In Konflikt ’47 where the US has the Fireflies, the Axis have the Stahltruppen. The big brother of the Wehrmacht Heavy Infantry from K47 First Edition, these elite Specialist Infantry pack more firepower and armor than any other Axis troops. Even more impressively, we have them in crisp hard plastic. Let’s take a look at these behemoths.
The Sprue
Although the first successful field trials of the Panzerharnisch armor took place in June 1944, their first combat deployment was not until December 1946 in Poland against advancing Soviet forces. Following this initial success, and the total destruction of the Soviet force, additional suits of Panzerharnisch were rushed into production with the highest priority. Now, in 1947, the Stahltruppen are used to lead concentrated direct assaults or hold critical defensive positions.
You can bring this powerful Axis unit to the K47 battlefield with a host of destructive weaponry. The box contains three identical sprues to build your nine Stahltruppen. Each of the three sprues contains:
- 9 heads:
- 2 bare heads
- 7 masked and helmeted heads
- 5 sets of legs
- 3 torsos
- Weapons with arms/hands attached:
- 3 StG 44Z Assault Rifles
- 3 MG42 LMGs
- 1 Light Anti-tank Gun
- 1 dagger
- Weapons with no arms/hands attached:
- 3 shoulder-mounted Panzerfausts
- 1 shoulder-mounted Grenade Launcher
- 3 daggers
- 1 StG 44Z Assault Rifle
- Pointing arm/hand, reloading arm/hand, empty arm/hand
- Various additional ammo, rockets, etc.
- 3 32mm bases
As with the Fireflies, the quality of the Stahltruppen kit is impressive. If the 32mm bases were not indication enough, these are some big models. With the exception of the Ghar from the long-forgotten Gates of Antares, these Stahltruppen might be the largest plastic infantry models Warlord has ever produced.
The Build
Just like the US Firefly kit, there are more legs than bodies. There are five different leg poses for the three torsos on each sprue – one standing and four marching. This first part of the build was simple enough, just needed to trim the mold lines running down each leg. Luckily the mold line mostly tracks the angle of the armor plates making cleanup a breeze. The only spot of trickiness was around the powerpack on the lower back. Above are all five leg options on 32mm bases. That’s right, these lads go on 32mm circle bases – they big. (I use “GW-style” lipped bases for my Bolt Action minis. The sprue has three 32mm bases attached). Having the additional legs on the sprue is great for variety and considering all the weapon options packed onto each sprue, we are getting these extra leg options without any trade-off.
I added the three torsos onto three of the legs. The toros are in two pieces, a front and a back, and all three appear to be identical. I also attached the additional armor plate located on the front of the torso. For the weapons I went with a double-barreled StG 44Z Assault Rifle (the standard armament), a MG42, and a Light AT Gun. Unlike Basic Infantry, these Specialist Infantry hold their weapons in one hand so each arm is completely separate from the others (with the exception of the Light AT Gun, which is held in both hands). Because of this, adding on the arms was much, much easier than the Fireflies. There was no need to “match up” two sperate arms with the different toros. You can just pick the ones you like and slap ’em on. It was oddly freeing. I also tossed a shoulder-mounted Panzerfaust onto the LMG-armed Stahltruppen.
Next up, add the heads. You’ve got nine different ones to pick from. I went with three helmeted heads using one with the little antenna on it for the Leader and one with a targeting lens/rangefinder for the Light AT Gunner. The heads were easy to place with plenty of room to “sink” into the armor. My only gripe is the very limited space to turn the head left or right because of the mask and the shoulder armor.
As a finishing touch I added the daggers onto each of them. I like having that little bit of extra gear but the idea of one of these hulking brutes reaching for a dagger instead of just punching with their Rift-enhanced fists is pretty comical. The kits includes some additional ammo and rockets but I left those off.
And there we have it! Three Stahltruppen ready to vormarsch their way into battle! I wonder if the minimum unit size will be three models. Your typical Bolt Action unit was five or six minimum and that’s how many are on a single sprue, either five or six models. The Stahltruppen box comes with nine so maybe three squads of three? Or a big squad of six and one of three? And what about possible Platoon or Company Commanders? If those are included in K47, will they have the option to take powered armor? I certainly hope so! Until the rules are released, we will just have to wait and see.
Scale and Compatibility
As always we need to do a scale comparison. As previously stated, the Stahltruppen are proper large. They come with 32mm bases for a reason. Here we have a Wargames Atlantic BEF / Stahltruppen / Warlord Games US Infantry / Stahltruppen / Warlord Games Firefly / Stahltruppen / Warlord Games Late-War British. So yeah … large and very much in charge. This is what I want to see. I want K47 to include a wide range of model sizes and distinct types. The Stahltruppen are Heavy Infantry and they should tower over Basic Infantry. Those Rift-tech powered suits have Armor 7+ and I believe it.
Compatibility is tricky. These are Specialist Heavy Infantry wearing suits of Panzerharnisch powered armor so any arm or leg swaps are out of the question. That being said, the weapons themselves are almost exactly the same size as their WWII versions. The MG42s, Panzerfausts, and Light AT all could be swapped for Bolt Action versions and vise versa. The Stahltruppen kit is actually great for additional Panzerfausts. The scale on the heads also works for swaps with a Bolt Action kit. You could easily use a head from a German Infantry kit if you wanted additional mask-less options or an “early-war” look.
The Takeaway
A mix between Jin-Roh, Helghast, and Wolfenstein, the Stahltruppen are the latest in the long history of WWII-inspired powered armor. From the glowing eye lenses under the stahlhelm, to the angular armor plating, and the underslung MG42, we’ve seen these designs before. But never rendered like this for the tabletop. The designers at Warlord captured all the menace associated with this archetype and brought it into the K47 universe.
We’ve come a long way since the release of Konflikt ’47 First Edition. Back then, this type of specialist unit would have been metal, resin or a mix of both. But no longer! The heaviest infantry in the game can be yours in glorious injection-molded plastic.
I’ve been building Bolt Action models for a long time and I love it. But, at the end of the day, the models I’m building are typically something that I’ve seen before. The silhouette of a World War II solider is something that I am very familiar with. So what a joy it has been putting together these newly imagined Konflikt ’47 units. Both the Vogelspinne and the Stahltruppen have a “presence” to them. It’s difficult to articulate and photos certainly do not convey the feeling properly. So not only was this a fun build, it provides serious hype for what comes next (I’m hoping it’s Soviet Bloc).
Thank you to Warlord Games for providing the Stahltruppen Heavy Infantry featured in this article. The Stahltruppen are up for pre-order now along with the new Konflict ’47 Starter Set for a late-September release.
More Konflict ’47 coverage:
Chicago Dice 