FOW - Panzergrenadiers - Part 3

Time to knock out another quick, lunchtime post about my Germans.

Last night I painted up some examples of how I'm going about painting my Early/Mid/Late War Germans for Flames Of War. In my last post some folks were interested enough in my approach to basing to ask me for more info. Ask and you shall receive...mostly.

Above you can see the three and a bit stages I'm going through to paint up the plastic rubble bases (from Battlefront). These bases are quite cool, in that there's already a lot of detail on them that takes drybrushing well, but not so much stuff that they're threatening to detract from the miniatures. The "multi-hue" approach is something I learned from friends John Shaffer and Jason Buyaki. I typically use it a lot for terrain building, but not so much for mini basing (until now that is).

Step A: Paint the base with Vallejo Charred Brown (similar to GW Scorched Brown).

Step B: Drybrush Vallejo Dark Grey (similar, but a but darker than GW Adeptus Battlegrey). Pick out the things you want to be "red brick" with Vallejo Red Leather (no GW analog) and dust a bit of the Red Leather around the edges.

Step C: I threw in a base that is entirely drybrushed with Red Leather, obviously in the middle of a town square as there is no building debris (although I may bring some in when I put the modes on).

Step D: Finally, put down a light drybrush of Vallejo Pale Sand (also no GW analog).

By varying the colors as you build up the basing, you can add a lot more depth than you would usually get by doing the old "brown, light brown, lighter brown" progression. The light dusting of the Pale Sand at the end helps tie the colors together.

After this I'll be gluing in the finished figs, filling gaps with putty, gluing down some GF9 Super-fine Grit, painting it appropriately, then adding some very small tufts of Silfor Late Summer Buffalo Grass, just like in the pic below. Easy.

While I was at it I figured I'd show you how I'm painting up my infantry. As you can see, most of the guys are being glued to "popsicle/paddle pop/iced lolly/craft" sticks to increase the assembly line speed.

Step A: All the basecoats are applied. All colors are Vallejo unless specified.

• Tunic and pants - German Fieldgrey WWII

• Helmet - German Cam. Dark Green

• Rifle stocks and tool handles - Beige Brown

• Bread bag - Flat Earth

• Pouches and straps - Leather Belt

• Rifle barrel - Gunmetal

• Flesh - Tan

Step B: The entire model is given a wash with a mix of GW Devlan Mud and a thinned Charred Brown.

Step C: Highlights are added to the flesh (Dwarf Skin) and the tunic and pants (German Fieldgrey WWII).

If the wash has been too dark on some other areas, I'll go back and highlight them with the basecolor.

So, there you have it. That's how I paint my Germans.

Now back to work.

Cheers

Dave