So I finally did it, I got my 1940 French Platoon painted. This was my “quick summer project” I started in April and finished in October… if only summer really was six months long. If you want to read about how I chose the composition or the specific sculpts check out Part 1 and Part 2. In the end I’m pretty pleased with the results, take a look:

So now if you want to know how I painted these up, read on. If you don’t and you just like looking at pictures of models, merci et au revoir.

First a list of colors I used:
Uniform base color: 3 parts Vallejo English Uniform : 1 part AK Gen 3 Brownish Green
Leather gear, bag trim, holsters etc: Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl Burnt Sienna
Leather boots: Pro Acryl Mahogany, drybrushed with Citadel Verminlord Hide
Weapon wood: Vallejo Flat Brown
Helmets, grenades: Pro Acryl Dark Camo Green
Khaki pants, bags and straps: Vallejo German Camo Beige
Olive Drab for bags, weapons, ammo boxes: AK Gen 3 Olive Drab Base
Metals: Vallejo Metal Color Steel
Bedrolls: Vallejo US Field Drab
Skin: Pro Acryl Beige Red and Flesh Wash
Wash: Army Painter Soft Tone, AK Streaking Grime

I started with the uniforms as a base color. Next I painted the other green components, which mostly were bags and pouches. Quickly I next painted the bedrolls. After that came the leather gear, as well as leather trim on all the backpack gear and bags….which was a long step. The next step was the khaki bags and straps, and officer pants. Rifles and other metal work came next followed by all of the skin. The last two items across the batch were the helmets(which also received a drybrush to weather them) and the boots. I then touched up any other details like binoculars, officer kepi hats, etc.

The finishing touches are two step process. The first step involves an all-over wash of Soft Tone thinned 1:1 with Citadel Lahmian Medium. After that is nice and cured I go ahead with a gloss clear coat followed by an all over layer of streaking grime. I then use mineral spirits and makeup sponges to work off about 90% or more of the streaking grime. This leaving a unifying filter behind that gives the miniatures a feel I really enjoy. I end it with a matte clear coat, add some vegetation to the bases, and it’s done.

It’s a bit of a wave of new things for the avid French army collector at the moment. Warlord is releasing a new set of plastics in addition to their other French options, Wargames Atlantic has both physical and digital French offerings, Crusader Miniatures has their line available, Counlane Models has begun releasing an excellent line of French armor STLs, and Colonel Muller Miniatures continues to release great new sculpts regularly. There’s a lot of options for a French force beyond just the normal army units, so if you’re interested in a French force now is a great time to think about diving in.

I have plans to return to this force eventually to add more options. Specifically I would like to have an extra Groupe de Combat(11 man section), a 75mm gun, a mortar team, and more armor.

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If you like a lot of the sculpts that make up my army, the majority came from Colonel Muller Miniatures. I was fortunate enough to have a chat with him earlier this year and you can find that here.

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I’ll be back soon with my next project, which will take me to my favorite area of World War Two: The Pacific…

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