Begleit Tank Escorts

At the weekend I finished off my first of two packs of German Begleit Tank Escorts, or Tank-riders to go with my StuGs;

The pack comes with sufficient foot figures to represent a short squad of dismounted troops.

 Even if not used as the 'Begleit' troops, they would be perfect as Assault rifle armed scouts..

And then obviously the tank rider models themselves... 12 single figures in the packs give me enough for 4 groups of three figures, sufficient to go on 4 tanks. I didn't want to glue them to the tanks permanently as the StuGs wouldn't always get used with tank riders... so I decided to base up the figures on a small piece of plasticard which was painted to match the colour of the StuGs camo 'dunkelgelb'

 This little 'base', easily sits on the rear deck of the StuG, or StuH... blu-tac can hold in place temporarily.

And both together, foot troops and Begliet Escorts working together...

I believe the Germans learned this tactic from the Soviets who became renowned for having their infantry clinging frantically to the backs of their tanks as they roared towards to German lines...

I'll have to try them out in a game sometime. I hope they will fair better than their halftrack bourne counterparts.. a StuG is a far bigger piece of metal, than the thin armoured hulls of the SdKfz halftracks...!

Will this be the new wonder weapon of my forces, ... or will my 'tactical finesse' doom them to obscurity after their first outing... time will tell ;-)