Tutorial: WWI Russian Infantry

Hello again all, carrying on with my WWI theme today, as I take a look at painting Musketeer Miniatures' WWI Russian Infantry.  If you missed the last post, then check it out here: but the main point was that these miniatures are amazing!  I really wanted to do something special for them, so I tried a few new techniques - namely more 'manual' highlighting and fewer washes.

Here's another one of my step-by-steps.  It's meant for new-ish gamers so sorry if it seems a bit basic to you Longbeards!  The inspiration for this technique (and a rough starting point) was Sydney Roundwood's 'in progress' posts for his British Infantry.  Sydney really is one of the most talented painters I've seen and I'd highly recommend a look and a flow if for some reason you haven't seen the blog.  Now, to painting!  Before I started, I superglued the model to a 2p coin, PVA'd some sand on, and undercoated the whole thing white.

Steel Legion Drab is painted onto the tunic, cap and trousers.
Care is taken to minimise going over onto the other white bits, but
it's not essential at this stage.

Skavenblight Dinge is used to paint the greatcoat.
(what an absolutely ridiculous name)

Scorched Brown for the wooden parts of the rifle -
it's important to get a good coverage.  After I took the
photo here, I went back over it as it was a bit blotchy.
Also Scorched Brown on the straps.

Black boots, black for the metal parts of the rifle, and for
the peak of the cap.  Also, a black cap for the water
bottle on his hip not visible here.

Tallharn Flesh is painted onto the skin.

Desert Yellow highlight on the tunic and trousers.
About 80% of the original Steel Legion Drab is painted over,
leaving the folds and creases showing through.

(While that dries, Codex Grey to highlight the greatcoat).

A very limited wash of Army Painter Soft Tone to the flesh parts,
and onto the belts and straps to create the impression of shadow.
Don't go overboard here - less is more.

The rifle and straps are highlighted Bestial Brown.

The tunic and trousers get a final highlight of Kommando Khaki.  Again,
less is more and about 50-75% of the fabric is highlighted,
with the rest allowed to show through.  Also at this stage, the straps
and equipment get a final highlight of Graveyard Earth,
and wood grain is painted onto the rifle with that colour.

Elf Flesh is painted onto the skin.

A final VERY LIGHT Soft Tone wash onto the shadowed
areas and flesh, to tidy up any ugly joins of colour
and tone down the Elf Flesh from the last step.
Details painted on, like the white for the enamel cockade
in the cap, and Boltgun Metal on the rifle.
(An orange dot will be added to the centre of the cockade
later on; I'll do them all together.)

Research was key here and quite extensive, particularly on shoulder boards.  In the end I went for a simple '404' to represent a simple infantry regiment.  Osprey Books edition on the Russian Army was valuable for the majority of colour references, and I used militaria and reenactment sites to get the feel for things like water bottle and belt buckle colours.  Yes, if I really fancied it I could dig into it all and get massively obsessive about it, sourcing all my research.  But that would suck half the fun out of these excellent models - the key for me is to find someone who'll have had to do some research themselves (re-enactors and militaria suppliers are gold here) and go with their research.  It's almost always right.

Hope you enjoyed, and hope it was useful.

Ed