The new releases continue apace with another new range online now!
The Risorgimento ('rising again') was a movement in the 19th Century aiming to unify the Italian states into a single Kingdom of Italy. After the Napoleonic Wars, rule of these states had been restored to Austria, a move opposed by many. After the failure of liberal and republican revolutions in 1848 (1st Italian War of Independence), leadership of the unification movement passed to Piedmont. With French help, the Piedmontese defeated the Austrians in 1859 (2nd Italian War of Independence) and united most of Italy under their rule by 1861. The annexation of Venetia in 1866 (3rd Italian War of Independence) and papal Rome in 1870 marked the final unification of Italy and hence the end of the Risorgimento period.
Our range covers all of the troop types across these wars, with infantry in tunic for the first two wars and in greatcoats for the later period. The grenadiers in bearskin can be used up to 1859 at which point they switched to the same uniform as the line infantry. Cavalry switched from lances to sabres and carbines over that same period.
We'd like to thank our friend Fabio in Italy for all of his help with this range, his reference material has been invaluable in getting the details right!
We've got some flags coming soon for these armies, so keep an eye out for those as well.
19th Century
1849-1866 Italians
ITL1 Line infantry in tunic (1849-1859)
ITL2 Line command in tunic (1849-1859)
ITL3 Line infantry in greatcoat (1859-1866)
ITL4 Line command in greatcoat (1859-1866)
ITL5 Grenadiers, including command (1849-1859)
ITL6 Bersaglieri, including command
ITL7 Garibaldini, including command
ITL8 Line cavalry (dragoons) in helmet with lance
ITL9 Cavalleggeri cavalry with lance
ITL10 Cavalleggeri cavalry with sabres
ITL11 Carabinieri cavalry
ITL12 8pdr guns with line crew
ITL13 8pdr guns with horse crew
ITL14 8pdr guns with Garibaldini crew
ITL15 16pdr guns with line crew
ITL16 15cm howitzers with line crew
ITL17 15cm howitzers with horse crew
ITL18 15cm howitzers with Garibaldini crew
ITL19 Mounted Officers (5) £1.75
ITL20 Mounted Generals (5) £1.75
ITL21 Giuseppe Garibaldi (1) £0.75
ITL22 Casualty marker (10) £1.75
(Packs contain 30 foot or 15 cavalry, priced at £5.25 unless shown otherwise)
1849-59 Army Pack
3 x ITL3. 1 x ITL4, ITL6, ITL10, ITL12 £33.00
1859-1866 Army Pack
3 x ITL1. 1 x ITL2, ITL5, ITL8, ITL12 £33.00
And some pics!
ITL1 - Line infantry in tunic
ITL3 - Line command in greatcoat
ITL6 - Bersaglieri
ITL10 - Cavalleggeri cavalry with sabre/carbine
ITL12 - 8pdr guns with line crew
ITL20 - Mounted general
This new range takes us to 113 releases so far this year! And we're ploughing ahead with even more in the next few weeks, as the Korean range nears production...!