Italian Carri Company - Core platoons featuring the mighty M13/41!

Actually as modeled, they are the shattered remnants of a _battalion_ from the Ariete armor division, whose numbers now equal company strength.  This was quite common towards the ends of battles for all the belligerents.  Companies would be down to 3-5 runners instead of 10-16, and battalions would be company sized.  I did this b/c I like the story line behind it and it is easier to track the three platoons on the table with the different colors.  If they were an entire company of blue the platoons are only differentiated by little white lines on the color band, which is hard to see!

The Ariete ram's head is on some of the tanks.  The three platoons have three, four, and four tanks for the yellow, blue and red companies of the battalion, with the HQ tank bearing the battalion decal of red-blue-yellow.  The platoon and company command tanks have the commander figure, of course, and there's AA MGs on a couple of tanks per platoon.  As my original intent was to model an EW company only the command tanks have the radio antennae and the company commander is using a signal flag.  It was hard to find out what colors or patterns were used, so they may not be right.  At this point I should just add antennae to all the tanks as they look more MW anyway.

The tanks are Old Glory Command Decision packs [explaining the 12 as they come in packs of three] and I could've gone for a larger FoW company of 15 total tanks but felt that fewer tanks with better support platoons was better for FoW.  The Tenente Pascucci tank to front right is a BF model for MW.  I added antennae and AA MG to that one.

Altho the tanks are classified as medium by their builders, by MW they are actually light tanks.  In EW they have good armor but the mechanical problems and training quality isn't very good.  Add to that the fact that Italians didn't have radios in all the tanks and you can see where the problems will begin...On the plus side you usually have numbers or cost [cheap points] and sometimes a quality edge by MW. They are also strong in MGs, with double hull MG, a turret and sometimes an AA MG. In FoW, the entire force drops 66 MG dice, nothing to sneeze at!

Entire company with yellow, red then blue platoons.  Front right are the commander [with flag] and the BF Warrior tank. Back right are BF abandoned vehicle marker figs, which I really like to have instead of the plastic chits.  It really adds more feeling to the "Bailed Out" status.

Closeup of the Yellow Company commander.  He's most likely an OG LMG kneeling figure, can't remember. Pascucci has a moustache and a blue ribbon for the Italian valor medal. Double layers of spare tread are around the turret.  This is actually from a real photo I've seen on line.

 Closeup of Blue company / platoon.  Peter Pig tank commander is in proper uniform.  Pretty different from the Old Glory infantry figs in sun helmet, but there wasn't much respect for uniform in the desert anyway.

And nice closeup of the bailed-out crew figures.  A couple look wounded and a couple look ready to fight or run.  Nice enough figs.  They are mounted on bases that cost 1 cent each [U.S.] to give them some heft.

This company was a pleasure to work with.  The Italians add a nice dimension to the fighting with their variety of gear, training and performance.  You can field large numbers of mediocre troops, small batches of elite paratroopers and raiders, and plenty in-between. Allied propaganda [and racism] gave them a bad rep that lasted after the war.  Italians surrendered in large numbers due to poor leadership and preparation in 1940, and they were branded cowards.  When tens of thousands of British and American troops surrendered in the early days of the war, they were called martyrs - winners write the histories.  

By 1941 and 1942 their performance in theater had substantially improved and they often fought well.  However, there were plenty who just didn't want to fight the British and the U.S. [whom they admired and where often had family residing] or didn't want to fight at all. Anyway, don't be afraid of fielding their forces.  Do some research, read the history, and get informed.  Most of all, have fun!

Support Platoons - 'cause everyone needs some Amici

When one is not fielding a force of supertanks, it is essential that support platoons are at hand to help with the main effort.  Thus the key for a Carri commander is to use his many platoons wisely.  Below are just a few of the options, all the ones I have ready and painted for the desert.

These guys became my light AA on trucks, acting as either the portee or just towing and unloading for when I didn't have Italian trucks.  So these have seen a bunch of uses and service.  Light AA is one of my favorite "must-have" items in FoW.  With its high RoF it is dangerous to infantry, and with FP5+ is can be dangerous to light armor, and of course it is also AA!  Plus it's usually pretty easy to move around.  Don't leave base without some!

My Autoblinde platoon.  Three are Old Glory and the command vehicle is BF.  The standing observer is a common pic for all forces in N. Africa.  Since the desert is so flat standing upon a vehicle - sometimes with a ladder acting as a tower - just makes sense.  First to observe often wins.  These vehicles are wheeled which makes them fast in the desert, and their guns and MG are adequate.  They also have a strange rear-shooting MG.  The BF one is nicest, but it cost almost as much as the bag of the other three!  The sand trays and portage are BF, the observer is OG.  The antennae was scratch-build 5-arm job, again taken from a pic.  It was German in origin, I think.  Unfortunately, the other prongs fell off from handling and I haven't fixed them yet.

Semovente platoon and command vehicle.  Again, the OG ones are the three in back and the command vehicle.  The front right is BF.  I prefer the BF model overall, as it was a cleaner casting with nice details.  Remember that all OG Command Decision come in packs of 3 vehicles or 50 figures, so you will save lots of money but always have some extras.  A second command vehicle is knocked-out in the objectives post.  It came out quite well I think.  The last is awaiting suitable inspiration, but it'll probably end up in grey-green continental scheme as a command post for an armored unit.

AAMGs are Bredas from BF accessories as is the portage.  The sighting sticks are piano wire and add some color to the vehicles, as does the red flag.  Since they all have radios, the commander doesn't _need_ to use flags, but perhaps he is trying to maintain radio silence?  He's OG and the crew are all Peter Pig.  Antennae are bristles from a dusting brush, they work very well and never break off or stab anyone.  

This platoon is very important b/c for the power of the gun, the thin armor and lack of turret make it still a cheap platoon.   While they cannot take on Shermans toe-to-toe, they can scare them a bit and cost half as much.  Their 3+ FP makes them a menace to infantry, but they are vulnerable to infantry attack since they've only an AA MG, just like StuG IV's.  However they don't have that FA7.  At FA4 they are vulnerable to even light ATGs, something to keep in mind.  They really need to be held back to attack from the longest range possible, preferably from a hull-down position.  If Veterans and hull down at Long Range they are tough to hit, which helps a lot.

Two German Opel Blitz trucks and two British, all "acquired" by the Italians.  All have some Italian markings upon them.  They are all the solid resin BF ones, and as you can see paint up just fine. They've provided the mobility for the Bersaglieri platoon my Carri Co usually has, and if fielding Bersaglieri are still useful to have a mounted platoon.  While trucks are useless to close with the enemy, if kept out of LoS they are fine for movement except when airplanes are around.  And even then, as long as they don't bunch up it's not too bad.

As usual, the Italian platoons here are a lot of fun to research, paint up and play.  They usually win for me mainly because people underestimate them or have problems with the numbers.  While their performance can be erratic, in a points game they are a force to be reckoned with.  With their unusual equipment and a lot of weak-performing gear they are an underdog.  However, they are a real menace to certain forces, especially infantry and light armor.  When played properly, they provide even experienced players with some problems.  My worst losses are to FoW veterans who show up with a nicely balanced infantry company with some medium tank support.

Things that go "BOOM!" in the night: Artillery battery and more...

The battery is previous edition Battlefront from about 2005 or so.  At the time, they were between runs of Italians, and the many cool items that we have now just weren't available, so you had to make do with whatever you could scrounge of the remaining Italians or use another company's figs.  The below set is from a blister pack of three 75/18 howitzers, and during a Peter Pig order I got a French 75 to represent the many guns given to the Italians after the French collapse.  This completed the battery.  Why there were three-gun blisters for a four-gun battery is a mystery that makes sense to Battlefront!

Anyway, I like to give my Units some history, drama and color.  I use pictures from Google.images, where you can easily find lots of great pics, many of which have tons of period flavor.  This helps make a boring old HQ or Staff team a bit more fun.

Below is the four gun stands, the HQ and Forward Observer in the middle, and the Staff team to the right.  The models were a bit soft and I had to get a pack of Peter Pig gunners as well, of course.  I mixed them all up and spent a lot of time cleaning up the soft BF models and cleaning mold lines and flack.  The Peter Pig items were much cleaner and needed very little work.  As always, I highly recommend The Pig - More Oink, please!

Close up of French gun, with mix of PP and BF gunners.  The bases were spray painted with this odd textured paint which makes a great "frame" for the base.  I leave it visible around the beveled edge of the BF base.  The ground is Elmer's wood fill with play sand, kitty litter rocks, and foam bushes, probably model railroad ones.  I imitated pics I saw of the desert, where little clumps of stuff seemed to cling together anywhere there wasn't just soft sand such as dunes.  The helmets have a hand-drawn imitation of the artillery stencil that was spray-painted on, I used a micron pen and hand drew them.  One member of the HQ has his fascist black shirt.  He could be a die-hard fascist, or he could've won the spare shirt in a card game - you decide!

Staff team and BF gun closeup.  The odd-looking hoop is the radio's antennae.  I like that it is so visible and that they match.  Little oddities like that give the figs character.  The radio I found a pic of on line, so the black face with silver / white dials is accurate.  The map I drew by hand with micron pens.  Later, a friend showed me real maps he'd reduced to 1/100.  They were amazing!  Still, it is sometimes more fun to draw and make it yourself.

Italian artillery is quite decent, and provides essential fire support for the light tanks.  As a light company, a Carri unit is quite dangerous to infantry and other light armored companies, but struggles against any medium tanks.  Fortunately, the British don't have any!  At least not until Mid-War.  Then the American Lend-Lease gear arrives.  While I'd still say the Italians are a viable force in MW, they definitely need some support from long-range guns that hit hard.  I do not glue my guns onto the bases, and I have replacement guns for the stands, including the 100/17 which are great for blasting infantry out of foxholes and any hard cover.  If you can hit, of course.  Also, the artillery are often rated Confident Veteran, which makes them stick around for a long time.  

Don't leave home without them!  With their [usually] good morale and plenty of guns, they really help what is a pretty dangerous light armored company in Early or Mid War.

Things to fight over - Italian Objectives for Flames of War

I don't play FoW at the moment, but I still love the objectives I made for it, and they'll turn up as markers or HQ units in any game that I play in the future.  I have to say that the diorama aspect of FoW is very appealing, and it's great to see the objectives people make.  DON'T USE SIMPLE CARDS!  Make something cool for your company!  Rant over.  Here's some of mine:

1.  Forward observation post on the left.  Old Glory figs, Peter Pig bicycle, foam, sand, kitty litter rocks, foam greenery.  Guard, observer and radioman, with wire trailing off the edge of the base.  Bicycle is to ride out when the wire's cut and inspect it!  From an actual photo.
2. Knocked-out Semovente command vehicle.  Old Glory tank, and doctor, Peter Pig wounded, nun and old man in blackshirt [orderly].  The kneeling medic is a modified radioman, the doctor an artillery officer with a clipboard.  The nun is in correct historical garb for an order of Italian nuns in North Africa who did in fact man hospitals!  She's hurrying to the scene.  The tank was damaged using an X-Acto blade, the cuts reflect the brittle nature of Italian armor metal which was lower grade and not as pliable, so it shattered sometimes on impact.
3. Battlefront Italian M13/41 objective.  Burned out tank, nothing impressive done to it, I should probably spruce it up a bit.  Also sculpted from a photo that I saw on line somewhere, I am pretty certain.

 Side view of all three.  The trench looks a bit jumbled in this pic, it's easier to see in real life.

Final side view.  The brewed-up Semovente has an exit hole from the round that went thru it, knocking out the lower plate on the far side.  I need a camera that takes close-up shots I think!

Hope you enjoyed these shots.  It is a lot of fun to tell a little story with your objectives, and put some drama in them.  Google images has tons of great pics, avail yourself of that resources for inspiration!

Avanti Savoia! My Italians in all their Glory...

So, some might ask... "Dude, why Italians??"  

Yeah, they have a bad rep on the street, or erhm, perhaps "in the sand"?  Between race/ethnic bias, WWII propaganda, the political collapse of the nation in '43, and mixed performance as a nation despite solid - and consistent - performance from certain units, the Italians are mocked quite a bit.

Good example... long after I chose to play Italians as my first Flames of War army, I did a tournament at a big venue not too far away.  There were 20-30 players there.  I played three rounds, once against an experienced US Army player, once against a newbie Soviet, and once against a pretty experienced soviet player who was fielding an infantry company backed up by KV1's.  What interested me about the KV1 player was that he basically felt entitled to win since he was playing against Italians - he cheerfully informed me of this at the start of the game.  You'd think that since my stuff was well painted, he'd at least give me _some_ respect, eh?  But no, filled with Allied propaganda, he dismissed any chance I had at winning.

Well, things didn't turn out that way.  At one point I dropped about 48 MG dice on his infantry in a town, and the law of averages coming into play I tore up a Sov infantry platoon [company] while his other infantry platoons [company] wandered into the sights of a zillion other dice, albeit with is KV1 help.  My rickety light tanks zipped around the mangled Soviets holding the town to take the objective, while my Bersaglieri light infantry kept his KV1 busy.long enough for them to contest that objective.  Meanwhile, my armor drove about 15 feet for the win.

So why play Italians?  Well, it's a points game, and given equal points and competent playing, any force should win, right?  Plus I'm half Italian, and I enjoy the odd mix of lame light armor and dodgy infantry, altho the elite forces play just fine, of course.  The best being the Paracadutisti, but paras aren't my thing, so I've fielded armor with light infantry, mostly.  I dunno, aside from the fun of painting them up and researching them, it is fun to be the underdog.  After all, if you lose with Italians...isn't that what people expect?  And if you win, you get some quiet laughs!

Anyway, here's some pics of my Italians, may have to do a few posts:

 Company Staff: Captain on left in peaked cap, hero [with medal on base, surrounded by dead and dying], 2iC then a spotter.  Behind are a Fiat staff car and a "borrowed" German light truck, the Horch Kfz 15 [resin with cast base].  The Hero and vehicles are Battlefront while the rest of the figures are Old Glory Command Decision:

Old Glory Command Decision

 Blurry Hero in the front, with the Capitano in the back.

2iC and spotter with Horch in the back.

First platoon I painted.  The figures are all OGCD and are painted up as the Motorized Infantry Division "Trieste", with national badges on the sun helmets and green collar badges.  I chose this unit b/c they were both well equipped and well trained, considered the equal of the Bersaglieri light infantry.  I felt this gave me the flexibility to field them as either a Fucilieri company or Bersaglieri company.  Then again, I probably over think these things! 

Closeup of two squads.  The sangars are made of kitty litter.  The sand is real playbox sand.

You can just see the badge on the sun helmets, and some are wearing black garrison caps. I used the Osprey Italian books to paint the figs, found them easy to work with and reasonably accurate.  The British ones are a bit of a nightmare, but these were all fine.

Other two squads.  The extra base is in there by mistake - it's from the next platoon down. Have to correct this disorganization later!

I found these figs a pleasure to paint and work with, and the end results superior to the Battlefront ones.  There are new ones from Eureka of Australia, but they're pricey so I'd probably just use them to fill in the occasional gaps.  You can buy them in small batches.  My other favorite is the Peter Pig range.  The figs are very solid and have a number of good poses, as well as being clean sculpts.  Highly recommended.

But if you want a large amount of cheap and decent figs, you really can't beat the Old Glory Command Decision line with the Old Glory Army discount [40% off].  It puts a bag at 19 cents a figure, making up for any figures you don't like.  Of course, with buy bags of 50, you end up with lots of extra LMGs for example, but I've found they make great vehicle crews with AA LMG.

Anyway, some more pics:

Second platoon I painted - these guys are from a Blackshirt Battalion, or CCNN.  They were full of enthusiasm but not with a lot of weapons and training!  So no LMGs for these dudes.

Closeup of the platoon commander and the short squad.  

The last couple of squads close up.  Note that some of the figures are wearing scarves to protect themselves from the gritty sand.  Apparently this was a must-have item in the desert. What did they look like?  I don't know, but as many were local copying turban patterns would be a good start, any with color.  As it is 15mm, it should be a bright pattern or it won't be noticed at all.  And if it won't be noticed at all, why bother to paint it?

Neil Thomas: "One - Hour Wargames" WWII Rules - Review and thoughts

Well, perhaps I have something of a "Neil Thomas Problem" [which is definitely a "first world problem"! :)] but his books and rules have had a big _positive_ impact on my approach to gaming, the rules I want to use and what is "historical" in a game.  Hopefully, NT is satisfied with being a thought-provoking window into the past of game design, which is a good place to be.  I'm still revisiting my gaming past, present and future with WWII.  I found my old Squad Leader boardgame rules, scenarios and boards.  Lest I be overwhelmed with nostalgia, I've boxed them and have them handy for a rainy day.  If I start reading "the Guards Counterattack" I don't know if I'll be able to stop!  Lord help me.

I read the NT rules for 1HW:WWII a while back soon after getting the book.  I have to admit I thought they were woefully inadequate at first - they're so minimal as to be sparse.  But lately I've been reading Fistful of Tows 3, asking lots of questions of other players, and rethinking some of my biases.  The main questions for me now are:

• What scale are the NT1HW:WWII rules on the ground? and closely related,
• What do the Units effectively represent - squads, platoons, companies?

A fast-play set can be both streamlined and realistic as long as it doesn't go into all possibilities, permutations, variations and situations - that's where lots of the rules and special rules come from with so many rulesets.  And these add substantially to the amount of rules a player needs to understand if they want to play at all, much less be competitive on the table.  

However, if we say we're gaming the battles and situations that typify the combat of the time, location and belligerents in our chosen period, then we can both simplify and streamline the rules without a loss of historicity.  It's just that instead of recreating the small percent of oddities that real life brought the way of the combatants, we're leaving them up to the dice.  This is actually more realistic since the unforeseen circumstance is usually left to the decision makers below the level of command that the player is supposed to represent. 

With all this in mind, I've tried to approach the rules seeking some understanding before criticizing and changing them. 

The rules like all the rules in the book are only three pages, and hey, there's a half page at the end - so only 2.5 pages!!  Wow.  WOW!  NT differentiates btw four types of Units in these as in all the 1HW rules, here they are: Infantry, Anti-tank Guns, Tanks and Mortars. The rules require Observation / Line of Sight and have a combat matrix that cross-references the four types effectiveness against each other.  As in the other rules, NT only awards substantial advantages of +2 or -2 on a d6, or 33%.  The accepted norms of the types are followed, with for example tanks and ATGs being +2 v. Tanks while Infantry and Mortars are -2 against tanks, Mortars are +2 v. Infantry, and of course the majority are '0' as they ought.  

Regarding these modifiers and relationships, I've concluded that Infantry are all blooded regulars, ATGs are medium guns of the 57mm/6pdr size, all tanks are medium [MkIV, Shermans, T34] and the mortars are 82mm or perhaps even 75iG or other light field pieces in the 65-82mm range.  As there is no differentiation between direct/indirect fire from Mortars, it is safe to say that the "mortar" in game terms is either a medium caliber indirect-fire fieldpiece or has no ammunition that is effective against tanks. I think all of us could quibble with the fine-tuning of the above modifiers, but as written they are arguably correct per the representations I've figured.

EDIT: The Unit scale is given on pps 58-59 as about 40 infantry with LAW [bazookas, small ATG], about three mortars and crew [81mm mortars, 75mm light field pieces], about three ATG with crew and towing vehicles, about three tanks.  

The ground scale is not stated.  Infantry, ATGs and Tanks are all 12" max range with mortars shooting 48".  I looked up the ranges for 82mm mortars in WWII [the typical battalion mortar] and found it's around 2400 meters. So with game range being 48", that leaves us at precisely 600m to 12", which is short for ATG and Tank guns IMHO.  I'd say that 1200m is the effective range, so 24" for long range, but there's no LR in the game.  So I feel that there's a discrepancy between the relative ranges within the game itself.  While I understand he strives for simplicity, I think NT could have added a rule that guns can fire out to 24" with a -2 to the dice or something.  Aside from the clash of scale / range, the rules seem to make plenty of sense upon closer examination.  

EDIT: Bases are 4-6" for infantry, 2-3" [or none] for guns, and a single un-based tank model. This seems like it should be streamlined a bit, altho it does give 200-300m frontage for an infantry platoon, 100-150m for three guns and with a 1/72 tank about 100m for three tanks. No depth is specified.

There's no close attack / assault range or mechanics.  That seems a lapse on NT since he has the mechanic in most other sets of the 1HW book.  And it is quite accepted that infantry routinely assaulted positions at the 25m range or less using pistol, SMG, grenades, etc and tanks closed with guns and MGs, crushing foxholes by grinding them under their treads.  Can't prove it perhaps, but certainly common enough!  So with 600m/12", then it would be 1/2" or base contact for assault, same as his other rules.

Therefore, all Units in the game fight with shooting and there's no advantage for being closer.  I find that a bit startling.  There's a "hail Mary" distance, an effective aimed distance, and a "so close can't miss" distance to any ranged weapon.  At the least NT should allow Hand-to-Hand attacks by Infantry and Tanks and make them deadly for both sides, perhaps a +2 on the d6.  That should handle it according to his own game mechanics.  

So thus far, what would I change [without even playing them...I'm a bad person - perhaps I will try them RAW just to sooth my conscience]? I'd give an additional +2 to all attacks at base contact, and a -2 at all long ranges.  Or perhaps +1/-1, would have to try it out.

For movement, ATGs move faster than infantry which I challenge on the basis that the game is only covering the combat environment, and I doubt there's any transport within these limits - they'd be in the rear with the gear.  I'd say they are immobile, or at best being "prolonged" by mounting, moving and dismounting at a rate which is less than the 6" of infantry, not 8".  Also, only infantry may enter woods or remain in towns, and I think ATGs should be able to start the game placed in both or move into the edge of both.  Guns generally dug in whenever there was time especially when they'd no gunshield, like mortars.

In shooting, infantry halve Hits if they are within a woods or town, and tanks get halved Hits if they are on a hilltop [hull down].  Neither ATG nor mortars have any terrain advantages.  Again, seems to me that especially mortars should as they're indirect fire weapons, small and easy to conceal in a deep foxhole.

Casualties are as usual 15 Hits on a Unit before it is destroyed.  There's no decrease in effectiveness along the way, and therefore no pinning or suppression effects.  This contributes to the scale feel that a Unit is a platoon of 30-40 infantry and about 3-5 tanks.

While these rules are not as limited as I thought they were initially, with just a little more effort I believe they could be a better representation of WWII combat.  It was a complex and interesting time period, and there's more _basic_ elements available than NT has chosen to show.  I will give these a go sometime soon, but mainly to plumb their limitations before I change them as a design exercise.  So thus far my changes would be:

1. ATGs and Mortars move < Infantry, can enter edge of terrain if not move thru.
2. Long range for Infantry, ATGs, Tanks = 24" with a -2 Hit modifier.
3. Infantry and Tanks in base contact with any other Unit, +2 Hit bonus and / or negate terrain bonus of defender [which is why you assault, anyway].
4. I think there should be some declining effectiveness with Hits taken, and
5. ...an opportunity to rally them off somehow.
6. Smoke!  A useful and fairly basic tactic, also simulating the dust and debris clouds of a barrage.  There are Barrage rules in the WWI 1HW rules...

I will say that I'm 100% in favor of fast-play streamlined rules that put the player in a specific role and limit them to that role.  NT has done a lot to help me rethink such things.   But these rules I think could've used an extra 1.5 pages and clocked in at a full 4 pages with little encumbrance but some critical mechanics and details that would be 100% more authentic. 

There is such a thing as TOO simple, in my Humble Opinion.

Clearly a playtest and batrep is in order!

Expanded Direction and Focus

There's a limit to the number of blogs I can tend to, and I hate to see them being neglected.  Also, there's crossover interest on my part that may also be crossover interest for readers of this blog.  So this blog's focus will be expanded to my interest in the rules Chain Reaction 3.0 [free download from Two Hour Wargames] and Force on Force / Tomorrow's War.  

The periods that interest me for both of these skirmish & squad level games is the Mexican Civil War and Pershing's Intervention, Modern Afghanistan, and near-future / Star Wars sci-fi gaming.  While I was tempted by 25mm WWII, I just felt that expansion into an additional scale was not wise at this time when I'm attempting to scale back on gaming [pun intended!].

So there will be a lot more variety on this blog, altho I'll continue to post pics and kick around ideas and resources for N. Africa in WWII, which is a favorite period of mine.  This will also result in more posts that will hopefully be of interest to readers.