Italian infantry, 6mm

What Italian armour I need in the foreseeable future is painted, now it’s time for infantry.
I bought a pack of Italian soldiers from GHQ, and they’ve got an impressive amount of detail for figures that tiny.
I copied the technique Laffe used for his British infantry, and I used Osprey Men-at-Arms nr 349 ’The Italian Army 1940-45 (2) Africa 1940-43’ as inspiration.
I started by cleaning the figures, and filing down the officers’ caps, that looked like French kepis initially.

The figures were based with two layers of Vallejo 847 Dark Sand and after that Devlan Mud.
After that Dark Sand as a painted high-light on arms and headgear.
Rifle stocks 843 Cork Brown
Bread-bags 819 Iraqui Sand
Water bottles 869 Basalt Grey (a bit too dark)
Faces and hands 955 Flat Flesh
Metal GW Chainmail
Shoes and other leather Humbrol 62 Leather

One really shouldn’t take close-ups like this, these guys are tiny!

I glued 8 men to a FoW-base. A bit crowded, but it will do. The result from the work of a couple of evenings were 7 squads and one nearly fininshed. That one has to wait for reinforcements.

Attack! It’s fun with hordes in 6mm.

Statues and elemental

Four statues made by Rackham, and bought for a pittance. I decided to finish these quickly. I based them with white, a layer of Vallejo 819 Iraqui Sand and Army Painter Quickshade Strong Tone. Finished with matte varnish. 

The elemental is also Rackham, and was done the same way, but I also painted some parts with Vallejo 912 Tan Yellow.

Done in two evenings (and I even painted some other stuff during the same time)
They won’t win any prizes, but they will be nice additions on the board during a D&D game.

More Italians

Two 75/27 artillery guns with SPA TL 37 prime mover from GHQ, and another Autoblinda from H&R. Now it’s time to paint figures.

Orc shaman

This evil oldster has moved from the painting table to the box of painted figures. Has lived a long life in the tin-mountain, and came originally from Games Workshop.

Avanti!

More 6mm Italians.
Same as I described before, and a new-comer, a Fiat gun-tractor from H&R.
I’ve speeded up the 6mm painting, and soon there will be guns.
On the down-side, I’ve just got a couple of FOW-bases left.

Forza Italia!

The mighty Italian armoured forces are shaping up. They will be used (why do I get flashes of burning wrecks…) in East and North Africa, together will masses of tiny soldiers waiting to be painted.
Here we have the first batch of armour and vehicles.

M11/39 and lorry from GHQ

Semovente and CV3/35 from Heroics & Ros

M13/40 and Autoblinda, also from H&R.

Here’s the whole bunch, probably speeding back from the front-lines as fast as they can go.

It’s obvious that the GHQ-vehicles are far superior when it comes to detailing.

All vehicles are based on Flames of War (FoW) bases, the smallest model, painted with a mix of fine sand and beige paint (Flügger Egg Dream), followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. The models are pinned to the bases, and after that a dry-brush of Egg Dream (without the sand obviously) giving some shade beneath and around the vehicles.

I’m thinking about how to distinguish the vehicles from each other (Let’s see, Commander Pescatore sits in the right-hand M13/40, or does he? He did turn left two rounds ago, so it could be the front left one, or… Look out, British armour! Bam! Boom! Crash! Bummer, never mind, it doesn’t matter anymore…)