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Weapons for World War 2 Hero


bpmasher

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Firebird put out a book of guns with Hero stats in it called The Armory, Volume 1 (Kevin Dockery) that had zillions of guns with key information and pictures.  Even had grenades, etc.  Its packed with useful info.  I don't know if a volume 2 ever came out.

 

31qmd3WYOXL._SL500_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

This book has pretty much every gun that has been made since the mid 19th century up to around 1980 or so.  Some very strange weapons in there.

Cool.

I have never heard of it.  I may have to see if I can track a copy down.

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Okay, I'm going off memory and images and a brief search, and I believe it was the Johnson rifle I was referring to. I only read about it in a magazine, if I remember right, and I remember thinking it was a neat idea and wondered about it briefly. I believe this is an image of it:

11027273_1.jpg?v=8CE3D17303DFE90

Yep, Johnson also made a light machine gun, but it iirc used an odd horizontal single stack magazine.   He had experienced problems with dual column ones.    

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Part 2 on the Italian WWII Weapons

 

 

 

Italian Military Machine Guns

 

 

⦁ Steyr-Schwarlose  Mitragliatrice Modello 07/12 (1912)

 

This was a water cooled MMG resemling the Maxim and Vickers, but with different internal arrangement.  It was aquired by Italy either through capture or war reparations from Austria during WWI.  It was used by the Italians in limited numbers in Africa, ofter as an anti-aircraft weapon.

 

 

Steyr-Schwarlose  Mitragliatrice Mod 07/12, 8x50mm Mannlicher

 

+1 OCV, +1 RMod, 2d6K, +1 StunX, AF 9, Str Min -, Shots 250, Wt 41.4 with tripod

 

 

⦁ Hotchkiss Mitragliatrice Modello 14 (1914)

 

This was a French air cooled MMG, but was often issued and used by Blackshirt units.  It was a tripod mounted weapon that fired from 24 round strips that were fed into the receiver from one side and fell out the other.  It was generally employed by a 3 man crew.

 

 

Hotchkiss Mod 14 MMG, 8x50mmR Lebel

 

+1 OCV, +1 RMod, 2d6K, +1 StunX, AF 8, Str Min -, Shots 24 (250), Wt 53 with tripod

 

 

⦁ FIAT-Revelli Mitragliatrice Modello 14

 

This was the standard Italian MMG during WWI, but was still used in considerable numbers during WWII.  It was a water cooled and tripod mounted weapon that utilized a hopper feed.  It was not particularly popular with Italian troops.

 

 

FIAT-Revelli Mitragliatrice Mod 14, 6.5x52mm Carcano

 

+1 OCV, +1 RMod, 2d6-1K, +1StunX, AF 8, Str Min -, Shots 50, Wt 41.4 with tripod

 

 

⦁  FIAT-Revelli Mitragliatrice Modello 14/35

 

This was the Mod 14 update to an air cooled weapon using the 8mm Breda cartridge

 

 

FIAT-Revelli Mitragliatrice Mod 14/35, 8x59mm Breda

 

+1 OCV, +2 RMod, 2d6K, +1StunX, AF 9, Str Min -, Shots 300, Wt 45 with tripod

 

 

⦁  Breda Fucile Mitragliatore Modello 30

 

This was the Italian LMG in WWII.  It was one of the first air cooled weapons with a quick change mount for the barrel, but firing from a closed bolt reduced the effectiveness of this arrangement.  It was hampered by an integral 20 round magazine that was reloaded with 20 rd stripper clips, leading to slow reloading and poor reliability.  It also had weak extraction of the fired cases and required an oiler that lubricated cartridges before they were chambered.  In dust and sand, this tended to result in frequent jams. In normal service, it would not be inappropriate to give the weapon an Act 14-, reducing this to 12- or even 10- in desert conditions. In a pinch, it could be reloaded with 6 rd rifle stripper clips.

 

 

Breda Fucile Mitragliatore Mod 30, 6.5x52mm Carcano

 

+1 OCV, +1 RMod, 2d6-1K, +1StunX, AF 8, Str Min 12 bipod/17, Shots 20, Wt 11.1

 

 

⦁  Breda Mitragliatrice Modello 31

 

This was the Italian HMG in WWII.  It was air cooled and generally used on a vehicle mount.  It could also be mounted on a tripod for anti-aircraft use. It was fed from a 20 round box magazine.

 

 

Breda Mitragliatrice Modello 31, 13.2x99mm Hotchkiss

 

+1 OCV, +3 RMod, 3d6K, +1StunX, AF 8, Str Min -, Shots 20, Wt 47.5

 

 

⦁  Breda Mitragliatrice Modello 37

 

This was the standard Italian air cooled and tripod mounted MMG in WWII.  It also required the cartridges to be oiled before the weapon chambered them but was considered to be relialble, mostly due to the attention paid to maintaining the weapon by the troops assigned to it. It still suffered from malfunctions when used in the desert or extremely cold conditions.  It was fed from 20 round strips that fed into the weapon, and it neatly replaced the empties into the feed tray.

 

 

Breda Mitragliatrice Mod 37, 8x59mm Breda

 

+1 OCV, +2 RMod, 2d6K, +1StunX, AF 8, Str Min -, Shots 20, Wt 38.6 with tripod

 

 

 

Italian Military Hand Grenades

 

 

Note.  Most Italian hand grenades were of the 'offensive' type with an effective injury radius smaller than the distance they could be thrown as it was considered that the soldiers would be charging in immediately behind them.  The Italians used a bewildering variety of grenades, of often dubious reliability and effectiveness.  Most were reasonably close in stats to the following weapon.

 

 

⦁ Bomba a Mano Modello 35

 

A common Italian hand grenade, it was supplied with an impact fuse that was not entirely reliable and seldom activated if landing on softer materials (like fresh snow, leafy underbrush, etc - reduce to Act 8-).  This, along with it's bright red paint, combined to get it the nickname 'Diavoli Rossi' (Red Devil).  Late in the war it could be fitted with a fragmentation sleeve changing damage to 1d6+1K.

 

 

+0 OCV, +0 RMod, 4d6N, Exp, Range by Str, Shots 1, Wt 0.3, Act 13-

 

 

 

⦁ Bomba Controcarro 'Passaglia'

 

This example of desparate ingenuity is credited to an Italian combat engineer Capt Passaglia.  It is simple a 2 kg soup can filled with explosives, and fitted with a handle and impact fuse.  It was used with some success against tanks by troops who would creep close to the target and hurl this 'grenade' into the tracks.  It nearly always caught the soldier employing it in the blast radius.

 

 

+0 OCV, +0 RMod, 14d6N Exp, Range by Str, Shots 1, Wt 2.2

 

 

Italian Mortars

 

 

⦁ OTO-Brixia Modello 35, 45mm Mortar

 

This unusual and complicated weapon was the main battalion level support weapon.  It featured  a light weight, was breech loading, capable of direct fire and could manage a high rate of fire (15 to 18 rounds a minute. Treat as half action to load and half action to fire.  Weapon must be braced and set before use on its mount.).  But the puny range and tiny HE warhead (with very unreliable fragmentation) meant this all made little real difference in combat.

 

In many respect it has more in common with modern grenade launchers than most mortars of WWII.

 

 

+1 OCV, +0 RMod, 8d6N Exp, Shots 1, Indirect with linked -1 OCV/-2RMod, Wt 15.5 mortar, 0.4 shell

 

(Actually, the shell's damage should be treated as 2 1/2d6K Exp with Act 9-.  If the killing charge fails, it results in 8d6N damage.  I have no idea how to write this under the current rules.)

 

 

 

Italian Infantry Organization

 

 

As a gross simplification, here is an example of Italian infantry unit organization up to the company level at the outset of WWII.

 

 

The base infantry unit was a section consisting of 18 men in two elements, a fire squad and a manuever squad.  It was either an even or 8-10 split.  The fire group consisted of two 2-3 man MG teams with the rest of the squad armed with rifles and carrying extra ammunition or securing the flanks.  The second group was armed with rifles and grenades and pressed home the attack with the fire squad provided suppressing fire.  Green NCO's often let the sections bunch up with disasterous results.

 

 

Platoons were made up of two sections commanded by an officer (armed with a pistol) and his aide. Early in the war only NCO's in the paratroops (or some other elite units) were issued SMG's, but by 1941 each platoon was issued an SMG.

 

 

Companies generally consisted of a small HQ group and three infantry platoons.  Italian Infantry companies had no integral support weapons, these all being battalion assets.  It was not unusual for the battalion to 'farm out' its 8 MMG's and nine (occasionally more) 45mm mortars.

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Sadly, 'Lousy Rifle' was still good enough to kill off a president...

Actually not that bad a rifle, and certainly a handy size and weight.   

 

True, it used the mannlicher clips, but... 

 

both the 6.5 and 7.35 Carcano cartridges were pretty good designs, though they should have used a more modern bullet for the 6.5 than the old 160 gr...    A ball to match their AP might have enabled avoiding the 7.35 completely.   

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Actually not that bad a rifle, and certainly a handy size and weight.   

 

True, it used the mannlicher clips, but... 

 

both the 6.5 and 7.35 Carcano cartridges were pretty good designs, though they should have used a more modern bullet for the 6.5 than the old 160 gr...    A ball to match their AP might have enabled avoiding the 7.35 completely.   

That is why I put 'Lousy Rifle' inside a set of '...'

It was what the post I was replying to used to describe it.

 

The rifles themselves weren't horrible.

Now, the stories of inconsistent ammunition manufacture (from users in several different countries) could have made it a rather 'unloved' weapon.

The round (statistically) isn't much different from 6.5x55mm Swedish, which has a very good reputation.

But if powder types and charge weights were not consistently maintained - it would play havoc with hitting a target at anything but point blank ranges.

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That is why I put 'Lousy Rifle' inside a set of '...'

It was what the post I was replying to used to describe it.

 

The rifles themselves weren't horrible.

Now, the stories of inconsistent ammunition manufacture (from users in several different countries) could have made it a rather 'unloved' weapon.

The round (statistically) isn't much different from 6.5x55mm Swedish, which has a very good reputation.

But if powder types and charge weights were not consistently maintained - it would play havoc with hitting a target at anything but point blank ranges.

bad ammunition will give any gun a bad rep.     I think the (iirc) "garrison" rd for the 6.5Carcano is fascinating.  The computer that had the images died, but it was a super long bullet with a segmented core, loaded with a small amount of black powder and a puff of kapok or something to hold it back against the primer.   On firing, the bullet broke into iirc 5 segments, creating a shotgun like effect.    It was for guarding prisoners, iirc.   I suspect the gain twist rifling caused the segments to separate.  

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