US Paratroopers from Crusader Miniatures

[armchairgeneral]

They weren't commissioned.

Artizan Design is owned by Mike Owen. Crusader Miniatures is owned by Mark Sims. The only thing they have in common is that they are sold through me at North Star. Otherwise they do what they want for their own companies, at some point they may not be sold through me.

Mike Owen is the guy to pursue to ask why he abandoned the 8th Army to do 1944 US Infantry. I dunno eva

Okay thanks Nick. Fair enough 

[Griefbringer]

Incidentally, the pictures I have seen suggest the .50 cal and the .30 cal used identical tripods, is this right? Presumably this would mean you could easily knock up a .50 cal support option as well?

I checked a few good pictures over the weekend, and it seems to me that the tripod for the M2 Browning has much longer and thicker legs than that for M1919A4 Browning. There might also be some other detail issues. Furthermore, the M2 tripod is reportedly much heavier in weight. Furthermore, the tripod for M1917 MG also seems to differ from those two.

On the other hand, sculpting the tripod is probably quite easy job compared to putting together the gun itself and the crew.

That said, you would not find M2 Browning in a parachute battalion, at least in one that had recently jumped. There were none authorised in the TOE, and possible "unauthorised acquisitions" would be rather heavy to haul along, especially considering the weight of their ammo. That said, a para unit that ends up in a regular infantry role could get a bunch of wheeled vehicles assigned to it, and those sometimes came with an AAMG mounted.

In regular infantry battalion six M2 Brownings were authorised, but these were scattered individually on vehicle AA-mounts across the battalion. While it would be possible to dismount them and put on a tripod mount, this would require quite some manpower. Furthermore, the ammo was heavy and available in limited amounts (authorised load of 6 ammo cans of 110 rounds each) compared to the plentiful .30 cal rifle rounds.

For details about the allocation of weapons and ammo across the US leg infantry and airborne battalions, I would recommend checking this website:

http://www.bayonetstrength.uk/

[Shahbahraz]

Thanks for that. Very helpful indeed. I'm not at all familiar with the US TO&E, so that's most useful. It might just be a case of upping the number of .30s if I want to add support options then.

[Griefbringer]

The para battalions were certainly very well stocked with M1919 MGs, so you should be able to field quite a number with good conscience. Plus every platoon was also authorised 60 mm mortar, bazooka and a sniper rifle.

Speaking of the M1919 MG, besides the common tripod mounted M1919A4 version there was also an alternative bipod version M1919A6 that could be found in the para units.

Furthermore, there was a special para version of the 60 mm mortar designed, though I am not sure in how large numbers this was issued. My understanding is that it had a different base plate and dispensed with the bipod, instead relying on a brave paratrooper to hold the tube at the correct angle when the round went BOOM! Considering the resulting loss in accuracy, I am not sure if the associated weight saving was really worth it, especially since the mortar rounds are a bit on the heavy side and should be spent efficiently.

[Truscott Trotter]

The US Paras often received support from the Company heavy weapons platoon that had at least 8 x 30 cals

[Redmist1122]

Will there be a special platoon bundle deal when released?

Thank you.

[Griefbringer]

The US Paras often received support from the Company heavy weapons platoon that had at least 8 x 30 cals

I presume you are referring to the the MG platoon of the battalion headquarters company?

That is certainly quite some firepower, though the rifle platoons themselves were already pretty well stocked with 2-4 M1919 MGs. Carrying ammo for those MGs and the platoon mortar could require some effort from the whole platoon.