Second World War Italians

So it seems I am fully distracted by the second world war (and pulp adventuring) again. 

After finishing the Rat Patrol, I decided to paint up these Italians. It seemed a small enough force that I could reasonably get them done quickly and then I'd have some opponents for the Rat Patrol (and/or the SAS/LRDG, should I finish up THOSE jeeps and trucks!?). Maybe figure out a way to play some raid missions using the FiveCore rules...? Or maybe something else...? 

I have a few tanks to finish up for these as well... but I need to pick up a bottle of paint for that so they're just waiting... 

Oh, and in the meantime, I ordered MORE Italians... 

The Italians

One of the above was simply re-based, I'd painted it years ago as a sample and then wasn't sure if I liked the colour and got stuck on whether to proceed with those colours or try something else... and here I am, YEARS later, and I just decided, yeah, fuck it, lets go with those colours (it's the specific Vallejo colours suggested in the Flames of War Avanti Savoia book!) I've seen illustrations that have shown Italians in everything from bright yellow to something closer to a very light tan... I have no idea for sure, so I'm going with this. 

Stuff to still paint/rebase 

Stuff that literally just arrived today... it's... a long story... (mostly explained in the previous post!) 

I was starting to look at how this might be organized for Bolt Action (as I've resigned myself that they'll probably be used for that at some point). I have ALL THE BOOKS from first edition (well... MOST of them..) and a LOT of the books from second edition, so that was easy enough... but then I went searching for information about how stuff is organized for third edition, as I suspected it was quite different (considering they are producing all new army books for the new edition). 

I did find a very handy article on the Warlord Games Community website - Bolt Action: Third Edition – Army Composition! Additionally I was able to download the army lists for Italy and France (as they're presumably not in the main book?). I have to say, I'm not loving it... 

While piecing things together, I will probably be able to bullshit something together for the Italians here... Things will get more tricky for the French (unless I buy a bunch more officers)... 

This is what an Italian force in Bolt Action 3rd Edition could look like:

What this would all look like: 

(note in the picture above I have a Company Commander with a batman/runner and a Platoon Commander with a Batman/Runner, I realized that without the company commander I could have a force of EXACTLY 999 points, so I've deleted that option and added the runner to the Platoon command below) 

ITALIANS for Bolt Action (3rd Edition)

Rifle Platoon

Platoon Commander - 1st Lieutenant - 30pts (Regular)
Runner/Batman (2) 20pts (Regular) 

Infantry Section - 1 NCO and 7 men +SMG +LMG - 99pts (Regular) 

Infantry Section - 1 NCO and 7 men +SMG +LMG - 99pts (Regular) 

Infantry Section - 1 NCO and 7 men +LMG - 95pts (Regular) 

Colonial Troops Infantry Section  1 NCO and 9 men +LMG  95pts (Inexperienced) 

Forward Observer - (air force or artillery) 75pts (Regular)
Radio Operator +11pts per man (Regular) 

Heavy Weapons Platoon

Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) - 30pts (Regular)
Runner/Batman 10pts  (Regular) 

Machine Gun Team  - 50pts (Regular) 

Mortar Team -  30pts (Regular) 

Armoured Platoon 

M13/40  - Platoon Command Vehicle - 125pts (Regular)

L3/33 -  65pts (Regular)

L3/33 - 65pts (Regular)

AB41 - 100pts (Regular)

Total: 999 pts

Well that worked out nicely... I have NO IDEA if these will even remotely be playable in the new Bolt Action... but I have a force potentially worth just shy of 1000 points. 

Thinking on it some more, I realized I definitely do not have ANY way of really dealing with any enemy armour... other than the M13/40... which will FOR SURE be the first target of any enemy... 

THIS is why I am terrible at competitive games... I build forces that are historical or interesting to me (or just whatever miniatures i could get my hands on cheap-like, at the time). This could be an historical force... and... historically Italians did not do well against any modern force that had armour or anti-tank guns... so... 

ALSO....

I have one squad of painted Bersaglieri... I COULD repaint them for service in North Africa... but I think I'll just keep them as they are and use them for Pulp Adventure games or Role-Playing Games or smaller scale skirmish games...