Italians in Mid War: AVANTI Reviewed and Spoiled

by Matt Varnish

AVANTI rounds out the North African theatre with Italian forces. What does Battlefront have in store for the 4th Mid-War book? Let’s dive straight in and find out!

Army-Wide Special Rules
8 Million Bayonets: Italian unit cards have two columns for Skill and Motivation ratings. After deployment (or entry from Reserves) you roll the 8 Million Bayonets die, and you get to use the Elite column if you roll the symbol (or 5+ on a regular D6)
This is a greatly simplified way to simulate the random quality of troops and leadership. What I find nice is that my units are regular and can only improve, not get a bad rating like in previous editions. I hope my Artillery units get it, so they can Range In on 3+!

Avanti: All Italian units have an improved Follow Me rating, 2+ for M14/41s and 3+ for almost all other units.. but if you get Elite per the 8 Million Bayonets, it is 2+! Very useful for getting your infantry forward quickly (12 inch Dash, 4-inch Follow Me) and then Assaulting (Tactical then Follow Me) on Turn 2 in most cases, before your opponent can get crucial reserves.
Determined: Better Rally/Remount rating.
Focused: Tank commanders who also have to be the Gunner have a worse Tactics rating for Movement Orders. Elite on the 8 Million bayonets dice mitigates this.
Protected Ammo: Improved Remount rating. Stacks with Determined, so M14/41s Remount on a 2+ even if you do not roll Elite!
HEAT rounds: Armour rating on enemy teams not increased due to incoming fire from 16 inches or more. This makes long-range shots at Anti-Tank 6 just as effective as a short-range Anti-Tank 7 hit (IE, 2lbr or 5cm short)
Careful: Not really a special rule, but it is worth noting up-front that EVERYTHING is hit on a 4+. It’s like being Germans!
Missing: Unknown Hero. No longer a chance for a unit leader to get improved stats. Fucilieri, Black Shirts, Motociclisti and Paraducisti also all missing, possibly chilling in a Cafe in Tripoli, sipping an Espresso! Word has it that some of these will be in a Card. I liked Unknown Hero the best.. if you HAVE to lose a unit leader, it was cool to have come back and Rambo his way to glory!

Formations & Force Support
Avanti has 3 formations we can use: Tank Company (131st Centauro Armoured Division), Weapons Company (8th Bersaglieri Regiment), Infantry Company (5th Bersaglieri Regiment)
The tank company can take either M14/41 tank units or Semovente Self-Propelled Guns, the infantry company is the old standard Rifles with 47mm ‘Elefantino’ gun, 81mm Mortar, and HMG support, while the Weapons Company is the ‘Few men, Many Weapons’ doctrine of units with integral Solothurn AT Rifle, HMG, and 47mm Elefantino gun, with assault mortars and more ‘Elefantino’ gun units as formation support. Further details on these below. Force Support: up to 2 units of 100mm artillery, up to 2 units of Recce, (L6/40 light tanks or AB-41 armoured cars), 2 anti-tank gun units (90mm truck-mounted guns or 88’s with Italian crews), light AA gun-trucks, and the Falco’s, otherwise known as the biplane of justice! We also get the Guastatori Pioneers armed with flamethrowers who assault on a 3+ and clear minefields on a 2+.

Rounding out the support are Allied DAK units/formations, and very nice touch by Battlefront, the stats, and points for the Grenadiers and Panzers are at the back of the book!

Tank Company HQ

Tank Formation: you can field up 16 M14/41s per formation (HQ, three platoons of 5) or 18 Semoventes (three platoons of 6)! The M14/41 is very thinly armoured (3-2-1) but has 6 MG shots on the move and the 47mm gun turret (Anti-Tank 6, 4+FP) is great for killing anything except Tanks. Remounts on a 2+.

M14/41 Tank Platoon

If we compare the M14/41 to other forces’ Light Tanks, they are an excellent choice in terms of price and Rating, except the main gun is only Anti Tank 6. Depending on your Force choices, one unit of these guys as your mobile Reserve will do wonders if you can flank your enemy who has come too close in Missions with delayed reserves such as Dust-Up. A great unit to assault with as well, with all those MG shots to pin folks down.
The Semovente on the other hand, has direct-fire Anti-Tank 8, 3+ FP but has only a 20-inch range. Semoventes are better suited for hitting tanks in the front, has HEAT rounds, front armour 4. You almost WANT to be at long range for self-protection, as the extra pip of armour for being at long range and the excellent Remount means you will survive a lot longer at range, while the enemy armor values stay the same thanks to HEAT rounds. As a self-propelled gun, the Semovente can also fire Bombardments (no smoke rounds though) It’s pricey, but you can take a platoon of 6 Semoventes for the good old-fashioned 6-gun battery surprise! As you can see, the Tank Formation has no integral support options, luckily we have a Weapons Formation for that.

Bersaglieri Weapons Formation
HQ, Weapons platoon, and 47mm Elefantino guns are compulsory choices. 1pt for 2 HQ models, whose main job, honestly, is to Spot for your Mortars, Semoventes and 100mm guns.

The Weapons platoon has a Breda HMG, a Solothurn Anti-Tank Rifle, and 2 Breda Rifle/MG teams, with options of adding in one more Rifle/MG team and one integral 47mm ‘Elefantino’ gun.
Worth noting these are all classed as Infantry teams, not gun teams, therefore you can use Movement Orders, enter buildings, auto-pass Cross checks. The Solothurn is in between the Boys AT Rifle and the pzb-41 2.8cm gun in Afrika Korps. You can take up to 3 of these platoons.

47mm gun, nicknamed ‘Elefantino’ as a platoon is the other compulsory choice. Anti-Tank 6, ROF 2 Halted, 1 on the move, Firepower 4+, 24-inch range. The sheer quantity of these you can take, and their mobility (can Blitz!), make these a virtual must-have in an Italian force. Because they are not gun teams, they have a 360-degree field of view, can fire from anywhere on the base (not the gun mount) and other teams can fire over them in Defensive Fire because they are a stationary Infantry team. One drawback is that as an infantry platoon, they test for Good Spirits when less than 3 teams. This means if you have the points, take the full 4-team unit.
A staple formation I will take will be an HQ, 1 Weapons platoon and a full 47mm ‘Elefantino’ which clocks in at 14 points. Once I paint them, I will likely take another 4 ‘Elefantino’s to 22pts to lock down my own Objectives, or take the center terrain and cause havoc on my opponents’ advance!

Bersaglieri Rifle Formation
This is your meat and potatoes infantry, sporting cheap HQ, numerous Rifle/MG teams in each platoon (5 or 9 strong) and has loads of formation support. We’ve already mentioned the 47mm guns, so let’s look at the other support options:

Breda HMG platoon. 3 pts for three HMGs with excellent stats, is good value. If you have the points, deploy in a building or on a hill crest near your objective vs any infantry deployed in front of you.
Brixia Assault Mortars. 5 points for 3 teams with range 16, fewer shots than the HMGs (EDIT, per point, not per model), only 5+ firepower, have Overhead Fire and can Direct-Fire smoke. I honestly think these do not have a place in the current Mid-War scene (maybe the appearance of Russian Strelkovy will change that) but at 5 points, these are just too expensive for what they do. I do not have any of these in my figure case and that will not change anytime soon.

81mm Mortars. Two teams for 3 pts or three teams for 5 pts, while I love the 48-inch range, again 5 points is steep for three tubes. Now if you get lucky and roll the higher skill on the 8 Million Bayonet dice, these guys are ranging in on a 3+. Still, if you do not take the 100mm artillery, this is your only Smoke Bombardment option, and with a LOT of Gun Teams in lists in the current Mid-War scene, something to pin and Repeat Bombardments on Guns is vital. When I played some test games, the 2-Gun Re-Roll successful hits absolutely killed me. In Version 4 though, you can take JUST this platoon from this formation as Support. Good platoon, I feel the three tubes ‘feel’ better at 4pts, not 5. I mean, 5 points can buy you FIVE L6/40 light tanks!!

Overall, I like the quantity of guys you can get in the Bersaglieri Rifles, and LOVE the mobility (Follow-Me on 3+, 2+ if Elite on 8MB dice!) I will eventually paint up my 3rd Rifle platoon but will skip the Brixia’s.

Force Support
So far, there has been a severe lack of high-strength Anti-Tank in this article. Don’t worry, the Italians can take 2 units of Anti-Tank Guns, in either 90mm Truck-mount or FlaK-88 ground mount. Each unit can take 4 guns. Yes, all you guys with eight ’88s, rejoice!
Both are the same stats for the weapon: 40-inch range, Anti-Tank 14, Firepower 3+, AA gun. They are also both 6 pts per gun. The 90mm Lancia truck mount is a Unarmoured Tank Team (Can be pinned) with a 4+ all around save, and a Gun-Shield, and can Blitz, but is VERY vulnerable to Artillery fire. However, the ’88 can be Dug-in (mitigating the Artillery threat) and has a 360-degree field of View. With the heavier tanks now or soon-to-be-released (Churchills, Shermans, T-34 / KVs) some form of High-AT guns will be essential. Must have, how many is the key question! Special note, I can’t seem to find evidence the Italians had ’88s, other than old Cannone da 88/56 (old FlaK-18 AA guns). They DID have dismounted 90mm guns though. Perhaps Battlefront is making use of the plastic 88 kit?

100mm Howitzer

Artillery: Can take up to two units of 100mm guns and one Observer AB-41 Armoured Car.
100mm gun. As you can see, the stats and points of this weapon land it firmly between the 25lbr and the 105. Again, if you roll Elite on the 8MB dice, you range in on a 3+. Range and Direct Fire stats are on par with the American 105, while the British 25lbr has more shots and range over open sights. Assuming you took a Weapon or Rifle formation, you have a cheap HQ team that can Spot. Otherwise, grab the AB-41, but there is no benefit in Ranging In, the stats are identical to the Formation HQs.

L6/40 Light Tank

Reconnaissance: We have two options here, the Auto-blindo 41 Armoured Car, with a lousy 8 inch tactical, 20mm main gun and 4 MG shots, or the L6/40 light tank, which has better Tactical, Cross and frontal armour of 3 (SAME as the M14/41!), same Turret as the AB-41. Both have Spearhead and Scout, and while I have 4 of the AB-41 and think they look awesome, the L6/40s do more. 1 point each for a Spearhead unit that has some uses afterward? ‘Si Grazie!’

Assault Engineers: The ‘Guastatori’ are the first Mid-War unit to have Flame Throwers. 4-inch range, 2 shots, Infantry and Gun Teams (presumably Unarmoured Tank Teams too?) re-roll saves and are pinned down, but FT teams cannot assault, however, are no longer 1-shot weapons. The unit also has some Brixia Assault mortars and a bunch of Pioneers who clear minefields on a 2+. Sadly, their ‘Deadly’ assault rating of 3+ in combat is NOT improved to 2+ if you roll Elite on the 8MB dice! A very pricey unit, unless you were in a campaign game against a fortified Defence, I could spend those points on a small formation of actual tanks!

Air and AA: Apart from the previously mentioned high caliber guns, we can also take the M35 20mm Autocannon mounted on the Dovunque trucks. In Version 3, 2 of these were 65 points and could be dismounted, and with the old Reserves rule, was an excellent, cheap platoon choice. Now, 3 pts for 2 trucks or 6 pts for 4, does the Italian army REALLY need another middling Anti-Tank gun that can move? The Recon options are better for fewer points. Do we really need any AA if the big AT-Guns are a must-have and also have AA capabilities? Not sure. If they were cheaper, maybe, but a single bailed result on 2 trucks means you are testing right away. If they could still dismount and Dig In, maybe worth it. Its a shame, because I think these are the neatest little trucks! The CR-42 Falco is a decent hit-anywhere bomb platform for 5pts for 2 planes, but the MG’s are really tame. 7pts for the Brit Hurricanes seems a better bargain as each new aircraft comes out! Same points as the three-tube Mortars. Good Value for a template if you don’t have any.

German Support: While the M14/41 formation is probably an EXCELLENT light tank support option for the Germans, the German tanks are way better than anything in the Italian arsenal, boasting higher Frontal Armour and Anti-Tank weaponry. The end of the Avanti book has the points, rules, and stats for the german units you can field as Support. Personally, I think this is an excellent touch by Battlefront. Naturally, Allies are Support and do not count for Force morale, and they use their own special rules. Personally, I own four of the old Mid-War Monster P-40 tanks that I had initially painted for my Late War Germans in Italy, but I am repainting them now to be used Counts-As Pzr IVs.

General Thoughts: I think that apart from a few units without a good battlefield role (Brixia Assault Mortars) or are too expensive (Assault Engineers) this book has a great array of units, that certainly benefit from a combined arms approach. The M14/41 is I think, the best light tank in the game for its points value and what it does. Similarly, the 47mm ‘Elefantino’ is hands-down the best man-packed gun. But both need some help to make them work. The Italians can be very Defensive (all guns and infantry) or flat-out bum rush with waves of Light Tanks and very fast infantry. I think under the right build, this army will do well, especially against other light tank armies (M3 Stuarts, Crusaders)

More importantly, the introduction of the Italians introduces a meta-change to Mid-War.   At a club night or even tournament, now you have to think to yourself “Do I have enough MG shots if he takes full Bersaglieri and bum-rushes me?   Do I have enough Anti-Tank shots if he decides to bend the table with 2 dozen M14/41s”    Time will tell what other nation fares the best against them.  I think the US Armoured Rifles have enough weaponry, but I guess we will have to see a few more Battle Reports!

Matt Varnish, AKA Dennis Campbell, plays Team Yankee, Flames of War, and Black Powder in the frozen wastes of Canadia.   Check out my youtube channel for hundreds of :