Turns out, our prediction in the Soft Underbelly Hot Take was correct, Part II of the Italian Campaign was coming. What we didn’t anticipate was that it would take two years! That’s the longest break between Bolt Action books since the game was released. So, was it worth the wait? What secrets does Tough Gut have in its 176 pages? Let’s dive in with another Chicago Dice Hot Take!

Hot

• Sharpshooter – The US gets a fantastic 5pt upgrade option for their Infantry Squads. You can designate one model in the unit to be a Sharpshooter. When the unit fires, the Sharpshooter has a +1 To Hit modifier. In addition, the Sharpshooter can fire at a different target than the rest of the unit! Wow. That’s a must-take unit option right there.
  
• Mechanically Unreliable – Save 5% (~20 pts) for both Elefant and Tiger I. When issuing an Advance, on a roll of a 1, you are temporarily immobilized but can fire normally. If you order a Run, on a 1 you are immobilized, a 2 you are immobilized for the rest of the game. This is a great tradeoff as generally with these tanks you wouldn’t Run them. Main thing is this allows you to bring an Elefant without Unreliable. 500pts is still a crazy amount of points, but now it’s not one of the worst tanks in the game.

• Layout – Thankfully Tough Gut follows the preferred layout and formatting for a Campaign book. Missions, then new units, then new Theater Selectors and finally an Appendix (Generic Units, Fortifications and Special Rules). Far, far too many Bolt Action books do not follow this format and are a headache to browse and search. This is the format to use and we hope it stays.
  
• Wojtek … That is all.

• p.118-119 British, Commonwealth, and British-Supported Theater Selectors – Within these two incredible pages there are clear and concise rules for running one of these Platoons. Our prayers have been answered! It’s basically an official version of Unpacking the Commonwealth Rules in Bolt Action and I couldn’t’ be happier. As both a player and a TO this is simply amazing. The next step is to publish these two pages into the FAQ and override the existing spiderweb of Commonwealth rules from The Western Desert and Soft Underbelly.
  
• German Spahtrupp (Scout Troops) – This new squad can make an escape move reaction similar to Calvary (it’s limited to 6″). That’s wild. They do pay a heavy 3pt price for it though at 13pts Reg and 16pts Vet. This unit can also Forward Deploy like a Sniper Team. They also have the options to be Stubborn (+1pt), Fanatics (+3pts), Excellent Conditioning (+1pt) and Mountain Warriors (+1pt).
  
  So, if you wanted, you can rock a maxed out unit of six Vets with three SMGs for only141pts (22pts per model, 25pts with an SMG)!

Honorable Mentions

• Theater Selector Special Rules – A change so simple you weep that it hadn’t been added sooner. Each Theater Selector concludes with a Special Rules section that simply includes a bulleted list of the specific Special Rules that affect that Selector. The rules themselves are listed in full at the beginning of the section. It’s fantastic.
  
• Time on Target – US Artillery Observers can take this upgrade for 15pts. When using Time on Target the enemy cannot go Down as a reaction. Thankfully this is limited to specific Theater Selections in this book.
  
• USA Super BAR (Johnson LMG) – At only 5pts more than a standard BAR, 24″ range, 3 shots, and benefits from the Fire and Maneuver Army Special Rule. That is amazing. Only downside to this is its locked in the FSSF Squad (only can be Vet) but this squad is available in Generic Reinforced Platoon.
  
• German Breda LMG – The Heer Grenadier Squad (Italy, Early-Mid 1944) can take two MGs at just 15 points apiece. These 15pt LMGs lose the Hitler’s Buzzsaw rule, bringing them to 4 shots each. Let’s begin the debate on if an LMG is now worth it at 15pts…

Not

• “British-Supported” and “US-Supported” Theater Selectors – Although Tough Gut includes a truly impressive sweep of the Italian campaign and includes a wide variety of nations, units and Theater Selectors there was a strange design choice for the Polish and the French. The II Polish Corps Reinforced Platoon is not a Polish Platoon, it’s British. And the French Expeditionary Force Theater Selector is not French, it’s US.
  
  It’s bizarre. The units included in the Theater Selectors, such as the Polish Infantry Section (Late-War), is not a Polish unit. It’s a British one. It’s unit entry is included in the British & Commonwealth Units section of the book and includes the following text:
  
  Polish Infantry Section count as infantry squads for the purpose of the generic reinforced platoon selector from the Bolt Action rulebook and Armies of Great Britain book. In addition, they may be taken in the 1944- Monte Cassino selector in the Armies of Great Britain.
  
  Huh? So, it’s not a Polish force. It’s a British one. And it’s the same thing for the French. These are “French” units in name only. The force is actually one for the US. I suppose it’s because during this campaign the Polish fought under the command structure of the British? And the French under the US? It’s just very strange to me. A player would go and collect, build and paint a new Italian campaign Late-War French force but when their opponent asks what army they play, the answer would be “America.”
  

• Theater Selector Layout – It’s bad. There are far too many instances of Theater Selectors spilling onto a second or third page, special rules on a different page, titles on one page, the images cause bad breaks in the flow of information, and you find yourself flipping back and forth even when looking at a single Theater Selector. It starts out well, the first four Theater Selectors in the British, Commonwealth & British-Supported Theater Selectors are perfect. One Theater Selector per page. But then it devolves and the formatting starts to fall apart. This could have been corrected but just removing or resizing some images, truly frustrating to see.
  
• Italy – There are surprisingly few new units and Theater Selectors for Italy. We’ve got one Axis Italy Theater Selector, four Axis Italy units, one Allied Italy Theater Selector and five Allied Italy units. The ability to play Allied Italy is an interesting option though.

Lukewarm

• There are only 10 campaign scenarios in this rather large book mainly centered around Monte Cassino and Anzio. But these scenarios are well written and look like a ton of fun to play and reenact on the table top.

The Takeaway

Tough Gut is a dense tome. Within its pages there are a staggering amount of units, unit rules, Theater Selectors, Platoon options and special rules jammed in this book. Combined with Soft Underbelly you can create some truly unique (and wildly powerful) forces that will feel and play very differently from their Western Europe and Eastern Front counterparts. That being said, the strange design and formatting decisions stop Tough Gut from reaching the heights of Fortress Budapest or New Guinea.