Basic Infantry Painting Guide

A few people have been asking for a basic painting guide, so here is the first part. First off we will look at painting infantry. This is the method I use to paint my miniatures and I hope you find it useful, feel free to take whatever you like out of it, remember painting miniatures is an ever evolving art so always be willing to try something new.

Basic Infantry Painting This is pretty much the standard method I use to paint my Battlefront miniatures for Flames of War. It’s reasonable simple and easy to emulate. On some occasions I may do a few others things or add extra highlighting, but this is basically it.

Here are some Hungarians I painted this way.

Step One Clean up your miniatures, see Mark’s article on preparing your miniatures... I glue each miniature with PVA to a square of scrap card, usually about 2 x 2 cm. This gives me something to hang on to when painting. I paint about one or two sections in each batch. Undercoat your miniatures with black paint, you can use a spray but I usually used thinned down Tamiya acrylic matt black. Use the proper Tamiya thinner as using water may cause the paint to crack once it is dry. Evan here at Battlefront uses thinned down Humbrol matt black.

Step Two Next I paint all the basic colours on. During this process I’m careful to leave black shadows in the creases and crevices. This helps to give the miniature a bit depth and defines the shapes. I usually paint the flesh first, as the face is usually the hardest part to get access to with the brush, leaving less chance of messing up the other colours.

Step Three Highlighting is the next stage. Highlighting also helps define the shape of the miniature and bring out the detail. Shadows and highlights emphasise the detail of the model, because the surfaces are so small on 15mm miniatures simply painting each area one shade can obscure the detail of a finely crafted model, its there but no one can see it. Paint a lighter shade of the same colour on the raised surfaces and edges.

Step Four I always paint the metal parts last, and depending on the effect I want I may also apply some highlighting. Then any unit markings, piping or badges can be added. This can add that little bit of something to your miniatures, and help individualise them.

These Australians were also painted by this method.

Colours used for the British Infantryman: Flesh Base: Ral Partha Flesh Highlight: Citadel/GW Elf flesh Jacket and Trousers Base: Vallejo English Uniform Highlight: 50% Vallejo English Uniform 50% Vallejo Khaki Webbing (Belts, Pack etc) Base: Vallejo Khaki Highlight: 50% Vallejo Khaki 50% Vallejo Pale Sand Helmet Base: Vallejo Russian Uniform Highlight: 50% Vallejo Russian Uniform 50% Khaki Bren Stock Wood Base: Vallejo Beige Highlight: Vallejo Light Brown Blanket Roll Base: Vallejo Green Grey Highlight: 50% Vallejo Green Grey 50% Light Grey

Water bottle Base: Vallejo Chocolate Brown Highlight: 50% Vallejo Chocolate Brown 50% Khaki Boots Base: Vallejo Flat Black Highlight: Vallejo German Grey Bren Gun Base: Vallejo Gunmetal Grey