Eastern Front Starter Set – Stalingrad (Sov vs Germ)

Stalingrad : Complete World War II Starter Set German vs Soviet may not, in fact, completely cover World War II but its 44 Infantry teams, 9 pieces of Ordnance and 3 Tanks certainly give you a tremendous starter into mid-war combat.

It introduces the newcomer into the Flames of War combat system through both a quick start guide and the full rulebook in a handy A5 size. Said rulebook also includes a 20 page synopsis of the entire war in Europe with full-colour maps and an annotated timeline. It comes complete with 10 different styles of missions and a set of battle plans to link them into a campaign.

The Flames of War combat system is based on unit teams. Whilst one miniature represents one soldier or vehicle the Infantry and Guns are organised into teams of 2-5 men. They are based together as such and will live or die as a team. Thus this set comprises an impressive total of over 200 infantry and 16 pieces of equipment. These are Battlefront miniatures at the scale of 1/100 or 15mm.

Last Man And Bullet

In detail the two forces are made up as follows :-

GERMAN FORCE

• Headquarters
  2x Command Teams : each of 2 x MP40 Sub Machine Gunners and 1 Officer
• 2 x Infantry Platoons:
  each has 7 x Infantry Teams of 4 men each including MG34 and optional 2.8cm Anti-tank rifle
  Anti-Tank Platoon: 2 x 5cm Gun Teams with 4 man crews
• Rocket Launcher Battery:
  3x Nebelewerfer with 4 man teams

Total: 82 Infantry + 5 Pieces of Ordnance

SOVIET FORCE

• Headquarters
  2 x Command Teams : 1 Officer, 1 NCO and 1 Rifleman
• 2 x Infantry Platoons:
  each has 1 x Command Team : 1 Officer, 1 NCO and 1 Rifleman 1 x Komissar Team : 1 Komissar and 1 Rifleman 9 x Infantry Teams of 4 men including DP MG and 1891 type rifles 2 x Maxim HMG Teams of 3 men and a Maxim Heavy Machine Gun
• Artillery Battery
  4 x 76mm Guns with 5 man Teams
• Tank Platoon
  3 x T-70 light Tank

Total: 120 Infantry + 4 HMGs + 4 Guns + 3 light Tanks

All the miniatures have a high level of detail, extraordinary when you consider their size, are crisp and have no flash. The Tanks and Ordnance are simple assemblies: 5-7 parts for the Guns and 12 for the Tanks. All the pieces fit together well and can be quickly constructed following the clear exploded diagrams and using standard polystyrene cement.

There are standard Battlefront bases provided for all the Infantry and Gun teams. These are rectangular in 3 sizes with from 4-6 round holes to slot in the figures. There are blanking plugs provided to fill in any unused holes.

It’s On The Cards

The Flames of War rules system use Unit Cards to display the composition and capabilities of the Teams. The front shows the name and a picture of the unit and its key values of : Motivation, Skill, Is Hit On and Save with verbal description and a numerical value. Then there is a list of its’ 5 movement values. Finally the weapons the unit may have with their: Range, Rate of Fire, Anti Tank capability and Firepower plus any special Notes.

Movement is in inches using your own rulers and dice rolls are normal D6 of which you are given 20 – 10 Red for the Soviets and 10 Grey for the Germans.

The Stalingrad reverse side gives the point costs so you can field balanced forces in a scenario and details any Special Rules that apply to the unit e.g. Heavy Weapon, Stormtroopers etc. These Special Rules can be generic for all nations or specific to a single nation. The rule book gives a synopsis of the fighting styles of the British, US, Soviet and German forces along with their Special Rules.

HQ cards are different in that they give the details of their Formation on the back. This shows all the different Teams, many optional, that go to make up the Formation with the Index Number that links to their Team Card. Stalingrad is set in the Mid-War period thus all these indices start either MS for the Soviets or MG for the Germans. If you get further models to add to your collection if they have cards starting with M they will be compatible with the figures in this set.

Note that while you can construct valid Formations from the models included in this set not all the Teams listed on the HQ cards are provided.

Aftermath & Debriefing

I would definitely recommend this set for anyone who wants to try WWII wargaming on the Eastern Front at the 15mm scale. You get a lot of miniatures for your money and the complete set of Flames of War rules (I’ll explain how these work in a later How To Play). It opens up the wide world of Battlefront models that you can extend into. Not only Mid-War Eastern Front but Early and/or Late War and other theatres.

The only issue that I have with this set is that it doesn’t have anything that gives the flavour of the Battle of Stalingrad! The forces are appropriate but apart from a couple of paragraphs in the synopsis of the whole war in the Rulebook there is nothing to indicate the desperate street fighting of this cataclysmic battle. Even the box art illustrations shows the Units based on grassy fields rather than urban rubble. A paper battle mat of town streets or some cardboard ruined buildings might be nice. You can buy some plastic ruined tenement blocks but they are almost twice the price of this starter set! Alternatively I’m thinking of using some of these models with my copy of the Undaunted : Stalingrad board game.