At Last, the First Finished Trooper

At long last, I've got the paint scheme and finishing done and dusted for my Death Korps of Krieg. It's long overdue, but at least it's done. I'm really pleased with the final result- dirtied down and lacking dramatic edge highlights like I've always done in the past. The final result is grittier than anything else I've painted before, and it's a great change of pace! This army is going to look great when it's done.

What follows is every little detail in the paintjob itself. I need to store this info someplace, if for no other reason than to ensure that I can replicate this scheme anytime I wish. The basic frame of the paintjob is the tutorial I mentioned earlier from the blog First Rank, Second Rank. Mine parts a bit from it however, and I think owes a little more to the "historical" scheme of the Krieg 143rd Siege Regiment. However, I diverged from both schemes with much more squad marking detail. I'll get to that in a second...

Paint Scheme

Starting from a black primer basecoat, here's the "recipe", broken down by area on the model:

Greatcoats

Airbrushed Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey, attempting as much as possible to leave areas in shadow a bit darker.

Paint GW Badab Black in all the folds and gaps as shading. I did this three times, letting each previous coat dry and focusing more black wash in the deepest areas of shadow.

Painted all buttons GW Brazen Brass, with a subsequent sepia wash. I used Daler Rowney Sepia ink, but GW Gryphonne Sepai would work just as well.

Painted a VMC Black triangle on the left collar front, followed by GW Mechrite Red. It's hard to see, but the best shot I have of it is below:



A basic geometric shape, along with different colors, indicates what regiment a guardsman serves in. In this case, a red triangle indicates the 143rd Siege Regiment. For a much better pic check out page 17 of Imperial Armour Volume Five, The Siege of Vraks Part One.

I then applied MIG P037 Gulf War Sand pigment to the lower half of the greatcoats and boots to simulate accumulated dust and grime. At the end, when I finished the base with a light drybrush of GW Bleached Bone, I also applied a little to the greatcoat to link the coat and the base a little bit more (base painting scheme described at the bottom)

Webbing, Boots, Belt, Ammo and E-tool Pouches, and Backpack



Basecoat in GW Calthan Brown

Apply GW Devlan Mud wash

Highlight again with GW Calthan Brown

Bedroll, Leg Bindings, Gas Mask

Basecoat in GW Khemri Brown

Apply GW Devlan Mud wash

Highlight with GW Khemri Brown

Gas mask was given an additional highlight of GW Kommando Khaki. Hose connected painted GW Brazen Brass, and highlighted with GW Shining Gold. Eyepiece rims edged in VMC Oily Steel. Lenses left black. Hose drybrushed with GW Codex Grey

Helmet, Shoulder Armor, Glove Armor





Basecoat with VMC German Grey

Helmet Imperial Eagle and Shoulder Armor rivets painted VMC Oily Steel.

Shoulder armor given a painted on gloss varnish with VMC Gloss Varnish. This was done to prepare the surface for decals.

Here's the primary area where I deviated from the "historical" model. I feel like with the strict regimentation of the Death Korps, unit identification would be very important. So, I decided that every guardsman will be clearly identifiable down to squad level.

All of the Krieg infantry models have two shoulder plates on their left side, so I decided to use these for company and platoon identification. The "15th" on the top plate indicates the company. This decal came from the ForgeWorld Death Korps Decal Sheet. On the smaller armor plate below, I carefully painted a single line with VMC White. This indicates the model is from 1st Platoon. 2d Platoon gets two stripes, 3rd gets three, etc.

The right side indicates what squad the model is in. There are some serial number decals on the Krieg sheet that are intended for very small work like artillery shells. I cut the "1" out of a longer sequence to get a decal small enough to cleanly mount to the plate.

The shoulder armor got another layer of VMC Gloss Varnish to seal the decals down, followed by a painted on layer of VMC Matte Varnish.

I then gave the helmet and shoulder armor a 50/50 GW Devlan Mud/water wash to add a little filth, and to "dirty down" the bright white decals into something more in keeping with the rest of the model. I applied pin washes to the rivets on the helmet and shoulder plates afterwards, as well as along the fluting at the top of the helmet.

Painted on Daler-Rowney Soluble Matte Varnish over armor plates. This stuff is "uber matte"- no trace of shininess left behind after this!

Finally, I took a #2 pencil and rubbed it along the hard edges of the helmet, shoulder armor, and glove armor to simulate worn off paint. I also made some random "gouges" with the pencil in different places to show wearing.

Backpack Provisions Tin

Basecoat with VMC Luftwaffe Cam. Green (GW Catachan Green would look good as well)

Paint Imperial Eagle with VMC Oily Steel

Applied GW Badab Black wash

Highlight with VMC Luftwaffe Cam. Green

Flamer

Drybrushed with VMC Oily Steel

Paint fuel bottle and furniture with VMC Black.

Fuel tank skull and feed hose painted GW Brazen Brass

GW Snakebite Leather painted in semi-random streaks at the muzzle, followed by similar streaks of VMC Black inside. Apply sepia wash as before over black, snakebite, and a bit of the muzzle.

Muzzle edges, ingiter, fuel tank rivets, and furniture all given the #2 pencil treatment.

Pants and Gloves

Basecoat with GW Scorched Brown

GW Badab Black wash applied

Highlight with GW Scorched Brown

Base



Before I primed the fig, I glued pieces of shale and larger basing material in a few places, followed by fine sand. For this fig I also stuck in a bit of metal mesh for additional interest.

Painted all of the sand GW Bestial Brown

Medium drybrush of GW Bubonic Brown, followed by a light drybrush of GW Bleached Bone

Painted all rocks/shale GW Codex Grey

Applied GW Devlan Mud wash

Drybrushed GW Fortress Grey.

Painted mesh GW Dark Flesh, followed by GW Vermin Brown in random, stippled patches. Finished with GW Macharius Solar Orange, again stippled.

Painted rim GW Bestial Brown


As you can see, other than the pencil treatment, there's not an edge highlight to be found anywhere on the model. I really like it, and I think the army is going to look striking in its entirety (especially with tanks!)

So, there you have it. Over the coming week this project is going to be the "big one", and I'll keep this blog updated as much as possible with my progress. Thanks for checking in, and by all means I'd love to hear your comments and/or criticism of this "new techique" and scheme of mine. Until next time...