Which colour is closest to Australian Battledress 1941? What colour is Khaki anyway!

I spent all night overthinking did I paint my 40 troops the wrong colour.

Trick question- AFAIK there IS no correct color. I cannot find ANY colour photo of Australian troops in Libya in early 1941. The black and white ones just show a very dark colour with very light helmet and ammunition pouches. 

All the reference book covers are drawn in pencil have different colours, as does every British Battledress 1937 on the Internet. I know this is probably accurate, but it does not help my overthinking about it.

I could mix colours, but I really do not want to do that for 40+ troops.

The Vallejo English Uniform I did as a undercoat is very dark and close to the Satchel brown, but I personally think that's too dark. I suspect my Zhenital highlight is too bright and should have been done from above and not 45 degrees to the rear.

I think the second one below is going to be closest, which is fortunate as that's what I'm going to do anyway. Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0 Strong Tone wash over Warrior Skin.

I did that and concluded the Great coat needs to be darker, so repainted all of them in Satchel Brown. So the battledress is mostly pants only  apart from 1 Sargent with a SMG and 3 officers.

Finished painting 2 Matilda II's - my first Bolt Action minatures

It's taken several days but I've finished my first Bolt Action units - two Matilda II tanks. Painted as late 1941/42 desert. Technically they should be in Caunter Camouflage but that's way too hard for me.

Every paint and shade below the line for my future reference. I used the Vallejo undercoat spray can because no one seems to sell the Army Painter undercoat, and this was a better colour I think. I used mostly Army Painter Speedpaintd 2.0 for the base layer and Citadel dry's for drybrushing (because I have had them for years before, and no one else seems to sell dry paints). Finished in the Vallejo Matt Varnish.

Weapon and commander coding colours for Bolt Action infantry stands

I saw a Bolt Action tutorial series on YouTube (that I now cannot find because there are SO MANY now that I've watched) that had painted the edge of the infantry bases different colours for each type of solider- Squad leader, squad heavy weapon, basic grunt.

I think this is an amazing idea considering all the infantry is painted very much the same and deliberately so.

There does not seem to be any historical or current practice of a colour for each type of unit that I can find. I'm thinking of a different one for Platoon Commander, Squad commander, SMG, LMG, Light Mortar, Sniper, Anti-Tank weapon, because these are the hardest to tell apart. Larger weapons are are a lot easier to see and tell apart.

I don't think I'd want to paint the entire edge like the video did, but just a stripe or stripes of multiple colours on the back edge of the base plate as I'm the one who will care about it the most. The rest of the plate should match the terrain the army is based on (green for Europe, dark green for Pacific, pale yellow/brown for Africa, and white for the Eastern Front)

I know British Armour for example would have different colours for platoons or companies, but this is just for infantry.

Using video game rarity, which is the style these days for everything:

White: The most common rarity color

Grey: A low value color

Green: A middling value color

Blue: A middling value color

Purple: A high value color

Legendary rarity colors 

Orange: The highest value color

Colour Coding stripes on the back of each infantry's base:

Base Colour: Rifle

Grey: SMG

Grey and White: Assault Rifle

Grey and Blue: Automatic Rifle

Blue: LMG

Purple: Mortar 

Purple and White: Grenade Launcher

Light Green: Anti-Tank

Brown: Sniper

Red: Flamethrower

Orange: Artillery Spotter

Yellow: Air Spotter

Red and White: Medic

Black: Assistant

Weapon Colour and Black: Weapon team assistant

Bronze: Squad Commander 

Silver: Platoon Commander

Gold: Company Commander

Looks like I'll need to buy some Army Painter Speedpaint Metallic's now, along with purple, blue, light green, red and yellow.

My painting guide for Australian 6th Infantry Divison, early 1941

Google is fucking useless these days so I have not found anyone who used Speedpaints 2.0 for what I want them for. 

What I worked out from watching the Youtube video's below this one.

Paints are Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0/1.0 unless noted:

Undercoat:  Vallejo English Uniform primer

Zenithal Highlight: Vallejo Bone White primer

Battledress: Warrior skin

Great Coat: Satchel Brown

Leather Jerkin: Hardened leather

Skin: Tanned Skin

Slouch Hat: Camo Cloak

Blanket: Camo Cloak

Water bottle: Camo Cloak

Helmet: Pallid bone

Shirt/Shorts: Pallid bone

Ammo pouches and webbing: Pallid bone

Backpack: Pallid Bone

Puttees: Ruddy Fur

Gas mask bag: Howling Sand

Socks: Algae Green

Boots: Fire Drake

Rifle: Dark Wood 

Grenade/2" Mortar: Gunner Camo

Bayonet Handle and scabbard: Grim Black

Rifle/Bren/AT Rifle metal:  Grim Black

Bayonet: Broadsword Silver 

Gun Sling:  Pallid Bone 

Gun butt: Citadel Balthshar Gold (I don't have any brass)

Pants/Shirt Wash: Mid-Brown Quickshade

Great Coat Wash: Strong Quickshade

Skin Wash: Flesh Wash Quickshade

Blanket Wash: Military Shader Quickshade

Slouch Hat shade:  Military Shader Quickshade 

Base: Sand PVA glued and painted in Pallid Bone, with a Wash of 50% Light tone and 50% Quickshade Wash Mixing Medium, Dry Brush with Citadel Hexos Palesun

I got my Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0. Or at least, SOME of them

After much forethought and planning I decided I wanted to replace all my (so far unused!) Army Painter Speedpaints for Army Painter Speedpaints 2.0, which don't have the re-activation issues of the mark I's.

I spent a lot of time trying to find somewhere in Melbourne who sells them, without too much luck :(. Army Painter themselves does NOT list anyone in Melbourne who has them. This is fucking useless - I WANT TO GIVE THEM MONEY

I had searched the internet for sometime to try and find the colours other people use for 1941 Australians and came up with nothing because Google is fucking useless now.

But I found 2 Youtube videos - one of English uniforms 1937 pattern that I read the 6th Division was wearing, and another one of a Tobruk reinactor . 

I knew The House of War has them, so instead of waiting 2-3 WEEKS for delivery (that was the estimated time span!) I headed off in the rain to get some.

And found they only had HALF of the Speedpaint 2.0, and none of the mediam I would need if I want to use the Speedpaint Mk I's :( :( :(

I got what I could, but they didn't have the Army Painter spray cans.

I asked why and was told a strange story. Apparently, they blow up.

What I said? Blow up!? How?!?!

Apparently multiple customers were just standing there and suddenly the can would open and paint would explode everywhere. So they don't carry Army Painter spray cans anymore.

I carefully avoided the Citadel ones and looked at the Vallejo. And wouldn't you know it, they have English Uniform in a spray can! Exactly what I needed! This way I can spray paint the figures and just block in the rest and do Zenhital shading from above with a sand colour to do the helmet at the same time!

So that worked out for me.

I also got some beach sand as I'll need some kind of sand for the bases. They didn't have a darker sand but I can wash this afterwards to make it more orange red. I was disappointment they didn't have Sand from North Africa,, they seemed to have it for a dozen other planets. I actually have ACTUAL SAND from both Utah AND Omaha beaches! And I got some objective sized oil drums and THE BRIEFCASE I need to paint as red and blue. We must protect the briefcase of intelligence from the enemy spy you see.

I needed some glue too. I asked the person behind the counter which of the DOZEN Superglue's I need for metal, I think they picked one randomly. 

I asked when they might get more Speedpaints:

I can't tell you.

You can tell me, I'm a customer.

No I mean I don't know.

You don't know if you're getting more Speedpaints?

No I mean I don't know when they might arrive.

How can you not know, didn't you order more?

Yes but it's up to the distributor when we get might them.

I would like to give these people money but they make it very hard to do so. I took the wrong day to  not try drinking.  Looks like I need to order online anyway. :(

I need to write down what I got and I want I still need.

And after all that, I got home and it's raining too much to do undercoating anyway.

Lasting Tales: A Fantasy Miniatures Game kickstarter

 

A new game coming soon

I'm kickstarting Lasting Tales: A Fantasy Miniatures Game.

I got the Fantasy Series 1 box and look forward to the Fantasy Series 2 and the rule book.

I want to have a paint colour scheme for each character class to be able to identify them quickly.

There are ten playable Classes:

• Fighter

• Barbarian

• Rogue

• Ranger

• Bard

• Cleric

• Paladin

• Wizard

• Druid

• Monk

  I want to figure out a base colour for each class, which will vary of course.

  This reddit thread has some idea for D&D classes as does this dndbeyond offical answer but I don't like some of them

  So my current idea would be:

  • Fighter - Silver for their weapons and armour
    

  • Barbarian - Red for Rage
    

  • Rogue - Black/Grey for hiding in shadows

  • Ranger - Green for forests
    

  • Bard - Purple to stand out in the crowd
    

  • Cleric - Light Blue for the sky their gods live above
    

  • Paladin - Gold for perfection
    

  • Wizard - Dayglow and other not natural colours (bright pink/yellow/neon green/colour change etc) for their outworldly and strange spells and magics
    

  • Druid - Brown for trees and animals
    

  • Monk - Dark Blue for moving like water (bending)