Perrys 8th Army

[former user]

I think You are right, Lybians

[flags_of_war]

Really looking forward to these. What battles could they be used in though that would involve big open deserts? I don't know much about North Africa Battles and always think of Tanks before infantry.

[former user]

google "Scot columns"

[BattlewagonBruce]

We are looking forward to a desert summer at Offensive!

Just done a DAK Kubel, with desert tyres and crew to follow.

These are cast just need to put into a production mold.





These will be available at Salute.

BB

[Genialjim]

Seen the metal Italians but does any one know if they are doing French forces?

[Hildred Castaigne]

Seen the metal Italians but does any one know if they are doing French forces?

There has been no mention of French yet.

[Arlequín]

Seen the metal Italians but does any one know if they are doing French forces?

Probably in resin... 

I'm being uncharitable. When I first saw the Brits a while ago, I was quite thrilled and still am truth told. One thing the Perrys do is completeness, so I wouldn't be surprised if plastic Italians and French appear somewhere down the line. I would be pretty stoked if they did too! Abyssinia, Syria, Greece, Libya, Madagascar, even Spain... almost endless possibilities and options! 

The DAK figures look great too, call me odd, but they are way down my list of things I would like to do though.

 

[Silent Invader]

I'm thinking of doing something set around the invasion of Sicily.

[redzed]

Really looking forward to these. What battles could they be used in though that would involve big open deserts? I don't know much about North Africa Battles and always think of Tanks before infantry.

Greece, some really close up fighting, early part of the Italian campaign, and depending exactly how 'finicky' you are possibly Singapore

[carlos marighela]

Syria 1941.

[Centaur_Seducer]

the most numerous troop type were actually Tunisians in Italian service, if they had a special uniform.....

To be honest, I'm not even sure there were Tunisians in French service. After all, that would come in the way of all the manpower needed to smuggle and keeping a lively black market during the conflict

[carlos marighela]

At the start of Operation Compass, at the end of 1940 there were two Libyan divisions in existence. At the same time there another seven Italian divisions in theatre, either metropolitan or Blackshirt plus a whole host of ancillary and supporting troops plus various bits and pieces. The two Libyan divisions were effectively wiped out during Compass so it's hard to see how Libyans would have made up the largest number of combatants.

[Hildred Castaigne]

Greece, some really close up fighting, early part of the Italian campaign, and depending exactly how 'finicky' you are possibly Singapore

Singapore! 

[former user]

Yup, my statement was kind of unprecise, so:

in What is generally called "the Mediterranean Campaign" or "Northafrican Campaign" and also extended to include Ethiopia 1940 and Syria 1941 (I am leaving out Greece and Crete 1941 for lack of knowledge)  the majority of combattants were of non European ethniticity. France (70%)  Italy (in Eritrea 70%) for example, unable to quote any number when it comes to Indian soldiers in the British Army. I am leaving out Australian and South African troops as well as the many batallions of jewish volunteers.

Although the two Libyan divisions were disbanded after Compass, many Libyans had enlisted in Italian units and there were a lot of other supporting troops  (Source to start with could be Jowett, Philip (2001). The Italian Army 1940-45, especially part 2, the Bibliography lists almost exclusively Italian sources - sorry my Italian is not that fluent and it would cost me more time than I find it interesting to research this)

My point being that in general (gamers and miniature companies) tabletop wargaming overrepresents the involvement of european troops and underrepresents the "auxiliary ethniticities" if I may use the expression. This not being an issue limited to wargaming but rather transported from media, particularly movies. This is not meant to raise accusations, just to state the facts.

I encountered this problem myself when researching for my new project, the French Foreign Legion 1910-1950. For all the campaigns in which the legion participated, the overwhelming number of french troops (50% minimum) came from non-european ethniticities. In Morocco the job was mainly done by tirailleurs and the legion provided the backbone.

And returning to the topic, it has already been stated that the first troops to be made in plastic are not the ones that would have been statistically visible. So we were only holding up a mirror to us and the wargaming community who usually is very quick to state historical inconsistencies but forgets that we set the focus and the choice of troops

[Bugsda]

Excellent! I hope they make a good selection of surrendering poses for the Italians