Somewhere on the Southern Front 1918ish

I hope you will forgive the indulgence of posting a non-monthly update, but the other day, for a change of pace, I played the One Hour Wargames "Machine Age" rules pretty much as written and I wanted to get my thoughts down sooner than later. 

The only rules modification was to treat cavalry as OHW "Rifle & Sabre" cavalry (mounted w/lances, rather than dismounted with rifles).  

The scenario is one of my favorites, "#12 An Unfortunate Oversight". The playing area is roughly36" square (roughly because I can't cut fabric in a straight line).

The Italians took the role of the Blue Force with 4 infantry units, 1 heavy infantry unit, and 1 cavalry unit. The Red Force was played by the Austro-Hungarians, with 4 infantry units, 1 heavy infantry unit, and 1 unit of artillery.

At the start. Italians have found a ford to cross on their right and avoid the bridge. Both sides are intent on holding the hill.

  

The Austro-Hungarian force reaches the hill first. Italian infantry, supported by machine guns, attempt to open the crossing at the bridge, while the majority of the Italian force crosses at the ford.

The village is cleared momentarily for the Italian infantry on the right. But they are battered and Austrian reserves are poised to move into the village as well.

Meanwhile on the Italian right, attempts to dislodge the Austrians from the hill top begin.

 

Lancieri make a final valiant charge to drive off an enemy heavy infantry unit. It was both their greatest and last success of the day.

  

At battles end, a lone Austro-Hungarian unit surveys the bloody ground; an abandoned field gun battery stands guard over the dead.

I used individually mounted figures but that didn't really change anything other than the appearance - still, it had an appreciable impact on my enjoyment of the game by giving it something of an "old school" look (to my eyes, having never actually played when old school was not yet old school) that I enjoyed greatly.

If there's a practical benefit of single figures with rules that don't have casualty removal, it's that the figures stay on the table far longer.

In any case, I had fun and was swept up into the game. Which also accounts for the minimal picture taking, but I'd rather be caught up in the game than snapping pics.

As it had been awhile, I had forgotten that in the Machine Age rules, artillery is direct fire - albeit with a 48" range (I just assume an officer has binoculars or similar).  Unlike the mortar rules for WWII, which can hit anything any unit can see, regardless of intervening troops and terrain, WWI artillery, in these rules, are equivalent to 75mm field guns, and require you to keep your own troops out of the way of your gun, lest you hamstring them.

In this game, that led to a swath of table that the Austrians tried to keep clear. It also meant if the Italians could move enough, they'd force the gun to have to rotate (move) and thus not fire that turn. This game of of cat and mouse was, well, gamey, but also fun.

And unrelated to rules in any way, for reasons which are known only to the dice gods, the lancieri performed terribly.

Early on they had a perfect opportunity to deliver a flank attack to infantry that had yet to take high ground. Instead of the double-digit damage that I hoped, they rolled a 1- a whopping 2 points of damage. Alas, rolling a 1 was repeated under less favorable circumstances several more times.  

When they finally rolled a 5 (reduced to 3, for attacking uphill) the unit they destroyed already had 14 points of damage to it, delivered primarily by Italian infantry.

It was, by any account, not their best showing. Perhaps they were trying to tell me to finish painting up the officer already.  

I still find the lack of infantry close combat in the Machine Age rules mind-boggling. That said, as long as the scenario requires one or both sides to take an objective or to exit the table, movement and getting close, rather than a stagnant long distance fire fight is the rule.. When opposing units got close, I just treated it like shooting combat - such as when the Italians tried to take the village and the Austrians counter-attacked.

The difference really is only of being locked in combat or not and it worked fine in this case. 

If I'd had arditi or stormtroops on the table, I'd have used the standard OHW close combat rules and given the assault units +2 (I also have them take 1/2 damage when attacked due to their dispersed formations and increased individual initiative, relative to the regular infantry, even late war, at least in Italy).

October Review

 

Role Playing 

For our Family Fall Festival this year, I did end up running a game after all - the player who had wanted to run a game just didn't have time to flesh out their idea. With two days to prepare, I went into research overdrive like I was writing a final paper, and like those days of yore, got it done at the last minute. 

For a visual element, with no time to make any bespoke terrain, I settled on atmosphere and re-used the LED candles and table cloth/runner, and autumnal wreath from last year, but replaced my DIY Shub-niggurath statue with a skull that was part of my son's Halloween costume last year. 

The setup: Every 66 years on the night of the Harvest Moon, a dark, crooked house appears on a hillside overlooking the small village of Hallowfeld. It disappears at sunrise. Of course, it is rumored that those who enter are never seen again.

The hook: This year is, according to a drunk merchant, the 66th year since the last appearance, and so the party decides to journey to Hallowfeld just to see it and partake in the Harvest Festival there. At the village tavern, while sitting around the fire and enjoying ghost stories, and old man comes in and tells them that he went in the house as a boy and managed to escape, but he left something behind - he doesn't know what, just that he needs it back, and he begs them for help.

It went pretty well ending with the party finding the lost thing (part of the man's soul), defeating the boss monster (a shadow, which should have been tough for a level 1 and 2 party, but between magic missile spells and the paladin's ability to have any one weapon be treated as magic once a day, it lasted one round), stealing the house's "battery", leaping from the porch as the house collapsed while throwing the unstable battery into the distance - where i took out a chunk of countryside.

We didn't have time to do administrative tasks after, but at least one PC leveled up (they had been trailing the others, having missed a few sessions). 

There are two sessions scheduled for November!

Wargaming

For reasons, I decided to break out my Southern Front WWI collection.

The scenario is, hopefully, recognizable - although I suspect the bridge would have an Italian name in this case - let us call it Esplodere Bridge.

Rules were G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. (modified for 8-figure infantry/4-figure cavalry units. MGs counted as having 5 crew members) with some Contemptible Little Armies and In Good Company thrown in.

The game area is 36" x 24". Movement and shooting ranges were cut in half. Movement was variable as per CLA. Victory would go to the side that controlled the bridge after 10 turns (which would mean having units on the other side of the bridge for my purposes and enough of a force to be able to hold the bridge)

The Italians have one infantry unit, one MG, and one cavalry unit. The Austrians have two infantry units (1 figure with an LMG) and an MG. 

Italian infantry storm the bridge while an Austrian unit struggles to ford the river.

Perhaps a turn later, the Italians are nearly across (at the expense of shooting, since in GASLIGHT, it's move or shoot). Meanwhile the Austrians continue to struggle crossing the river, but their other unit and MG prepare to slaughter the Italians on the bridge.

 < REEL MISSING > 

(I was all wrapped up in playing)

The Italian force is in ruins at the end of turn 10. Really at the end of turn 9, but i thought, what the heck, let's keep playing. The Italians are on the bridge but even with their MG intact, they have little to no chance in my opinion.Victory to Austria-Hungary

Miniatures

No paint was applied to anything this month - although I did re-base my WWI Southern Front collection to individual bases (cut from mat board) again - because rebasing is my hobby and toy soldiers are just an excuse to do it! 

 

Those new bases still need paint, as visible above.

I did however, pack away about half of my figure collection to see if I even want to keep them or if they can be sent to good homes. I tend to make no decision when presented with many options - hello Kanopy watch list, I'm looking at you - and so I usually end up not playing anything, even when I have time.

I am a huge fan of books and podcasts about decluttering (i like to *think* about doing it at least), but I really glomed on to "the container concept" from "A Slob Comes Clean". Essentially, she stresses that the purpose of a container is to limit things, not to store them, but to provide boundaries to how much you keep. 

"You can keep anything you want, but you can't keep everything" (more or less a direct quote)

This idea sings to me. As well as the one about designating a day of the week as laundry day instead of waiting until you're out of socks or whatever. I digress.

Anyway, I designated a single 6-bin (they are like 14" x 14" x 3" - for scrapbookers but handy for 54mm and 28mm/32mm figures /- especially those with banners and such - too) organizer for my wargaming figures and that's it. (I have 12 bins worth, hence half my collection will be kept out).

That means, I can have 6 collections at 1 bin each, or 1 that fills all 6 or any combination that adds to 6 bins. That's it. (OK OK, i did cheat by putting a bunch on display a bit ago - playing games isn't the only way to appreciate toy soldiers after all)  

What remains? 

1. 54mm WWI Southern Front - it came down to WWI vs Colonial England/French Foreign Legion and both collections give a similar kind of game - lancers, infantry, machine guns. Only the costumes change and that's not enough reason)
2. 1/35 WWI Horror - I mean, it's 8 figures, plus monsters, most of which serve for RPGs as well.
3. 54mm-ish North Pole '42 - Weird World War II. Germans and  robotic tin soldiers commanded by a greedy industrialist are the bad guys.
4. 32mm Grim Dark Sci Fi - it's a collection that my son expresses even a little interest in,so it of course stays. Plus, I love the figures. It also scratches the same itch as 1:1 WWII skirmish games, with the advantage that I can play with others locally when the mood strikes.
5. 28/32mm Fantasy - I'm choosing to focus on two factions (inspired by Norm over at Battlefields and Warriors): lizard folk and orcs. Any other factions - and even some of the orcs - are borrowed from my RPG figure collection. I can also include Blitz Bowl here, but that's really a board game.

So, what in fact got moved to "storage":

• 54mm Colonial
• 54mm Fantasy,
• Brick WWII
• 1/72 WWII.
• 54mm AWI (well, a handful of militia from last Christmas's game) 

In some cases, storage means unceremoniously tossed into a big jumble, while in some cases, it means the current bin is just earmarked to go into a closet (which has to be cleared first).

I feel greatly relieved by this situation already and I've already played a few wargames in November!

Of course, once all this was decided upon, I realized my orcs needed cavalry - and after watching eBay for a bit, I scored a great deal on 7 painted boar boyz and they are on their way. So an October figure purchase, with a November arrival.

If I don't post again before then, see you in a month! 

More Lancieri! (finally)

Well, it took me way too long, but I finally got around to knocking out two more WWI lancieri :

As with the previous two, the heads are provided by Dulcop grenade lobbing arditi. The bodies and horses provided by Armies in Plastic - I believe a set of Egyptian lancers in this case, maybe? 

With these two, I can now field two squadrons for my reduced-base-size One Hour Wargames army:

And this is plenty for the standard OHW force builder (a max of two cavalry).

I am aiming to do some OHW Battle of Pozzuolo del Friuli scenarios (the cavalry played a role in the rearguard as the Italian 3rd Army retreated from the rapidly advancing Germans and Austro-Hungarian forces in 1917) and 1918, Vittorio Veneto (the cavalry pursued the retreating Austrians in the last battle of the Southern Front). 

However, not to be unduly limited by the ruleset, I want to allow for the possibility of fielding a full regiment of 5 squadrons and an MG section.  As it happens, I have the figures on hand, I just need to keep at them. This has the benefit of giving me something to paint without spending anything further.

Those will have to wait for my Blessed Sisters to at least field a "legal" 300pt Grimdark Future: Firefight force (5 models - canoness, sgt, banner, storm rifle, and HMG).

I hope to have all of the above figures (11 models total) finished well before the end of the year.

But that requires deciding on a paint scheme!

Country Road

Inspired by a rewatch of Many Wars Ago combined with a couple of situations I came upon while scrolling through Infantry in Battle, I put together a little scenario for the Southern Front.

An Italian column is in retreat when a scout comes under fire and orders a halt. In Many Wars Ago (Based on  Emilio Lussu's A Soldier on the Southern Front), the commanding officer become incensed that the column has halted and orders the scout shot. Hilarity ensues.

In the movie and the book , an already dead soldier is used to convince the commander that the execution was carried out.

 In my scenario, the lead, well you can call it a platoon of four sections and a platoon leader, takes cover in the treeline and the platoon leader organizes an effort to eliminate the gun so the column can pass. The Austro-Hungarian force has improvised some defensive cover on a hilltop. It consists of a machine gun team and a security detail of 8 men (all of my "sections" are 8 figures), and low ranking leader type to oversee the whole thing.

The PL starts in the road. He is very brave or very stupid.

A group of soldiers on the Italian right draws a portion of the Austrian rifle fire.

A section is sent forward on the Italian left and struggles to reach the hill.

In the middle things are going terribly as MG and rifle fire take their toll.

The Italian assault reaches the objective. Bayonets clash!

Alas this did not go well for the Italians. As a result they failed two morale checks and can't advance towards the enemy - except for the one stuck in close combat. The PL takes off at a run to rally them but he is nowhere close.

The PL sends the adjacent section to storm the hill and to relieve the stalled effort.

They reach the top and finish the job. The MG team is struck down and the game is over. Italian victory!

 

Rules were Contemptible Little Armies(CLA), played at the author's stated scale of 1 figure = 1 man (although he's clear that it's whatever you want it to be). The pathetic rifle ranges were adjusted to cover the entire table (I may use Bolt Action's shorter, more cinematic ranges next time). 

Shooting in CLA is figure to figure - which allows the Austrians to split their rifle fire between Italian units. Most rules I have are unit to unit shooting, which would severely hamper the Austrians. That said, in CLA, in practice, I tend to do either figure to unit, or small subset of unit to unit. It works for me.

I think going forward I will implement GASLIGHT's method of distributing hits on a target unit - that way, your group of figures may score three hits on the target unit, but all three end up on the same individual.

The game went 10 turns overall, which surprised me, as I had thought 6 would be sufficient. However, the Italians, due to poor movement dice, took forever to get to the hill let alone engage in close combat. 

There needs to be a win condition for the Austrian force, too - perhaps casualties inflicted or "hold out for X and then retreat", otherwise there is no natural stopping point other than a fight to the last man for one or the other side. I'll be setting it up for another go soon.

1917 Fictional Strafexpedition Game 5 (Final game!)

III Battalion, Sacher Regiment, was ordered to infiltrate into Italian territory and disrupt enemy reinforcements and supplies from reaching the front.

The battalion's second-in-command, Major Nino Aigner, was assigned to personally lead the effort. Ninth and Tenth companies, accompanied by 2nd company, 501st Sturmbattalion, would proceed south with all due haste, bypassing an enemy trench position dug into the northern end of a prominent hill. A detachment of III Battalion's machine guns would engage the enemy trenches to provide cover for the infantry advance.

Initial advance.

The hilltop defenders fought fiercely and, though suffering some losses, managed to silence the attacker's machine guns.

Two companies of Italian reinforcements arrived via the road from the south. The Italian's lead company engaged Ninth company in a firefight as did the surviving hilltop defenders, who had relocated to the southern most position on the hill top. 

With clear firelanes to their target, Ninth company was decimated, and the survivors routed.

The sturmcompany came under heavy fire but held on as they attempted to close with the enemy. Meanwhile Tenth company advanced, keeping close to the woods.

The Italians continued to arrive, including an infantry company, a cavalry squadron, and a field gun battery. Two companies opened fire on the sturmcompany, shooting it to pieces.

With just a single company remaining, Major Aigner was forced to order a withdrawal.

The Italians had stopped the Austrian advance with ease.

******

The scenario is "Infiltration" from One Hour Wargames (scenario #25).  I opted to use One Hour Wargame forces, treating each two-base unit as a company, but for the rules, I used Trench Hammer v2, with some rules from the Expansion. 

This was my second go at this - I had not calculated how dramatically different the movement rate is in Trench Hammer compared to One Hour Wargames. In the first go, the Austro-Hungarian force made it to the exit point two full turns before the arrival of the second Italian reinforcements.

That didn't sit well with me.

I reset the table and adjusted the arrival schedule. Whether it worked better or not depends on who you wanted to win, but at the very least it seemed fairer to me for the Italians to at least get their force on the table.

You could argue, quite convincingly, that I made a mistake in the schedule - arriving on turns 2 and 4, rather than turns 2 and 5 (the original is 3 and 6). 

That's OK - the game served its purpose - to try out two-base units with Trench Hammer - and honestly, when I first conceived of this, it was going to be a straight up five-game campaign following the model given by Neil Thomas in OHW,

If we look at the campaign as a competition between the battalions of Sacher Regiment, then II battalion was the clear winner. They defeated the Italians in two battles before I ruled them too worn out to proceed further. I battalion won their first but lost their second. And III battalion lost their first - therefore, no second.

The Italians only won two of the engagements and so, on that basis lost the campaign. However, as they stopped both the left and right flanks from advancing beyond the second row, that looks to me like, at the very least, a minor victory.

For giggles, I made this map after the fact using the maps from One Hour Wargames to show how I picture the scenarios connecting:

I battalion is the left column, II battalion is the middle, and III battalion is the right.

I had decided that if I made it to the bottom row (or if I needed a tie breaker) in any column, they would be river-based scenarios, with the river running left to right.

I also think It'd be possible to make a larger map of many One Hour Wargames tables and then when sides meet, that's the scenario that gets played. Not sure if I'll do that, but it's an idea!

This campaign, besides being a good bit of fun and an opportunity to get my WWI collection on the table, served its purpose overall, which was to figure out which rules I want to use and what I want forces to look like. The last game, with two-base/four-figure companies is the winner (I may go back to single-figure bases, but use four-figure companies) and I can use Trench Hammer or "Machine Age" rules (with my various modifications) from OHW with the same setup and have equally enjoyable games.

Favorite pic (from 1st game that didn't count): Lancieri charge sturmcompany

Although I'm still preparing my goals/plans/ideas for the coming year, I do believe that in 2023, we can eventually expect a return to the Southern Front, for a campaign, possibly using a map, and very hopefully with air support. 

Lancieri e Cavalleria Ride to the Sound of the Guns!

With great satisfaction, I am pleased to announce my first unit of Italian cavalry is complete. They can serve to represent "Lancieri di Novara" and/or "Genova Cavalleria" at the battle of Pozzuolo del Friuli, or, of course, generic units otherwise.

I really need to finish those base edges!

The figures, again, are Armies in Plastic horses and Egyptian Lancer bodies, with heads supplied from the Dulcop Italian infantry/arditi grenade throwing figure. The AiP WW1 British lancer body, with the cartridge belt across the chest is more accurate perhaps, but then I'd have to do something about the puttees. I guess I could mix the three figures together, but this is close enough for my purposes.

To my astonishment, I quite enjoyed painting the horses - maybe more than the figures themselves. I think the change in tune was due in large part to the toy-soldier look and not worrying about shading their coats as I had tried in 1/72. 

I have always loved horses (my maternal grandfather owned a stable of harness racers) but this was the first time I ever looked into their markings. I do love that one facet of our wonderful hobby is the rabbit hole you can fall into when looking for info when painting figures.

I have another unit of cavalry to assemble for the Italians (Austro-Hungarians won't have any), but first there are three lizard warriors primed and ready as well as machine guns with crews for the Italians and Austro-Hungarians (yet to be assembled) in line ahead of them.

First Arditi are Complete-y!

 I apologize for the title of the post. I'll show myself out.

Still here?

 Here they are, the first of what will be two arditi stands:

I know there are who people would prefer I paint eyes or rosy cheeks or shadows and stuff. My painting style inspiration for 54s has always been Britain's Deetail figures and their Seaforth Highlander set 5188 and similar.

 

The figures are by Dulcop and feature one of their least animated poses - which is hard to imagine. Indeed, they almost ended up looking like a synchronized swim team:

Where's Esther Williams?

But wisely, I think, I reconsidered the basing arrangement.

The straps on the guns are brittle to say the least - the lump on the middle figure's strap was there already - and I believe it was glued together as a repair by the previous owner. The strap I repaired has s similar lump but it's not visible in this picture. Trust me, it's there.

I have the next three ready to enter the painting queue - they are jumping the line because I am nearing the completion of the rifle infantry and assault troops for these armies(for now). It also took I think three days from start to finish and maybe an hour or two tops of total effort. I still have to do a few head swaps for the Italian cavalry (and then paint them), order additional machine gun teams for both sides, and paint some single figures to function as gun crews.

I don't need any of those things to field an interesting and amusing game, so it feels like I am entering into the home stretch here at least for the core of this collection (I see adding British and Germans as a nice to have, but not necessary, side project to this)

As a result, I am tempted to pick up the pace to complete everything for this collection - but I also know that's a sure fire way for me to burn out. Slow and steady wins the race.

WWI Italian Cavalry

I can't tell you how many books I have read about the Italian/Southern Front in WWI, but it's a lot. Over the last six years now, I've read books both lengthy and all too brief. One oft repeated mention is that the cavalry gave up their horses and fought as infantry from early in Italy's entrance into the war.

This, it turns out, is not entirely accurate.

While reading through some Wikipedia articles on the battles of the front (I am reading Asiago, by Francis Mackay, and I was struck by the need to look up something or other), I ended up on the page for Caporetto and  stumbled upon reference to the "Battle of Pozzuolo". This was a battle that I had either not heard of or had forgotten. 

The article was brief, but included this sentence:

The cavalry brigade that fought at Pozzuolo was renamed the Pozzuolo del Friuli Cavalry Brigade and a detailed history of the battle can be found in the brigade's article.

Well, it never hurts to read up on the specific units in an action. My world was about to turn upside down.

With the "Genova Cavalleria" under heavy attack the lancers of the "Lancieri di Novara" began to harass the left flank of the enemy in repeated cavalry charges.

Say what????

uncredited painting from https://www.reddit.com/r/wwi/comments/dp9wqg/a_painting_depicting_the_battle_of_pozzuolo_del/

Apparently, the cavalry did fight dismounted for a time in 1916, but by the end of that year, they were back on horseback. Both the Wikipedia entry for the unit and the Reddit link above give descriptions of their actions in October 1917 (Caporetto/Pozzuolo).

There is a picture floating around on the web (and on sale on eBay) of Italian cavalry in pursuit of Austrians in late 1918 - either as part of the 2nd Battle of the Piave in June or during/in the aftermath of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto:

https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/noartistknown/wwi-italian-cavalry-squadron-of-italian-lancers-starting-in-pursuit-of-the-retreating-austrian-army/nomedium/asset/3130683

Also, feel free to Google the Italian cavalry in 1918 - you'll get plenty of photos and illustrations of lancers on horseback. All of my reading and I feel like I missed something crucial!

In any case, I think it's obvious what all of this means: I need cavalry now!

Of course, finding purpose made Italian cavalry in this scale is a difficult task. However, the Armies in Plastic WWI British lancer uniforms are close enough for me - a paint conversion should handle it. A head swap with the Adrian-helmeted WWI French figures will complete the ensemble.

Since I decided on using One Hour Wargames "Machine Age"  with reduced base size or maybe The Portable Wargame at some point, as well as Trench Hammer, a few two-cavalry figure units is more than enough.

The Southern Front, 1917ish

 Somewhere in the Italian Alps...

It's quiet and cold. But not for long. Well, it's still cold but not quiet.

Bomber squads advance on the Austrian left.

Overview of the Austrian advance.

Austrian bomber squad reaches the trench on the Austrian left.

The Austrian stormtroopers reach the trench and force the MG back in a close assault. 

The Italian leader issued a Heads Up! to help the MG crew recover a damage point and was rewarded for his effort by being struck down.

The Italian bomber squad charges the stormtrooper unit and forces them to abandon the trench.

A view down the trench line from the Italian right.

The plucky Italian bomber squad put up the most spirited defense of the game.

Things don't look good for the Italian rifle unit on the right.

Austrian MG crew at the bottom of the slope catches the Italian bomber squad in its sights, to no effect.

Another go-round for these two units!

The Austrians captured the communication trench entrance.

The Austrian rifles were sacrificed in mutual destruction with the Italian bomber squad.

The LMG squad which did virtually nothing, finally moves up to mop up the now empty trench.

*****

Rules used were Trench Hammer with the assault rules from the Expansion.

Had to look up a few rules here and there but basically after turn 2, it wasn't necessary much at all.

I don't really feel that fighting with squads makes a great deal of sense on the Southern Front, since I can't find anything that suggests that Italian units used the kind of squad specialization common on the Western Front. And while the Austrians did have stormtrooper squads, again I'm not sure that the regular infantry broke down into specialized squads even later in the war. 

That said, it IS fun and that's what I wanted. I have Burning Mountains for historical accuracy. I also have H.MG. or even Fistful of Lead : Bigger Battles or GASLIGHT for company-sized units (which probably makes the most sense).

Speaking of mountains, inspiration for the "mountain" came from Tim Gow's 32nd Battle of the Isonzo - in my case, I relied on floor cushions, empty boxes, DVD cases and my foam hills.

Austro-Hungary Responds to Italian Escalation!

Not to be outdone by the Italians, the Austro-Hungarian army has equipped its forces along the Southern Front with newly acquired machine guns of their own.

Astute readers will note that these are not the standard Schwarzlose but rather are models based on the German MG 08. 

Once again, this is a model available from Irregular Miniatures in their 54mm WWI line. The gas mask head is an option. I just like the way they look (for the same reason I have always liked the 1/72 Strelets WWI figures as they all have gas masks for all sides).

My "conversion" of the uniform to Austrian, besides the colors, was to simply paint over the boot upper as if it was a puttee. 

Assembling the MG took some effort, but then, assembling anything is not my strong suit (you should see me with Ikea furniture). I snapped one of the front support legs - thankfully it was only one, and it repaired easily with super glue. Attaching them at the correct angle nearly resulted in permanently gluing myself to the model. Twice.

In the end though, slapped over with paint and gloss, it looks the part.

I plan to buy one more MG team for each force again from Irregular eventually.  They are a great deal, even including shipping to the US, and they arrived quickly. However, I have more infantry to paint up in the meantime.

Italy Sends Bersaglieri to the Line!

Although greatly under strength, the Italian Bersaglieri prepare to square off against their Austrian foes!

The officer gets fancier black leather shoes.

These Waterloo 1815 figures painted up fairly quickly by my standard.

I attribute this to two things. One, there is an overall lack of kit with these figures - akin to Airfix WWII Soviets. The  other reason is that I discovered that if I take a little more time with each step, there is less need to go back and fix errors. Not no need mind you, but far less need. Who knew?

Sadly, there was some peeling when I removed the figures from their painting bases which you can see in the picture.

I will seal the bases with PVA and regloss the bases once I settle on what the final actual basing will be.

At present, I am leaning towards individual figures on the same size bases I use for my Great Game armies (I don't recall the size, so hopefully I have the order receipt from Litko so I can order more!). Trench Hammer works equally well either way, and H.M.G. which I would like to try, by default uses individually-based figures.