Royal Italian Army in East Africa, 1939-41 (Bolt Action 3rd Edition)

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

This will be my first 3rd Edition Bolt Action force, an early war Royal Italian Army in East Africa platoon. I wanted to create something distinctly “early war” in a secondary theater visually distinct from Europe. An army of men in sun hats, supported by twenty year old armored cars, “modern” outdated concepts like the tankette, mountain guns drawn by native pack animals, and locally-recruited colonial troops. First and foremost, this is a thematic force. Like in real life, I doubt it could beat any other Bolt Action force without violating the Geneva Convention. Again.

In second edition, my main focus was North Africa with full British 8th Army / 2nd Australian Imperial Force, Long Range Desert Patrol & SAS, German Afrika Korps, and Italian armies for Mad Max-esque early to mid-war desert shenanigans. Shifting to the 1940-41 East Africa Campaign, feels like an extension of that for the tabletop as I’m able to reuse and “update” some of my existing collection instead of starting from nothing.





Rifle Platoon
My core rifle platoon is built around two infantry sections, one regular infantry and an inexperienced colonial troops section. Despite their deployment and reputation from the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-36), Bolt Action requires colonial troops to be taken as inexperienced.

The regular infantry section is where this project began, as I started building them to use in Pulp Alley as an opposing league. In turn, that idea was inspired by the Italians in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

These basic troops wear sun hats and except for one “designated marksman,” the squad carry carbines for handier use in areas of denser vegetation. They’re soldiers more concerned with convenience and relative comfort on patrol than armed and protected for combat. The “designated marksman” has no special role in Bolt Action but is purely to give him a different stat line in Pulp Alley. Because of their origin, all troops are named to tell them apart and it was fun going through common Italian, Sicilian and Napolitano family names.

These troops used sprues from Warlord Games’ Italian Army & Blackshirts, and Bersaglieri boxes. The sprues are essentially the same except for heads. I wasn’t sure on the issuance of the camiciotto sahariano, so didn’t use those bodies. The modello 1938 submachine gun also wouldn’t have been used by regular infantry like this at the beginning of the war so I didn’t include them in my list.


Left- current finish Right- 2023

The second section, the Askari, is still being re-finished. These were finished about two years ago, and now is a good time to clean them up, give them a wash, and enhance the base. The tarboosh (fez) tassel color can also be painted different colors based on the unit; since this isn’t based on any particular real unit I used green for a pop of color.

These troops are Warlord metal miniatures.



The rifle platoon commander, with his faithful and maybe a bit tired aide, was made from the Italian Army & Blackshirts box with a paper holding right arm from the French Army box. From his expression and Italian gesturing he’s reading out orders to his men in the passionate sounding manner Italians can say anything. I named him Tenente (Lt.) Coco, after my Sicilian great-grandparents. “Coco” is a common Sicilian family name.

The moto-guzzi is cute and it needed to be part of this force. It will be used to transport the anti-tank rifle team.

Troops basing is inspired by the greenery of Ethiopia’s Awash River Valley, and provides a nice contrast to the Italian’s yellowish uniforms. These troops aren’t meant to be at any particular place or battle.

That’s it for now, I’ll update as more units are finished.

[Tom Dulski]

 Damn, those guys look great! Can I ask what you use for a wash? That really made the difference with these guys.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

The wash is a mix of Agrax Earthshade and Vallejo flow improver, which I learned about a week ago from a video. Measurements are all kind of eyeballed to see what looks best. The green ochre paint is brighter than I want, so I go heavier on the Agrax in the mix for them to darken it down. Thats also why the wash is all over the place in terms of heaviness as I tried to see what worked best. I think it's like a 2/3 Agrax to flow improver. Again, it's like cooking. I stop dropping when my ancestors reach down and tell me it's enough. For the ones it was too heavy on, I drybrushed green ochre back over it to lighten them up.

The moto-guzzi is pure wash though, as I wanted it to look filthy. Nuln oil on the metal parts, Agrax on the wooden bin.

Hope that helps.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

These are my two engineer sections, led by a scruffy looking officer. (He’s actually a tanker from the platoon commander set) I used the metal flamethrowers and two metal soldiers from the Warlord Guastatori Section box, but the rest are mostly made from Italian plastic and the NCO has a French cigarette smoking hand. The two Bangalore torpedoes are from the Warlord US Ranger box. Unlike the rifle section, these all wear helmets and carry gas masks to imply they do dangerous demolition work.

[Tom Dulski]

 I like the guys in Gas masks, are they flame thrower operators?

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

I like the guys in Gas masks, are they flame thrower operators?

They are. They're from the Warlord Guastatori metal set, they also have assistants with gas masks or face coverings. I couldn't find where I left the unfinished miniatures from that set until a few hours ago, so if this gets expanded to a third engineer team I'll add them.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

I've been haphazardly making the armor for over a year without purpose, or as the kids say, "for the LOLZ." My planned armor platoon is a pair of CV33 with the Lancia IZM, though the engineers or CV33's can be swapped out for the M11/39. I finished the second (darker) CV33 tonight using the same strategy as my latest Matilda II and am very happy with it. The IZM surprised me with how useful it is, having the recce rule, two independent firing turret mounted machine guns and the rear firing MMG, despite being an obsolete relic by any standard.

[fred]

 Looking good!

he IZM surprised me with how useful it is, having the recce rule, two independent firing turret mounted machine guns and the rear firing MMG, despite being an obsolete relic by any standard.

Welcome to Bolt Action (and many other skirmish rules) where vehicles with many MGs seem to be way more effective than they actually were. Lots of 19030s tanks had lots of MGs, but these were rapidly removed following actual combat experience at the start of WWII. Which strongly suggests they weren't that useful (I think not least as the crew couldn't operate them all, and the fumes from firing them become a problem rapidly.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

Looking good!

Welcome to Bolt Action (and many other skirmish rules) where vehicles with many MGs seem to be way more effective than they actually were. Lots of 19030s tanks had lots of MGs, but these were rapidly removed following actual combat experience at the start of WWII. Which strongly suggests they weren't that useful (I think not least as the crew couldn't operate them all, and the fumes from firing them become a problem rapidly.

I feel like the IZM is Italy's answer to the "Dakka Stuart." I'm happy Italy gets something, so I'm not complaining. You saw the two CV33 tankettes. I'm going to use them as mobile MMG teams as that's all they really are.

[CapnJim]

Nice job on those Italianos.  Well done!

[Tom Dulski]

 Curious, I've never seen an armored car quite like that. I'm assuming those struts are for cutting through barbed wire?

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

It’s a relic of the Great War that was still being used during the next war, so I’m not fully sure what the idea was but your suggestion makes sense.

[HerbertTarkel]

Hard to believe BA is already on its 3rd edition! Nice looking Italians - I’m usually partial to Perry as their sculpts are so beautiful. 

I was a moderator on the Warlord Forum - the first non-WG one - when BA broke, 1st edition. Feels like forever ago! It was fun being “in” on the beginning of something that has become so big. Third edition. Wow.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

I had a similar experience once a few years ago. I was in the Navy and joked to a junior Sailor, "I've been in so long we still had Twin Towers when I joined." Kid looked me dead in the eye and said, "I wasn't born yet."

[CapnJim]

Hard to believe BA is already on its 3rd edition! Nice looking Italians - I’m usually partial to Perry as their sculpts are so beautiful. 

I was a moderator on the Warlord Forum - the first non-WG one - when BA broke, 1st edition. Feels like forever ago! It was fun being “in” on the beginning of something that has become so big. Third edition. Wow.

I was in the inner circle working with Ambush Alley Games' Force on Force and ist supplements.  I know what you mean.

I had a similar experience once a few years ago. I was in the Navy and joked to a junior Sailor, "I've been in so long we still had Twin Towers when I joined." Kid looked me dead in the eye and said, "I wasn't born yet."

Shit, when I was on active duty in Germany, there was still a West and East Germany...