A VBCW adventure

 This is the final lot of infantry. These don't form a full platoon, they may one day but not right now. They are some of the more specialised units. The remaining infantry  Platoon commamder This is an Alpini commander built mostly because I felt like it and I wanted something to go with my Alpini squad. Alipin squad This squad was built as a result of being on the wrong end of my son's German SS twin LMG squad. This has the two LMG's plus a Sgt and are purely a support unit.  Bersaglieri snipers Lastly, we have the Bersaglieri sniper team, because who do you want as snipers? your sharpshooters obviously! These are the only two Bersaglieri in the force and will probably not get any reinforcements. The only thing about this model I may change is the grenade, which is currently red but I may well repaint it to yellow. Why, red = explosive, yellow = smoke. So, I imagine him getting ready to throw a smoke grenade should their location be discovered before they can extract th...

 The next platoon is another rifle platoon! Although this one is a bit more specialised. This platoon is formed of two Paracadutisti squads and a commander. "Rifle" platoon  Commander with SMG The commander is carrying a SMG the same as the troops. All the Paras have hard hats and googles. I have no idea if this is realistic or not, most of the pictures I could find they had hard hats on and I suspect a lot.of them.would have goggles if they could, plus it marks them out as different. The squads themselves are a little different from expected. Each is actually a five man unit, not seven as in the pictures. This is because each has two Panzerfausts, for some (short) ranged anti-tank. For in game purposes, I have built extra models to swap out when the rockets (or recoilless gun??) have been fired. This means I will be able to track who's shot and who hasn't. Panzerfausts  Second squad All these guys are armed with SMG's for close range assaults. I should probably l...

So its been a while since I posted here, but there has been things going on in the back ground. I have finished all my Italian infantry, for now at least.  The basic rifle platoon is formed of one Platoon commander, two full Infantry squads, a Medic and a Forward Observer. Full Rifle Platoon Platoon Commander Now, while I like the models, there are a couple of points of note. I wouldn't call them criticisms, as I don't think they are, just observations. Firstly, they are more green than grey green. Some models I see look blue more than anything but while looking at paint schemes and paints, I came across a paint set with Vallejo Model Color paints and Olive Grey as the European uniform colour. Using a paint conversion chart it lists Castellan Green as an alternative, which I had and this green is the result. Maybe not as green grey as it should be but I'm not going for historical accuracy here. The second point is that I tried to mix up the colours a bit by adding in some m...

So the blog has been quite active recently, mostly this has been catching up with all publishing all the posts that have been sitting in the draft folder for a long time! However, it's about to go quite again. The family and I were at my mother in-laws house for several weeks over the summer awaiting the arrival of the latest recruit. Naturally, the wee fella decided to take his time and arrived 15 days late! The NHS may not be the most efficient service around but when it comes to the maternity care we have received, they have always been excellent, and this time was no different.  Anyway, we arrived down on the 8th June, and we headed back on the 6th August! Partly to see family but partly as the ferries are useless and we couldn't actually get a berth! I have been busy building and painting WW2 Italians but finding time to finish them is proving challenging! Hopefully I will be able to finished them or at least goet some WiP pictures up at some point soon but it most likely ...

Given the recent developments with the Italian army, I thought I would go through the army list again, although it will be less of a singular 1000 or 1250 point list and more of a complete army list, with all the units I have built, intend to buy and at the end some additional units that it would be nice to pick up at some point. Some.of these extra units will depend on when the Italian army book comes out and whether there are any units changes or additional units listed, but I think that is a way off yet.  Firstly well start with the models that I have built and are in the process of being painted. Rifle platoon Platoon commander - veteran - SMG - 39 Forward Observer - Regular - 75 Medic - Veteran - 30 Alpini - veteran - 5 man, 2x LMG - 95 Paracadutisti - veteran - 5 man, 5x SMG, 2x Panzerfaust - 120 Paracadutisti - veteran - 5 man,  5x SMG, 2x Panzerfaust - 120 Sniper - Regular - 52 Rifle Platoon Platoon commander - Regular - 30 Infantry - regular - 11 man, LMG - 125 Infant...

 So after my little expedition to.ebay, I now have a number of Italian infantry built up. In total there are around 53 models, although the MMG's are built to use two bases, one 25mm and one 50mm. I had a minor issue with the bases, as I ordered some 50mm bases but being the silly bugger I am, I ordered them to the wrong place! We're currently away, staying with relatives and I ordered the bases to our house, which were not going to be back at for a few weeks yet! First up are the said MMG's. Now I am calling them medium machine guns and playing them as such, however, there are quite a few sources that refer to these as Heavy machine guns.  The gunner and loader will be based on a 50mm base, with third man, gun commander?, on 25mm. Heavy Weapons platoon, two MMG's and an officer. Now I will look to get at least one mortar at some point and maybe even a AT rifle, although not much use in the late war. Moving in to the rifle platoons, we have the the more elite troops up ...