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Hello painting community!

Without touching up on details of fascism and the Nazi regime (that means no swastika), there is no denying that the German Wehrmacht of WWII was some one the most sophisticated and exemplary fighting force in warfare. I for one am a fan of the look and discipline these men projected during their peak.

I would like to capture the feel and look of the German Armed Forces in my future Imperial Guard army that I hope to collect in the next few months as the new Imperial Guard codex looms over the horizon.

But my only issue is finding the appropriate paints and color schemes to reach a Wehrmacht equivalent and really capture that German grey. So I ask you guys if any of you have any recommendations on paints and schemes for IG troops and vehicles. I haven't always been the best painter in terms of getting the right color that I enjoy. My only current experience is with reds that took me months to reach a satisfactory level for my Blood Angels.

If you could please post a list of paint and schemes with pictures, I'd appreciated it very much. If not at the very least some good references.

Thank you!

Look at the Vallejo/FoW paints or Plastic Soldier Company WW2 German ranges and sets. Should be easy to find the right colours.

Be warned though a Naz/Fascist theme to an IG army especially one totting swatikas is somewhat superfluous and my not be looked upon too well. It's been done before and rarely sees positive comments.

You want to look up a book called "Panzer Colors" for some camo patterns and good info.

And the Wehrmacht is female, not neutral, so its "Die Wehrmacht"; Heil Spellcheck o/

Vallejo has a ton of WW2 colors in their Model Color ranges. I'd check out flames of war sites to see colors used on those figures and apply to your guard. Off the top of my head I remember there being a "German Field Gray" color that was IIRC a dark gray green color.

This might help: http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110&art_id=289&kb_cat_id=27

Vallejo do all those colours... theres a line of paints specifically made to match WW2 uniforms from both sides. In Model Colour and Model Air lines.

You mentioned 'German Grey' ...
http://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-German-Model-Color-Paint/dp/B000PH7OXY
boom!

... pretty sure theres a few german greys though for example the basic uniform fatigues grey was not the same as the standard tank hull.

All german armor was irl undercoated dark yellow and then oversprayed with the necessary camouflage. Field Grey was phased out pretty early in the war as the necessity for camouflage became omnipresent. Would make a nice scheme for Guards though. Add some black-white-red effects as decoration and your're good.

 notprop wrote:
Look at the Vallejo/FoW paints or Plastic Soldier Company WW2 German ranges and sets. Should be easy to find the right colours.

Be warned though a Naz/Fascist theme to an IG army especially one totting swatikas is somewhat superfluous and my not be looked upon too well. It's been done before and rarely sees positive comments.

What he said. And indeed it is "Die Wehrmacht".

Also, unlike in the US, where you could have your Nazi fancy dress party next door to the KKK convention, in Germany you'll go to prison if you stick Nazi symbols on yourself, your toy soldiers, toy trains or whatever. No bs.

If you absolutely have to do decals, you might consider using two X's, like Charlie Chaplin does in the Great Dictator, or a wave crest as seen in the Wave.

He could probably get away with decals/iconography that is red with a black Imperial Eagle on it (I'd stay away from red + white circle with black eagle, just because that's a little TOO obvious that it's supposed to be the Nazis); same effect and the Imperium is basically a combination of Nazi germany, Rome and the Church during the Crusades/Middle Ages anyways.

Or use the maltese cross. I think it is part of black templar iconography anyways so it will fit in the setting well enough.

Seeing as swatikas weren't part of any field insignia it should be easy to avoid using them haha

Were you planning on having all your troops wearing camouflage uniforms?

If so, do you know where you'd like them wearing Herr or Waffen-SS patterns?

If you want to know anything about the Wehrmacht please ask me

Don't the Cadians use red, white and black for their flags anyway?

Could always just use the Iron Cross instead of the Swastika...

The Wehrmacht called it the "Balkenkreuz" simple google search will give you thousands of examples. They didn't really run around toting the swastika on everything. There are a lot of interesting divisional symbols that are always neat to see on WWII models that would be neat to see brought onto a 40k army.

Panzergrau really shouldn't be confused with Feldgrau. The early-mid war tanks weren't painted the same color as the infantry uniforms. Seems like you're looking for the pre-camo look if you're interested in the Feldgrau look. Careful though, its more green than black and white photo's suggest.

Personally one of my favorite looks on the Wehrmacht uniforms is the Waffenfarbe, or shoulder boards. The piping colors were indicators for different types of units. Always a neat touch to see those included. An early-mid war Wehrmacht army is striking on the FoW table if for all its possible colors. Should be the same for 40k. You can do it entirely authentic, without splashing swastika all over the place.

Uhh, guys, I never said I would use the swassie.

If you read my OP I mention putting the Nazi fascist regime aside, indicating I wouldn't go near the use of many of their symbols for the same reason it would cause problems.

And just to add what you guys have said, is there any way I can find Citadel colors just like the Vallejo ones?

One small but interesting truth: there won't be many people around who will notice that your stone-grey is actually 4.5% darker than the RAL %insertnumber% Panzergrau of 1937.

Just get something that basically fits the description. Also, Especially with uniforms there are allways small color variations. Fabric bleaches over time so seasoned soldiers tend to have washed out, lighter uniforms than conscripts.
Even when "nothing" changes, there are some minor variations of uniform colour. I know for sure about the current german uniforms. There are 2-3 tones of dark blue for Luftwaffe uniforms around and the Army has at least 3 variations of grey (one being produced and older models still around with older soldiers). Some officers and senior NCOs get their uniform tailored which adds several other shades to the mixture, depending on the fabric the tailor gets his hands on.
4 Patterns of the same camouflage exist, with minor variations on the color composition (amount of green vs brown), depending on which area you serve in (or so the idea was) and due to frequent redeployment all four are present everywhere right now.
If you go to russian camouflage, the situation there is even stranger with old patterns, new patterns, regional patterns, trial patterns all being in use (though not inside the same unit at the same time of course).

So really, just pick some colors that seem to do the trick and be happy.

And it's DIE Wehrmacht, not DEI. Heil Spellcheck o/ o/ o/

This is what is commonly known as 'splinter pattern' and it was the primary camo pattern worn by the Heer (regular Army) and by the Luftwaffe.

I hope this helps.

My new favourite (well, kinda) webpage

http://camopedia.org/index.php?title=Germany_(Third_Reich)

WayneTheGame wrote:
Vallejo has a ton of WW2 colors in their Model Color ranges. I'd check out flames of war sites to see colors used on those figures and apply to your guard. Off the top of my head I remember there being a "German Field Gray" color that was IIRC a dark gray green color.

This might help: http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110&art_id=289&kb_cat_id=27

The Vallejo German Field Gray (a grayish green, NOT a gray) is indeed the German uniform color. It would make a good base color with additional highlight layers in lightened versions of this color as per the FOW guide. The FOW painting guide is a pretty good guide for colors of equipment, etc. as well.

Tamiya's Field Gray is also a very good color for German uniforms. Nothing in the Citadel paint line is going to get you anywhere near the uniform color you need.

HairySticks wrote:

You mentioned 'German Grey' ...
http://www.amazon.com/Vallejo-German-Model-Color-Paint/dp/B000PH7OXY
boom!

This color the early war vehicle (only) color. In 1943 vehicles started being base coated with dunkelgelb (dark yellow) with olive green and red/brown camo patterns added over the dark yellow. German gray or dark gray is NOT useful for German uniforms.

Tim

Not sure if this is something that you might use for inspiration, but I used a late war ambush camo pattern on my Praetorian 555th that I build a few years ago (2009 does not seem like that long ago ugh). Here is a link to the thread if your intrested.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/252351.page

I'll offer this



The colors on the cloak are traditional WWII German armor colors. VMC Middlestone, VMC Reflective Green, and VMC Chocolate Brown. I was thinking about doing up a squad IG with this pattern for the smocks and dark grey for the pants.