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Author Topic: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project  (Read 5323 times)

Offline Mr.J

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #15 on: May 20, 2020, 11:46:44 AM »
These do look very nice, I like the uniform colour. Can't decide if I really like, or dislike the Warlord Games heads - they're very characterful.
Overall a nice inspiring project.

Offline Wiegraf

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #16 on: June 01, 2020, 11:15:59 PM »
Quote
These do look very nice, I like the uniform colour. Can't decide if I really like, or dislike the Warlord Games heads - they're very characterful.
Overall a nice inspiring project.

Thank you very much! The warlord heads are sort of cartoony for the bersagelri so I painted them with blue goggles. I thought it was a nice contrast with the khaki and yellow vibes of their uniforms.

They look good on masse. Just a few more units of them and I am golden.


Offline Redmist1122

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #17 on: June 03, 2020, 06:37:55 PM »
Still looking good!  Thanks for additional pics!
Greg P.
Tucson, AZ, USA

Offline AzSteven

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2020, 04:28:47 PM »
Very nice work!  I think the Warlord faces being cartoony is more a result of the over-large noses on many of them - almost like they are channeling Bob Olley dwarves or something.

Offline Tim Haslam

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2020, 05:27:19 PM »
You’ve done a great job on those.
I’ve gone for the regular Italian infantry from warlord, but found them a bit skinny for my liking. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I prefer.
But I needed the separate head figures for conversion work I’ve done.
Apparently the new plastic box set has been delayed due to the pandemic thingy.
So we’re looking at new year for plastics.

Keep em coming..
A millionaire trapped in a peasants body!

Offline Wiegraf

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #20 on: June 24, 2020, 11:44:02 PM »
Thank you all for the kind comments!  :)

Quote
Apparently the new plastic box set has been delayed due to the pandemic thingy.
So we’re looking at new year for plastics.

Yes - I've heard the same. I was not impressed with their plastic tank releases though. They seemed to lack the depth and detail of the older resin sets. The Semovente didn't look as good as the resin version. Maybe the plastics will look better.
I'll stick with the metals I have though!

Quote
Very nice work!  I think the Warlord faces being cartoony is more a result of the over-large noses on many of them - almost like they are channeling Bob Olley dwarves or something.

Haha, I like their aesthetic nonetheless!



Well, I have been working on ancients and switch back and forth between my Republican Romans and WW2 project, but I was able to fire this Cv35 with double machines guns off very, very quickly. I tried a technique out using dry brushing and sponge work. People tell me to use Air Brush for Camo and tanks but so far I have found I don't really need one!

I'm not sure if the pattern is historically accurate or not. I just thought it was cool looking.  I probably won't use Camo on any other of my Italian Tanks tough - I just wanted to test out the techniques for future armies that make extensive use of Camo on their vehicles, like Hungary.









The CV35 is a Perry mini and might be slightly smaller than the Warlord Games tanks and armoured vehicles for scale purposes - but I think it will work fine. I put in on a base since it's entirely metal and I hate picking up metal figures and will only grab them by the base even after I seal them. I think it turned out well!




Offline Mark M Down

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #21 on: June 25, 2020, 07:03:55 AM »
I have just stumbled across this thread and what a lovely army you have built. It looks great.

Offline Schogun

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #22 on: June 25, 2020, 12:53:37 PM »
Very nice job!

I'm about to paint up some Italians of my own. May I ask which paints and colors you used?

Thanks.

Offline Wiegraf

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #23 on: June 26, 2020, 05:10:52 AM »
Quote
I have just stumbled across this thread and what a lovely army you have built. It looks great.

Thank you! Lots to continue to work on however!

Quote
Very nice job!

I'm about to paint up some Italians of my own. May I ask which paints and colors you used?

Thanks.

Thank you very much!  For my paint scheme I use a mixture of Vallejo and Citadel Paints.

I start by spray priming the entire model Desert Yellow. And missing gap the spray doesn't get in I will use paint on primer then cover with Desert Yellow Acrylic brush on version. These are all Vallejo paints.

Then I just fill in the pieces. The Vallejo colors are :

helmets are Green Ochre, The leg wraps Olive grey, the guns wood parts and shovels are flat brown, the backpacks and many pieces like part of the back packs and some knife sheaths are grey green.  Grey Green on Canteens as well. Sleeping Bag things are Cork Brown.

For Citadel I base with Bugman's Glow for Skin, Death World Forest for straps and pouches, Abandon black for feathers and machine guns, Lead Belcher for metal parts, Rhinox hide for leather and shoes.  Goggles are Alaitoic blue (though technically they should be black - I preferred the blue look).

I will wash the entire thing in a semi-heavy citadel Agrax Earthsahde, except the skin. Skin I wash with citadel REikland flesh.

Then I just layer up using mostly the same paints, the exception are these, which are all citadel


Skin layered with Cadian Flesh
Feathers Layered Skaven Blight Dinge
Leather layered Gorthor Brown

FINALLY I edge highlight everything with a lighter color - which is usually either the final layer coat with just an addition of white.

Offline Wiegraf

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #24 on: November 02, 2021, 01:23:30 AM »
Haven't shared my project for awhile but I've got numerous units and pieces done for my Desert Project... at least for the WW2 part. I'll have better pictures soon.  I have enough to do bolt action now so I thought I'd share the game and the stuff I've been using here.

I played Bolt Action with BazookaJoe and it was the second time using my bersaglieri veteran force. He was the British and we were playing in the North African Libyan sand. The rather large table was a bombed out village with a nearby oasis, some palms and fields full of desert boulders and shrubs.

The game was demolition. We both set up our locations diagonally from each other in the corners and then deployed our forces. There was no fancy air raids or bombings or anything.. if there was supposed to be we didn’t add them in. It was 1000 points.
British forces:
2 Bren Carriers with 2 Infantry teams inside
2 Infantry teams, something like 7-9 men a team
1 First Lieutenant with some guards
1 Anti Tank Rifle Team
1 MMGTeam
1 British 2 pounder with a truck
1 Mortar team
1 Valentine Tank
I think most teams had the regular weapon upgrades.
He had 13 order dice
Italian forces (Everything was Veteran except the tanks):
1 Lone Second Lieutenant without body guard.
3 units of 6 bersaglieri (They had LMG, leader with sub M. Gun, tank hunter. The basics)
1 Unit of 6 bersaglieri with nothing but rifles and tank hunter)
1 Light Mortar Team
1 Elefantino Anti Tank Gun
1 MMG team
1 Anti Tank Rifle Team
1 Autoblinda 41b armored vehicle
1 Semovente 75/18 assault gun
I had 11 order dice
Unlike last game, there were no reserves, so we just went right into deploying.

Here's the pictures I took for the game - I tried to order them right.















































My base was at the back behind two large rock formations. I had two bersaglieri teams, my leader and the MMG guard the place. I put the autoblinda on their far right to sneak past the boulders. On the left rock formation I put my anti tank rifle. Further left behind the bombed out village I put my other 2 teams, the light mortar, anti tank gun, semovente. This was all done to essentially try to hold the village and delay / halt the enemy advance.
Opposite my deployment , Bazookajoe had put his anti tank rifle on his far left, with both bren carriers. Behind the village sat the Valentine, his leader and two infantry. Straddled between them was the mortar team hidden in some bushes.  On the far , far side of the board closer to the oasis BazookaJoe put his MMG and 2 pounder with truck into a defensive position. These two units basically didn’t even take part the entire game, so they did their job of guarding the place.
The game started out with everyone advancing. The troops either side of the village moved forward while the tanks pressed forth, so far avoiding one another. Bazookajoes’s mortar team and tank took shots at the anti tank rifle i put on the boulder ridge, but werent able to destroy it. I took a shot at the Valentine, but didn’t realize that the Medium Tank’s armor was way too tough for the anti tank rifle.. there was no way i could even superficially damage it, despite scoring a direct hit. Oops! At least it was epic.
Meanwhile the bren carriers advanced forward and BazookaJoe put his anti tank rifle into an ambush. I kept my men behind the rock formations in position with the MMG and started sneaking my Autoblinda forward. My own light mortar and anti tank gun totally missed their intended targets..
Eventually as the teams near the bombed out village started getting closer I had one of my units take up a firing position behind some sandbags, and they scored some great hits right away. BazookaJoe was able to get his bren carriers behind a boulder formation and let out his infantrymen. The English Mortar was able to lob a well placed shot and destroy my anti tank rifle team.
The bren carriers started shooting at my MMG team and i eventually had them take cover behind the rocks. I switched the MMG position with one of my infantry teams so they could shoot at anything coming over the rock ridge, which proved to be the right choice. I shot some shells from my tank and my anti tank gun at his bren carriers , which were the only targets available but they all missed.
While Bazookajoe unloaded everything from the Bren Carriers I snuck up my autoblinda and started firing at the bren carriers and infantry that just unloaded. There was no damaged scored, but Bazookajoe’s anti tank rifle shot my armored car in the side. It started a fire, but I was able to put it out. My autocannon’s turret however was jammed so had an awkward angle for the rest of the game. Bazookajoe’s mortar launched smoke in front of my semovente to try and prevent it from shooting his brens, but it ended up moving into the bombed out town in the next turn.
It was during the next turn the Bazookajoe once again advanced his Valentine tank and shot at my Autoblinda. But I had Recce ready, and I flew outta there (The wheeled Vehicle can use RUN to escape because it has steering wheels on both sides of the car). The tank completely missed because of this. I countered by advancing my Semovente forward and firing shells directly at the Valentine. Essentially for the rest of the battle the two tanks kept shooting at each other’s front and failed to damage each other until the last turn when Bazookajoe ended up destroying the Semovente. 
After shooting back and forth, and another well placed Motar shot that had happened sometime during the game,  Bazookajoe was able to reduce one of my central units to 2 men. They didn’t break and later ended up using a smokescreen to escape (The Smokescreen was actually shot by Bazookajoe who wanted to blind my Semovente, but it instead travelled over in between our inner town gun fight). My other unit, who had taken up residence in one of the buildings decided to book it and head back to a defensive position alongside the Semovente. His leader and one of the infantry units booked it towards the far right side of my field, but didnt get in in Bazookajoee to really be effective in the end.
While all this action was going on, Bazookajoe had let the men in his Bren Carrier take the high ground on the rock formations near my base. His cover formation failed him however - His men were absolutely slaughtered. Italian machine gun fire, Light Mortar blasts, and tons of rifles and sub machine guns reduced them all to linguine. Even the autoblinda that used Recce a second time to escape a second anti rifle tank shot was able to use the autocannons to blast away at the remaining troops in the final turn.
In the end, While Bazookajoe had reduced one of my units of 6 men to 2, and did some minor casualties to my defensive units as well as destroy my Assault Gun and anti tank rifle team, the Italians really did a number on the units that popped out of the Bren carriers. Furthermore, the central infantry teams all had some form of casualties on them. I’d say it was probably about equal amount of casualties and if the game continued it would be hard to say if Bazookajoe would have won – my anti tank gun could still destroy the Valentine and I had plenty of men left to fight off the rest of his infantry.
Overall, it was a great game and the Vet Italians, although being outnumbered and forced to really defend once again, were able to bring the game to a draw. I was just glad that this time I could see my Veterans fully fielded and how well they can handle being outnumbered when both forces face each other directly.  Looking forward to the next game.

I haven't shared my minis in this topic for awhile. I'm nearly done the amount I want to do, but I've got a lot of other projects on the go. In any case, hoping I get through em fairly soon!


Offline Grumpy Gnome

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #25 on: November 02, 2021, 02:24:06 AM »
Great work! That game looks brilliant.
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Offline MaleGriffin

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #26 on: November 02, 2021, 03:45:28 PM »
Absolutely Brilliant! Superb brushwork! Marvelous terrain! I've been collecting 8th Army and Afrika Korps for North Africa, but you have inspired me to collect Italians now too!
Hoc quoque transibit
Sanguinem sistit semper

Offline CapnJim

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #27 on: November 02, 2021, 11:52:17 PM »
Loved the battle report - nice to see Italians properly fielded!

And the figures, vehicles and terrain are all perfectly lovely!  Well done all around!
"Remember - Incoming Fire Has the Right-of-Way"

Offline Redmist1122

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Re: North African Bersaglieri - First Bolt Action Project
« Reply #28 on: November 26, 2021, 03:55:44 AM »
Good looking game with all the figures and terrain...very inspiring!  I just order the new Italian Army & Blackshirts box set and the 10-lead figure set.  This will be used for my Chain of Command Games.  Thanks again for posting.