Axis Infantry Painted

The sniper's shoulder isn't really yellow, it's just a reflection.

Big day for the Axis cause: frequently-used models have been painted.  The gorillas I did a few weeks ago were selected because they don't find a place in many lists, so if they took longer than expected it wouldn't cause (m)any problems.  Today I took a bigger leap by tackling a unit of snipers, along with a unit of the recently intriguing spotters, both of which have featured in every list I've run since getting the Hades book.  I wanted to take a bigger bite since I felt confident in my at the time untested scheme, but was restrained by my lack of prior preparation.  I'd cleaned mold lines and glued wiggly components on the radiomen, snipers, and medium walkers a few days back and didn't like the idea of painting something that might twist around and rub away my work.  I almost went with the walkers instead but I'm less confident in my approach as it involves a number of techniques I've never tried before, but there will be time for that later.

As always, my pictures turned out dark.

You are no doubt wondering about my amazing approach to these models.  (As an aside, I've spent about the last half hour looking for a close up of just hands, mini, and brush so I could make up a "my painting technique is unstoppable" picture.  You have failed my stock photo needs again Internet.)  To scratch your curious itch, and to keep a record for myself, this is how it went.  Start with a heavy drybrush, or the closest I can manage, of VGC (Vallejo Game Color) Stonewall Grey on everything that isn't going to end up flesh or metal.  Next apply VGC Gunmetal to all metal areas.  VGC Bronze Fleshtone goes where you'd expect.  Follow with a liberal coating of GW Badab Black wash, assuming you still have a pot.  Because I was working with a small batch and had a heavy hand with the wash, I let the models dry for a while before continuing, but once I get rolling on a couple units at once I don't think drying time will be required.  Regardless, after the wash came Vallejo Model Color Yellow Ochre on the backpacks.  After a bit of experimenting, and taking stock of my materials, I went with a Vallejo Umber Shade wash over the yellow to get that mustardy-sorta-brown color I wanted.  I picked out the toes and tops of the boots, grips on the guns, belts, a strip of trim on the bottom of the jackets, the odd strap on a hat, and all the metal bits on the backpacks with VGC Black.  The penultimate step was a VGC Chainmail Silver highlight on the existing metal areas, plus picking out the metal bits on the backpacks.  Another Umber Shade wash on the backpacks, especially the metal bits, and the job was finished.  Basing still needs to happen, but the models themselves are done.

You can see the belts and jacket trim in this one.

The only real hitch in this process was figuring out the yellow.  My initial approach was to thin down the VGC equivalent of Snakebite Leather as a wash.  While this still seems like the right tactic, I watered it far too much and didn't get the results I wanted.  I tried a GW Ogrun Flesh wash on the left backpack, but the result was red instead of brown.  My thought now, and always, was Devlan Mud, but my supply is all but exhausted and it's part of my Legion scheme, so I want to preserve it for that use.  I've had the Vallejo wash for quite a while but never really use it, so I gave it a shot and it was almost exactly what I had in mind. 

Overall I'm happy enough with the result to begin preparations for the rest of my troops.  This batch strikes me as a bit on the drab side, so I may go back and do up some flesh colored hands, but mostly I'm hoping that having a non-grey base will give them some visual life.