JOD WW2 US ARMY

US Army WW2 STL Miniatures: 28mm American Forces for 3D Printing

The American rifle squad had something no other army fielded in 1944: twelve men, and every one of them carrying a semi-automatic rifle. Where a German or Soviet squad built its firepower around one machine gun, the US squad spread it across everybody. That single fact shapes how an American force plays on a table more than any national rule your ruleset provides.

Part of the Join or Die WW2 collection, sculpted at 28mm as multi-part models and supplied as digital STL files.

From the beaches to the Ardennes

The US Army fought a compressed war in Europe. Eleven months from Normandy to the German surrender, across terrain that changed completely as it went: the hedgerow country where visibility dropped to metres, the open pursuit across France, the grinding attrition of the Hürtgen Forest, and the winter defensive battles in the Ardennes.

That progression is useful for a gaming group, because the same force plays a genuinely different game in each. A Normandy scenario is claustrophobic and short-ranged. The pursuit is mobile and armour-led. The Bulge is defensive and cold. One army, four kinds of table.

What’s in the range

Infantry and command. GI rifle squads, officers and the specialists that fill out a platoon, with the pose variety needed to build sections that don’t look like repeated ranks.

Heavy weapons and artillery. Weapon teams and guns for the support element that turns a squad into a force capable of dealing with problems rifles can’t solve.

Armour and transport. The M4 Sherman, which is the American tank of the war and the one most scenarios expect to see. The M3 half-track for mechanised infantry, which changes how a force moves rather than how it shoots. And the Stuart light tank for reconnaissance and the roles where speed mattered more than armour.

Models come as multi-part options, giving you assembly and pose flexibility rather than fixed single-piece sculpts.

Rulesets these work with

Sculpted to standard 28mm proportions and compatible with the WW2 systems most groups play, including Bolt Action and Chain of Command. Neither publisher is affiliated with us and neither endorses these models. Compatibility is a question of scale and basing, not licensing.

US Airborne is available as a separate collection for the parachute divisions, and US Marines for the Pacific. All three share the same sculpting style, as do our German, British and Soviet ranges, so any matchup you want to play has two forces that belong on the same table.

Recognising the kit

The M1 helmet is the most recognisable headgear of the war, and canvas leggings distinguish a line infantryman from a paratrooper immediately. The M1 Garand with its distinctive en-bloc clip, the BAR as the squad’s automatic weapon, and the Thompson in the hands of NCOs.

Olive drab is the colour, though it varied considerably in practice and faded heavily in the field, which gives you licence to vary tones across a squad without it looking wrong.

Printing

Around 0.03mm layer height on resin covers gaming figures, tilted 30 to 45 degrees so resin drains and you avoid suction on the base. Rifle barrels are the fragile part, and the BAR’s bipod is worth checking specifically before committing a plate.

Multi-part components pack efficiently on a build plate and let you orient parts so supports land somewhere they won’t leave marks on a face. Print pieces separately rather than pre-assembled, and dry-fit before gluing.

Frequently asked questions

How do I paint olive drab so a squad doesn’t look monotonous?
Vary it deliberately, because the real thing did. American uniforms were produced across multiple contractors and the shade of olive drab was never consistent, and field use faded it further, so a squad where figures range from a browner olive through to a greener, greyer tone is more accurate than one painted flat. Start with a mid olive base and shift individual figures a shade warmer or cooler. Equipment gives you further contrast, since the canvas webbing, leggings and pack were a lighter khaki that reads as a different colour entirely against the uniform.

Should I print the Sherman in resin or FDM?
Either works, and it depends on what you’re optimising for. Resin gives you crisper detail on hatches, tools, tow cables and the cast texture on turret surfaces, which is what makes a Sherman look right rather than like a box. FDM handles the large flat hull plates well and costs considerably less for an object that size, which matters if you’re printing a platoon of three or four rather than a single command tank. Many people print hulls in FDM and small detail parts in resin. Whichever you choose, print the hull and turret as separate pieces so the turret rotates, and check the model against your build volume before slicing.

How many figures make a playable American force?
For most skirmish systems, a rifle squad of ten to twelve figures with a BAR team, plus a command element, gets you into a game. Platoon-level rules typically want three squads plus a headquarters and a support weapon, putting you around forty figures. The American squad is larger than most other nations’ equivalents, so a US force at the same points value often means more models to print than a German or British one. Build in squad-sized batches rather than attempting the whole platoon at once, and your settings will be dialled in by the second squad.

Subscribe and you may receive coupons and discounts