Armored Rifle Platoon

Every now and then I open up the drawer containing my friend Colin's american forces.  He will from time to time play a game or two when he can, but mostly he just keeps tossing blisters at me to paint!  I don't mind at all as I love the painting aspect of the hobby and it also gives me an american force that I can use anytime.

So last week after reading Devils Charge and listening to the WWPD podcast I was motivated to break open an armored rifle platoon.   Steven and Luke of WWPD cant say enough good about them and I've had some great experiences playing the tank lists out of Blood Guts and Glory.  (Easy8s rock)  So off I went!

Step 1 was to clean up all the figs and arrange them temporarily on their bases.  I do this to make sure Ive got enough dudes to properly fill out the platoon.  I then mount them all on golf tees with a dab of glue before pushing the tees into a length of Styrofoam insulation.

Step 2 Is primer.  I like Black and normally use the Games workshop chaos black primer.  Its expensive but works well.  I've experimented with a couple cheaper brands but haven't liked them at all.

While the primer dries I assembled the Halftracks.  Making sure to add the winch to one of them to serve as the platoon command transport.  The others all have rollers.  I then prime them black as well.

Step 3 Drybrush time.  (For all color choices I used this article on the FOW Site.)  I use a ratty old brush for the initial coats.  Using US Field Drab I add some paint to the brush and then dab it on a paper towel before doing all the Pants on all the figs.  By the time I get through the whole platoon the first guys are already dry and I can add 25-30% white to the Fields drab and then lightly dry brush this over the pants to make them pop.

Step 4  More Dry brushing.  This time its the jacket.  Going Khaki.  Same as step 3. (Dont forget to hit it again with 25% white. I don't worry about hitting stuff that isn't going to be khaki or field drab because I pick out all those details later with other colors.  I do the anklets Khaki at the same time as well.

I take a break from the figures and head over to my card board box spray booth to give the half tracks a first light coat of American Armor spray paint.  I do several light coats letting each dry before the next.  Sometimes it can take 3-4 coats to get the proper coverage.

Step 5 Helmets.  I paint these Brown violet and then do a 25% white dry brush over the top after.

Step 6 Webbing in Green Grey.  This really doesn't stand out well against the Khaki at first.  But once it dries it seems to work.  I hit all the webbing, rifle slings, canteen and belts.

Step 7  Boots.  Brown leather.  Or flat brown.

Step 8  Rifle metal parts, SMGs and MGs I dry brush with gunmetal grey.   They are primed black and look fine without going over them in more black.

Step 9  Faces with Medium flesh tone.  And then a dry brush of flat flesh on the brow, nose, cheeks and chin.

And that's pretty much it.   I then paint the fig bases and glue them onto their battlefront medium and small bases.

Step 10 is drywall spackle time!   Using a hobby sculpting tool that looks like something my dentist might have for scraping plaque. Or a miniature polearm.  Pretty much looks exactly like a Glaive from my 2nd edition D&D arms and equipment guide.  I build up the  spackle to be level with the figure bases.  Then It has to dry for 24 hours.  Especially in a humid climate.

The Final Step for the figures is to paint the spackle.  I used flat earth.  Nothing fancy here.  Just flat earth and then Static grass and Silfor tufts.  Once thats all on and dry I hit it all with Testors Dullcote.  Takes the shine off and seals them up protecting them.  

All done!