"Help me paint WWII Germans for the first time..." Topic

Okay I've got some 28mm German Army troops I am going to use in an upcoming pulp game.
Set in the late 1930's, early-early 1940's.

What colors would their basic uniforms be?

and what colors would these be per Vallejo, etc?

Thanks in advance…

In the late 30s the tunic was field gray. Vallejo has this color as 'German Uniform" or possibly just called field gray.
This is a gray-green shade – a little more green than gray,

At this early stage the trousers are still 'stone gray', for which one might use "basalt" or a similar mid-tone gray.

Leather equipment was black, except officers had brown belts and map cases. 'saddle brown" is good for this

I sometimes see people paint the helmets 'Panzer gray', a very dark gray, but I have seen color photos of early war helmets that often show a 'gray green' shade, though different than the tunic color. The gasmask case and mess kit are similar to the helmet. The breadbag and the gas mask canister strap are both a canvas color. "German camo beige" is fine for this, but I have seen real ones that are more brownish.

An important note is that in the earlier period the collar and shoulder straps were a very dark bluish green.

b

I forgot to add that soft covers are the same shade as the tunic

going off rvandusen's recommendations. the helmet and stuff could be Vallejo 896 German Extra Dark Green. For the tunic you could use the German Uniform, they also have a German Field Grey #830. The soft equipment was a little lighter. I am using, from various guides, Vallejo Russian Uniform #924 for that.

As above, 830 for the jacket and side cap. Some sort of mid bluish grey for the trousers. 979 German camo dark green for the mess tin and gas mask cannister, helmets too although you could also use lightened panzer grey (helmet shades varied).

Black leather equipment, water bottle cover in mid rust brown, waterbottle cap in black. Bread bag and gas mask strap 'khaki' – any shade of green, light grey or tan you like. These varied too.

As noted above, collar and shoulder straps are in a very dark green.

When I first tried, I spray-painted my squad with Tamaya's German Green. It seemed too dark, so I did a quick drybrush with Vallejo's German Uniform. Still looked too dark, so I added a bit of white to the Vallejo, and dry-brushed again.

Suddenly, it looked like I'd done something profound.

Vallejo German Uniform for the tunic, any old dark grey for the pants, Vallejo Field Grey for the helmet and gas mask cannister, black for boots, belts, and straps (except for officers as mentioned above.) The German Uniform can have a little green added for one figure, a little brown for another, they seemed to have bled color differently when washed…

Don't know if this will help but take a look it may be of some use link

Here are some Vallejo paint equivalent lists once featured in an article on Warlord Games website, I think:

Early WWII German
830 – German WWII Field Grey: tunic, trousers (field grey)
836 – London Grey: trousers (stone grey)
950 – Black: webbing, boots
988 – Khaki: breadbag
896/979 – German Camo Dark Green: helmet, collar, epaulettes, gasmask tin
983 – Flat Earth: Canteen
886 – Green Grey: Gas cape pouch

Late War Germans
• G e r m a n G r e y ( V a l l e j o 9 9 5 ) : H e l m e t
• G e r m a n F i e l d G r e y ( V a l l e j o 8 3 0 ) : T u n i c a n d t r o u s e r s
• B l a c k ( V a l l e j o 9 5 0 ) : B e l t s , w e b b i n g , b o o t s a n d M P 4 0 a m m o p o u c h e s
• G r e e n G r e y ( V a l l e j o 8 8 6 ) : G a i t e r s , M P 4 0 a m m o p o u c h e s
• C a n v a s ( V a l l e j o P a n z e r A c e s 3 1 4 ) : S T G 4 4 a m m o p o u c h e s , M P 4 0 a m m o p o u c h e s (NO; use 886 Green Grey)
• F l a t B r o w n ( V a l l e j o 9 8 4 ) : C a n t e e n
• G r e e n B r o w n ( V a l l e j o 8 7 9 ) : B r e a d b a g , M P 3 8 / M P 4 0 a m m o p o u c h e s
• M i l i t a r y G r e e n ( V a l l e j o 9 7 5 ) : M e s s t i n a n d g a s m a s k c o n t a i n e r

German Paratroops

• German Grey (Vallejo 995): Uncovered helmet
• Black (Vallejo 950): Webbing, pistol holster, rifle ammo pouches, boots, bayonet scabbard
• German Field Grey (Vallejo 830): Trousers and breadbag
• Luftwaffe Uniform blue (Vallejo 816): Luftwaffe tunic, field cap, officer's peaked cap
• Military Green (Vallejo 975): Mess tin and gas mask container
• German Camo Orange Ochre (Vallejo 824): Canteen
• Middlestone (Vallejo 882): Panzerfaust
• Camouflaged jump smocks and helmet covers (Beige 821, Green 823, Brown 984)

Waffen-SS Camouflage

SS Plane Tree pattern
• German Camo Bright Green (Vallejo 833)
• German Camo Medium Brown (Vallejo 826)
• German Camo Extra Dark Green (Vallejo 896 / 979)

SS Oak Leaf pattern
• German Camo Pale Brown (Vallejo 825)
• German Camo Dark Green (Vallejo 979)
• German Camo Bright Green (Vallejo 833)

SS Pea Dot pattern
• Basecoat: Beige Brown (Vallejo 875)
• Patches/spots: German Camo Dark Green (Vallejo 979), Cork Brown (Vallejo 843), German Camo Bright Green (Vallejo 833) and Beige Brown (Vallejo 875)

Sorry about the format glitches, I can't make them go away; this is copied from a Word document I copied from the website, at various times.

I've been using the Artizan guides for years and I've been very pleased with the results:

link

Here is my tutorial:

link

G.

As thosmoss says, a lot of these come out way too dark in smaller scale figures, especially the Tamiya field grey (I use that for ammo boxes etc) and need lightening a shade or two.

Pre war there are two uniforms. A The classic grey woollen uniform already covered, and what is described as a "reed green" cotton uniform (most usually used by troops doing heavy manual labour). That cotton uniform was often used by forces of the occupation in the south of France and other warmer climates. So if your pulp adventures are taking your German troopers to warmer climes, it could be an option.
How to paint?
Due to the colour drift you get with scale figures, use the recommended colour as the base colour then dry brush a lighter shade over it. It's a subjective thing but to my eye it looks right and corrects the colour drift. But opinions vary.
That Reed Green is quite dark, almost bottle green. The Helmet green colour with a dash of grey to lighten it could do a very good likeness of a washed out set, otherwise use the helmet green and dry brush a lighter shade over it.

Polly's paints has the colors you want….I have a ton of them. For sure they have specific colors for what you would want. But as I recall they don't make them anymore.

Osprey books for a quick reference their color plates are very helpful too.