Bryan’s step by step painting guide

Welcome army painters! In this article I want to share my method for painting a platoon of the famous Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) for Second World War gaming. What follows is a step by step painting guide for Rommel's vaunted veterans.

Step 1 - Coloured spray primer

As the heading says, I sprayed my miniatures with Army Painter Desert Yellow. This spray is rather thick compared to the rest of the range, so be careful to use short sweeping bursts. This spray will be the primer and one of the main colours in one step, so saves you a lot of time. To save even more time, be sure to add any basing material to your mini prior to applying the spray primer. I added polly-filla and small rocks to texture my bases.

Step 2 - Base colours

Time for some basic block colours. One of the most characteristic things about the DAK uniform is that there were several variants of it. The first Tropical uniforms where more of a greenish hue with later uniforms being more accurate for the sand covered terrain. Also, the African sun faded the uniforms and equipment, so veterans (or newer guys who wanted to look like veterans) had very faded caps. To achieve this 'mixed' look and still paint a coherent looking army I broke my uniforms down into three types. I then mix up what the three colours will be used on, if it's the tunic on one guy, it'll be the pants on the next for example. That way you still get the squads painted quickly and are not slowed down while still getting that mixed look. I have used a mix of Vallejo and Citadel (Games Workshop) paints.

Uniform variant 1 Russian Uniform (Vallejo)

Uniform variant 2: Yellow Green (Vallejo)

Uniform variant 3: Desert yellow (Vallejo), already done with the spray primer

Uniform variant 4 (shirt): German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Helmet/Gas mask canister: Desert yellow (Vallejo), already done with the spray primer

Field cap, webbing straps and belts: Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Ammo pouches (rifle) and wooden rifle stock: Rhinox Hide (Citadel)

Ammo pouches (SMG): Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Water Bottle & Boots (leather): Flat Brown (Vallejo)

Canvas boot tops: Yellow Green (Vallejo)

Gaiters: German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Socks: Russian Uniform (Vallejo)

Bread bag 1: German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Bread bag 2: Yellow Green (Vallejo)

Mess tin, rifle barrels and water bottle lid: Leadbelcher (Citadel)

Skin: Cadian Fleshtone (Citadel)

Bases: Brown Sand (Vallejo)

Greatcoat: English uniform (Vallejo)

Step 3 - Washes

Wash the entire miniature with Army Painter Strong Tone wash, I used the brush on type from the bottle, not the 'dip'. Also apply a second wash using a Nuln Oil (Citadel) to the metallic areas.

Step 4 - Highlights 1

Re-apply all the base colours, but be careful to leave the recessed areas so the wash helps create the shading.

Uniform variant 1 Russian Uniform (Vallejo)

Uniform variant 2: Yellow Green (Vallejo)

Uniform variant 3: Desert yellow (Vallejo), already done with the spray primer

Uniform variant 4 (shirt): German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Helmet/Gas mask canister: Desert yellow (Vallejo), already done with the spray primer

Field cap, webbing straps and belts: Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Ammo pouches (rifle) and wooden rifle stock: Rhinox Hide (Citadel)

Ammo pouches (SMG): Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Water Bottle & Boots (leather): Flat Brown (Vallejo)

Canvas boot tops: Yellow Green (Vallejo)

Gaiters: German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Socks: Russian Uniform (Vallejo)

Bread bag 1: German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Bread bag 2: Yellow Green (Vallejo)

Mess tin, rifle barrels and water bottle lid: Leadbelcher (Citadel)

Skin: Cadian Fleshtone (Citadel)

Bases: Brown Sand (Vallejo)

Greatcoat: English uniform (Vallejo)

Step 5 - Highlights 2

This stage is all about applying some careful highlights to the raised areas or edges. Often I applied two successive highlights one after the other.

Uniform variant 1: Russian Uniform (Vallejo) + Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Uniform variant 2: Yellow Green Vallejo) + Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Uniform variant 3: Iraqi Sand (Vallejo)

Helmet/Gas mask canister: Iraqi Sand (Vallejo). I then followed Patch's patented helmet chipping and weathering technique here.

Field cap, webbing straps and belts: Pale Sand (Vallejo)

Ammo pouches (rifle) and wooden rifle stock: Rhinox Hide (Citadel) + Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Ammo pouches (SMG): Pale Sand (Vallejo)

Water Bottle & Boots (leather): Doombull Brown (Citadel), then Tuskgor Fur (Citadel)

Canvas boot tops: Yellow Green (Vallejo) + Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Gaiters: German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Socks: Russian Uniform (Vallejo)

Bread bag 1: German Camo Beige (Vallejo)

Bread bag 2: Yellow Green (Vallejo) + Dark Sand (Vallejo)

Skin: Kislev Flesh (Citadel), Flayed One Flesh (Citadel), wash with watered down Reikland Fleshshade (Citadel) afterwards.

Greatcoat: Khaki Grey (Vallejo), then a final highlight of Khaki (Vallejo)

Step 6 - Final details

At this stage I painted the final details like buttons with Iraqi Sand (Vallejo), eyes and the Afrika Korp cuff insignia on the right tunic sleeves. This cuff title was painted Reflective Green (Vallejo), then a trim of white. The cuff is too small to accurately paint the 'Afrika Korp' text so I simple scribbled some paint on in white to give the impression of writing.

The bases are dry-brushed last and are done carefully so as to not paint over any of the miniature itself. First layer is Brown Sand (Vallejo), followed by Dark Sand (Vallejo) and finally Pale Sand (Vallejo). I then re-paint the base sides with Brown Sand (Vallejo).

The model is then given a matt varnish, I used Testors Dullcote spray.

I used grass tufts from Gamers Grass and some flock from Woodland Scenics to finish the bases off with an arid look.

I found painting this colour scheme over the desert yellow base coat really easy, and was happy to get so much depth while working with predominantly light colours. In fact, apart from the pupils of the eyes, I had no need to use black at all! The Army Painter Strong Tone works wonders with this colour pallet, it's perfect for the DAK. All up this 9 man squad took about 11 hours painting. Here is this method applied to are some of the other units from the same force, Assault Pioneers and Motorcycle scouts.