Where do you start? Well, painting a WWII army doesn’t have to be hard work. You are doing it for fun after all! Here are some simple techniques to guide you on your path to painting enlightenment. Before you start slapping the paint on it pays to clean the miniatures and parts up with a sharp knife or file, this removes the extra bits hanging off the miniatures caused by the casting process.

Once the parts are cleaned up you then need to glue them together if it’s a vehicle or gun. When preparing you miniatures for painting there are a few things to keep in mind, have a look at Mark's guide to preparing your miniatures. Once cleaned up and assembled its time to undercoat. You have two choices when it comes to undercoat, white or black, I use black, but just as many people use white, it depends a lot on your painting style. It can either be brushed or sprayed on.  In the examples below I’ve used black undercoat. To paint your miniatures, you will need your paints, some thinner to clean your brushes in, and a selection of various sized brushes. Two types of paints commonly used are water-based acrylics and oil-based enamels. We use acrylic paints as they dry quickly and normal tap water cleans your brushes. Clean your brush frequently and avoid getting paint on the ferrule (the silver part that holds the bristles).

What Colours Should I Use? See our Beginner’s Colour Guide or the Intelligence handbooks for more information on which colours to use for the tanks and soldiers of your force. How do I paint tanks? It’s a good idea to try painting one tank to begin with. Follow the steps in Wayne’s basic painting guide . When you’re happy with the result paint a whole platoon of three to five at once.

How do I Paint Soldiers? As with tanks, start by painting a test miniature. Once you’ve done one miniature, try painting groups of ten or more figures at once. Do each stage on all of the miniatures before moving to the next stage. This will help you speed up and you’ll have a platoon ready for battle in no time! When painting infantry, it’s a good idea to blue-tack them to a strip of card. This makes it easier to hold them while you are painting. Painting Infantry... Painting Techniques You’ll hear people talk of washes, dry brushing etc. What do they mean? They are all about creating depth of colour and realism in a miniature.

Basecoat Refers to the first coat of paint that establishes the main colour of a miniature. Washes Are really thinned down paints used to create shadows by running like water into cracks and gaps. Use a darker shade than the basecoat. Inks are very good for this technique.

Dry brushing Dry brushing lightens the colour on the miniature’s details. Load an old brush with a lighter shade of paint and then wipe most of it off again. Lightly draw the brush over the surface of your miniature to leave a touch of paint on the edges and raised detail. Decals Decals or transfers are used for tank and vehicle markings that add detail and realism to your painted miniatures.

Great basing can really make your model that much more interesting (using the sand method)

Cut out the decal and place it in a saucer of water. With a brush, slide the decal from its backing paper on to the miniature and gently dab off the excess water with a soft cotton cloth. Basing Basing is that final element that can make a well-painted force look superb. Use the same basing method throughout your force to give your company a unified look. There is a huge variety of ways to base your miniatures, but the simplest method uses sand and paint. 1. Glue some sand to the base after you have attached your painted miniatures.

2. Then basecoat the sand green, brown or sand. Next dry brush a lighter shade over the sand once the first coat is dry. 3. Finally glue on some twigs or model grass (flock), whatever takes your fancy. Simon offers another method using builder's filler… Right: Dion has just glued some grit or sand to his base after using builder's filler before painting. Now it's time to get out there and play some games!

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