There are many suggestions in here asking for more Italy and less Germany for the Tunisia campaign. I am in concordance with the vast majority of these recommendations and would love to see an Italian pure campaign.
First off, now is an excellent time to begin the transition. Everything that costs actual money to get is Italian excepting the Motorcycle squad. And if the weapons of the Motorcycle Squad are bound to it, that could even remain German (Although there are clearly Italian Options here.) A few German Premium squads with bound weapons would be cool In my opinion. So this could be done by one for one swapping all existing weapons (again excepting the Motorcycle squad. And units are simply a function of changing names of soldiers and units. The upgrades could all be retained, thus requiring no reimbursement.
That out of the way, let’s get to everyone’s favorite part, weapons.
I will work small to large, so let’s start with PISTOLS!!
Currently the game has five Pistols on Tunisia Axis. The Beretta M1934, Beretta M1923 The Walther PP, the Walther PPK, the P08 Luger. Here we would need to replace, three German Pistols…although the PPK appears to only come with the Motorcycle squad and if that is kept it wouldn’t need replacement, and might not need a specific replacement if the Squad is changed to Italian (something I don’t think is a good idea). The PP and PPK could easily be replaced with The Beretta Modello 1935 a pistol very similar to the M1934 but shooting a lighter cartridge. The Luger could be replaced by the Gilsenti Model 1910 in it’s 9mm variant. (it even looks like a Luger). Furthermore the Gilsenti had two different cartridge options (based on chambering) and could come in two variants. One could replace the PPK and one the Luger. And for the future as we march to level 40 another powerful pistol, the M1942 Sosso could be added. It was an experimental 9X19mm parabellum pistol. Finally there was a service revolver. The Bodeo Model 1889. This could be worked in in any number of ways. The two that immediately come to mind is replaceing the Beretta M1934 and leaving that for a later upgrade. Or, adding it as a stand alone upgrade before the Beretta M1923 as the Revolver shot 10.35mm bullets, which could be given a higher hitting power.
Ultimately, there are plenty of Italian Options, and plenty of variance in capability in those options. The M1942 Sosso is a rare prototype, but so what, those exist everywhere in this game and it DID exist. The rest were built in sufficient numbers and all would have been available.
Moving on to SMG’s.
Here we already see many of the Italian SMG’s available. However, we really only need to replace two German SMG’s The MP 28 and MP 40, and add a couple more options. First off, I recommend the Beretta M1918 Bigrillo. This is 25 round Box magazine SMG of WW1 design that was a prototype. For the MP 41 we have the Beretta M1938/43 which will be functionally similar to the M1 and M42 variants in game. For later upgrades we have the M1938A. The first, but most complex, version of the weapon.
Thus we have solid Italian Replacements for existing german weapons, and we have one model that would be interesting improvements to what we already have.
RIFLES!
Here we have four things we must replace. The Kar98K, the Kar98K sniper, The Rifle Grenade Kar98K and the Gewehr 41. The Kar 98K could easily be replaced by a variant of the M1891 or even the Steyr-Mannlicher M1895. For the Sniper variant the M1891 came in a sniper variant. For the Rifle Grenade Italy had the Tromboncino M28 a 38.5mm grenade launcher on the side of an M1891carbine. For the Gewehr Italy had the the Prototype M1931 Beretta. Yes it wasn’t produced in mass numbers but it existed, firing the 6.5X52mm. You could also do an M1918 or M1918/30 with bayonets. Pistol cartridge but 25 round capacity and a with a bayonet would be interesting. For a later SemiAuto (as we march towards 40) there is the M1937 variant which was chambered in 7.35mm cartridge. The 1931 had the 6 round magazine, but the m1937 had 9 or 10. There are also several other variants of Bolt Action Rifles of various capability that could be done for other types of squads as the game continues towards 40.
This post is already getting long. So I will do another with other weapons. Hopefully this has helped point out that Italy has plenty of options for this campaign, and certainly doesn’t have to rely on Germany for the first 30 levels.
Phase II (Heavy Equipment) How to have an Italian Only Campaign in Tunisia Phase II
