Three germans walk into a bar.

Actually it has nothing with that meme floating around...

Yeah, this one. Though judging by the background I think he's fighting japs somewhere in the pacific.

...it's just that I happened to paint three Germans.

Can you guess another meme that fits with this image?

More after the break.

I wanted to paint the bases I made using the Basius pad I reviewed earlier to see what they looked like. I went for a simple scheme using various greys on the cobblestones  while the debris were painted brown. I dabbed some orange here and there to simulate brick rubble and splotched different washes on them. When they were done I wanted to see how they looked with painted figures on, but I didn't have any painted without bases, so I grabbed some early war Germans that were on my painting table and started painting.

All the bases painted. (So yeah, the kitchen table is my painting table right now.) 

At first I was going to do a quick and dirty paint job, but as things progressed I found myself starting to pick out details and use more layers than I had originally intended. Oh well, I will never be a speed painter.

The figures are from the Warlord Games Pioneer set I reviewed previously.

These being early war Germans their uniforms are a bit different than late war.

I started by painting the tunics Vallejo Field Grey, highlighted with Wargames Foundry Storm Green (light). I then did the trousers, helmets, gas mask cans and the flamethrower tank with Wargames Foundry Slate Grey, layering all three shades on. (At this point I started a more controlled painting using more layers.) The boots, ammo pouches, webbings and anything black leather were painted with Wargames Foundry Charcoal Black (all three shades). At this point I gave the figures a thin wash with Nuln Oil to tone down some of the highlights.

I then proceeded with the skin, using Wargames Foundry Flesh (all three shades). The rifle stocks and shovels were painted Wargames Foundry Spearshaft (all three shades) while the rifle slings, gas mask can slings and water bottles were painted Wargames Foundry Deep Brown Leather (all shades) as well as the flamethrower operator's hands to make them look like leather gloves. All these areas were then washed with Vallejo Sepia wash.

The Gas mask cape bag (worn on the chest) and the gas mask were painted with a triad of colours from Coat d'Arms: Dark Earth (234), Tank Drab (527) and Russian Brown (528), a triad that actually looks greenish together. Bread bags were painted Wargames Foundry Rawhide (all three shades).

The collars and shoulder boards were painted with Warcolours Olive 5 and highlighted with Olive 4. The rank insignia was painted with Warcolours White (love this colour, a white that doesn't dry on the brush) and touched up with Olive 4 where I inevitably made a mistake.

While I had the Warcolours paints on my palette I decided to do the Zeltbahns, so I basecoated them with the two darker Deep Brown Leather shades and painted a couple of angular shapes of Olive 5 and 4 on it. I also used Olive for the tellermine and the demolition charge. I then forgot to paint the third camoflague colour on the Zeltbahns to complete the pattern, it should be a light pale green on them as well. I just realised when taking the pictures... Doh!

I cheated a bit on the rolls of Zeltbahn using only two colours. They really should have three.

Finally all the metal bits got a touch of Games Workshop Shieldbreaker and given a wash of Nuln Oil. I did some Shieldbreaker on the edges of the mine and demo charge as well. I didn't bother painting the eyes, but I did fill in the gas mask lenses with blue and put a white dot in there, as well as trying to paint the teeth of the guy yelling.

All in all I'm happy with them and I like how the bases look.