FoW: HOBBY: Painting French Infantry
Frost here again to breakdown how I painted my French Infantry. If you are painting FoW infantry of any kind, I think you may get something out of this as well.
Feel free to take what you like and try it out. The methods I use aren’t all that time-consuming, but If you are looking for something a bit faster than my technique, I’ll be mentioning some shortcuts on the way for those in a bigger hurry.
Infantry stands are a bit different from single infantry miniatures in larger scales. They are more like mini dioramas, and as such, they bring a few extra dimensions. First of all, the focus seldom rests on one single soldier on the stand. The stand itself has to emphasize its better parts and draw attention away from imperfections. This proves difficult with such small miniatures, where the face and hands are typically the lightest part, yet also the most distorted part of the sculpt. Figures’ hands will be large and their faces will be vague, distorted and sometimes just a total mess when you get this small. To counter this problem it helps to bring out other details, such as helmets, weapons, or even their packs and web gear. Don’t try to pack the faces with detail; sometimes there isn’t even any to paint.
I began work on my French Infantry with these considerations in mind. I wanted to make a scheme that was easy to apply and natural-looking, yet striking. My basic plan is to undercoat all of the basic parts of the model, then wash everything together with a single color for uniform shading. After that, I highlight each element of the infantry’s gear, skin and uniform.
I undercoated with Citadel Chaos Black, but this isn’t really a must, I just prefer the dark undercoat at this small scale.
I then began to base coat each part of the infantry. The colors I chose were largely based on the colors recommended by Battlefront in their French Infantry Painting guide. The colors you choose need not be so historically strict, but I chose to be this time around. For the uniforms, I used Vallejo Green Brown, which I mixed with a tiny bit of Citadel Khemri Brown to give it more opacity. It is fairly close to green brown, only lacking the greenish look, so it mixes well when used sparingly.
For the bags and webbing I used Vallejo German Camo Beige, a very light color that makes the gear stand out nicely, yet naturally. Alternatively, you could use a reddish-brown color to give then a more leathery look. The packs worn on the side were base coated in Vallejo German Camo Orange Ochre. Helmets were painted Olive Grey. The boots and rifle stocks were painted Vallejo Chocolate Brown, and the metal rifle bits were painted with Citadel Boltgun Metal. Lastly, the faces and hands were painted with P3 Khardic Flesh mixed with a very small amount of Citadel Tallarn Flesh to give it better coverage, though any mid-tone flesh color will do.
Next I washed each soldier head-to-foot in Citadel Devlan Mud. If you find it too dark, you may consider Citadel Gryphonne Sepia instead. The sepia is also good if you are in a hurry and want to be done at the wash step. Either way, be careful not to overdo it. It doesn’t take a deluge of wash to get good shading, and it’s better to have to apply a second wash, than to end up too dark the first time.
Next come the highlighting. If you are in a hurry, it may help to pick and choose certain parts to highlight and call the rest done. For the uniform I used Vallejo Green Brown with no mix, using a sparing amount and taking time to work gradually up to the highlight in more visible areas. Likewise, I used pure German Camo Beige on the bags and webbing, as well as German Camo Orange Ochre on the pack, in both cases hitting the most prominent areas in order to give them depth. Helmets were highlighted with the original Olive Grey, though some hobbyists may want to lighten it up a bit with another green or perhaps a tan or beige color mixed in. The wood bits of the rifles were highlighted with Vallejo Beige Brown and the metal bits very lightly highlighted again with Boltgun Metal.
The flesh was highlighted with P3 Midlund Flesh, again using a little Tallarn Flesh to make it apply a bit more smoothly. On larger models, this usually isn’t a problem, but with such small fleshy areas, it helps to have a paint that can highlight hard edges effectively. As with the flesh base coat, don’t hesitate to use a preferred skin color to highlight with. Keep in mind, however, that a highlight color that is too dark may look flat or unnatural, even if you intend to make your soldiers a bit swarthier than I did, as some French Infantry players using the colonial lists may wish to do. The boots were done last, after the base was painted, so that any possible mess-ups could be fixed.
Here are some photos with the finished highlights. I used Citadel Calthan Brown as a base color for a nice, rich, earthy look. I plan to use almost 100% grass coverage, but I left it out for now so that you can see the entire stand.
And that is it for now! I hope some of this has proven useful to you. Good luck out there and keep an eye out for a hobby article on painting French armor in the very near future. Farewell, and catch you soon.
