Sunday 17 November 2013

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 ;-)

13 comments:

  1. Nice work as always Scott. They should survive quite well, as they are effectively an upgrade to your StuGs rather than a separate team. I've found them quite useful with my Soviets as they give you an extra close range shooting dice and an extra chance to hit in assaults.
    Look forward to meeting them on the table top!

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    1. Thanks Paul, yep I am intrigued to try them out, that extra swing in the attack, turns 4 attacks into 8 (with CO attached), could hopefully cause the enemy some consternation in the least... just need to deal with any AT guns at range before closing to assault infantry...

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    2. Also, I like the idea that they are allowed to shoot the StuGs hull top mounted MG, and fire their own weapons, even when the StuG fires its main gun - it mean they can spit out quite a lot of close range fire... firing from the halt would give them 2 Main gun shots and 4 MG shots per tank..., movement would drop one of the main gun shots...

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  2. Great stuff Scott. They look great on the StuGs. It would have been a shame to glue them on permanently so the card was a great idea.

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    1. Thanks Steve - yeah I am pleased the way the plasticard trick worked out :-)

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  3. They look great Scott I love the plastic card bases they are brilliant!

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  4. Very nice Scott - like the camo scheme on the smocks looks good

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  5. Looking good Scott, I must do my Soviet tankodesantniki riders one day and copy your plasticard idea.

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    1. Thank Mark , actually I think it was Damo who suggested it when he came up for our 'Oktoberfest'...

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