Painting 28mm WW1 Germans

Seeing as I am on something akin to holidays at the moment i.e. going to work only for a few hours per day as the office is officially closed I thought I'd do a WIP article on how I paint my WW1 Germans. The figures used are 28mm Renegade which are just superb little casts. Anyways here goes.

1st Step:
As always start by washing the figures in detergent to get rid of any oils and such which will weaken the bond of the paint with the figure. Then use white glue to stick them on coke caps or whatever else takes your fancy and prime them black. Oh I also tend to paint figures in the same pose together as I find it tends to speed up the whole process. Pic of completed first step:
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2nd Step:

Face: A coat of vallejo red leather. Always dilute your paints when painting but especially for faces you don't want the paint going on all thick and obscuring the detail.

Coats and Trousers: Covered both with vallejo black grey. Leave a tiny black line showing around the epaulette and the collar. Adds a bit of depth although not really necessary as black grey is very dark anyways.

Helmet: Coat d'arms Tan Earth.
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Step 3:
Ok a few more bits done.

a) Using a dark red (I used vallejo cadmium maroon) apply stripes to the trousers. Also paint the lining on the jacket and the collar.

Don't fret if a line is not absolutely straight. No matter how steady your hand you won't get it absolutely right in one. Just have some of the black grey we used to paint the coat and trousers around and correct/straighten the lines. Besides it won't matter if the line is not perfectly aligned. The highlights we will do in the next steps will add depth and take attention away from any fault in this regard.

b) Paint the bag on their back with vallejo pancer aces 339(feldgrau).

c) Paint the metal bits on the aforementioned bag with vallejo brass. Don't worry about leaving a black line between the brass bits and the cloth. The next step will involve a wash which will take care of that.
There's also a brass button on top of the epaulette. Paint that too although I would advise painting it after you have painted the stripe on the collar. Otherwise you might get red on it when you are doing the stripe and have to redo it.

d) Finally give the boots a coat of vallejo flat brown.

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Step 4:
Done a bit more work on the article lads.

a) Give the helmets a first highlight of vallejo desert yellow.

b) Highlight the flesh with vallejo game colour dwarf skin.

c) Using one of the new GW washes Devlan Mud give the bags on the back of the figures a wash. Apply the wash also on the metal bits we painted brass.
These GW washes are not really washes more like glazes but they are some of the best paints GW has ever brought out. Oh just a small tip which works for me. Before you dip the brush into the pot make sure to wet it first. I don't mean to dive it into the paint pot loaded with water, just that the brush is wet. This will help the glaze/wash be applied more smoothly and not leave any ugly streaks.
This is a bit of a shortcut really; normally I would highlight the bag and the metal separately with layering. I am however trying to find shortcuts with these seeing as I have a good number to paint and want to get it done this century.

d) Highlight the boots with vallejo Saddle Brown. I did this with a drybrush but after that I also highlighted the most prominent parts with Saddle Brown as well. Again very much a shortcut but it doesn't look bad.

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Step 5:

a) Highlight the helmets with a mix of vallejo desert yellow and white. About 3 parts of the former to 1 of the latter if that helps. Thin the mix really really well; almost a wash. Thus when applied and it has dried it will have a streaky appearance which while normally unwanted in painting, is very much appropriate I feel for these helmets. It nicely replicates cloth exposed to the elements, faded in parts etc. Of course feel free to experiment yourselves with this. You can always apply it full strength or with less water mixed in depending on what you think looks best.

b) Highlight the stripes on the trousers/coat/neck with vallejo flat red. Again thin it. We don't want it full strength. You may need to give it more than one pass with the thinned down red.

c) Using vallejo Oily Steel paint the metal bits on the rifles.

d) Paint the wooden parts of the rifles with coat d'arms chestnut brown. Highlight those same wooden parts with coat d'arms hairy brown (yeah I know what a name right? lol)

e) Give the rifles a wash of GW Badab black.
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Step 6:
a) Using GW Codex grey paint one layer of highlight on the uniform. Both trousers and coat.

b) Give a highlight of vallejo dark sea blue to the blanket roll and also to the rifle sling.

c) Paint the ammunition packs at the front of the figure as well as the little bit of belt showing at the back with vallejo flat brown.

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Step 7:

a) Mix an equal amount of vallejo game colour rosy flesh with vallejo game colour elf skin and after thinning it apply it on the most prominent parts of the flesh.

b) A step I forgot when we were doing the rifle. Once you have done the wash, also give it another thinned highlight of coat d'arms hairy brown.

c) Mix vallejo dark sea blue with a tiny bit of white and highlight the blanket roll.

d) Highlight the ammunition packs and the belt with vallejo saddle brown.

e) Give the coat a highlight of very well thinned down gw fortress grey.

f) Finally highlight the trousers with a mix of gw codex grey and gw fortress grey. Approximately 3 to 1 ratio.

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This concludes this mini "tutorial" so to speak. It's not the highest class of painting not by a long shot but it is easy to replicate even for a newbie and I made a conscious effort to make it so. No blending, feathering, or more than three highlights. Just simple painting. I tend to think of painting miniatures not as an art but more as a matter of technique and also very importantly a matter of knowing what procession of colours to use. You don't have to be an artist to paint decently and anyone can produce a fair quality of minis using this layering system which is really why it caught on.