Painting Urban Camo (on some UW Marines)


At the end of 2004 Urban Mammoth finally released the first minis for their new skirmish system Urban War. Urban War is settled in the same universe as VOID and so it was only logical for me to start a viridian combat team. I started to paint some minis almost immediately and because of the urban setting of the game I went for an urban camo scheme again. But as I would have to paint only a few minis for Urban War I decided to put some more work into this camo scheme and started to search the ′net for some inspiration. In the end I came up with this scheme, which was slightly inspired by the computer game Splinter Cell.

More pics of the finished minis can be found in my Urban War'-gallery. As usual for me all colors are Reaper ProPaints unless otherwise noted.

UW Marines - Step 1

Step 1:

As the minis will be quite dark in the end I started by priming them with some black spray-primer.

UW Marines - Step 2

Step 2:

Next step were the main basic colors. I used some Volcanic Brown for the ground, Armor Grey for the rocks on the bases, the gloves and all parts going to be camo′ed and some Ruddy Flesh for the skin parts of the sergeant.

UW Marines - Step 3
UW Marines - Step 3

Step 3:

Now I shaded the skin parts of the sergeant by mixing some Volcanic Brown into the Ruddy Flesh. I also started the camo pattern by painting geometrically shaped patches with Slate (a blueish grey) onto the grey basecolor.

UW Marines - Step 4
UW Marines - Step 4

Step 4:

I continued the camo pattern with some more geometric patches in Dragon Black. Make sure that the remaining patches of the grey basecolor also have that geometric shape.
I then covered all other parts of the mini with Dragon Black to repair the colorspills made while applying the Armor Grey. I also used Armor Grey to paint the armor on knees and shins.
The skin got another shading by mixing in some more Volcanic Brown into the first shading tone.

UW Marines - Step 5
UW Marines - Step 5

Step 5:

The base was drybrushed with different browns (Chestnut Brown, Woodland Brown, Hill Giant Brown). While doing this I made sure that I ′spilled′ some of that drybrushing onto the lower boots as well. This creates the impression of mud on the boots and - in my oppinion - adds a lot of realism. The rocks on the bases where drybrushed with different greys (Ash Grey, Granite, Stone Grey, Dove Grey). I then repainted the sides of the bases with some Dragon Black
I used some Aged Red Brick on the pistol holsters and some Kilt Green on the nightvision-googles.

UW Marines - Step 6
UW Marines - Step 6

Step 6:

There are several small things in this step - first I painted all those pouches and the facemasks on the miniatures with Armor Grey (again!). I also used this color to apply some first higlights to the black camo patches and the black cloth of the pants and such. I then used some Steel Plate on the metal parts of the weapons and the steel girders on the snipers base, some Troll Flesh on the grenades and a bit of Emerald to highlight the lower half of the nightvision-googles. The edges of the pistol holsters were highlighted with Maroon.
I continued the skin parts by highlighting them with a mix of Ruddy Flesh and a few drops of Caucasian. The belt-buckle of the sergeant got a basecoat of Copper.

UW Marines - Step 7
UW Marines - Step 7
UW Marines - Step 7

Step 7:

Time for some serious highlighting now - I used Ash Grey to further highlight the clothes and black camo patches. The same color was used to paint the basic highlights on the grey camo patches, the weapon casings, on the armor on knees and shins and on the edges of those pouches, facemasks and gloves. I finished the skin parts with a final highlight by mixing in some more Caucasian and highlighted the edges on the grenades with diluted Olive. The metal parts of the weapons where carefully drybrushed with Gun Metal and - very lightly - with i-Kore′s Synthan Silver. The edges of the pistol holsters got another highlight with Chestnut Brown. I completed the nightvision-googles by highlighting the lower edge with some Orc Flesh and by placing a small reflection point with the same color on top of them. I used i-Kore′s Synthan Silver to paint the buttons on the pouches, the rings on the grenades and such.
The hair of the sergeant was painted with Woodland Brown while I used Aged Red Brick on the sniper.

UW Marines - Step 8
UW Marines - Step 8

Step 8:

I used Ash Grey to add a final highlight to the grey camo patches and the edges of the pouches. The camo patches done in Slate were basically highlighted with a mix of Slate and Dove Grey. Woodland Brown was used on the weapon handles and - well diluted - as a final highlight on the pistol holsters. All the black clothes, gloves and armor on knees and shins got washed with diluted Black Ink Wash, the metal parts got a heavy wash with i-Kore′s Metal Wash. A bunch of small details were now painted too like the tubes on the facemasks (Dragon Blue), the name tag (chest) and triangular sticker (water bottle) on the marine (Stone Grey), the cable on the snipers headset (Blood Red).

UW Marines - Step 9
UW Marines - Step 9

Step 9:

The final steps to complete the miniatures included to finally highlight the camo patches done in Slate by adding more Dove Grey to the first highlight mix. The tubes of the facemasks were highlighted with Ice Blue and then washed with diluted Sapphire Blue Ink, the red cable on the sniper got a final highlight with Dragon Red. I painted some woodgrain on the weapon handles with Aged Red Brick and then washed those parts with diluted Woodshading Ink. I then added the backpacks to the sergeant and marine. Those were done primarily the same way as the rest of the minis except the sleeping bag on the marine. This was basecoated with Volcanic Brown, followed by a wash of diluted Woodshading Ink. I then used Volcanic Brown again to repaint most of the sleeping bag ′til only the recesses were darkened by the ink. Finally I applied two steps of highlights by mixing the Volcanic Brown with more and more Woodland Brown.
Finally I painted my signature on the bases together with the call-signs the models will have in my combat team. After varnishing the minis with some brush-on matte varnish they were ready for some serious action.

I hope you like this tutorial as well as my other ones.
If you are going to try it out yourself I would be glad if you drop me an eMail how it went and maybe with a pic of the results.







 
Back