From Millsy: Western Desert Italian Infantry & Weapons Teams (155 points)

G'day All,

I didn't think I'd get any of the Italian infantry finished before the end of the Challenge but it turns out there was less work to do than I thought. These stalled at the base coat(ish) stage but when I picked them up again they progressed quicker than expected. I think I was more fatigued by the detail than anything when I left them off. There's another 35 infantry to finish but this is a good start...

HQ + Blackshirt Squad (70 points)

This represents a couple of officers and offsiders, plus a ten-man squad of Blackshirt (aka fanatic) infantry squad. It's unlikely they wore their funky nightcaps into combat but I wanted a few in there for character and so I can distinguish individual squads on the table.

Weapons Teams (85 points)

The Bolt Action Italian starter army from Warlord Games contains a good selection of weapons teams but it's not all possible options and the missing elements are available in other packs e.g. sniper team. If you are careful though, you can find what you want in the starter army (like a prone rifleman pinched from the mortar team of all places) and make your own teams to fill the gap. It also means you can mix more types of headgear in by replacing some metal weapons team crew with plastics from the infantry sprue.

There's still plenty of infantry left but they will have to be completed ex-Challenge unfortunately. Still, I've managed to knock off a full Aussie 1000 point army, plus about 600 points of Italians amongst everything else time round so I'm pretty pleased with the progress.

Cheers,

Millsy

Succeeding in painting 600 points worth of Italian on top of everything else is quite an achievement, Millsy, especially when they are painted so well as these. I really like the Blackshirts in their "nightcaps", but I am equally impressed with your creativity in assembling your weapons teams. Also, I think your bases look very good indeed. All in all a great addition to your force. Having left this poor minion to find out the exact composition of the entry for himself, I do think your calculations are right so another 155 points for you. Well done!

Martijn