Modern Russian Infantry - 28mm Modern Wargames

 

After a lucky haul on a Modern Miniatures Facebook group, I managed to start work on 4 sets of 4 Russian Infantry designed by White Dragon Miniatures, with urban bases.

These miniatures were definitely a solid addition to my Russian themed force, to bulk out infantry numbers for larger modern tabletop warfare games.
The majority of them are armed with the standard issue AK-74M, with specialists carrying RPG-7s and PKP Pecheneg LMGs.
Every miniature has goggles and a mask on their face, which was great for making them all uniform and allowing me to focus my time more on painting features and details as opposed to skin tones.

Let's jump onto the inspiration:

So for these infantry models, I wanted to focus on them being rank and file, as opposed to special forces or something a bit more eye-catching. These chaps would be the main bulk of the fighting force for my Russian themed army.

As you can see from the images above (sourced from Google Images), the model is fairly monotone. The green focus is very stereotypical Russian issue - so this was my starting point.

Having had some experience painting camo (GRU Spetsnaz), I decided to employ the same stippling technique to replicate the standard issue digital EMR camouflage. Here is a close-up on the camo for colour breakdown:

From this image, I could discern about 4 different tones of green / brown. Now... I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not going to paint all 4.
Some of the colours are a lot more subtle than others, for example, you may only be able to see 3 noticeable colours. Dark Green, Olive Drab and Brown. But there is a slight Sand tone that blends the Olive Drab into the Dark Green.

So first things first, base coat. These models were already based and primed in black when I bought them second hand, so that certainly cut down on time!

Base coat: Vallejo Model Colour VJ70895 - Gunship Green 

I think this green is a good base colour for that slightly blue-ish and washed out hue to Olive Drab that is stereotypically Russian. I painted this colour across all of the fatigues. As this was the main colour, I wasn't careful with its application, and I slapped it across the entire model where the uniform would show.

The next stage was to start to build the camouflage pattern. Digital can be quite a difficult pattern to achieve, so I don't spend too much time with the finicky paint schemes to achieve the correct pattern - rather I go for a representation that roughly imitates the pattern. Now ironically, painting camo on miniatures works the opposite of camo in real life. I personally find that camo that stands out, is actually better looking on a mini than if it blended into its surroundings on the tabletop.

So to do this 'digital' pattern, I used a stiff bristle brush and loaded it with wet paint - but not too much. Just enough to coat each bristle. Imagine you're building the amount of paint you'd need for the 'wet-brushing' technique. I'd then stipple the brush onto some plastic (a pringle pot lid) so control the amount needed. This was then gently and selectively stippled onto the model across the areas of uniform.
For EMR, I wanted to pick out the most vibrant colour - so green (base coat) and the 'Olive Drab'. I tried previously using a more Olive Drab colour, but it was too dull and blended into the uniform. So I chose to go for a more sand tone using Citadel Tallarn Sand.

The next step was to blend the EMR camo together and introduce that Brown tone. For this, I applied a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade all over the uniform. This also gave me some depth to the mini.
Once this dried, I was closer to my reference images! Now, this was actually the last step for the camo, as I think if I'd added in the Brown via stippling, it would have darkened the model too much and I would have lost the 'pop' that the Tallarn Sand produced.

Next up, was to build colours for detail painting. So for this, I focused on the mask / balaclava on the face and the kit bag on the back. On reference images, these match the EMR camo pattern, but I wanted these minis to appear like they're using older kit, so went with a flat colour to represent this, but also to pop out some more detail and break up the mini.
For this colour, I used Vallejo Model Colour 70924 Russian Uniform WWII.

From this point, I started to block the colours I needed to begin detail painting, so the base coat went on for the black focal points (boots, knee pads, rifle, goggles, buckles and radio), using Citadel Abaddon Black.

If I say so myself, this chap was starting to shape up nicely. I must mention that I did fully paint a model prior to this, before moving onto batch painting. I believe it's important when looking to batch paint, that you produce a reference model to understand your workflow and processes before applying them to a series of models at the same time. 

For the black details (including the goggle lens), I find that a subtle highlight is enough to bring them to life. I didn't want to go overboard with this and certainly for the equipment, a dull highlight would mean that the equipment looks a bit more aged. So therefore I highlighted them with Citadel Eshin Grey.

(The only black I didn't highlight was the knee pad straps, as I wanted these to remain black)

Upon closer examination of my reference images, I noticed that there are points on the uniform that pop a lot more of a vibrant green. So for this I decided to focus on putting that green on the combat vest. This would give a variation of colour but also lift the vest away from the uniform, so it doesn't blend right in. To achieve this I painted the panels that sit between the straps of the vest, and I used Citadel Militarum Green - Contrast Paint.

It's only a subtle change in tone, but it makes a difference!

The straps and trim on the vest also looked as if they had a slight grey difference to the rest of the camo. So I returned to the original Gunship Green to represent this.

A very important part of telling the story of these miniatures was to portray that they are using weathered kit, so some very small additions of scuffs and scrapes to the weapon using Citadel Leadbelcher would make it look like it had been dropped a few times!
Also during this step, I took the time to paint the gloves in a flat green tone using the Russian Uniform WWII again.

Before leaping onto a wash to combine the details, I returned to the Tallarn Sand to paint the rifle strap. This was really useful in lifting the detail and breaking up the pattern of the model as well!

To bring all of the detailed elements together and form it into a realistic looking mini - a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil over the face, rifle, gloves, vest, kit bag, boots and knee pads. I also used this sparingly in areas that would create shadow, such as inside the legs, under arms and also folds in clothing I wanted to accentuate.

The last stage of this process was to go back and gently highlight the rifle strap with Tallarn Sand, the balaclava / mask with Citadel Straken Green and finally Russian Uniform WWII on the gloves and kit bag to pop the colours a bit more.
Then it was onto painting the base of the model, so an urban base with some scatter glued onto it to provide that realistic feel and put the mini into a narrative setting.
Also, I painted the rim of the base red to highlight them as a hostile force and also 90 degree field of view indicators.

Now these guys are ready to deploy from their transports!