"Painting Great War Germans (Late War)" Topic

Greetings all. Having finished part one of a multi-part WWI project, a 20mm British platoon no less, I was wondering if I could ask the kind folks around here for some painting help. Naturally, I would like some help in deciding which colors to use for WWI middle/late war Germans for the Great War. Now before everyone gets up in arms about searches and all that jazz, let me say up front that I browsed through the old posts, but I did not find much that was helpful, i.e they didn't mention webbing, etc.. Contrary, past searches for Brits turned up a good deal of info. That said, I could really use some color recommendations for coats, webbing, stalhelms, pants, canteen bags, non-webbing and pouches. I would prefer colors that can be applied directly out of the bottle, double points for associated shadow and highlight colors. For paints, I would prefer GW, Vallejo, or Reaper, since I have many of those, but I'll take other suggestions. Technically, I would prefer to avoid Foundry since I don't want to invest in them (for my own reasons). Let me say upfront that I know that the uniform variety during this period was immense and that there is no end to the debate about what Gray really means. Honestly, I would just like recommendations on what has worked for other people. Thanks everyone.

Joey

Vallejo German field grey for most of the uniform. If I recall from memory, 'steel grey' trousers were issued from 1915, but the old field grey type lasted throughout the war.

boots and webbing were blackened in 1915, so black for that along with ammo pouches. The bread bag was usually some drab shade and varied. Vallejo German Camo beige looks good for the bread bag.
Helmets were generally painted grey, but not as dark as panzer grey, along with gas mask case and canteen.Maybe a color like Vallejo 'Basalt Grey' The water bottle is metal covered in brown felt-'beige brown'. The pack, when worn, would be brown cow-hide, but by late war an 'assault pack' was developed with a blanket, coat, or ground sheet wrapped around a mess-kit.The great coat was field grey and the blanket could be some other dull shade or grey, the ground sheet usually grey. The entrenching tool has a light colored wooden handle. This is all from memory so I probably missed something or other

I see you already have some good paint recommendations; but here's a nice site – it explains the different uniforms introduced during the war link

I used Delta Ceramcoat paints. Primered Black, dark grey drybrush, then medium grey drybrush.
Some pictures are attached, they are not the best but If you'd like some better ones, I'll take some.

picture

I find GW Bestial Brown is a decent match for both the canteen covers as well as any remaining brown boots.

Puttees were sometimes a contrasting colour, just use a different shade of grey (I use Humbrol Sea Grey).

The bread bags I tend to do GW Bubonic Brown with an inkwash, but this can look a bit light against dark shades of field grey.

Feldgrau could vary considerably and would fade and discolor in time. I would not concern myself too much with geting the "exact" color because as soon as you do you will find a new source which will contradict your extensive research. I speak from experience.

Well thanks for the help guys. I plan to order some of the paints suggested tonight. One thing I might do, which is slightly ahistorical apparently, is to paint the red stripes on the pant seams. I think that would break up all that gray. Thanks again for the tips.

Joey

Following another thread on this topic, Im trying P3 Ironhull Grey (it's got a slight blue tinge to it).

Can someone help me with late war Jaeger uniforms? Battalions of Jaegers existed throughout the war, I believe. But did their uniforms change in important ways as the war went on? And, on a related matter, are mountain battalions a different thing from Jaegers?

Thanks.

I have a copy of "Uniforms & Organization of the Imperial Germany Army 1900-1918" by F. Stephens & G. Maddocks (published by Almark in 1975). In the chapter on the 1915 uniform it's stated that the jaegers & schutzen were issued a grey-green bluse. Machine-gunners, who originally wore same color bluse, were ordered to wear the uniform of their parent unit instead. It's also stated that jaegers & schutzen wore a grey green shoulder-strap with light green piping (black in the case of the Guard Schutzen battalion). It also mentions that the 1910 style mutze continued to be worn after the introduction of the 1915 field grey cap.

Excellent! Thank you. That helps.

After posting the above, I did some further research using Osprey's MAA 417 (The German Army in World War I (3)) and Mollo's Army Uniforms of World War I. Both sources confirm the info I posted, but there are further details. The Bavarian jaegers wore the Bavarian 1916 field-grey bluse. The collar was dark grey-green (in Bavarian units, dark field-grey). Bavarian jagers had green shoulder-straps, not field-grey. The mountain jaegers were issued rucksacks, puttees and mountain boots. I don't know of any 1/72 figures which could be used as mountain troops. Too bad!

MAA 417 states that the Guards, 9th, 12th, 1st Bavarian and 2nd Bavarian battalions were deployed as mountain troops. Most jaeger battalions were formed into regiments at some point during the war. I was able to find an OB for the Alpine Corps (Alpenkorps) at this site:

link

also here:

gebirge.twschwarzer.de

The reference to the Body Inf Regt is to the Bayerischen Infanterie-Leibregiment.

Mostly it is all grey except for the haversack which is grey brown. Lol… Got it!