Contrast and Compare: Romanian Infantry

This is our 1500th article! Woot! – Lee

Greetings all, Mark G here with another installment of my continuing adventures with Citadel Contrast paints. Today I am going to explain my technique for painting Romanian Infantry super quickly and as an added bonus, a step by step guide to a muddy snow base (Full credit to Duncan Gosling for this).

Painting the figures

Step 0: Preparation

To start with the figures, including the assembled mortars, were cleaned and stuck to the bases. This was accomplished by applying a thick layer of Vallejo Earth texture all over the base then sticking the figures into it. As the texture dries, it sticks the figures to the base almost as well as glue does.

Next all the figures are primed grey using a cheap matt grey primer from Wilkinsons as it works a treat.

Next up I dry brushing the models white. This really helps the highlights on the contrast shine through and I find is needed at this small 1:100 scale.

Step 1: Helmets and Guns

Militarium Green is applied to the helmet and metal areas.

Step 2: Boots and Faces

*Templar Black* is used for the boots and Darkoath Flesh is applied to
the hands and face. Here the white dry brush really helps the contrast bring out the detail.

Step 3: Uniforms

*Gore Grunta Fur* is a fairly good match to the Romanian uniform and is applied across the all the uniform areas.

Step 4: Webbing and Haversacks

The haversack is painted Vallejo *Green Yellow*. The belts and straps are Vallejo *Red Leather*.

Step 5: Final Touches

I dry brush the top of the helmets with Vallejo *Russian Uniform*. Contrast paints are not great on curved surfaces so this tidies it up. I also use some *dark wash* on the green haversack.

That is it for the infantry! Five easy steps and all super quick.

Now lets make them standout with a great base.

(Its all about) The Base

In Duncan’s article here he showed us how to do a great mud effect on our tanks. He also showed a picture of his Soviet gun teams with snow effect and a muddy area where people were walking. This is how he did it, replicated on my mortars teams:

Step 1: Mud

I apply Vallejo *Thick Mud* around the center of the base and around the bases of the troops. This is where the crew have been working and the snow has melted. I finish this stage by adding some dark wash in areas of the thick mud to give it a wetter look.

Step 2: Snow

I used Citadel *Valhallan Blizzard* to create the snow. Using a sculpting tool I place it on and move it around making it thicker at the edges and try not to make it too uniform. If you mix it with the mud while it is wet you will create a slushy muddy snow effect which is also quite cool.

Step 3: Finish Touches

The final stage is to paint the base rim black and then add tufts. I got some winter tufts of Ebay and also created a short tree using this from Green Stuff World and adding some white paint. I just trimmed it and stuck it down with super glue. Easy!

Well there we have it, quick easy Romanians already for the snow to melt and the Spring offensive to begin.