Tutorial: Painting British WW2 Commandos Part 1

Hi folks, 

Today I'm pleased to introduce you to Troy Brand of Brand Painting Studios who will be showing us how to paint World War 2 British soldiers like a pro.  If you're not a WW2 gamer you might find the colour scheme and techniques useful for painting imperial Guard or other SciFi troopers. That's all from me, over to Troy!

Ed

Warlord Games WW2 British Commandos

A couple of weeks ago I got my hands on some of Warlord Games' WW2 British Commandos. My first impression of them is that they are very well made. There are only a few mould lines to file off and all the pieces fit together very nicely. Some pieces, like the stocks on the sten guns, are very flimsy and prone to snapping before even clipping them off the sprue.  Another good impression it made is that the sprue contains more than enough arms, heads, berets, helmets and accessories to have a huge variety of poses, weapons and faces. So, having sat down and examined the pieces one by one and deciding on the poses I wanted, I went ahead with my little project.

Getting the right colour scheme

It is perfectly acceptable to paint Space Marines in red. However, anyone would consider it a cardinal sin to paint Red Army soldiers in that colour, and equally sinful to dress soldiers of the Wehrmacht in pink, however funny the implication might be. So the first thing to do before even priming your models is to look for reference material to get the colour schemes as accurate as possible. This also means researching the colours of the equipment as well as the uniforms themselves.  The internet is full of very good (and bad) sources for this but I found this rather handy picture on the Encyclopaedia Britannica's website which makes a nice reference.

British commando from 1944-45

Preparing the model

One 28mm plastic Commado ready for painting!

Once I had decided what colours I would use to represent our commando and his equipment, I decided I would try using a beret and equip the model with a sten gun, canteen and rucksack.After I had clipped the pieces I needed for the first model and filed them as necessary I put the model together and based it with some Citadel sand.

I proceeded to undercoat the model with Grey spray primer from Humbrol. Lately I find grey to be a perfectly good compromise between black and white. This has to do with the type of paints I normally use, which are acrylics. They usually need to be thinned down in order not to obscure detail. Two or more thin coats of paint are usually enough to cover a surface. Still, the paints retain a certain transparency. This allows for the colour to appear muted if the undercoat is black, or equally very bright if the undercoat is white.  Grey being more neutral allows for the true pigment of the paint to show after the second thin coat.

Painting the Commando's uniform

Base coating the uniform

Having looked again at my reference, I picked Vallejo Flat Brown for the uniform. When painting large numbers of models it is easier to paint from one darker base coat and build highlights from it. There are other techniques which require the use of a neutral colour onto which shadows and highlights will be added, but for this model in particular, this was not to be.

Once the base coat was painted I then went on to paint the first highlights. These were achieved by layering on a 1-1 mix of Vallejo's Ochre Brown and Brown Sand. To this mixture I added a drop (or less than) of Vallejo Off White for the second layered highlight.

Clockwise: First highlight, second highlight, wash for shading.

Like I mentioned earlier, some techniques involve darkening and highlighting certain areas of the model by blending in different shades from a neutral base. However for this model I have applied a more traditional technique of layering highlights on to a darker shade then using a wash to produce a smoother transition from light to dark as, after a couple of lighter layers it would not have looked very natural. To achieve this I used Vallejo's Sepia Shade. Another good wash would have been Citadel's Agrax Earthshade but I prefer Vallejo's because of a higher pigment saturation. If you have the old Citadel Devlan Mud, I would recommend it for this also.


Painting World War 2 British Commandos: Part 2
Troy continues his tutorial with tips on how to paint skin tones.

 If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out Troy's website. He does commission work and his rates are very reasonable. Ed

Tutorial Painting British WW2 Commandos Part 2

Welcome back to our tutorial on painting World War 2 British soldiers like a pro.. If you haven't seen part 1 you can find it here.  Once again I hand you over to Troy Brand of Brand Painting Studios who today will be mostly showing us how to paint flesh. 

Ed

Painting the skin

Once I was satisfied with the uniform, which covers the largest percentage of the model, I moved on to paint the hands and face with Vallejo's Panzer Aces Flat Flesh. The Panzer Aces line has some very good flesh tones and I thoroughly recommend picking some of these up.  However, the paint in itself is a little pale at first. This is fine, as once a wash has been applied (once again I used Sepia wash) the paleness goes, revealing warmer tones as well as the details on the face.

Clockwise: base coat, wash, highlights

The highlighting on the face and hands was achieved by adding three layers: the first was a layer of Flat Flesh, then a 1-1 mix of Flat and Light Flesh (again from Vallejo) and finally a last one of Vallejo Light Flesh. Satisfied with the flesh tones I then painted the beret. This was a two stage process of painting a base coat of Vallejo Dark Green and highlighting it with a mix of Dark and Light Green.

Painting the sten gun

I picked this time to paint the sten gun, which looks a very, very dark metallic black. This I achieved by making a 2-1 mix of Vallejo Flat Black and Vallejo Gun Metal Grey. If I had not run out of the old Citadel Bolt Gun Metal I would have used that, as Citadel used to make the better metallic paints of the two brands. I then washed the sten with a thinned down wash of Citadel Badab Black. I have not used the new black wash from Citadel, but I really like the medium they used for the old washes. A very light drybrush with the original metallic brought out the details.

The model after the skin highlights and the beret were finished, along with the sten gun.

Unfortunately I did not have enough presence of mind to take pictures of the remaining process, but essentially it boiled down to six areas: the shirt, straps, the rucksack, the pouches, boots and base.

The shirt was painted with a single layer of Off White, which makes a very good contrast with the rest of the model. The straps, equally easy to paint, were all painted with a single coat of Sand.

The original rucksack was a pale shade of green-grey which I achieved by painting the base coat with Vallejo's Intermediate Blue (a slightly blue-ish grey) followed by two consecutive washes of Badab Black.

The pouches were painted with Dark Green and highlighted with a 1-1 mix of Dark Green and Vallejo Game colour Heavy Khaki.

The boots were painted Flat Black and the leggings just above them are painted sand and washed with the same sepia wash.

The base was painted Dark Ochre, then given a wash made with thinned down Citadel Scorched Brown, finally touched up with static grass

The process may have seemed long-drawn and complicated, but the steps in themselves are easy, quick to do and if you apply an assembly line method where you are touching up the last model as the first one dries up you will find yourself finished before you know it. Time to take on the Fascist scum!

That's all for now folks. If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out Troy's website. He does commission work and his rates are very reasonable. Ed

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Wrath of the Gods: Miniatures

When you play Warhammer you pretty much have to use Games Workshop figures.  With a game like this, you can use any miniatures you like so long as they look the part.  There is a pretty wide range of companies that make suitable miniatures but hopefully the links below will provide you with plenty of options to get started. They are all available to order from our fine local gaming store, The Gamers Guild. just phone or visit the shop.

The most economical option is probably to get one of the multi part plastic kits. They're comparable to GW kits but a great deal cheaper. Most of the boxes contain 30 to 40 miniatures for about £20 so sharing a box with a friend is entirely possible. If you like metal minis you have yet more options to choose from.

Warlord Games make a wide range of ancients miniatures.  Most of their plastic boxed sets come in at about £20 with blisters going from £2 - £12.

• There are no less than six boxes of plastic Greeks to choose from as well as a choice of metal figures.
• Gallic Celts and British Celts including chieftains and druids.
• Assyrians and Babylonians could be interesting for a Persian or Egyptian warband. They're all metal so they're a bit more expensive than some of the other options though.

Wargames Factory's boxes cost $20 which is £16.50 at UK retail and all of their miniatures are multipart plastics.

• Greeks and Persians   Since the presentation of the Persian miniatures really doesn't do them any favours you might want to have a look at these rather beautifully painted examples here.
• Amazons Warrior women with a range of weapon options.
• Celts including plastic cavalry and chariots.
• Numidians These are wonderfully versatile models that could be made into light infantry from Greece, Egypt or Persia.  There are some nicely painted examples of them in a review here.

Mantic Games make some rather nice undead. Their Zombies and Ghouls could easily belong in an Persian or Egyptian warband. The Undead Mummies which are about to be released would be great for an Egyptian warband.  A lot of their other fantasy figures are too medieval for this campaign but the Trolls are crying out for conversion into something!


Games Workshop can't be ignored entirely because the Tomb Kings are the obvious choice for an Egyptian warband. The Skeleton Warriors are actually okay in terms of value for money too at £20 for 16 figures. Not a bargain but not terrible either. Some other things from GW, like minotaurs, could be used too.


Harpies Five for £15 is not a bad deal if you want some evil scary flying things!
Minotaurs £20 each, nice detailed sculpts.



Satyrs from Fanticide are another nice but badly presented range of miniatures. Happily there are some well painted examples here.




The 28mm historical personalities are nice character figures for £2.50 each and include Ramases II in case you wanted to find that elusive Pharaoh miniature. The rest of their figures are in small scales unfortunately.


If you have a suggestion for something to add, please leave a comment or post on the Facebook Group.

Egyptian Warband Roster

The cult of Anubis, the death god, has grown strong in Egypt under the influence of Persia. The inhabitants of its ancient pyramids stir and venture forth from the realm of the dead. Nor are the men of Egypt idle: Pharoah's human armies are also ready for war.

If you haven't played with these rules before this is what you need to know: a low quality value is good because you need to roll over it on a d6. A high Combat value is good because you add it to a d6 roll. Special rules generally do what the name implies.

A starting warband is 300 points and you can't spend more than 100pts on personalities.The point limit will increase as the campaign progresses.

New units will also appear throughout the campaign.

Awakened Pharaoh - Personality Points 95 Quality 2+ Combat 4 Special Rules Magic-User, Undead Those pharaohs who have returned from the dead are amongst the most powerful magicians in the world.

Egyptian Archer Points 17 Quality 5+ Combat 2 Special Rules Desert Walk, Shooter: Medium Archery is the Egyptians' preferred form of combat.

Egyptian Chariot Points 50 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Good Shot, Long Move, Mounted, Shooter: Medium Charioteers race across the battlefield firing arrows at the enemy.

Egyptian Priest of Anubis - Personality Points 40 Quality 3+ Combat 1 Special Rules Necromancer The sinister priests of the death god have been key allies of the Persians.

Egyptian Priest of Thoth - Personality Points 45 Quality 2+ Combat 1 Special Rules Coward, Magic-User

The servants of the god of magic are reluctant warriors but effective nonetheless. Egyptian Warrior Points 13 Quality 5+ Combat 2 Special Rules Desert Walk Egyptian soldiers are numerous if unspectacular warriors.

Giant Scorpion Points 30 Quality 4+ Combat 3 Special Rules Animal, Huge, Poison

These unnaturally large scorpions give even the most fearsome warriors pause. Honoured Commander - Personality Points 48 Quality 3+ Combat 1 Special Rules Leader, Shooter: Medium Leading troops for the Pharaoh is a great honour but few courtiers are personally accomplished warriors.

Mummified Guardian Points 36 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Undead Those who have sworn to guard a Pharaoh beyond death are deadly enemies.

Pharaoh - Personality Points 60 Quality 2+ Combat 1 Special Rules Leader, Shooter: Medium Revered as a god by his people, the Pharaoh is an exceptional leader.

Royal Guard Points 26 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Steadfast The best troops in Egypt, these soldiers are highly trained and extremely brave.

Skeleton Archer Points 26 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Shooter: Medium, Undead

Animated by the dark gifts of Anubis, skeletons are surprisingly effective warriors. Skeleton Points 20 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Undead

Animated by the dark gifts of Anubis, skeletons are surprisingly effective warriors.

Celt Warband Roster

Drawn by the dire warnings of their shamans who realise the danger that Xerxes poses to the world many Celtic warbands have travelled south to seek glory in battle against this legendary empire. The prospect of large amounts of booty have also proved a powerful attraction.

If you haven't played with these rules before this is what you need to know: a low quality value is good because you need to roll over it on a d6. A high Combat value is good because you add it to a d6 roll. Special rules generally do what the name implies.

A starting warband is 300 points and you can't spend more than 100pts on personalities.The point limit will increase as the campaign progresses.

New units will also appear throughout the campaign.

Special Rule: Individualistic
Celts are a tribal people and lack the discipline of more civilised armies. A Celtic warband need not include a Leader although it must include at least one personality.

All miniatures linked to can be ordered from the Gamers Guild.

Cave Bear Points 40 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special Rules Animal, Big Cave bears are fearsome creatures who lumber into battle at the bidding of the Druids. Miniatures can be found here. Celtic Beserker Points 27 Quality 4+ Combat 3 Special Rules Savage Some warriors suffer a terrible battle frenzy. Their mad charges can break an enemy battle line with their ferocity. Celtic Cavalry Points 39 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted Speed is something that the Celts value and a good horseman is a useful warrior. Celtic Chariot Points 48 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Dashing, Long Move, Mounted, Savage Particularly skilled warriors take the battle to the enemy in chariots. Celtic Chieftain - Personality Points 50 Quality 4+ Combat 3 Special Rules Dashing, Leader Tough and canny fighters, chieftains lead their men for glory and plunder. Celtic Warleader - Personality Points 72 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Dashing, Fearless, Hero Not every celtic leader concerns himself with the subtleties of strategy, some are simply peerless killers whom men will follow into the very jaws of hell. Celtic Warrior Points 13 Quality 5+ Combat 2 Special Rules Dashing Celtic warriors have a preferred tactic: Charge! Druid - Personality Points 46 Quality 3+ Combat 1 Special Rules Enchanter, Forester These nature priests have called the most powerful creatures of the natural world to join the battle against Xerxes' apocalyptic goals. Mammoth - Personality Points 84 Quality 3+ Combat 5 Special Rules Animal, Huge, Tough Large, woolly and with monstrous tusks, mammoths trample the enemies of nature beneath their feet. Miniatures can be found here. Wolf / Warhound Points 26 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Animal, Long Move Wolves and warhounds are popular pets amongst the celts. Outsiders often can't tell the difference. You can find miniatures for wolves and warhounds at the linked pages.

Persian Warband Roster

The God King Xerxes has determined to conquer the insolent Greeks and overthrow their pathetic gods. He has already succeeded in recruiting the foul children of the Titans and is close to setting the immortals themselves free. 


If you haven't played with these rules before this is what you need to know: a low quality value is good because you need to roll over it on a d6. A high Combat value is good because you add it to a d6 roll. Special rules generally do what the name implies.

A starting warband is 300 points and you can't spend more than 100pts on personalities.The point limit will increase as the campaign progresses.

New units will also appear throughout the campaign.

Cyclops - Titan Spawn Points 68 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special Rules Huge, Mountaineer, Shooter: Long These one-eyed giants throw rocks at their enemies or simply pund them with clubs if they get close enough.

Ghoul Points 24 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Poison, Undead Foul, stinking undead who feed on the bodies of the living. Deeply unpopular with Xerxes' human soldiers.

Harpy - Titan Spawn Points 48 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Distract, Flying These winged monsters are able to enchant their enemies with their songs.

Immortal Commander (Wraith) - Personality Points 72 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Free Disengage, Leader, Undead Xerxes' best commanders never perish, instead they rise from the dead to serve him again.

Immortal Footsoldier (Wraith) Points 24 Quality 4+ Combat 3 Special Rules Heavy Armor, Slow, Undead These elite Persian soldiers have sworn an oath to server Xerxes beyond death.

Minotaur - Titan Spawn - Personality Points 86 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special Rules Hero, Huge, Savage Huge and virtually unstoppable as they butcher their way through their enemies, Minotaurs are truly fearsome foes.

Persian Archer Points 14 Quality 5+ Combat 2 Special Rules Shooter: Medium Persian bowmen serve the God King loyally but reluctantly alongside his monsters.

Persian Cavalry Points 39 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted The nobles of Persia fight from horseback bringing much needed mobility to their army.

Persian Satrap - Personality Points 40 Quality 3+ Combat 1 Special Rules Leader Pampered but effective commanders who direct Xerxes' armies in his absence.

Persian Magus - Personality Points 40 Quality 3+ Combat 1 Special Rules Magic-User Scholars and wise men the Magi have been forced by Xerxes to serve his dark ends. Persian Necromancer - Personality Points 42 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Necromancer, Undead Those Magi who refused to serve Xerxes in life now serve him in death, adding more living corpses to his armies.

Persian Spearman Points 13 Quality 5+ Combat 2 Special Rules Poison Persian warriors are reluctant combatants but equip their weapons with poisons to help bring sown superior troops.

Zombie Points 9 Quality 6+ Combat 4 Special Rules Slow, Undead Whilst the newly dead are not terribly reliable warriors there is an almost unending supply of them in Xerxes Persia.

Greek Warband Roster

The Greeks are defending their homeland against a numerous and deadly enemy. Fortunately they've had quite a bit of practice fighting each other and are mostly better armed and trained than their enemies. It's not going to be easy though.

If you haven't played with these rules before this is what you need to know: a low quality value is good because you need to roll over it on a d6. A high Combat value is good because you add it to a d6 roll. Special rules generally do what the name implies.

A starting warband is 300 points and you can't spend more than 100pts on personalities.The point limit will increase as the campaign progresses.

New units will also appear throughout the campaign.

A note on colour schemes
Since Spartan, Athenian and Corinthian hoplites could all end up looking very similar, please use the following colour schemes so that everyone can tell them apart at a glance.

• Athens: White helmet crests and/or tunics
• Corinth:  Black helmet crests and/or tunics
• Sparta: Red helmet crests and/or tunics

Amazon Archer Points 26 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Good Shot, Shooter: Medium Amazons fail to understand why other Greeks need to get close to the enemy to kill him. Amazon Princess - Personality Points 66 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Leader, Steadfast Amazon Princesses earn their rank by being outstanding fighters and leaders. Amazon Warrior Points 20 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Free Disengage Mobility is a great advantage in battle and these warriors excel at it.

Athenian Warrior Points 21 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Dashing, Shieldwall Athens produces fine warriors who are eager to enter the fray against their enemies.

Corinthian Hoplite Points 20 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Heavy Armor Corinth is a rich city and its soldiers have the best equipment and a bad attitude. Priest / Priestess - Personality Points 56 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Cleric, Free Disengage The gods have sent out their favoured servants to help fight the unliving minions of Xerxes.s

Spartan Warrior Points 29 Quality 4+ Combat 3 Special Rules Shieldwall, Steadfast Trained from birth as warriors, Spartans are fierce warriors and seldom flee from battle.

Greek slingers Points 21 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Shooter: Medium The Greeks place little value on ranged combat but they do deploy slingers as skirmishers.

Spartan Hero - Personality Points 78 Quality 3+ Combat 4 Special Rules Hero, Shieldwall, Steadfast Spartan leaders are combat masters even amongst their own warrior culture.

Athenian Strategos - Personality Points 58 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Dashing, Leader, Shieldwall Strategoi are experts in manoeuvring their troops for best advantage a fact that has won Athens many victories.

Corinthian Achon - Personality Points 46 Quality 3+ Combat 1 Special Rules Heavy Armor, Leader A Corinthian Archon is a merchant with a hint of patriotism. Whilst efficient he generally leads from the back.

Bronze Warrior Points 24 Quality 4+ Combat 2 Special Rules Artificial, Heavy Armor The gods have blessed some of the temple statues so that they help to defend the land against the invaders.

Centaur Points 42 Quality 4+ Combat 3 Special Rules Big, Long Move Half horse, half man and not happy about the invaders disturbing his drinking sessions.

Nymph Points 33 Quality 2+ Combat 0 Special Rules Coward, Distract, Forester Whilst these beautiful natures spirits are hardly warriors they do have an uncanny ability to distract the enemy at critical moments.

Satyr Points 28 Quality 2+ Combat 1 Special Rules Dashing, Forester Half man, half goat and normally very drunk. Satyrs are wild creatures who you don’t want to invite to dinner.

Satyr Archer Points 30 Quality 2+ Combat 1 Special Rules Forester, Shooter: Medium Some Satyrs are too lazy to get close and thump the enemy. They just shoot them instead.