Italian

By Kreighton Long

The Italian Army, or Regio Esercito, was the first military in the world to mass-produce camouflage equipment for their soldiers. The M1929 telo mimetico was utilized by Italian soldiers and paratroopers as well as by Italy’s German ally during the course of World War Two.

For my Italian paratrooper army project I knew I needed to commit hard to the camouflage pattern and after a few trial runs incorporating feedback I reached a scheme that was close to accurate while still being doable.

By Kreighton Long

When it came time to purchase my Italians I decided to go with Warlord Games. Their plastics have been excellent over the last several years and I figured why not give these a go. I can honestly say I wasn’t disappointed. The kits are easy to assemble with enough variety to have minimal duplications in your platoon. The sculpts are clean with good lines and deep contours that make highlighting that much easier when painting. I picked up one box of plastic infantry and the support teams box to get the meatball rolling. When I get to it I’ll add some vehicles and heavier support to really flush out my Italians into a force ready to take to the table. But first, we need to put paint to plastic.

After one year of intense gaming on with my British BAOR army (of which and ), I decided to try the WW2 side of Battlefront rules. has lots in common with Team Yankee, so I basically had the same ruleset with much more variety in army lists.

I chose the British Mid-War army in the desert: partially because I already had some V1 pieces, but also since I planned to paint the US Army (the other army I’d like to paint) in the Late period for an internal campaign we’re going to have at our local club in early 2019. So I fast-painted the missing pieces and formed a list of Desert Rats. The first tournament at a stone’s throw was Hobby Model Expo on 30th September. Hobby Model is one of the most important shows in northern Italy: everything related to modelling hobbies is there, from miniatures to plastic models, from painting to lots of soldiers of any scale.

By Benny Christiansen

The Italian book introduced a new kind of formation for me. The Bergsalieri Weapons Company was a formation, that I found very interesting.

At first glance, I could not see myself fielding a whole formation, but having read a few pages, the potentially fun and efficient lists became apparent to me. I’m not the best of the best, but I win more games than I lose, and so these suggestions would be for players who are mediocre or similar

In general, I am a big fan of Italian infantry formations. I find it easy to keep them alive. They are hit on 4+ and capable of a 30 cm cross-country dash. Combined with the Follow Me, they are up and in the face of an enemy, within a turn. In missions where there is more than 40 cm between the lines, I recommend using the L6/40 or AB41 platoons to make sure the distance is only 40 cm.

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author

Here we have the 2nd game using the Italians out of AVANTI, this time versus the British ‘Desert Rats,’ Encounter, 71 points. Nothing like playing Desert armies when it is -40 something degrees outside! Chris Caron once again obliged me in being my opponent and hosting, this time playing the British, and he opted for a Combined Arms approach, as he usually does, with an Infantry formation, an Armoured formation, and some Artillery support.

Brit 25 pdrs, 2 on the hill, 2 off for maximum visibility, he had no OP

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author (apart from the propaganda poster, and images by BattleFront from Avanti)

NOTE:  Preview of AVANTI & Video Battle Report is at the end of this article.

I was keen to try out the new Italians out of the AVANTI book, and my good friend Chris Caron obliged by hosting an impromptu game on a weeknight! We agreed on the 2018 Mid-War 71pts, as we are going to be attending Canadian Nationals in September 2018. We rolled Free-for-All, both of us were using forces with 1 Infantry, 1 Tank formation in each, so I rolled highest and was the Attacker. While Chris’ list is from the Afrika Korps book, he has awesome Eastern front paint jobs:

8-Rads Spearhead to allow his AA halftracks good shots at my infantry. This would force me to use the town for my advance

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!

In our second podcast we review and spoil the new Flames of War book Avanti which brings the Italians into the Mid-War fold.