"21 Colors" Topic

Over the last couple nights, I have been painting Pendraken 10mm french for a light infantry battalion. I decided to count up the number of colors I have used for this one battalion. Total colors used was 21 colors!!! I am almost done and may use one or two more. And since they are 10mm, I am doing very little highlighting. The great mass of colors are necessary base colors.

21 colors for one unit has to be a record. I can't think of any other single unit from any timeframe that requires this many colors except any other French napoleonic unit and possibly Landsknects from the renaissance…maybe.

They do look great though.

So can other unit from any timeframe beat 21 colors??

Hell, I can beat that in WWI.

Here's how I paint Germans:

Base coat black.
Base airbrush: Tamiya Field Gray
Wash GW Devlin Mud
Heavy Drybrush VP 830 German WWII Feldgrau
2nd Drybrush Mixed VP 830 German WWII Feldgrau/VP 886 Green Grey
3rd Drybrush VP 886 Green Grey.
Puttees: VP 826 Cam Med Brown, VP 872 Choc. Brown, VP 887 Brown Violet, VP 894 Russian Green, VP 979 Dark Green. Wash Devlin Mud.
M1915 Collars: VP 920 German Uniform.
Stosstruppen Knee-patches: VP 826 Cam Med Brown, VP 864 Mahogany Brown, VP 872 Choc Brown, VP 874 USA Tan Earth. Wash Devlin Mud.
Undercoat all field gear with Black.
Helmets: Base Adeptus Battlegray, Charadon Granite, VP 830 German Feldgrau, VP 887 Brown Violet.
Helmet Highlight: Base color plus one of VP 819 Iraqi Sand, VP 884 Stone Gray, VP 991 Dark Sea Gray.
Zeltbahns: VP 821 German Camo Beige WWI, VP 884 Stone Gray, VP 991 Dark Sea Gray, GW Deneb Stone. Wash Black, highlight w/base. (Straps – any brown, wash Devlin Mud)
Mess Kits: VP 888 Olive Green, VP 894 Russian Green, VP 979 Dark Green
Grenade Bags: VP 983 Flat Earth mixed with VP 821 Germ WWII Beige/VP 880 Khaki Grey/VP 884 Stone Gray. Wash GW Devlin Mud. Highlight w/VP 821/880/884.
Gas Mask Cannisters: VP 830 German WWII Feldgrau/VP869 Basalt Gray/VP 887 Brown Violet.
Canteen Covers: VP 884 Stone Grey/VP 983 Flat Earth/VP 988 Khaki/VP 991 Dark Sea Grey/VP 983 mixed with VP 830
Wood: VP 875 Beige Brown, highlight VP 875/Iraqi Sand. Wash 0-3 coats GW Ogryn Flesh
Canvas shovel covers: mix GW Iyanden Dark Sun/VP 830 German WWII Feldgrau, wash Devlin Mud, highlight.
Grenades: Mix VP 830 German WWII Feldgrau/VP 894 Russian Green.
Shovels, bare steel: Base GW Tin Bits, drybrush GW Boltgun Metal, drybrush GW Mithril Silver.
Belts, straps – any brown/yellow/tan mixed w/VP 830 German WWII Feldgrau.
Bare metal – GW Boltgun Metal, highlight GW Mithril Silver.

Hehe…I think you are going a little bit into overkill territory. I think I could do almost any 20th century figures with less than 10 colors in 10mm. Of course, the larger the figures, the more colors and layers needed.

^^^I know I could.

Hehe…I think you are going a little bit into overkill territory. I think I could do almost any 20th century figures with less than 10 colors in 10mm. Of course, the larger the figures, the more colors and layers needed.

Mine are 28mm.

TMP link

Wait until someone comes out with 28mm plastic Persians. You'll see the color count skyrocket.

In 10mm- samurai cavalry, definitely above 25 colors, mostly because I did the clothing under the armor in different but unified colors, and varied the horses.

Not sure I'd call them a unit per se, more like a group of like minded warriors based together for game purposes ;)

I'm guessing the OP was focusing on 10mm, there's lot's of 28mm units that would be very easy to use 20 different pigments on not including triads/shading.

Simplify Man !

Yeah, I don't know that 21 colors is too nuts.

For 15mm French Napoleonic line infantry I suppose I do the following:

Navy Blue
White
Metallic Gold
Antique Yellow
Black
Brown
Metallic Silver
Flesh
Crimson Red
Leaf Green
Pink, Purple, Light Blue or Orange (for pompoms)

That is 11 off the top of my head for likely the most simple figures I paint.

Cheers,

The Bandit

I used 36 colors to paint my 25 28mm WWII Soviet infantrymen, from boots to tunics to weapons. I wanted to give them a historical rag-tag appearance of rookies through vets, so many color variations for the uniforms. Took forever!

link

Ok, but 21 colors for 10mm is just nuts! :-)

Excellent work on those Soviets!

I used all of those colors on my WWI Germans for the same reason – I wanted them to look like a bit of a hodge-podge, what with the blockade and all of that ersatz gear in use by 1918…