From SylvainR - 6mm WW2 Desert Italian Army (475 points)

Another project from the 6mm stuff I acquired a few years ago. If I already painted scenery from the lot, it took me a while to really start working on an army. After sorting everything, I organized all the miniatures into smaller projects that are much easier to handle. The WW2 Italians were one of the smaller projects, so I decided to start with them and use them for "practice" before tackling the bigger armies like the British and the Americans.

Before I started to assemble the Italian army, I had to make important decisions regarding organizations. I wondered for a while if I should base my armies on a specific set of rules like Flames of War or use the real unit OOB. My true interest in the period are the combined arms battles which, to me, are the essence of WW2. Finally, I decided that infantry units would be one squad per base and that the lowest level of officers would be captains or equivalent. First, here is a bird's view of the whole finished project, displayed in four trays. Everything will be presented in progressively more specific details. Sorry, I was just too lazy to put all the elements on the table for the typical family portrait.

Here is the first tray, with a full Italian infantry battalion. You can see the three infantry companies, each with three platoons of four squads plus a Captain and a section of 3 Solothurn AT rifles. There are also four sections of forward observers and two battle group commanders.

Here is a full Italian company. They had four squads per platoon instead of three, as was the norm for the German and the British. I decided to put 9 figures per squad, because it says "many men". I will also put 9 men per base for full squads for all my future armies. The command section has 5 men, but since then I decided to put only 4 men for "half-squads" sections because it better shows the reduced number of men on the base.

Here is a close up of one of the infantry squad. 6mm infantry looks rather crude in close ups. I decided that all armies (Italian, British, American, German) fighting in the desert would use the same desert surface as you see here. But the Italian elements will be distinguished by a green base contour, while the contour for the British will be beige, grey for the Germans and blue for the Americans. I painted the weapons black to make them pop out, but I will opt for dark grey with future armies. Most of the soldiers' miniatures are from Heroics&Ros. Their 6mm figurines ranges are stockier than their competitor and I prefer that.

Here is a close up on the command section (front), a Solothurn section (rear left) and an observer section. I know that it is not obvious which one of the two half sections is the company commander.

However, if you look at these units from the back, you can see the coding colors on the contour, which is not visible to the opponent. A long line is a company commander, a captain or major. Platoons use "dots", one, two or three. An independent section attached to a company is identified by a short line. Each company has a different color: blue, red or green. Reconnaissance elements use purple. A friend of mine, for a while, used standard military icons on his bases, but since I want to have games with players who are not familiar with theses symbols, I opted for a much more intuitive way of coding my units.

In the past, I would use bases only for infantry, but I changed my mind since. Now I use bases for all my units in 6mm because it is a wonderful tool to quickly identify a unit. Under each base, I write the type of  unit (rifle, Matilda II, Lorry, etc.) This will greatly help me when I start loosing my memory :-) at an older age. I use the contour for national identification, as explained before, as well as coding for platoons and companies. I used the excellent mdf bases from WarBase.

Since I met Curt, I was always impressed by the way he would create a little narrative on his bases. So I decided to follow in his footsteps and put a little extra work in my battle group commanders. Names have been added on the bases and they are coded with the colors of the companies they command. There will be higher commanders in the future. Here I portrayed Batisco who, on his way to meet with Rommel, stopped his two staff cars to inspect a blown off Matilda turret by the side of the road.

On this next base, Cardona jumped off his Carro Commando to meet with the crew of an Auto Blinda 40, listening to the reconnaissance briefing, while looking towards the British lines. I'm quite happy with the result. Thanks again to Curt for the inspiration!

In the next tray, we have the support company for the battalion, a company of pioneers, as well as one section of 75mm field guns and two sections of 37mm anti-tank guns coded at regimental level.

Here is a close up on a heavy machine gun team, a section of light mortars (three per base) and a 81mm mortar team.

Here we have a 75mm field gun and a 37mm anti-tank gun.

In the third tray, we have the most precious assets for fighting in the desert, trucks! The Italian army, in proportion, had much fewer trucks than its British and German counterparts. I coded the trucks at divisional level, so if an Italian commander requires some urgent transportation, the rules will reflect the additional difficulty to get them. I find that larger scales, like 15mm, do not do justice to the importance of trucks in military operations, especially in the desert. Trucks are just soft targets for HMGs and mortars. I know trucks will be essential at 6mm.

Here is a close up of a Lancia heavy truck (GHQ), a Fiat truck and Lancia 90/53 mounting a large AA gun (both of the latter from Heroics&Ros). I like how the combination of wash and white drybrush brought out the details on the Lancia in the foreground. For vehicles, GHQ is my favorite manufacturer although I know many modellers criticize their exaggerated details. It works just fine for me.

 

In the fourth tray, we have Italian  armoured cars and tanks. There is one company of 16 Carro, one company of 16 Semovente mixed with Carro Commando, five platoons of four Auto Blinda and two odd Semovente.

For reconnaissance missions, we have, from left to right, an Autoblinda 40 (CinC), armed with two machine guns, than an AB-41 (37mm gun) one model from CinC and another model from Heroics&Ros. CinC is my second choice when it comes to vehicles, although their "spaghetti guns" too easily bendable, sometimes just drive me nuts. The H&R model is significantly smaller, but this still works for me.

Now we have, in the foreground, a Carro Commando (literally, a "command tank") from GHQ, then a Semovente 75/18 in the background, also from GHQ, with a M14/41 (by CinC), Italy's main tank during the first years of the Second World War. Again, the details on the GHQ models are just popping out nicely.

Lastly, I painted a small section of two Semovente 90/53, a very potent gun at the time. The only (and absurd!) drawback of that powerful weapon was that the fighting compartment could carry only 6 shells! That is why an armoured ammo carrier with a trailer had to accompany the 90/53 everywhere. Thanks to the base, I can keep both vehicles together. I know that this unit never fought in North Africa, but just for the sake of coherency, I decided to keep the same desert pattern on the base.

As for the tally, I counted 530 figurines (1/2 point each), 18 weapons (1 point each) and 96 vehicles (2 points each) for a total of 475 points.

The good news is that I now have a nice little army to play future WW2 desert scenarios. The bad news is that my next project is the British 8th Army and I will not be able to showcase my production. About 80% of what I have was already painted, and to a very high standard, by my friends, and that would contravene the Challenge rules. Basically, for most of the elements, I just need to put the miniatures on new bases with new coding. So I might not have another entry before the end of the Challenge. However, this Summer I intend to assemble and prime new projects for next year.

Thank you for reading and keep your brushes active!

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Wow Sylvain, quite the points bomb you have for us today. As you say, 6mm is a terrific scale for providing players with a sense of the full sweep of a WW2 engagement, and it is nice to see the Italian forces getting this level of attention for a collection - well done. I also have to agree with you - GHQ's vehicles really are the best (even if, sadly, their infantry leave so much to be desired). This is a fantastic "kaboom" of a submission - 475 points well-earned. 

GregB