Paracadutisti Month 3 - Well, someone has to sell the ice-cream

Month 3 marks the start of everyone's second platoon, and also the halfway point for those of us looking to build a whole company (errr... hopefully that isn't just me). As we agreed at the beginning of the escalation league, starting a second platoon also means that you need an HQ, in addition to the compulsory two sections and a lieutenant.

Given that I don't want to change the composition of my veteran late-war Paracadutisti squads, and even opting for the cheapest non-inexperienced officer that I can (a regular Captain) in addition to a regular second lieutenant, that will still constitute... all of my points for this month. Not even enough left over to buy him a little Fiat 500 Militaire staff car, as so ably modelled below. Oh well, at least there are no agonising decisions to make this month.
 

If only Britney Spears had been wearing puttees and jodphurs during the infamous gussetgate incident...

Since list building this month was a complete no-brainer, you might expect that I'd anticipated the miniatures I was going to need and already finished painting them. And you would be wrong. Still, I made a start today by getting the miniatures cleaned up and onto their bases, and if the heavens don't open again I should be able to get them undercoated too.

The silver lining to the lack of options this month is that another 500 points at least gives me the opportunity to finish up a coherent platoon of Paracadutisti from the same range, and painted in the same camo. I changed both manufacturer and colour scheme halfway through my last platoon, so my force is looking like rather a mixed bunch at the moment. In particular, I moved away from using Battlefront's Flames of War Compagnia Paracadutist miniatures - most of whom are wearing shorts, and look far more suitable for Paracadutisti Folgore in North Africa than for fighting on home soil - for Eureka's excellent Paracadutisti who are clad in much bulkier gear, supplied by Fighting 15s. Once I've finished the miniatures for this month, I will at least be able to scrape together a full platoon of the latter.

With half an eye on Chain of Command, I'm also going to take the opportunity to work on some support units and squad options which I haven't chosen for Bolt Action but which I will likely require for CoCs more proscriptive list building. So into the painting queue go some LMGs, an MMG, and a medium mortar. I'm also casting around looking for things I can use to put together some diorama-style reconnaissance markers and jumping-off points (more on that later)...

More 15 in 2016

We may have run out of steam a little after month two (not in the least because Ed appears to have adopted the Fabian strategy that if he doesn't buy any miniatures, he can't technically lose a game) but it's now a new year full of new opportunities to miss painting deadlines.

At the very least I would like to use the next 500 points to round out a full Bolt Action platoon of Paracdutisti (with options) that we can then use in the newer, shinier and more Henry Hyde approved World War 2 games such as Chain of Command and Battlegroup which are already starting to turn heads in our gaming group - including mine.

Plus, it seems rather chulish to bring our Italian campaign to a close just before Warlord Games release their theatre specific book for the Mediterranean conflict, backed full of juicy new scenarios...

Duel in the Sun comes out on the 20th February - making the 25th a good deadline for 1,500 points.