StuGs and StuHs - StuG Battery

More German armour... The humble StuG or Sturmgeschütz (Assault Gun) was the first boxed set of armour I got for my  fledgling German forces a few years back... The BF boxed set contained 5 vehicles and looking through some of the army lists I was using at the time, I noticed an option to upgrade one StuG to a StuH or Sturmhaubitze (Assault Howitzer), per platoon of StuGs. So I did that, making 4 StuGs and One StuH...


It wasn't until I was introduced to what 'breakthrough guns' can do to infantry, at the hands of Pauls SU122s one game, that I instantly became enamored of these deadly vehicles...

However finding an option to take StuHs in numbers with my desired German forces, was not always straight forward, as they often were not a support choice for the Mechanised German forces I was favouring using...

But they have stayed on my radar, and I have always looked to see where they may fit... Whenever I had used them they were proxied by my StuGs, but I really don't like using proxies... so with many other platoon options sorted, it was time to get some StuHs done, so I ordered a box from PSC...

You just cant beat the price of the PSC kits. Yes they are more time consuming to make than the BF resin/metal kits, and don't have the same heft as the BF ones. But when you can get 5 plastic ones for about the same price 2 Resin/Metal ones, its just a no brainer...

I decided to make 3 StuHs and 2 StuG Gs, with the Saukopf (Pigs head) styled main gun. This gun shape was better at deflecting incoming rounds, and would also help distinguish these newer vehicles from my existing BF StuGs...

More detailed info on the StuG and its variants here, thanks to wikipedia.

PSC 15mm StuGs and StuHs

3 x StuH 42

2 x StuG with Saukopf mantlet

Rear views...

Adding the BF vehicles, I can put out a platoon of 4 StuHs, the BF will be the command vehicle...

StuHs, plus the BF one to right as command vehicle

My BF boxed set was painted long ago and in a slightly differing paint style, but they still seem to match in well enough, though I may give the BF ones another coat of matt varnish to dull them down better to match in... size-wise there is very little difference...

BF StuG to left, and PSC StuGs

And adding in the StuGs, I can field 2 platoons of three StuGs, the Saukopf mantlets identifying the command vehicles

4 x StuH , & 2 x 3 StuGs

So I guess I now have the option to field a StuG Battery, another German force variety...

There's more to this story however... During the making of the PSC kits, I noticed that there was damage to the top hull, in the same places on all the sprues, ... It looked like some kind of damage had occurred as the sprues were taken from the mould? I let Will at PSC know my concerns, and despite still being able to make the kits, with a little greenstuff repair work to each, Will sent me a replacement box free of charge!
Now that's excellent customer service!

So I'll shortly have another 5 vehicles to add - I'll most likely add more StuHs, as I have finally come across a force which combines my 'beloved' half track force, with StuHs - The Fuhrer Begleit forces, currently a pdf armylist from BF website... looking forward to trying it out at some point in the future. I just need to order some Begleit tank riders from BF for the StuHs... watch this space for more...