Well, after the better part of a year slogging on it, the majority of my US winter force is complete. We used it in our games at Adepticon 2025, and now that that’s done and gone I had some time to take some nice pictures. Winter armies are always a little niche, as they end up more limiting than more generically based armies. Luckily for me the Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle fought by the US army so I don’t see any end to possible scenarios to field these for. I’ve primarily assembled this force with Chain of Command in mind so that’s what I’ll discuss as I go. That said this force already has a few games of Bolt Action under its belt as well. So, without further ado:

Senior Leaders– Every force needs leaders to guide it in battle, so I’ve done up four generic Senior/Junior Leader types to fill spots as needed.

Bazooka Teams– Emblematic of American forces in the Second World War is the Bazooka team. I’ve done four of these teams and they’re some of my favorite models in the collection.

Infantry Squads– US squads are big. 12 men make up the standard squad, however mine are 13 because I painted an extra BAR gunner for each squad to be able to sub them in for a riflemen as a Support Choice. Speaking of Support Choices, I painted a fourth rifle squad as the common “extra squad of infantry” is one of my favorite choices to take.

Radiomen/Observers– Suitable for the American preference to send a bullet, not a man, my force has four observer types ready to guide in artillery or air support as needed.

Sniper Team and Medic– Essential for an infantry force are both the ability to selectively eliminate targets, as well as the capability to patch up your guys and keep them in the fight. I’ve got one of each of these options available.

Extra Bodies– Chain of Command likes big weapon crews, and I seem to always find myself in need of an extra body or two to plug gaps. To this end I’ve got four spare riflemen and one spare NCO type with an SMG.

Jump-Off Points– Quintessential to the Chain of Command experience is the Jump-Off Point. While it’s easy to use a token for that, and I certainly have, I couldn’t resist the extra snazziness of some bespoke Battle of the Bulge scenic ones. I have the classic weapons cache motif, a pair of Military Police directing traffic on the crowded roads of the Ardennes, and finally a few GIs enjoying some soup and coffee near a small fire.

Medium Machine Gun Team– When the plan is to hold ground, the trusty MMG team is a great pick. RKX has this lovely M1917 water cooled .30cal machine gun team STL set and I couldn’t resist.

60mm Mortar Team– Even though mortars can push the edge of what’s really suitable on table in Chain of Command, I can’t resist painting up a good mortar team.

3″ M5 Anti-Tank Gun– Anti-tank guns are great if you face a lot of armor. Luckily (or unluckily?) facing off against German forces in the Bulge likely means plenty of enemy armor. The team is five crew and led by a Junior Leader.

M5 Stuart– Well past its prime in 1944-45, the Stuart continued to see use with US forces through the end of the war.

M4A3 76(w) Sherman– The only vehicle I decided to do in a bespoke winter scheme this Sherman also has some extra logs strapped to it as makeshift armor.

M4A3E8 “Easy Eight” Sherman– I’m a huge fan of the wide-tracked E8s so I had to put one in my force.

M18 Hellcat– The Hellcat might be my favorite US armored vehicle of the war. I’m not sure why, just something about it. Small, fast, big(ish) gun. What’s not to like? Clearly I needed one in my force. It’s my only non-rubicon vehicle kit I built here, being the Warlord Games version. Yet the quality of the kit was still excellent with good options in the box.

M10 Wolverine– On the topic of tank destroyers, a US force wouldn’t be complete without the standard workhorse of the tank destroyer forces. The M10 rubicon kit is great and I pre-built the M36 Jackson turret as well to speed up the process of adding that in the future… or it fits on the Rubicon Sherman hull for an M36B1.

M8 Greyhound– The greyhound is another vehicle you’ll see over and over again in Bulge photographs. This little scout car is a must have in my opinion.

What’s Next? – Well, I have some unfinished odds and ends to complete still. An M2 HMG team and 10x Airborne sculpts are sitting nearby. I’d like to do some more bespoke winter Airborne as they are iconic for the Battle of the Bulge. I figure I can handwave in my winter kit minis I have done, but the non-greatcoat ones are pretty clearly not airborne uniforms.

For armor I have the aforementioned M36 Jackson to complete my tank destroyer trio. I also have another M5 Stuart, a M8 Scott, M16 Quad .50 “Meat Chopper” halftrack, and a M24 Chaffee to finish up. After that my next item will likely be a trio of 75mm Shermans to bring me up to a platoon (we’d like to do some scenarios with 4th Armored Divisions drive to Bastogne).

If you want to listen to us ramble about this force and what parts of it I specifically used for our Adepticon scenario and why you can check out our podcast “History to Hobby” on any major podcast platform. We have three episodes out detailing the scenario and forces we used for Adepticon.

For now it’s time for me to close up the cabinet on my Winter Americans and turn my attention to the the Russian steppe as our next project gains momentum. More about that soon! As always thanks for reading.

Evan