Machine gun crew figures represent infantry equipped with heavy repeating weapons. These figures pack heavy firepower against enemy squads, and are eligible to contribute to multiple rounds of Op Fire.
| Traits | Heavy Infantry Weapon |
| Movement | 4 |
| Armor Value | - |
| Attack VS Infantry (RANGE / FPR) | 5 / 3 (German 5 / 4) |
| Attack VS Vehicle (RANGE / FPR) | 3 / 2 |
| Limited Choice of Actions | A squad containing a heavy infantry weapon, such as a machine gun crew figure, may not take a Fire and Movement action or an Assault action. |
| Rapid Op Fire | If a squad with one or more machine gun crews are in Op Fire mode, the squad may execute an Op Fire attack without becoming fatigued – as long as only the machine gun crew(s) participate in the Op Fire attack. This also applies to supporting another Op Fire attack with combined fire. When such a squad makes an Op Fire attack with other figure types in the same squad contributing to the attack, the unit is fatigued as normal after the attack. This means that a machine gun crew can participate in multiple Op Fire attacks during one round. Note that such attacks must all be against different targets, as a squad may only make one Op Fire attack against any one particular active unit during its activation (see page 32). |
Example: The German player has placed one of his squads, consisting of 1 machine gun crew and 2 regular infantry figures, in Op Fire mode. During his opponent’s turn, the German player executes an Op Fire attack against a moving American squad.
He chooses to have only the machine gun crew participate in the attack, so the squad is not fatigued and the Op Fire token remains with the squad after the attack.
Later, the German player decides to make another Op Fire attack against another moving American squad. Again, the German player uses only his machine gun crew in the Op Fire attack, and the squad remains in Op Fire mode after the attack.
Finally, hoping to stop a nearby moving American tank, the German player makes an Op Fire attack against the tank. This time the German player decides to have all the units in the squad participate in the Op Fire attack. Since other figure types in the squad are participating in the attack, not just the machine
gun crew, the German squad will be fatigued after the attack, and its Op Fire token must be flipped over to the fatigued side.
A glance at the Machine Gun crew’s stats will immediately make one thing apparent. Machine Gun crews have a special ability: Rapid Op Fire. In a nutshell, this allows them to sit in a defensible position while on Opportunity Fire and fire at every opposing squad that comes into range. This alone makes Machine Gun crews vital for holding back advancing soldiers.
The major hamstring of Machine Gun crews is their Heavy Weapon trait. This trait prohibits them from moving and attacking in the same action and prevents them from being assigned a specialty token (Such as anti-tank or flamethrower).
An interesting thing to note about MG crews is that they take up 2 slots in a squad base. There are many implications of this, including the fact that if the squad takes casualties, the entire machine gun crew can be removed as a single casualty. Put another way, a squad with two regular infantry and a machine gun crew would be completely eliminated by only three casualties, instead of the usual four for a squad of four regular infantry.