to maximise your army deal for 100pts:

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Seven units for the formation break. Still twelve teams in the infantry platoons so ensuring still eight hits required to pin and still great for assaulting or defending. We have the scout platoon now to provide spearhead (where applicable) and supported by the Stuarts. T55s to provide the high end AT12 punch. By adding in the planes, we add a second artillery template and an ability to go after enemy assets out of sight from your ground units and armed with .50cals can also take out light vehicles.

To buy this army you need only to purchase the following for $273: 1 x USAB15 Marine Rifle Company Army Deal 150 2x UBX92 T55 Interceptor Tank Destroyer Platoon 68 1x UBX52 P-40 Warhawk Fighter Unit 39 1x US815 Marine 81mm Mortar Platoon 16 TOTAL $273

Marine Stuart Company The final formation we are going to look at in detail is the Marine Stuart Company. It comprises the following units: 1 Marine Stuart Company HQ 2-3 Marine Stuart Platoon Nothing in the formation aside from tanks but we can make use of the infantry in the army deal as support units. We introduce another unit here with AT14 to provide even more Oomph. Here is what you can get to maximise your army deal for 100pts:

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Maximised four units for the formation break. Ideally, we could maximise out each unit but we also needed to provide some balance and combined arms approach for this force. Two infantry units to defend or attack (one can also spearhead). One artillery template from the 105s that can cause some havoc against enemy infantry and gun teams. Tanks and light vehicles will probably want to stay out of the templates as well. The fourteen Stuarts provide the assault and AT7 to take out most types of enemy units and the 90mm AA guns can take out anything else with their AT14. To round out the force are several command cards. Amphibious Transport is for you 90mm AA Guns if you need to reposition them during the game. Coastwatcher allows you to reposition a ranged in marker for your 105s after deployment – handy when attacking and help define where your enemy may deploy to avoid being under the template. Hail Mary gives you a reroll when needed and Arsenal of Democracy allows you to reroll reserves! To buy this army you need only purchase the following for $391: 1 x USAB15 Marine Rifle Company Army Deal 150 2 x UBX56 M3 Stuart Tank Platoon 110 1 x UBX100 Marine 105mm Artillery Battery 110 4 x US550 M1 90mm Gun Team 10 TOTAL $391

There you have it – a few options to ponder for getting started with this army deal. Enjoy!

~ John