As I noted previously, the Italian MG team had jumped ahead in the queue.
The Italians have now completed phase 1!
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| Three Bersaglieri companies and one company of Arditi. |
They are also a bit into phase 2 with the cavalry half-way finished. As an aside, I really need a better way to photograph an entire force at once.
I am traveling this week and acquired some books for the trip, on theme for this post:
Morale and the Italian Army during the First World War is a well-researched, academic work that I am quite excited to read. The bibliography appears to point to mountains of future sources to read.
Counts and Commoners is fiction - about a Brit and an Austrian, fighting over the Italian Alps, written by a guy from Georgia, USA. It has been on my radar awhile, as it gets decent reviews, but I've never pulled the trigger. The price was down to some 75% of the usual, so I snagged it.
The author does appear to have done their homework at least as far as the planes are concerned. A quick flip through showed there are plane statistics and diagrams in the appendices.
I had thought I would pick up Tunstall's The Austro-Hungarian Army and the First World War but the reviews are pretty dreadful. Which is a shame, as the Italian book in the same series has proven quite a worthwhile acquisition (so much so that, I replaced a copy I had let go of). I'm still on the lookout for something that covers the war from the Austro-Hungarian side of things, with at least equal focus on the Southern Front, if not entirely (Hell in the Trenches is great for this but is focused on assault troops) but that isn't out of my reach price-wise.
In any case, these books will accompany me on my trip so that even if I can't paint or game, I can still participate in my hobby,
Having recently picked up Gooch's Italian Army in WWI, Wilcox looks very interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteAlways good to grab some reading material before embarking upon a trip.
Thank you for the comment, Jonathan! Gooch's book is a "must have" for those with interest in this theater of the war and the bibliography provides plenty of fodder for future investigation. A bit disappointing to hear Tunstall's book is apparently not up to the same caliber. I may still pick up a copy if I can find one well-priced secondhand.
DeleteYour Italian force looks great John, really well done! Excellent looking books too, they should keep you entertained on your trip! Safe travels!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brad!
DeleteThe figures are looking good. Are you close to finishing the ground forces? Noting there may be a plane or two to be done from your reading plans.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peter! This completes my original planned forces. I have enough to play OHW, Portable Wargame, Trench Hammer, man-to-man games, and other rules too. And I'll definitely do so before the recently added phase 3 is done.
DeleteAs these things tend to go, I decided I want a 4th 6-figure unit since 4 companies to a battalion was pretty standard for both armies. That probably won't change the rule sets I play but does give me some extra figures if I want to field 3 8-figure units, 2 12, etc. And the Italians need at least one unit of cavalry (of 4-figures I think) for Caporetto. A plane each is also part of phase 2.
John, several excellent posts, the WW1 collections are looking very attractive, and it was nice to see your Deetail Saracen-Turks in action! Very well done.
ReplyDeleteMichael
Thank you, Michael! I've been rather fortunate to have some time to paint and game lately.
DeleteAll looking very good. I'd have commented earlier but Blogger's latest trick is to block is to block comments on some blogs on my iPad!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tim! And I have the same problem when trying to respond to blog posts on my iPhone. I believe there may be a setting that can resolve that but I have given up and just wait until I get to my laptop to leave comments now.
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