"Viva il Giro - 19th Century Italiano uniforms" Topic

I have found the perfect backdrop for late night painting activities – watching long distance cycling races whilst painting !

The English commentary channels often have long winded and interesting diversions into the local history of the area they are riding through, with lots of references to battles of old, Napoleon's conquests, rebellions, campaigns, etc, etc. Great stuff.

Its even better when you tune in to a stream that is broadcast in a foreign language, as it really gets you in that Euro-Pro mood.

steephill.tv/giro-d-italia

So …. In the spirit of the Giro d'Italia, I decided to order a full Division of Italian 19th Century troopies (Sardinian) on nothing more than a whim.

Looking for references now to justify some interesting uniform schemes for these guys. Amongst the figures I have are mostly Piedmont/Sardinian line (small shako with pom pom), a wide range of cavalry, artillery and some Bersaglieri.

Gaming wise, the period offers lots of enemies and opportunities for a semi-historical scenario or 2.

Im assuming that there is the possibility of some wild variety in uniforms for this army for the various campaigns.

Can readers please add any links to uniforms for the Italians during this period. Information on regimental distinctions would be good too (if such a thing exists)

So far, I have :

link

link

link

Mid June is a short but spectacular tour de suisse through the Alps – perfect terrain for the Italian wars of Independence as well.

I suppose I have 4-5 weeks to get into this whilst the Giro is on as the Tour de France starts in July – so its surely back to the French at that stage. Interestingly, the Tour de Pologne (http://tourdepologne.pl/en/) is also on during July, so thats a good excuse to get some Duchy of Warsaw troops done for the Grande Armee during the Tour de France as well.

Mid August through to September, the cycling tour heads to spain for another Grande Tour of the battlefields.

Then in October, its back to Italy for the Giro di Lombardia.

I have this link for various plates, maybe of interest.

Obviously waiting for the Tour de France and Vuelta de Espagna, and here we' ll play with our toy cyclists

By the way remember the Olimpic Games and World Championship.

And above all the 2013 World Championship in Florence, so you' ll be able to paint a Renaissance army…

And as soon as possible other cycling pictures for you…

Happy Wargaming and Cycling Gaming to All

Marzio

fogsoldiers.blogspot.com

Thanks Marzio, that site is brilliant, it has heaps and heaps of interesting plates.

Also – any idea where you can get those toy cyclists for not much $$$ ? There is quite a demand for them here in Adelaide (esp during TdU), but they are very hard to get here,

You can choose our toy cyclist‌‌, but we paint them in small series so you have to check for availability. They are old time metal castings and handpainted by us.
Here' s the link

Otherwise this French website has a large amount of plastic goodies… and many other cycling things…
Here' s the link
And an image of their Australian team:

And here' s an interesting tour-de-france-miniature.com
for a history of cycling miniatures.

And Happy Cycling Gaming.

Marzio

fogsoldiers.blogspot.com

This Gentleman seems to spend half his life finding uniform plates to put on his blog. There have been a number of 19thC Italian ones recently. link