Soft Underbelly: Bolt Action Italian Campaign

By Troy Hill

The long awaited chance for Warlord Games to get a decent set of army special rules for the Italian forces is finally …. not here yet.

Don’t get me wrong. The new Campaign Italy: Soft Underbelly book is great when you hold it in the context for which it is intended. That being a historical approach to gaming the invasion of Sicily during Operation Husky and beyond.

For those Bolt Action gamers hoping for a new set of Italian Army rules that brings the Italian army into the competitive zone most other armies get in the game… yeah, that didn’t happen here either. In context, a competitive Italian Army wasn’t to be had in the invasion of Sicily nor the Italian mainland.

But, if you’re into a historical approach to your gaming, instead of just pounding away with the meta and special rules to dominate in tourneys, this is an excellent book.

There is so much in this book, I’ll only be able to hit the highlights.

Most WWII buffs will know that in the lead up to the Normandy D-Day invasion of Europe, Stalin was pressuring the US and Great Britain to move up the timetable for the invasion of Europe. Stalin and his Russian people were bearing the brunt of the German onslaught. A second front was crucial to Russia’s survival. Opening that front would draw German resources away from the Eastern front, and give the Russians some room to breath.

Churchill’s idea was to open that front in Italy. He is reported to have used the allegory of attacking a crocodile. Do you want to fight with the jaws of the beast, as the US and Russia were urging by invading France where the defenses were numerous? Or, according to Churchill, go after the belly of the beast? Churchill saw a greatly reduced Italy, following the decimation of their forces in North Africa, and hoped to claw his way into Europe through this soft underbelly.

Grudgingly, the US and Russia acquiesced to this idea, provided the main landing in Normandy still remain the primary mission.

And so, Operation Husky was born. US and British, with their commonwealths, would invade Sicilian soil on 10 July, 1943 – almost a full year before Operation Overlord for the invasion of Normandy.

Scenarios:

The book contains 13 historical scenarios. These range from special ops for airborne landings to tank battles. No fan of George C. Scott’s portrayal of Patton would want to skip the early scenarios. Patton’s 7th Army against Monte’s “left hook” is written about in the historical accounts

There aren’t a lot of scenarios that directly relate to the race between the two icons, but astute gamers can retool some of the scenarios, and keep a campaign of the race going. Can the Brit and Commonwealth amass more victories than their American counterparts? Or will the German an Italian defenders keep both sides delayed?

Following the conquest of Sicily, Mussolini’s government falls, and the new Italian government surrendered to the allies on 8 September 1943. German forces under Rommel and Kesselring expected as much, and moved to disarm Italian forces and capture the new government in Italy.

From the beach landings on 9 September, historical players can battle from toe of the Italian Boot up to Ortona in late December of that year.

In addition to the book, Warlord has released three scenarios that were cut from the book you can find them on the

Special Rules:

Let’s tackle the elefant in the war room first. Italian Army Special rules that replace the ones in the main Armies of… book FOR these scenarios only (or as you agree with your opponent.)

Defeat after defeat, followed by defeat: This is a modified form of the Avanti Savoia! rule. It provides a -1 negative to morale if the Italian force is loosing by 3 or more order dice. There is no bonus for winning by 3 or more.

Poor Officers: Italian officers may only add their command value to Ambush, Rally and Fire orders

Forza D’Animo: Select units of artillery, paracadutisti, X Reggimento Arditi may remove D2 pins when they pass an order test.

The Italian force also uses the Defensive Strategy special rule given in the Armies of Italy book.

This set of special rules is fairly well balanced against what the Italian army was at the time covered by this book. They were highly defensive, and had suffered great defeats in North Africa.

For the German Army, there are no new special rules, beyond being able to build multinational forces incorporating smaller platoons using both the main nation and its allied forces. Multinational forces are detailed in the back of the book.

The British section breaks out special rules requirements for specific Commonwealth forces. For example, the Canadian forces use the Tough as Old Boots special rule. The Indian Army gets Blood Curdling Charge, and, New Zealand troops get a slew of special rules, including Steadfast under Fire, Superb Junior Officers, Maori Troops, Formidable Fighters, and may not take Commandos nor SRS sections.

New Units

Generic units include Chaplains, Intelligence Officers, and Naval Observers. Other, army specific units are either recycled from other books, or new plays on existing units.

Italian Army gains units such as Divisione Costeria Section (inexp infantry), Motociclisti Infantry (Motorbike, with options for tank grenades), Engineer Demolishers (Regular or Veteran), X Reggimento Arditi (Similar role to British Commandos – Veterans), Sahariana SPA-Viberti AS42 (Veteran Armoured Car), and the Carabinieri (Military Police can use motorbikes).

For the German Army, several new units are added. Two of the ones I’m most intrigued by include the Panzergrenadier Squad (Italy Late 1943). These blokes come equipped with the panzerfaust 30, which operates as a normal panzerfaust, but with a range of 6 inches.

The Festung Squad is also of interest. Either inexperience or regular, these dregs of the force have the Shirkers rule, and may take tank grenades. Base cost for one NCO and 4 men is 35 for Inexp, and 50 for Regular.

Germans also pick up the 88mm Racketenwerfer 43 Puppchen. Werfing puppchen never sounded so fun. Add in the STUG M41 and M42 (Med Tank 9+, forward facing med AT Gun hull mounted) with option for a pintle-mounted MMG.

And the repackaged Ansaldo 105/25 with the German designation STUG M43(1) that sports a forward facing hull-mounted Super Heavy AT gun in a Med Tank.

Of course, there are Fallschirmjager units, HG Division units.

British forces get a wide array of new units. One that intrigues me is Popski’s Private Army. Founded by Russian Vladimir Peniakoff.

American forces see a number of new units, including The Devil’s Brigade, Darby’s Rangers, and the 82nd Airborne.

There are also a parade of who’s who on the Special Heroes list, including Darby and Patton, Jock Campbell, Heinz Meyer, and Enrico Francisci, among many others.

The only other downside to this book is that it is only the first half (at most) of the Italian campaign. Another book is in the works to cover the battle after December 1943.

I’ll be using this tome to find and build units to enhance my Western Front Germans, as well as give the Commonwealth forces from New Zealand a good look.

The book is a definite buy on my list as a historical oriented player.

Troy is a long-time RPG and Miniature Gamer. His preferred era of historical gaming is WWII and before. You can often find him at game-days or conventions running demo games or historical based competitive events. If encountered in the wild, the best means of escape is to offer coffee (dark roast) and cookies. Run while he is distracted.