For this year's Advent Calendar challenge, I decided to paint some 28mm Germans for the invasion of France in 1940. I decided to use a mix of the original Warlord Games Blitzkrieg Germans mixed with the new Warlord German Veterans. I'm a fan of making hybrids from different kits, and these two sets fitted together very well. My aim was to use Contrast/Speed paints and a grisaille method of undercoating.
I first started with the conversion. The new Veterans are a tiny bit larger than the old Blitzkrieg models, but even so, they proved easy to adapt. Plastic is very easy to convert, so I just played around with the different head and arm options until I had three cool-looking riflemen.
The model on the left is 'pure' German Veteran, while the others are a mix of the Blitzkreig torsos with arms and heads taken from the Veteran set. I had a few tiny issues with positioning the arms (but who doesn't with plastics?). Those with keen eyesight will see the Veteran is slightly more chunky than the others.
Next, I spray-painted the models white. When this had fully dried and I was happy with the coverage, I then used a wash of Ali's Brown Liquid. This is great for creating the grisaille effect I wanted before applying paints.
After the wash had dried, I started drybrushing the models white. Citadel Dry's Praxeti White is ideal for this. I occasionally add a drop of white primer to make the mix even lighter. The models are now prepared with a grisaille undercoat and are ready for painting.
Now, the actual painting is straightforward. The grisaille has highlighted the different areas and it becomes pretty much 'painting by numbers'. I like to start with the deepest parts of the model and with a preference to the lightest colours. that way any mistakes can be either given a dab of white paint or will be drowned by the deeper colour. I wasn't too worried about the webbing, as this was going to be black.
I started by using Speedpaint Camo Cloak, which gives a good 'nettle' grey for the early war German uniform. For the trousers I used Citadel Basilicanum Grey. Next were the dark green collars, for which I used Speedpaint Absolution Green. At this point, I did make a schoolboy error. I left the models near a radiator to dry quicker and to my horror, the far right model's bayonet had shrunk!
Next, I painted the boots and the webbing in Citadel Black Templar, which remains my 'go to' black colour. As time was running out, I neglected to take a picture of the next stage. The rifles were Xpress Copper Brown with Speedpaint Mettalic Broadsword Silver. The gas hood pouches were done in Speedpaint Runic Grey to make them stand out. The helmets actually used Vallejo German Grey diluted with Speedpaint Medium. The bread bag used Xpress Bag of Bones. Finally, the flesh colour was a mix of Xpress Tanned Skin and Fairy Skin. The hair was Aggaros Dunes, my preferred dark blonde colour.
Overall, I was happy with the results. Despite a very busy Christmas period, I managed to knock out twelve German miniatures and a few peasants. They could be improved, without a doubt. I need to add transfers to the helmets and do some highlights on the face and rifle to make them 'pop' more. The collars also need their collar tabs in white. Hopefully, this blog will inspire gamers to try this method and see how quickly and easily they can knock out a section or two of Early War Germans.
