Star Wars Rebel troopers

Bryan’s step by step painting guide

Hi guys, welcome to another step-by-step painting guide, this time for the Rebel Troopers from Star Wars Legion. What follows is a guide, broken down into easy to replicate stages which covers one way of doing Rebel uniforms. It also covers two types of alien fleshtones. The method is best for painting a unit of 7 or so miniatures at a time.

Step 1 - Coloured spray primer

Begin by priming your models with TS-68 Wooden deck tan (Tamiya). This will lay down the undercoat and as well as one of the main base colours in one easy step. This spray colour is an almost exact match for Karak Stone (Citadel). You can use any bone or beige spray undercoat really, and then just paint the khaki uniform areas of the model with a brush in step 2 with the Karak Stone (Citadel). The Tamiya spray just speeds up the process. Note that I have also already applied some texture to my bases before the primer spray to save time as they will be a desert setting. You can of course base you models after painting the miniatures.

Step 2 - Base colours

The next step is to start laying down some base colours. I have chosen a combination of earthy colours and a dark blue to complement the light khaki, drawing some inspiration from the Rebels in the film Rogue One. You can really mix up where you use the colours across the models, for example the dark brown for the trousers on one model and the gloves or jacket on another. Mixing things up gives the rag-tag Rebel look but sticking with just a handful of colours help tie the force together visually. I paint the base colours in two stages, here is the first;

Human skin: Cadian Fleshtone (Citadel)
Dark brown trousers, jackets, gloves, helmet padding and some boots: Dryad Bark (Citadel)
Blaster rifle and belt buckles: Leadbelcher (Citadel)
Khaki gaiters, shirts and backpacks: Karak Stone (Citadel). Note this is already painted with the spray primer.
Dark blue vests, jackets and trousers: Dark Sea Blue (Vallejo)
Mid brown jackets and gloves: Mournfang Brown (Citadel)
Helmet rim: German Grey (Vallejo)
Green trousers: Brown Violet (Vallejo)

Step 3 - More base colours

This second round of base colours will complete the first layer.

Mon Calamari flesh: 50/50 mix of Orange Brown (Vallejo) & Evil Sunz Scarlet (Citadel)
Duros Flesh: See the box below
Some boots, belts and blaster rifle grips, casing: Matt Black (Army Painter)
Rucksack straps, belts and some gaiters: Khaki Grey (Vallejo)
Light grey gloves: Administratum Grey (Citadel)
Green grey gloves: German Fieldgrey WWII (Vallejo)

Step 5.2 - Duros skin step by step

Here are the full steps for one way to paint the alien Duros troopers.

1. Coloured primer: Any biege will do but I used TS-68 Wooden deck tan (Tamiya).
2. Highlight: Paint all the raised area with white, leaving the recesses the original primer colour. This is best done in two thin coats to get a smooth look.
3. Gloss varnish: Cover the head in gloss varnish like Ardcoat (Citadel). This will aid the washes to come.
4. Wash 1: Wash the entire head with Nihilakh Oxide (Citadel)
5. Wash 2: Wash the entire head with 60/40 Coelia Greenshade (Citadel) and Lahmian Medium (Citadel)
6. Finishing touches: Wash under the eyes with Drakenhof Nightshade (Citadel). Paint the eyes with Khorne Red (Citadel) and highlight the eye-brow ridges and nose with Ulthuan Grey (Citadel)

Step 4 - Washes

Now it’s time to begin adding some depth in the shadow areas using acrylic washes. Simply apply the washes listed below using an older brush that’s medium to large in size, watering down the wash slightly as you apply them.

Human skin: Reikland Flesh (Citadel)
Bases: Seraphim Sepia (Citadel)
Dark blue clothes, green grey gloves and gun metal: Nuln Oil (Citadel) or Dark tone (Army Painter)
Rucksack straps, belts and gaiters, light grey gloves, dark brown trousers, jackets, gloves, helmet padding, boots khaki gaiters, shirts and backpacks, mid brown jackets and gloves: Agrax Earthshade (Citadel)
Green trousers: Athonian Camoshade (Citadel)

Step 5 - Highlights

After the previous step added depth to the recessed areas, it’s now time to carefully paint the lighter highlights to the raised areas. You’ll definitely need a fine detail brush for this, I for example used a 00 size from Windsor & Newton Series 7. When you water down these colours use an older brush to do so, don’t wreck your fine detail brush with this task. Most areas were highlighted with one to two successive highlights as noted below:

Human skin: Kislev Flesh (Citadel), then Flayed One Flesh (Citadel)
Dark brown trousers, jackets, gloves, helmet padding and some boots: Gorthor Brown (Citadel), then Baneblade Brown (Citadel)
Black boots, belts and blaster rifle casing: German Grey (Vallejo)
Khaki gaiters, shirts and backpacks: One highlight of 50/50 mix of Karak Stone (Citadel) and Pallid Wych Flesh (Citadel) .
Dark blue vests, jackets and trousers: Stegadon Scale Green (Citadel), then Thunderhawk Blue (Citadel)
Mid brown jackets and gloves: Skrag Brown (Citadel), then Deathclaw Brown (Citadel)
Helmet rim: Stormvermin Fur (Citadel), then Stone Grey (Vallejo)
Green trousers: Russian Uniform WW2 (Vallejo), then Khaki (Vallejo)
Mon Calamari flesh: See sub-step guide below
Duros Flesh: See sub-step guide above
Rucksack straps, belts and gaiters: Khaki (Vallejo)
Light grey gloves: Administratum Grey (Citadel), then Ulthuan Grey (Citadel)
Green grey gloves: German Fieldgrey WWII (Vallejo), then Green Grey (Vallejo)

Step 5.2 - Mon Calamari skin step by step

Here are the full steps for one way to paint the alien Mon Calamari troopers.

1. Base: 50/50 mix of Orange Brown (Vallejo) & Evil Sunz Scarlet (Citadel)
2. Wash: Agrax Earthshade (Citadel)
3. Highlight: Orange Brown (Vallejo)
3. Highlight: 60/40 mix of Orange Brown (Vallejo) and Iraqi Sand (Vallejo)
4. Markings: Using a detail brush, paint the irregular shapes that create the pattern on the top of the head. Use Flat Brown (Vallejo) and make the shapes smaller as they get down towards the nose and eyes.
5. Glaze: Wash the entire head with 60/40 Carroburg Crimson (Citadel) and Lahmian Medium (Citadel)
6. Eyes: See the stages below for reference. Begin with a base coat of Dorn Yellow (Citadel), then add a smaller black circle to the front and top of the eye. Finish off with a very small white dot or circle in the top corner of the black as shown.

Step 6 - Matt varnish and basing material

With the entire model painted you should now consider varnishing to protect your models from the hazards of tabletop gaming and grubby fingers. I used a matt varnish spray, Testors Dullcoate. The last touch is to add some flock and other basing material to really set the scene. I used desert tufts from a Gamers Grass, and “winter” flock from Woodland Scenics.

Here is the finished squad plus a few other squads of Rebels from my growing army to show you some more ways to mix the colour scheme up and get a lot of variety.

Thanks for checking out this painting guide.

-Bryan