Flames of War: Italian Bersaglieri platoon

January 16, 2015

Flames of War: Italian Bersaglieri platoon

    So this week on the painters table is an Italian Bersaglieri Platoon. This is one of the last few platoons of Italians I need to get done to finish my Company off. I will most likely be doing a post on the entire force once I get them complete since that will most likely become my new tournament force, but I digress...
    A little background on this platoon. In each platoon you have 6 stands of infantry along with 3 HMG teams, 3 47/32 anti-tank teams, the option to add 3 Solothurn teams, and of course the command team. Pretty hefty for each platoon but their uses are many. With HMG and AT right in each platoon along with the option to add Passaglia bombs to the infantry giving them an AT 3 in assault, these guys can take on pretty much anything thrown at them. And with the option of having a total of 15 teams in one platoon, they can take some hits and still be a force to be reckoned with. Yes because of the Italian special rule "8 million bayonets" their rating can vary, but on average you're rolling a confident veteran.
   So to the painting: I'll start by saying that these are more of a "medium grade" paint job. My painting skills are not super detailed, but when they're done they look good without having to spend a whole lot of time on them. I've learned that painting them up quickly and then going back and doing a good touch-up, detail, and wash will do wonders. So I start off by painting all flesh using two tones. I put a base coat of Bestigor Flesh followed by a highlight of Kislev Flesh. These are GW colors but since I have them, I find they work well on 15mm models.

Flesh painted

From here, I knock out the uniforms. Luckily for me their blouses and trousers are the same color so it goes pretty quickly.

Quick paint of Desert Yellow

Close up of uniform done

Then I hit a lot of the misc stuff like the boots, socks and weapons.

Lastly I do the webbing and helmets. These guys take a little extra TLC on the helmets since they have the ostrich feathers. I do a slight grey wash over the feathers to give them a little sunbaked look.

Helmet and webbing done

A close up of the initial rough paint job

Now for the next part, I learned a very important phrase from some experienced painters when I first got started that has held it's weight in my few short years of gaming. "There's nothing Devlan Mud can't fix". For those who don't know what Devlan Mud is, it's a wash that GW makes. You don't have to use that specific one, but I've learned what a difference a good wash can make. After touch-ups and any detailing that needs done is done, they get the wash. Then they get a good lacquer on them and I do a once over on the base so it'll blend easier when I base them.

After a wash

After the lacquer

Then it's on to basing. I use Dry-Dex spackling for my basing and I mix some play sand in to give it a gritty look. I will be putting up a small post at a later date about some tips/tricks I use for painting and basing that'll cover it a little more. Once it's dry I paint up the bases. They are rather plain with this army, but I wanted to give them a "out in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of it" feel. Finally I hit them with some Testors Dull Coat to knock down some of the shine and fully seal them.