[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"faction-/factions/bolt-action-italy":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":410,"description":411,"extension":412,"faction":413,"heroImage":414,"hex":415,"intro":416,"lastUpdated":410,"meta":417,"navigation":418,"path":419,"seo":420,"stem":421,"system":422,"__hash__":423},"factions/factions/bolt-action-italy.md","How to Paint Italian Infantry (Bolt Action)",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":400},"minimark",[9,18,23,26,30,33,76,87,119,140,144,147,165,188,192,269,273,290,303,319,325,342,346,392],[10,11,12,13,17],"p",{},"Italians are the grey-green army, and the mistake almost everyone makes is painting them German. Grigio-verde and feldgrau are both desaturated grey-greens, but grigio-verde is markedly ",[14,15,16],"em",{},"lighter",", cleaner and greyer - closer to a sage than to a drab - and a squad painted in German cloth reads as Wehrmacht with the wrong helmets on. The second thing to know is that Italy is really two armies in one range: continental troops in grey-green wool, and desert troops in sand-coloured drill. Both are a single base bottle plus a wash, which makes this one of the cheapest nations on the shelf to get onto a table.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"the-signature-look","The signature look",[10,24,25],{},"Grigio-verde tunic, breeches and M33 helmet, all the same tone, against warm brown leather belts, braces and pouches. Almost nothing else competes: no bright facings, no blackened webbing, no pattern on the average rifleman. What carries the character is headgear - the Bersaglieri's spray of black cockerel feathers, the Alpini's felt hat and single feather, the Blackshirt fez - and one telo mimetico item where it belongs.",[19,27,29],{"id":28},"the-grigio-verde-uniform","The grigio-verde uniform",[10,31,32],{},"Undercoat grey or black. Grigio-verde is a mid tone and covers happily over either.",[34,35,36,45,56,62],"ol",{},[37,38,39,40,44],"li",{},"Basecoat Vallejo Model Color ",[41,42,43],"strong",{},"Green Grey",", two thin coats. This is the reference bottle for Italian cloth and the whole reason the army is quick to paint.",[37,46,47,48,51,52,55],{},"Shade with ",[41,49,50],{},"Agrax Earthshade"," in the folds for a warm, dusty result, or Army Painter ",[41,53,54],{},"Military Shade"," across the garment if you want the grey-green to stay cool. Italians look better dusty than clean, so the warm option is rarely wrong.",[37,57,58,59,61],{},"Layer ",[41,60,43],{}," back over the raised cloth: the chest, the tops of the shoulders, the front of the thighs and the puttee wraps.",[37,63,64,65,67,68,71,72,75],{},"Highlight with ",[41,66,43],{}," mixed two to one with ",[41,69,70],{},"Stone Grey",", then a very sparing final catch of ",[41,73,74],{},"Sky Grey"," on shoulders, elbows and knees.",[10,77,78,79,82,83,86],{},"For an older or greener tunic - and Italian cloth varied a great deal by year and contractor - swap the base for ",[41,80,81],{},"Olive Grey",", which sits a step greener and darker. Mixing a drop of ",[41,84,85],{},"Khaki"," into some pots covers wartime dye variation for nothing.",[10,88,89,90,93,94,96,97,99,100,103,104,107,108,111,112,114,115,118],{},"Citadel equivalent: ",[41,91,92],{},"Death Korps Drab"," basecoat, ",[41,95,50],{},", layer ",[41,98,92],{},", highlight ",[41,101,102],{},"Ogryn Camo",". It runs browner than true grigio-verde, so keep the highlight grey rather than sandy. Army Painter Fanatic: ",[41,105,106],{},"Uniform Grey"," with a drop of ",[41,109,110],{},"Army Green"," in the base, shaded ",[41,113,54],{},", highlighted ",[41,116,117],{},"Ash Grey",".",[10,120,121,122,125,126,129,130,133,134,137,138,118],{},"Speed route: undercoat ",[41,123,124],{},"Wraithbone",", one coat of Citadel ",[41,127,128],{},"Militarum Green"," contrast or Army Painter Speedpaint ",[41,131,132],{},"Camo Cloak",", then glaze the whole figure with a thinned ",[41,135,136],{},"Nuln Oil"," to pull the green towards grey and edge the folds in ",[41,139,70],{},[19,141,143],{"id":142},"telo-mimetico-and-the-sahariana","Telo mimetico and the sahariana",[10,145,146],{},"Italy fielded the first mass-produced camouflage pattern in the world, and it turns up on shelter quarters, helmet covers and the smocks worn by paratroopers and San Marco marines. It is three colours on a light ground: irregular, rounded patches - not shards - of a red-brown and a grey-green over sand.",[10,148,149,150,153,154,157,158,161,162,164],{},"Base the panel ",[41,151,152],{},"Dark Sand",", then lay soft-edged blotches of ",[41,155,156],{},"Cavalry Brown"," and ",[41,159,160],{},"Camouflage Olive Green"," across it, letting the two touch in places. Keep every patch smaller than instinct suggests; at 28mm a generous blob reads as a stain. Wash the finished panel with ",[41,163,50],{}," to bring the three colours back into one piece of cloth.",[10,166,167,168,93,171,173,174,176,177,180,181,184,185,118],{},"For North and East Africa, swap the wool entirely. Khaki drill and the sahariana jacket go ",[41,169,170],{},"Iraqi Sand",[41,172,50],{}," shade, ",[41,175,152],{}," layer, ",[41,178,179],{},"Pale Sand"," highlight - four steps, one theatre, the same sculpts. Sun-bleach the helmet with ",[41,182,183],{},"Middle Stone"," and take the pith helmet's cover almost to ",[41,186,187],{},"Off-White",[19,189,191],{"id":190},"leather-helmets-and-metal","Leather, helmets and metal",[193,194,195,209,221,230,253],"ul",{},[37,196,197,198,93,201,99,203,205,206,208],{},"Belt, braces, ammunition pouches and pack straps: ",[41,199,200],{},"Cork Brown",[41,202,50],{},[41,204,200],{}," with a touch of ",[41,207,152],{},". Italian leather is warm and mid-toned, closer to the French than the German.",[37,210,211,212,215,216,114,218,118],{},"Boots and officers' equipment: ",[41,213,214],{},"Chocolate Brown"," shaded ",[41,217,136],{},[41,219,220],{},"Beige Brown",[37,222,223,224,226,227,229],{},"M33 helmet: exactly the same ",[41,225,43],{}," as the tunic, shaded harder with ",[41,228,136],{}," and caught only on the rim and crown. Matching helmet to uniform is what makes the section look issued.",[37,231,232,233,236,237,239,240,215,243,245,246,249,250,118],{},"Carcano rifles and the Breda 30: ",[41,234,235],{},"Flat Brown"," stocks highlighted ",[41,238,220],{},", metalwork ",[41,241,242],{},"Gunmetal",[41,244,136],{},", or Citadel ",[41,247,248],{},"Leadbelcher"," into ",[41,251,252],{},"Runefang Steel",[37,254,255,256,259,260,259,262,265,266,118],{},"Faces: ",[41,257,258],{},"Basic Skin Tone",", ",[41,261,50],{},[41,263,264],{},"Medium Fleshtone",", a touch of ",[41,267,268],{},"Light Flesh",[19,270,272],{"id":271},"the-sub-ranges","The sub-ranges",[10,274,275,278,279,282,283,285,286,289],{},[41,276,277],{},"Bersaglieri"," are the ones everybody recognises: the spray of black cockerel feathers on the right of the helmet. Base them ",[41,280,281],{},"Black Grey",", wash ",[41,284,136],{},", then drybrush the feather tips ",[41,287,288],{},"Neutral Grey"," so the mass does not disappear into a black lump.",[10,291,292,295,296,298,299,157,301,118],{},[41,293,294],{},"Alpini"," wear the felt mountain hat in ",[41,297,43],{}," shaded harder than the tunic, with a single black feather and a rope-and-piton kit of ",[41,300,85],{},[41,302,242],{},[10,304,305,308,309,311,312,314,315,318],{},[41,306,307],{},"Blackshirts"," of the militia get the black shirt and fez: ",[41,310,281],{}," basecoat, edge-highlighted ",[41,313,288],{},", with the fez tassel in ",[41,316,317],{},"Carmine Red",". Never pure black - it kills the folds.",[10,320,321,324],{},[41,322,323],{},"Folgore paratroopers"," in North Africa are the place for sand-coloured jump smocks over grigio-verde trousers, plus telo mimetico helmet covers. The mixed palette is why they look so different from a line squad built from the same sprue.",[10,326,327,330,331,333,334,157,336,338,339,341],{},[41,328,329],{},"Vehicles"," - the AB41 armoured car, the Semovente, the P40 - take a sand base of ",[41,332,170],{}," with soft blotches of ",[41,335,160],{},[41,337,156],{},", drybrushed ",[41,340,179],{}," on the edges and dusted heavily around the running gear.",[19,343,345],{"id":344},"tips-and-common-mistakes","Tips and common mistakes",[193,347,348,354,360,366,372],{},[37,349,350,353],{},[41,351,352],{},"Lighter than feldgrau."," If your Italians could pass for Germans in a photograph, add grey and lighten the base until they cannot.",[37,355,356,359],{},[41,357,358],{},"Warm brown leather."," Against a cool grey-green tunic the brown kit does all the contrast work, so keep it warm and do not darken it.",[37,361,362,365],{},[41,363,364],{},"One camouflage item."," A helmet cover or a shelter quarter, not a whole squad in telo mimetico. The pattern was issued as kit, not as a uniform.",[37,367,368,371],{},[41,369,370],{},"Pick the theatre before the paint."," Grey-green wool or sand drill - mixing them in one section is the fastest way to make an army look unplanned.",[37,373,374,377,378,383,384,386,387,391],{},[41,375,376],{},"Dust everything."," A ",[379,380,382],"a",{"href":381},"/guides/drybrushing","drybrush"," of ",[41,385,179],{}," up the puttees and across the pack ties the figure to its ",[379,388,390],{"href":389},"/guides/basing-miniatures","base"," and suits both theatres.",[10,393,394,395,399],{},"When the palette is settled, ",[379,396,398],{"href":397},"/tools/scheme-generator?color=8E9078","open this scheme in the generator"," to swap brands or trade the grey-green for desert drill.",{"title":401,"searchDepth":402,"depth":402,"links":403},"",2,[404,405,406,407,408,409],{"id":21,"depth":402,"text":22},{"id":28,"depth":402,"text":29},{"id":142,"depth":402,"text":143},{"id":190,"depth":402,"text":191},{"id":271,"depth":402,"text":272},{"id":344,"depth":402,"text":345},"2026-09-04","How to paint Bolt Action Italians - grigio-verde uniform cloth, the telo mimetico camouflage pattern, sahariana khaki drill for North Africa, brown leather kit and the Bersaglieri, Alpini, Folgore and Blackshirt variations.","md","Bolt Action Italy",null,"#8E9078","Grigio-verde, a sand-coloured desert and the first camouflage pattern",{},true,"/factions/bolt-action-italy",{"title":5,"description":411},"factions/bolt-action-italy","bolt-action","HfKgE9xdyMf0x51hlhWHbTip2uEWYqO9u0Y0IZpGjQQ"]