The game is segmented into a series of fifteen separate missions, each of which begins with a briefing and a news report concerning the outcome of the previously completed assignment. The player must prepare his men in advance by deciding how to organize them into teams and how they'll be outfitted, specifying everything from the type of body armor they will wear to the ammunition they will fire. Each member of Rainbow has different strengths and weaknesses which must be exploited depending on the nature of the mission. If during a mission any member happens to be killed they will be permanently removed from the roster and replaced with a less qualified stand-in. The option exists to load an alternate set of pre-defined arrangements for each individual mission, circumventing this stage of planning.