To complement the Compagnia Bersaglieri, I added a couple armor units for support:

1. M13/M14  (M14 was an improved version of the M13 and for all intents at 15mm the difference in armor is not apparent) EW/MW
2. L3/35 Lanciflamme tankette
3. Semovente 75mm/18

The Fiat M13/M14 was a light tank with a 47mm gun (AT 6(EW) AT 7(MW))

The tank had a coaxial and twin hull MG.

I originally painted these tanks two years ago, but I did not put on a camo scheme or wash back then.  The wash and camo changed the model completely and I am really impressed how well these little guys look! 

Given the results of  these tanks… I just might have to expand this force to a complete compagnia carri!  Just need 6 more tanks.  Just need to decide if I want to get 6 tanks from BF at ~$10 each or 6 from Command Decision at ~$29?

The L3/35 tankette was based on the British Mark VI tankette

In flames of war you have the option of having a Brixia mortar, flamer, twin hull MG, or Solothurn variant.  The model is an option in the Hellfire and Back and Burning Empires books.  The Greeks can have the MG variant in Burning Empires.

The Semovente 75/18 is a Mid War tank and can be found in the Afrika or North Africa Intelligence Handbook. 

The platoon is unique in that the command tank is different from the Semovente 75/18 tanks.  It has no main gun!  Only a 13.2mm machine gun.  Unfortunately, this makes it subject to the Gun Tank rule.  If you score a hit on the platoon, you make a second roll.  A roll of 5 or 6 allows you to choose which tank to hit.

Colors used on these tanks:

For support options I have in the works:

1. Self Propelled Coastal Gun Platoon
2. Heavy Anti Aircraft Platoon Lancia 90/53 (WIP)
3. Fiat CR 42 Falco (WIP)
4. Motorized Cannon Battery (75mm/27 guns)
5. Howitzer Battery (100mm/17 guns)

The self propelled coastal artillery are 102mm naval guns mounted on a truck.  Gotta love the improvisation that happened during the early parts of WW2.  The exceled in the role as a long range anti tank gun.  This will be the Italian answer to the Matilda II tank.  The model is excellent quality as expected from Battlefront. 

The figures come with bases and I had to figure out how to remove the bases without screwing up the boots on the miniatures.  I tried a hobby knife on one foot and it seemed to remove about 25% of the boot.  Not good!!!  The best way to remove the stand was to take some plastic clippers or pliers and cut around the feet of the figure and then clean it up with a file.

The heavy anti aircraft Lancia 90mm guns are a work in progress and I will update this post when I get them complete soon!!

The Fiat CR42 Falco are also a WIP. 

The field artillery options for Bersaglieri include 75mm, 100mm, and 105mm guns.  The 105mm guns are outrageously costed in the game and come in 130 points more for a battery than the 100mm guns.  No sense in buying those!!  What was Battlefront thinking?  Were they that rare?

The motorized cannon battery with the 75mm gun came with the originial Compagnia Bersaglieri Box I purchased several years ago.  Finally painted them last month!!

To give a unique appearance to my Army, I painted all the guns and tanks with a green camo scheme. 

The observer team is an optional element for this artillery battery and must be bought seperately.

To give the Compagnia a bit more forza or vigore, they have a battery of 100mm guns.  Little better AT in bombardments AT4, but no smoke bombardments!!!  WTF  These guys have alot of handicaps.  Going go be a challenge to play this army

Color Scheme is very similar to Compagnia Bersaglieri:

I have painted some of the units of the army over a number of years.  Bersagileri platoon 1, some AT guns, and the bersagileri HMGs were painted about 3 years ago.  The carri and semovente platoon were painted 2 years ago.  Everything else has been painted in the last month. 

The Compagnia Bersaglieri:

1st Bersaglieri Platoon

Overall the miniatures are a good quality.  However, there were a number of deformed miniatures.  Either their heads were messed up and a few had incomplete legs.  I ended up using the heads of some of the deformed miniatures to do head swaps with the Greek officer figures from the continental motorciclisti.  

2nd Bersaglieri Platoon.  These were completed recently and reflect what I think is a slightly improved painting and basing style compared to what I did three years ago with the 1st platoon.  I did go over the 1st platoon and add details like the goggles and insignia.

Solothurn AT guns.  The Early War Variant of the Bersaglieri list calls for one per company.  However, the North Africa AS42 variant has the option for 1 per each squad (3 per platoon).  Not sure how effective these will be in mid war with ROF 3 and AT5.  Would put the hurt on some light tanks and infantry, but would have to be very lucky against medium armor.

Bersaglieri Mortar.  Standard 81mm medium mortar that many countries used.  Small platoon though compared to German and British platoon usually having 6 tubes.

Bersaglieri HMGs with the Breda HMG.  Again small platoon with only 3 guns.  AS42 bersaglieri platoon has one per squad.

Regular Italian Army HMGs.  To fill out the AS 42 platoon organization I bought the fucilleri HMG platoon just to give some variation in the company.  The Bersaglieri actually wore the steel helmets during fighting.  Platoon comes with the standard 4 HMG guns.

Beraglieri AT cannone da 47/32 modello 35 (1st platoon)

Beraglieri AT cannone da 47/32 modello 35 (2nd platoon).  Had to get a second platoon and a couple special orders just to have enough for the AS42 organization.  The Bersaglieri platoons have one per squad.

While not technically part of the core Compagnia Bersaglieri, I have included the Demolisher platoon.  These are the Italian combat engineers.  Wasnt really impressed with this blister as none of the figures are doing something “combat engineering” related.  They dont even have explosives. 

 It is basically the Fucilleri blister with a few flamethrowers thrown in. 

The pack didnt even have the brixa mortars needed to complete the platoon.  The option for the brixa mortars is to either buy the blister from Battlefront that has 9 mortars or to buy a pack from Peter Pig with 3 Brixia mortars.  I went with the Peter Pig option so I wouldnt have a bunch of mortars I wont use.  These are my only non BF miniatures in my Italian Army that I have painted.  I do have some Command Decision Semovente 75s that I havent finished painting.

Thanks for viewing the Compagnia Bersaglieri.  Currently, I only have two combat platoons.  I might expand it out to three in the future.  Peter Pig has a blister with a full platoon.  I like a little diversity, so I might try that even though I prefer BF infantry hands down. 

Next up is the Artillery batteries.  Will then have a post on the armor.  When I complete the motorciclisti and Falco biplanes I will have them posted. 

 Colors used for this project and I am sure I have forgotten a couple:

I was intrigued by the SU100 as a counter to the Tiger and Panther in Flames of War.  Plus I am mini-holic and have to have all the options available to me even though I might not even play it on a normal basis.  I have been neglecting my Soviet FOW army for quite some time and not giving them new toys to play with.  However, I have been working on a few things lately… the ZIS 5 trucks, SU 100s, and some PSC T 34s.  The ZIS 5 trucks were high lighted a month ago and I will complete the PSC T-34s once I get some new decals.  Would love the heavy artillery box, if someone has some extra cash for xmas

I have been trying to spread my toy budget over a number of different armies and game systems lately, so I have been looking for good deals for tanks as I cannot afford Battlefront prices and miniatures for Tomorrow’s war and my Italians.  Plus Star Wars the Old Republic Online will be going live next week and my toy budget will have to support that hobby too lol 

Anyway… I chose to go with Command Decision miniatures for my SU100 tanks through the War Web.    Cost is $14.39 for 3 tanks.  Needed two packs for a platoon of 5 tanks.  $28.78 for the Command Decision miniatures versus $46.40 for the Battlefront miniatures through the War Store. 

Assembly requires attachment of the tracks to main body, the gun piece attached to the body, and hatches.  Model comes with no crew and I used an extra BF crew for the company commander.  The package does come with some logs for decoration.  Fuel drums are casted onto the model unlike BF and PSC tanks.  The model is 100% metal with a hollow under body. 

The detail of the model overall is very good and I would consider it one of the better Command Decision tanks.  The only fault I have in the model is that gun barrel is too short.  When compared to a BF SU85 the length of the barrel is the same.  It should be considerably longer.  I would venture to classify the model as being the SU-85m instead of the SU 100 given the length of the barrel.  The SU 85m used the same body, but used the 85mm gun when the 100mm D10S gun was initially in short supply. 

Comparison of Command Decision “SU100″ (right) to Battlefront SU 85 (left) barrel length.

Flash was very minial on the tracks.  There are a few spots on the front glacis that are deformed from the molding process.  About half the tanks had this deformity.  Hard to see when painted up compared to when bare metal.   Colors used to paint the SU 100 (SU-85m) are:

Here are some photos of the SU100 (SU85M) parked next to Command Decision ISU 122 and ISU 152 models.

Video from You Tube showing painting of SU 100.

Comparison of Command Decision SU 100 against real photos of SU 100 and SU 85Ms.  Pretty obvious the barrel is too short without going into calculations and measurements.

I have to say I really love the Sabre Gunship. It looks good and it feels good if you gamers know what I mean.  It comes with options for guns or missiles to be placed on the sides.  I magnetized them relatively easily using a drill.  Originally, I used the smallet rare earth magnet that I have, but it couldnt hold the weight of the guns and they would sag on down to the floor like an old lady.  I removed those and replaced them with a magnet about 3 times as large.  Worked great!  The model comes in 8 pieces (4 are the engines) plus the weapons options and fits together pretty well.  I did have to use some Green Stuff to fill in Gaps around the wings. 

I decided to use a color scheme similar to the current color used on the US Apache helicopter.  Pretty boring actually. 

The Rebel Minis HAMR Recon Suit comes with a number of options for weapons including rifles and a huge knife.  Its almost like a Space Marine Dreadnaught with options for weapons.  This is the first 15mm walker I have it is pretty nice.  I went with a automatic weapon and flamethrower as option for this weapon platform.  Colors are the same as the Sabre Gunship.  I didnt have my imagination cap on when I painted these and didnt create a camo pattern.  

 Now I just need to figure out how to play the game!!!

15mm SEAL DEVGRU operators, OPS-COR helmets, wearing PVS-15 and face mask (eight models — six with HK416 (two with grenade launchers attached), one with Mk 14 EBR, one with M249, and eight separate Eagle Yote assault packs)

I was on the site to order the Space Demons for my son and thought what the heck, lets get some of these miniatures for the hell of it.  I have based them for Force on Force or Tomorrow’s War using the universal FoF base the US 1 cent Penny. 

The equipment choices are superb for these miniatures.  The defintion on the weapons is not bad and it about the only thing that could use some improvement.  The packs come sepearately on a sprue and have to be glued on.  Hopefully, they add to the line with more variations in gear and weapons. 

Operators with the HK416

I am not sure what uniform that was painted on the miniatures on the Khurasan website:

However, I went with MultiCam for this unit.  I will also use MultiCam for for my near future miniatures from Rebel Minis and Ground Zero Games.   I figure the US military will finally get some common sense and stop designing new camo patterns every few years and settle with MultiCam as it is useful in a variety of environments. 

Above is the M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle.

My son, Andrew, classifies the Space Demon Assault Warriors are the ridged Head “Alien” miniatures and the Space Demon Infiltrators are the Smooth Head “Alien” miniatures.  We also bought one Space Demon King, but did not add the spikes on the back because my son didnt think it looked like anything from the movie.  We have a few more packs of space demons coming plus some eggs.  The eggs are from a different range of Khurasan miniatures called Vespulid eggs.  They are perfectly suited for “Alien” eggs.  We have not bought the hammerhead or Colossus miniatures yet. 

Paint Scheme:

Miniature summary:  The miniatures come in quite a few dynamic poses which make them come alive.  The head come seperately and have to be glued on.  The Space Demon King is an absolutely awesome model.  Might even consider getting a couple to make them elite guard and then getting a Queen model or some.  The miniatures have quite a bit of body detail and the mouth and tonue are very well done.  The tongue is pretty creepy.  The teeth at the end of the tongue don’t have the definition that the teeth on the main head have.  The only con to the miniature is that my son and I dont have the skill to paint individual teeth that well yet.  I managed to get a few and it looks great.  Maybe its that lack of patience? :)  Overall they are an awesome miniature force.  Might even have them combat some of my Flames of War Forces.   We are also making some burrows for the Aliens to pop out of an ambush the prey. 

Space Demon King

Tomorrow’s War has a pretty good description of the stats to the Space Demons as part of the walkthough in the book on how to create your own custom force.   They have special rules such as Armored Hide, Scary Teeth & Claws, and Fast and Agile.  Tomorrow’s War seems very open ended so we can add additional special rules such as Hungy where a miniature must roll to see if it get distracted by fallen human colonists or keeps going on a killing spree.  Since the “Aliens” didnt eat their victims per say this would simiulate them returning the body to the hide for consumption by the larve stage.

Below are the space demons vs a Rebel Miniatures HAMR recon and a couple shots with Khursan Miniatures DEVGRU line.

On an impulse buy while at Brookhurst Hobbies, I bought two ZIS 5 trucks. Will find some reason to use them one day, but at less than $4 per truck I couldnt say “No”! I also bought the Panzer IIc models on the same shopping trip where I was only suppose to buy a few Italian models to complete my EW/MW Italian Bersagileri list.

Zvezda models are relatively new to me. They seem to offer cheap plastic alternatives for miniature models. When painted up they look pretty good. The ZIS 5 model comes with an option for a canvas cargo cover or you can leave it off. Like the whole model, it just snaps in.

Zvezda models are snap together models. In this model kit there are 17 seperate parts. Recommend that you use plastic cutters to remove the parts and then use a hobby knife to clean the connection points.

The Zvezda model lacks some detail on the wood boards that create the walls on the cargo bed. You will need to score them with a sharp Knife. My first attempt went awry and looks like a cat scratched it, but the second truck looks good. The model also lacks the front grill which I didnt realize until after I had base coated the model.

Compared the BF model I own it is slightly larger, but not noticably. BF model is on the left. 

Assembly

Colors used to paint Zvezda models. I used vallejo Model Color Russian Green for the BF ZIS 5 Truck. It is slightly darker than the vallejo Model Air Russian Green which is used on the Zvezda models.

Pros:

1. Cost is less than $4 from some online stores
2. Model looks good with some minimal painting
3. Optional cargo canopy
4. Blends in with BF model

Cons:

1. Model is a bit flimsy
2. Headlights can be easily knocked off.
3. Will require some modification to cut in the panels in the cargo bed.
4. No crew

The ZIS 5 model does seem a bit flimsy especially when I try to mount and dismount the cargo canopy.  The stand does help out.  I went with stands because BF trucks have stands and I tried to blend them in.   I would consider some plastic card under the bed for future builds to help reinforce the truck.

The Panzer II model didnt have a flimsy feeling.  The only “soft spot” are the guns.  As mentioned above the “soft spots” on the ZIS 5 are the headlights.

Paner 38(t) from Old Glory (Command Decision) on left and Panzer IIc from Old Glory (Command Decision) on right.  Both tanks have Battlefront tank commanders.

I started with two bags of Old Glory (Command Decision) Panzer 38(t)s.  I wanted to go a more economical path as I am not sure how often I will get them on the table to play.  Next thing I know there are two more bags (they come in 3s) from the WarWeb.  The little things just keep multiplying!! 

And then I find two bags of Panzer IIs from Old Glory (CD-320A) in my mail box.  Hmm what going on?  are they reproducing and mutating.  I originally set aside 5 Panzer IIs (2 bags = 6 tanks) to be painted for a Hellfire and Back German Panzer Kompanie or DAK Panzergrenadier list.   They are primed with basecoats sitting in the painting conveyer! Below are the 5 Panzer IIc tanks.  The one of the far left is from Old Glory and the other four are from Zvezda.

Since Old Glory comes in bags of 3, I had one left over.  I didnt want to throw it in the bits box, so I thought I would add it to my Early War Panzer 38(t)s.  Problem was… I needed 4 more tanks and old glory comes in 3s.  Well I have heard about this plastics company from Russia called Zvezda that makes 1/100 scale miniatures for their own game, but they measure up to Flames of War sizes.  I picked up 4 boxes from Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove, CA. The War Store also has them for sale.   Assembling these little guys was so simple and I mean simple!  It was a matter of glueing the base to the top to create the main body and then applying the Tracks to the assembled main body.  No assembly of the tracks.  They come like the BF tracks.  Wish PSC came like that   The turret just snapped into the hull and it rotates without falling out.  No magnets needed.

Overall I think the Zvezda models look really good.  They dont have an option for an open turret hatch, so I luckily had my Old Glory Panzer IIc set up with a commander (figure from BF).  The only problem I have with the Zvezda miniature is that their guns are a bit soft and can easily be bent.  Given enough bending action and then I see them failing and breaking off.

(Tanget Alert!)  The Zvezda ZIS-5 truck model kit has 17  parts to fit together compared to the 5 for the Panzer II.  They are snap together, so relatively easy to put together.  Will give that a try in the near future and post the results up here.  Overall Zvezda minatures are not bad for $4.00. 

Below the Old Glory with the BF commander is on the right.  The Zvezda is on the left.  It is only slightly smaller.

(Modelling Tip)  For the Old Glory miniatures I had to cut some BF blister plastic and glued it into the hollow underside.  This gives the miniature a platform for a magnet.  The Panzer IIc required some clay to fill the turret to bring the magnet close enough to be effective to the other magnet in the hull.  Colors I used are below. 

Overall the cost per tank is $4 for Zvezda tracks and $4.79 for Old Glory tanks.  I think that is a reasonable price for a tank that I might not play very often and they look good to boot!

Here is a Panzer IIC compared to a Battlefront King Tiger!!  They just got bigger and bigger as the war dragged on.

When I was at Brookhurst I picked up a pack of Peter Pig anti tank Rifles and DAK SMG Figures.  I needed to round out my DAK panzergrenadiers for Hellfire and Back.  Overall, I would rate the anti tank rifles as average figures.  The prone gunners dont have detailed faces, but the rest of the equipment is good.  I really like the DAK SMG figures.  They look nice and I like the dynamic stances.  Check the link for the one stance I didnt paint.  It is the best IMO.

The first addition to my scenery collection was some road side trees.  These are made using:

1. tongue depressor as the base
2. Glue three 1.5-2.0″ nails
3. Apply Spackle to the base
4. Paint base with your favorite hobby paint.  Can even drybrush the nails to add more texture
5. Add  flock
6. Finallythen apply woodland scenics clump foilage to the nail as the canopy to finish off the tree. 

I was inspired by another website that I cannot find at the moment.  They created whole forests using nails and then covering with foilage.

The second piece of terrain I really didnt make from scratch, but I did add the bases.  These are from the Heki range on Scenic Express http://www.sceneryexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HK0304

Bases are simply spackle over a 1.5″ washer from home depot.  Important to keep the balance of the tree.  The set was nice in that it provide a great variety of trees from one box,

The next section show my hills and gun pits that were inspired by BF terrain.

Above is the list of materials that I paid for to make this project.  Its doesnt include the costs I already paid for ballast, small stones, other colors of flock, and foam cutters.  If I would have bought premade terrain it would have cost me well over $100.00.  However, I will admit that premade terrain is significantly more rugged that home made terrain and over the very long term it might be more cost effective.  I just need to find a good varnish to seal them in.

Process for the hills is all the same:

1. Cut particple board or some type of base out to form the base of the structure.  You can use other material such as plastic card, foam board, or even plywood. 
2. Cut first layer of insualtion foam
3. Cut second layer of insulation and then shape with first layer
4. Can keep cutting depending on how high you want to go.
5. Continue to shape until final structure.
6. Make sure to cut in little lines and recesses.
7. Apply spackle to structure.  This is important to add the right texture.  It also protects the foam from external damage plus from exposure to spray paint which can lead to a chemcial reaction that creates a honey comb effect.  I learned the hard way.  Anything just to coat the foam works! From what I understand acryllic paint doesnt cause the effect.
8. Once the spackle is dry cut in lines on the face of the mountains.
9. I added sand in after the first coat of spray paint.  I then repainted the sand to hold it in and then I sprayed my diluted elemers glue mix.
10. Spray paint or just use craft paint.  My son used our cheap airbrush after I completed mine.  Wish I would have thought of that.   
11. Once the color is finally doe I added in the woodland scenics blended static grass and then a number of different colors of flock.
12. Then add in some ballast and smaller rocks
13. I touched up the hills with the brown spray to blend the grass into the structure.  It really shows well on the large grassy hill.
14. Final step is a varnish.  I did only one coat of my good army painted matte.  I need to get some cheap matte to add a thicker coat

The gun pits used only MDF board base spackle, wooden skewers, paint, static grass, and GF flock.  I did use some crayola air dry clay to form a rim for the spackle to go over.  The rest of the photos show the final results and the terrain in action!!!  Please send comments and suggestions for improving!   Total time to build took about 12 hours maybe a little bit more.  If I could afford the premade terrain, I would buyt it in a heartbeat.  However, my kids are getting older and cost more!

Bottomline! I think making your own terrain can save you some coin to that can be used to by minis. It also creates a challenge that gives a sense of accomplishment when done. Some of the challenges to creating your own terrain is storage and durability. Durability can be a significant problem when the terrain is used alot.