StuG III

StuG III

RRP: £25.00
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RRP £25.00
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The StuG III had good frontal armour, its low profile making it ideal for performing ambushes, presenting a poor target for return fire. It is armed with an efficient and powerful 75mm gun and carries an MG42 for close defence. The StuG III had good frontal armour, its low profile making it ideal for performing ambushes, presenting a poor target for return fire. It is armed with an …
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Category Tags , , , SKU ZWAG-402012007 Availability 3+ in stock
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Description

The StuG III had good frontal armour, its low profile making it ideal for performing ambushes, presenting a poor target for return fire. It is armed with an efficient and powerful 75mm gun and carries an MG42 for close defence. The StuG III had good frontal armour, its low profile making it ideal for performing ambushes, presenting a poor target for return fire. It is armed with an efficient and powerful 75mm gun and carries an MG42 for close defence. The StuGs were welcomed by their infantry comrades, supporting their attacks with HE shells or knocking out enemy tanks to the extent that by the end of hostilities, they had amassed more kills than any other German vehicle. This highly detailed plastic kit can be built as either the StuG III Ausf G assault gun or as the 10.5cm Sturmhaubitze infantry support gun.

Well looky here – Warlord games have a hard plastic kit for the Stug III ausf G! Join me as I build, paint, and deploy this terrifying trapezoid of war in Bolt Action 3rd Edition.

Quick distillation of a lengthy Wikipedia article.

For those who care, the Stug, AKA Sturmgeschütz, was a class of tank once referred to as Assault Guns. Basically huge guns on tracks that were very good at blowing up fortification and people. They also happened to be very good at blowing up armoured vehicles, unarmoured vehicles, civilian vehicles, bicycles, low flying hot air balloons, and pretty much anything they like really. The Germans designed the Stug out of a desire to get their artillery horrifyingly close to support their infantry on the front lines by dispensing hellfire and tinnitus. Produced from 1940-45, the Stug saw action on all German fronts which means it’s perfect for my Deutsches Afrikakorps force.

From box to base

Tearing open the cellophane like a new flavour of MRE ration it’s time to start assembling the Stug III. The box itself contains two fairly sparse sprues which is a good omen for a quick assembly. Also included is one double sided instruction leaflet which looks pretty simple to follow, and a decent sized decal sheet with plenty of options. Lastly, as is tradition, the box contains a couple of damage markers, a stat card, and a little business card for the person who packed the box. As is tradition, I bin these immediately.

When building any model it is absolutely critical you read through the entire instructions before beginning assembly. I have never, ever done that but having now built the model I can point out that the sprue allows for a couple options. Firstly, the kit can be built as either the Stug III Ausf G or the 0.5cm Sturmhaubitze infantry support gun – AKA the StuH-42. This only affects a couple of steps with the most noticeable visual difference being the different main gun. On the table top the former runs a heavy anti-tank gun while the latter boasts a medium howitzer. I opted for Ausf G as that’s the model that made it to North Africa. The kit also comes with the option for Schürzen. In game these offer a little extra protection against shaped charges, Anti-tank rifles, and also make it look a bit fancy. Hopefully I am done using complicated German names for things now.

The kit goes together fairly smoothly. Some of the tracks needed some light finessing to line up nicely, and there were some very small gaps putting the hull together. Also, I did lose one of the very small bits but that’s my fault for having turnip fingers and a grey carpet. I will point out that I am nearly always impressed with Warlord’s lack of mould lines or flashing on their kits. Very few pieces needed any tidying up and that makes for a happy Hasvik.

Pain free paint scheme

So I have covered this method a few times now so I can keep this brief. We are going for my usual Deutsches Afrikakorps scheme. That means a blast of Vallejo Dunkelgelb primer to start us off. Next we’re off to decal city after a quick internet search for reference photos to get close enough to “historically accurate” that I don’t annoy my tank friends. On to my favourite now as I sponge on little specks of metal and brown colours focusing on the edges and lower elements to give that chipped and splattered effect before tying it all together with a heavy sepia wash. Lastly it’s back to the airbrush to spritz on a little Ruddy Fur Speedpaint around the lower edges of the tank to get that Stug looking like a real grubby boi.

Basing wise we go for AK Desert effect glooped all over and then Salt Bae some actual sand mix over the top for a bit of texture and colour variety. Let her dry, drench her in matt varnish, slap some magnets under the base and …fin.

Trundling to the front line

First thing you are likely to notice about the Stug III is the fact it has no turret. It’s the tank equivalent of pushing your head into your shoulders to make your neck disappear and your head look like a thumb. This is great because you are much more likely to get the 50% cover rule off of common scatter terrain like walls and fences.This makes the Stug the prime vehicle to squat behind a stone wall or collapsed building and yeet death and destruction up the board and/or create a nope zone for your opponent’s vehicles.

If you are lucky your opponent will either ignore or try to avoid your Stug letting you plink away at any offered targets in relative safety. If you end up trading shells with another far off big bada boomstick then the Stug does have 10 armour on the front so is hardly a paper bag, and quite survivable with the aforementioned cover save. That said, look out for aggressive players looking to get armoured cars or anti tank teams in field cars into your sides. We do like a bazooka team in a jeep at my table and the Stug is a tempting target for such shenanigans. While the Stug does come with a forward facing MMG, that’s 4 dice at 36 inches range, I prefer to keep a support unit nearby for a little extra back up if my opponent tries to turn my biggest gun into my biggest points loss.

Lastly, the value of schürzen will vary depending on who you are facing, and in which era. 10 points doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s halfway to a light mortar team and they are a lot of fun…. I skip these but I play my tanks quite defensively so if my opponent gets a nasty weapons team close enough to use it then something has already gone wrong – usually my dice rolls. That said, if you are going full blitzkrieg and ramming your tanks up the board then maybe you need some side armour.

Tada! That’s another tank down for Bolt Action 3rd edition. Join me next week when I will be building, painting, and reviewing the combat effectiveness of a septic tank.