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Italian Infantry in Armour (35721) 1:35 ICM via Hannants Ltd. WWI was a meat-grinder that chewed up millions of soldiers on all sides over the course of the conflict, and during the early years Italy tried to minimise its overall casualties by using shock-troops that were more colloquially known as Death Companies due to their heavy losses in the vanguard. They were volunteers to a man, and wore armour that bore more than a passing resemblance to the gear worn by medieval knights from the Middle Ages. The armour consisted of a pot-like helmet and frontal cuirass-style chest-piece with separate shoulder-pads or pauldrons, both of which were snugged to their wearers by leather straps, and cushioned to reduce discomfort and chaffing as the soldiers walked around the battlefield. The armour was made to withstand a rifle bullet at a reasonable range, but it was cumbersome, heavy and restricted the wearer’s movement and left his legs and most of his arms exposed to enemy fire, so wasn’t a total solution. They were intended as stormtroopers that would press forward through the enemy lines and open up the front for the infantry behind them, and primarily used grenades and trench-knives, but also carried forward armoured barriers with props to stand them up at an angle, with small loupes through which their rifles could be aimed at the enemy. The Kit This is a brand-new figure set containing four figures and their armour, plus a huge quantity of weapons, packs, pouches and other equipment, and a set of shields for each figure. It arrives in a small top-opening box with the usual captive inner lid, and inside are two main sprues, plus another four smaller sprues on which the shields, armour and Farina helmets are found. The four figures are built as normal with separate arms, head, legs and torso, although some surface details have been flattened off to accommodate the armour, with moulded-in straps that link up to the armour plates on the torso of the figures. Three of the figures are stood upright and are holding rifles in various poses, one also holding a grenade ready to launch it, while the fourth figure is kneeling with a bayoneted rifle at an angle, as if he is sheltering behind one of the shields. The armour just slips over the front of the figures, and the helmets go over their heads, covering their ears but leaving their eyes exposed, with flat tops to their heads and smoothed down ears to fit under the helmets. The accessory sprue has been available separately before (35686), and is filled with various styles of Mannlicher-Carcano rifles with and without bayonets, pistols, even a Villar-Perosa M1915 twin-barrelled 9mm machine gun, axes, a studded cudgel, shovels, bayonets, daggers, grenades, water bottles, ammo pouches, satchels, binoculars, more pistols in holsters, map case, lots of spare helmets and armoured versions of the same type that have side flaps and an armoured grill to the front. Clearly, the four men would be unlikely to be able to even stand if they were festooned with everything from the sprues in addition to the weight of their armour, but there is plenty that would be left over for your WWI Italian infantry spares box for future use. Conclusion Whilst not the weirdest WWI figure set we’ve seen yet, these guys must have been brave just to poke their heads over the parapet and stagger forward weighed down by partial armour into withering fire, and it’s hard to believe that they were absolutely real, just like their Allied counterparts. An interesting addition to anyone’s figure collection. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of