Thoughts on playing as Italians

[DLaurier]

So I've been testing the Italians a fair bit recently. They have shortcomings, but I find that if played right they can be quite effective.
What does anybody else think of them?

[weta_nz]

As a challenge against the AI I find it quite good fun to be the Italians.  They are very different to the other nationalities as you can't split the squads and I have to be more methodical in my approach. However in the weekend I tried a Quick Battle against the Italians thinking it would be fairly easy to win.  I must admit I sent my Canadians in fairly piece-meal and with split squads which turned out very badly. At close quarters, in tree cover and sloped terrain, the Italians chewed up my split squads with grenades .   I have not tried a PBEM game with or against them though.

Edited October 19, 2015 by weta_nz

[Bud Backer]

I had a PBEM as the Italians vs a Canadian force and it was a an utter disaster for me. I realize my C2 needed much more serious work to be at all effective because my men would panic after just a few shots. It was a near-rout.

Playing as the Canadians I did a beach landing against a Italian force in PBEM. It was not good. I set the Canadians as green since this was to be Sicily in 1943 and their first fight. 

Playing in another PBEM as veteran Canadians against the Italians they put up a fight but were fairly easily defeated.

What I gather out of these three experiences is 

-The Italians can be played against green troops and prove a challenge

-The Italians need a lot more focus on C2 and leadership than other nations to keep their troops stable

Edited October 19, 2015 by Bud_B

[Apparatchik1]

You should get many more Italians for your points, and if you can keep your enemy at arms length (outside of SMG range) you can really chew infantry up. The light mortars and almost work like grenade launchers in CMBS.

Just don't expect to get anywhere if the enemy brought armour. Even if you have.

Hopefully a new module can add a bit more punch for them...

[z1812]

Italians vs Italians can be fun.

As others have said command and control is critical for the Italians.

Patience is also needed to have squads organized properly before an attack re C and C.

[Luka]

If you play with the Italians a lot you can actually make decent use of them. As has been said before they can be very effective at suppressing the enemy at range. You gotta practice playing them right though (especially making use of HMGs and mortars).  Their large un-splitable units can dish some serious punishment in the right circumstances and help establish fire superiority but the inflexibility and C&C is what really gets them down (as most people know). Also, you have to be extra careful of artillery or you'll not have a fun time.

 

However, you'll never be overly effective if you don't at least have German armor for support.  I've also found they can be quite  capable (and are much more suited to) defence.

[womble]

You should get many more Italians for your points, and if you can keep your enemy at arms length (outside of SMG range) you can really chew infantry up. The light mortars and almost work like grenade launchers in CMBS.

Just don't expect to get anywhere if the enemy brought armour. Even if you have.

Hopefully a new module can add a bit more punch for them...

Brixia mortars are a Godsend.

If you're sneaky, the 90mm Semovente TD will chew up allied armour.

I don't think there is any more 'punch' to give to the Italians, historically. Their improved armour only ever got deployed to combat by the Germans after the Italians had surrendered.

[slysniper]

I love them just for the change of pace, they are really a challenge to play at times. I always play scenarios h2h. There is a few scenarios where they are fun to play and you have a good chance to win if played correctly. I can think of two battles where I won with them in h2h play.  But for competitive play, you might want to avoid them unless there is some house rules that make it somewhat fair for a QB, Like a infantry only battle.