Armies of the United States: Third Edition is just around the corner, and that means it’s time for new kits! We’ve already looked in detail at the upcoming US Airborne in D-Day uniforms, and now we’re taking a deep dive into the latest plastic Bolt Action tank – enter the M3 ‘Lee’ Medium Tank!
Roaring into the fray alongside the new Armies of book, the M3 Medium Tank (in this configuration known in British service as the ‘Lee’) can pull triple duty, being available to not only US, but also British and Soviet forces as a Lend-Lease vehicle option. The new plastic kit is both fantastically detailed, and an absolute delight to assemble, making adding one (or three!) of these unique tanks to your force as simple as possible.
So, what’s the deal with the M3, anyway? How many guns does one tank need? Historically, the M3 was something of a stop-gap measure, designed to get the powerful 75mm gun into frontline service as quickly as possible while the M4 Sherman was under development. In addition, Britain’s desperate need for modern tanks lent even greater urgency to the project.
These efforts produced an odd-looking vehicle, with the 75mm main armament in a hull-mounted sponson, and a 37mm ‘secondary’ gun in a more conventional turret, all atop a high, slab-sided superstructure. While rather old-fashioned in appearance, when the M3 entered service in August 1941 with British forces it proved to be a capable machine. German and Italian tank crews soon learned to fear the offensive punch of the ‘75’, and German commanders rated it as one of the best tanks of the desert war.
M3s would also see service in North Africa with American forces, as well as in very limited numbers in the Pacific, where it proved an effective combatant before being overtaken by the M4. Similarly, the Soviet Union received almost a thousand examples, which they used extensively until the T-34 reached true mass production. Interestingly, the Soviets were not particularly enamoured with the type, darkly nicknaming it the ‘coffin for seven brothers’. By contrast, British and Commonwealth forces in the Far East found the M3 to be extremely effective against Japanese infantry and armour, and kept them in service right up to the end of the war. The kit includes options for early and late-production models, with the primary difference being the longer gun barrel of the later version, as well as plastic commander figures for British, US and Soviets – and of course it’s fully compatible with our range of British tank crews and stowage packs as well!
The M3’s development history and nomenclature can be a little confusing, but fear not – we’re here to explain! Multiple variants of the M3 were in production more or less simultaneously, and for once it was British tank naming conventions that came to the rescue to clear matters up. The ‘original’ M3 was designated the ‘Lee’ in British service (and fielded by all operators) – and that’s what this kit makes! The other main variant had a different turret, and was known as the ‘Grant’ – but that’s a story for another kit…
On the Table
That’s the history – what about the tabletop performance? The M3 is quietly one of the more capable tanks on the US roster, giving you two anti-tank guns in one package. Let’s take a look at Armies of the United States to see what we can do with this beastie in Bolt Action:
Well, that’ll do very nicely indeed. A 9+ Damage Value box (albeit with Vulnerable) mounting both a Medium and a Light AT gun, with the Medium boasting the Improved HE special rule, plus an MMG on top of it all, and the option to get rid of Easily Catches Fire for only 5 points if you want to use the later A5? The M3 practically packs an entire army’s worth of anti-tank firepower into one unit, and as all of its weapons are individually mounted, it can engage three different targets per turn! This makes it a really interesting option if you want to run a small Armoured Platoon that punches well above its weight – consider pairing an M3 with something nice and cheap like an M20 Scout Car – or if you know you’re going to fight a lot of armour and want to maximise your shooting.
Just as an aside – while the M3 doesn’t have rules in Achtung Panzer! just yet, the operative word is… yet. Keep an eye out in the very near future for an awesome development on that front!
Who needs more tanks? YOU need more tanks!
