FOLGORE! Italian Paracadutisti Avanti!

By Chris Jackson

I think the Italians are one of the most fun nationalities to play in Flames of War. The light tanks, the so-called “medium” M14/41s, and all that glorious, glorious infantry. Awesome artillery, good support options and plenty of hulls, and even more bodies to throw at your enemy or just place in their way.

Paracadutisti are the best the Italians have to offer. There is no check on the 8 Million Bayonets table for these guys. They simply take the best ratings available.

The Paracadutisti core formation is incredibly robust. HQ, 2-3 Infantry platoons, one MG, two mortar platoons, and up to three elefantino (47/32 AT Gun) platoons. 9-10 core units, maxing out at 72 points.  Add in some captured 25 pounders and a couple of 88s or Lancias, and you are equipped to deal with all comers.  The paracadutisti have access to all the support options in Avanti, so I won’t spend much time on those.

The Italian Paracadutisti were used historically at El Alamein where the conducted both offensive and defensive operations.  They did well on the offensive but excelled on defense.  Looking at the units and the support they have available I think the FOW Paracadutisti will mirror their historical performance.  Use them to night attack enemy infantry formations and defend against armored formations.  Brilliant, right?  I should have been a general…

When building an infantry force you have to build to accomplish three things: you have to be able to get out of your foxholes and go take an objective.  If you are incapable of accomplishing this, your opponent will simply select defend as a mission posture and set up a meeting engagement where the best you can do is a draw.  The second is defend against light and medium tank swarms.

You need a lot of light guns and some medium to heavy to accomplish this.  The Italians are a little light in this area, going from the elefantinos and their anemic AT6 to the 88s and 90s at AT14.  No middle of the road.  The final task is to deal with Heavy tanks.  Churchills, Tigers, and KVs, and to a lesser extent, Ferdinands.  The Italians can succeed handily at this with the Lancias, 88s and Semovente da 90s.

The Italian Paracadutisti are incredibly well set up to attack another infantry force.  The infantry hits on 3+ in assaults and can buy another card that drops that to 2+, they use all the cards the Avanti Italians do, so can gain the ability to night attack, allowing them in close with minimal losses.  The Paracadutisti platoons can also replace an infantry team with a flamethrower team.  We all know how much fun that can be.

They can also get up to three elefantino platoons, providing up to 24 FP4 shots per turn to root out heavy weapons and thin the herd on the objective.  Also very useful in removing supporting light armor to minimize defensive fire.  The two mortar platoons also do a great job of keeping defensive fire down and clearing bad guys of the OBJ, or providing counterbattery fire to keep the enemy artillery from decimating your troops.

If you have an opponent who likes to run the ever-popular L6/40 swarm, these guys will do a great job of slowing them down.  12 light ATGs will keep them from getting in many successful assaults and give the heavy guns time to whittle them down.  The mortar platoons and MG platoon will keep the infantry at bay as well.  Heavy tanks just get pummeled by the Italian heavy guns.  Mediums will be a problem, as the Italians only have a few heavy guns capable of dealing with them.

Captured 25 pounders are also marginally capable, but not against multiple targets.  There are German options to fill the bill as well.  Now, having completed our review of what our force needs to accomplish, lets set about building it.

The mandatory bits: HQ and two infantry platoons.  2+9+9.  20 points  I wouldn’t get the reduced strength paracadutisti platoon unless I really needed the points.  You want those guys to be able to take some damage and last.

Fleshing out the core formation: Both mortar platoons and at least two elefantino platoons.  5+5+9+9, 28 points

Support Options:  100mm Artillery Battery, something with AT 14, preferably more than one.  12+6 to 28 points.  Perhaps even 48 if you take two full-strength Lancia/88 platoons.

Command Cards : Paolo Caccia Dominioni Command Card, Diversionary Tactics Command card, captured 25 pounder battery Command card.  4+1+0  5 points

Here are some other fun options…

We have accounted for 65 points plus however much heavy AT you feel is appropriate given your local meta.  Depending on how you allocate that, you will have 7-29 points left to flesh out your force.  You know your opponents, pick what will ruin their day.  There are so many nifty choices.  I really like that a Tiger is exactly enough to fill that last choice.

So, can this list handle the tasks we said it needed to handle?  It has two assault capable platoons with heavy fire support in the form of two AT batteries and 3 templates to deal with infantry on the objective.  It has more than four platoons capable of delivering antitank fire against light armor, a minimum of 2 that are capable against medium and heavy armor.  It can attack by night.  I think it will do well.  If you don’t, fight me.