CON TUTTO IL CUORE
Italian General’s Handbook 1935-45
Hoplite Research
“With all of the heart”, this module written by Alex T. Bagosy details the forces of the nation of Italy during WWII with specific guidelines for army lists for the “Panzer Korps” rules. Table of contents, lists for almost 80 different types of divisions, vehicle/unit/weapon lists/tables, bibliography, 120 pages.
Historically much maligned, recent evaluations of the Italian fighting man have shown that the common soldier of WWII could be as good a fighter as other nations. This book describes the types of forces fielded by Italy in the mid 20th century. Each different campaign or year is described briefly in a few pages to give the reader a feel for the flavor of the period. Special instructions are included to allow the gamer to recreate the type/style of Italian command, units and theater specific rules to recreate the Italian army typical of the particular era/campaign. Multiple suggested divisions are provided for each campaign to allow gamers a wide selection – infantry, armor, “Blackshirt”, Alpini, Airborne and different units that faced off against each other after Italy officially surrendered are among the many choices available to wargamers. Each division has a short blurb describing it, a helpful touch.
Poorly supplied, poorly armored tanks and often ineptly led, the Italian soldier has earned an undeserved less than stellar reputation. With the limited time we have to paint, why choose to build and play Italian armies? An easy, initial stock answer is “for the challenge” but an even better answer is the ability to fight in an incredible amount of different places: Abyssinia, Spain, France, Albania, Greece, North Africa, the Soviet Union and Italy itself – a fascinating range of places in which to field armies!
This module is better written, with more detail and text, than the Soviet General’s Handbook. If you like to play division type WWII games, this is an excellent text to allow you to recreate the Regio Esercito. Avanti!
Price: $29.95
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