Product Review: Battlefront's Stoss Platoon

By Mitch Reed

One of the Great War platoons I was eager to have in my collection was the German Stoss Platoon.  The actual name of these forces was Stosstruppen which means "Storm Trooper" and represent Germany's late war answer to break the deadlock on the Western Front in 1918. These troops used infiltration tactics when attacking and bypassed forward enemy strong points in order to penetrate deep into the rear areas and attack artillery positions, supply points and headquarters.  The a major attack Stoss units were followed up by regular troops which had the duty to reduce the bypassed pockets of resistance.  Stosstruppen were usually formed into battalions that were assigned to infantry divisions and were in the first wave across from key enemy positions.  Along with the use of tanks, the Stosstruppen represent how the Great War ushered in a new type of warfare in the 20th Century.



The Stoss Platoon is available as a support platoon on the German Infantry Company list for 305 points for a full unit.  You can upgrade the command pistol team to a SMG team for 5 points and add a flamethower stand for an additional 45 points.  The Stoss Platoon are also the only unit rated as Fearless Veteran in the Great War game so far.  A full Stoss Platoon is composed of one command and six pistol  "Sturm"teams, with two MG teams.  The platoon has some great benefits, SMG and pistol teams hit on 2+ in assault combat, Tank Assault 3 rating,  and they do use the Mission Tactics special rule.  One possible drawback (besides the cost) is that if your force has the Stoss Platoon it becomes an Always Attacks list, however if you are the attacker your Stoss Platoon and all infantry platoons may make a Spearhead Deployment move at the beginning of the game.  The special rules really capture how these were used and what they were capable of very well.

I have to hand it to Battlefront, these sculpts were excellent!  With no more than 3 figures per sculpt and very little duplication with the figures that come in the Infantry Platoon blister.  These guys really capture the Stoss, lots of figures tossing grenades, and MP-18s and P-08s with drum magazines and shoulder stocks. 

I started these guys out with a basic black primer.

I really wanted to try out the camo helmets since I saw it on Battlefront's website.  The process was easy and the instructions were a great aid.

I wanted to do something cool for the flamethrower team.

So I took a lace from an old combat boot had and glued it onto the end of the flame pipe.  

Let the glue settle into the strands of lace, then paint it.  I used red, yellow and black. 

I dig the 'stache! 

Some of the fibers will come lose over time, but the flames will still look cool

The flame canister was 4' tall, so that guy on the right must have been huge! 

All done! Painted and dabbed with some Magic Mud that Russ from CGR Painters gave me at Historicon.  I liked how these guys turned out.  

Now for the basing.  For those of you who caught my AAR, here are the pictures on how I base my figures.  

 Shell holes!

 For the MG teams which are prone, I make a tilted berm to represent a lip of a large crater.

I use the tip of this old brush to stipple the putty and the other end to create the shellholes

 Then I added the ceramic stucco

I used a dark brown to use for a base color and then dry brushed it with some dark sand

I think that if I have the points I will be taking the Stoss Platoon in my future lists. The benefits outweigh the cons of always having to attack because with many folks tanking tanks it wont be an issue.  The problem is keeping them alive in order to make an attack.  With a short range (4") they are going to have to take the attack to enemy via assault.  I am sure the Stoss will attract  a lot of fire as they maneuver into position, so you must use cover to get them across the battlefield safely.

If the unique Stoss sculpts are not your thing you can always get an extra infantry platoon to proxy for them, however if you have a Stoss platoon painted you can also use them for an extra infantry platoon if the need arises. So this blister is a worthwhile pick up if you plan to play Germans in Great War.

Last week was a tale of two blisters; I got my Early War German infantry platoon (from the sale) on one day which I was not thrilled with.  However the next day the Stoss arrived and blew me away!  I would highly recommend picking up the Stoss Platoon for even the most casual of Great War player.

Up next; British Trench Mortars and the German Regimental Support Platoon.