The Germans are back in this weeks Flames of War Friday with part 2 of our German Infantry painting guide.

In last week's blog I set out the colour scheme which we are using and painted the base coats of the infantry models and all the detailed equipment. Now its time to paint the camouflage and add the shading and highlights which make the details stand out.

German Camouflage

Some of the infantry are wearing camouflage smocks or have covered helmets and these need to be painted slightly differently.

During the base colour stage paint the camouflage covers and smocks green grey. Then use German Camo. medium brown and a detail brush to paint small angular patterns.

Finally paint a smaller number of green areas with Luftwaffe Camo green.

Stage 6: Shading with Washes

For those of you who've watch the Battlefront tutorials this is where the method I'm using becomes quite different to theirs. Rather than create shadows during the basecoating stage by leaving darker colours in the recesses I prefer to use a wash. Washes give great shading, especially at the smaller scale of Flames of War, and also cover up any small paint overlaps where different details meet.

I'm use a 50/50 mix of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil but if you don't won't to mix your own I'd reccommend Vallejo Dark Brown Wash . Simply take a medium sized brush and apply the wash over the entire model. Use a dry brush to stop the wash from pooling too much in the recesses. Also be sure to give the wash plenty of time to dry.

Stage 7: Touch Up Faces & Hands

At this point our shading is looking really nice but the faces and hands are a bit too dark and grey. Since we're not painting Nazi Zombies we need to bring some colour back into skin tones and so we use another wash.

Take some Flesh Tone wash and use a fine detail brush to apply it to the recesses of the hands and faces.

Finally applied a highlight of flat flesh to the raised areas like the ears, cheekbones & nose.

Stage 8: Other Highlights

If you want you can also apply highlights to the uniform and equipment. Since the whole model has been given a dark wash we can highlight with the base colours again or a slightly lighter paint mix. I used green grey to highlight the uniforms and beige brown to highlight the wood.

If you want to add even more details you can paint the rank and unit badges on the uniform collars or add highlights to the webbing and other equipment. I'm planning on doing so at a latter stage, once I've painted all the infantry up to this standard. That way I'll have my both my Allies and Germans ready to play some games very soon.

Next week its back to painting tanks, as I'll be working on the Stugs from the Open fire Boxed Set.