Well my wife and I have been painting for many weeks. Today we have finished painting 5 squads: Recon Boys, Recon Grenadiers, Kommandotrupp, The Gunners/Bot Hunters, and BBQ Squad. Some of the designs were inspired by Loophole Master.

I have a set of decals that I will be putting on sometime. Perhaps next weekend.

Recon Boys - this is my least favorite paint job.

I am using Vallejo Paints and I initially ordered a 16-bottle WWII German set and have since ordered more paints for a lot more options. I wanted to use the darker grey (German Grey) for the Axis and lighter (in this case Vallejo Neutral Grey) for the Allies. The problem is the neutral grey is a little too neutral and a little too boring for me. I hope the decal adds something to the shoulder.

I am also considering painting some kind of rank or marking on the shoulder armor. I recall a blue line of someone's and that looked neat.

Any feedback to make the unit more interesting would be appreciated.

Here is the Recon Grenadiers. One change I made since I previously asked questions was repainting the black in Glossy Black so it loos more like black leather. I initially tried out the glossy black on the Kommandotrupp's boots and it was a definite improvement over the regular black.

 Here is the BBQ Squad, I am very happy with the bandolier of shotgun shells. I thought I would "never be able to paint that", and it turned out really well.

The faces are all done with flesh tone and then have a light brown wash applied. These are probably the worst faces.

Again the light armor is a bit boring for me.

 Here are the Gunners/Bot Hunters.

 Here is the Kommanotrupp. I like this unit and think I did a pretty good job on it.

German Grey for armor and Vallejo Carmine red for the uniform.

 Steady hand.  Nice clean lines.

At this scale, you'll find that light and shadow don't really take care of themselves.  You may want to try some washes to darken the recesses, then bring the higher areas up with your  base color and finish highlight with your base color lightened a bit.  This will make them really stand out at arms length (or from table to eye).

Good job, tho.  I've been painting minis for 25 years and have never had that steady of a hand.

Great job, man. Looking at those pics was pretty weird, since they look so similar to my initial paint jobs. I'm flattered that you'd choose to use some of my colour schemes. Keep up the great work, and pass on the compliments to your wife!

 Thanks for the feedback Frogimus. I did use washes but it may not be apparent in the photos with the lighting. As for the steady hand, generally it was pretty good so I will accept the compliment but there was plenty of "oops" and fixes as well.

The 2 techniques that I haven't wrapped my head around are highlighting and dry brushing. The washes are easy because they take care of themselves, deciding where to highlight is a harder question.

I experimented with dry brushing on the Recon Grenadiers with Neutral Gray on top of the darker German Grey, but I did not like the results. It is also hard with the small size of the model. I can see dry brushing the walkers, but dry brushing has not worked out for me so far. Any advice would be appreciated.

I did highlight a tiny bit on the armor on one Recon Grenadier it it looked good but also a little "imperfect" but I think that imperfection is better although it bothered me. I need to persevere. It looked a little like some base color that I somehow "missed".

I also have Vallejo's Matt Varnish. Should I apply this once I am truly happy and finished with the results? Is there a special way to apply? I may just apply to the heads since they are always getting picked up and during painting I sometimes had the primer color peaking through as I paint by holding the base and the head.

In searching I have read mixed reviews of whether or not a protective coat is necessary for mini's that are being played with.

Thanks for the feedback Loophole. When I read the 2 comments my wife could not believe that I posted our pictures and that we received this kind of feedback from you and Frogimus. It is because of her that we are painting. I initially did a simple wash recipe months ago that I found on BGG and I thought that improved the guys a lot. She played once (I couldn't believe she even offered) and said never again, but she is the one that wanted to paint. I just got hooked as well.

 Honestly, some of the paint jobs that look best at tabletop distance usually look a little blotchy up close.

For drybrushing, I use paint at full stength (no thinning). Take an older brush (or a cheap brush since they're probably all new for you), cut the bristles a bit short and straight across.  Dip in the paint, then wipe the paint off on some paper (I use notebook paper). Keep stroking the brush on the paper until you barely see any paint being left.  If you don't get enough paint off, it'll leave a big ugly streak.  If you get it off well, it will dust the color onto the model, especially on corners and edges.

As for matte varnish, I always use Testor's Dullcote on my minis when the painting is done.  They can take a lot of abuse and the finish is exactly like I want it.  Not sure if it's available in your part of the world, though.

There is a lot of technique and how-to information on wamp-forum.com , coolminiornot.com , and reapermini.com/forum  These sites have a lot of Golden Demon level painters, but also have some really good how-tos for tabletop level painting

 You may want try using  washes to bring out the details but otherwise great work love the kommandotrupp especialy

 I second the other comments that a bit more shading (and highlighting) would help. But it does appear your getting nice flat base coats and the paint isn't too thick, so your on to a good start. You asked for drybrushing tips: When it comes to saving time with drybrushing, I usually only apply it to one part of the model. In the attached pictures I painted the long coats first and used drybrushing to highlight. But since it is such an uncontrolled technique I didn't use it on the rest of the model. So the highlights you see on the armor are by hand.

 Thanks for the pictures and the replies. As I continue painting I have gone back to my units and have added some features. I thought I "would never highlight" and after briefly trying, I did not like the effect. However as I continued to paint and look as examples from this site, I found my units a bit flat. The washes added but the armor was bland, especially on the Allies since it is lighter colors.

I have addressed that with some highlighting. I painted the highlights by hand, but will try out dry brushing on the coats of the Death Dealers that we have been working on.

I like the highlights (Khaki Grey + white) I added to the Heavy Flaks, especially on the legs. Really adds a lot to the look. I also thought about having different color shoulder pads but ended up deciding to just color the corners. This may be a recurring theme on the armor 3 axis.

They were also the first heads that I removed, now I have removed 3 more squads of heads. Much easier for the faces (just flesh tone with brown wash) and the area around the neck.

One other technique that I thought I "would never do" is basing. I am now considering some sand and some of the techniques in Dust Chronicles #1 which I revisited a few days ago. Who knows what will get down in the coming months. For now the bases get a black or brown wash.

 Here are updated Recon Boys with highlights. Then I decided to add some kind of rank on the shoulder since they are still a bit bland. I do have 2 sets of Dust decals but want to save them for more valuable/favorite units. I like the effect of the rank and the general highlighting on armor.

I didn't want to get too specific/realistic with the ranks, but I wanted gave the victory machine gunner and "closed triangle" filled with brown to signify his difference a bit more.

 I then added rank to the Recon Grenadiers. A quick google image search showed the German shape to be a downwards V shape instead of pointing up so I was happy for a difference. I decided to do theirs in grey which matched the picture I was looking at and different color from the allies. I used a Vallejo neutral grey which now looks way too dark and appears to be highlighting vs any semblance of rank, especially compared to the iron crosses I added later (white mixed with grey).

Now looking at the unit I am considering going over the "rank" with a brighter/more noticeable color. Any suggestions? I am not sure how I feel about "white" on both shoulders. Any feedback/arguments for/against white rank would be appreciated.

2 pictures: first the squad then a close up of 3 units to emphasize the difference between rank and iron cross. Again I gave a triangle shape to the weapon specialist.

 For the Kommandotrupp I first added red + white highlights and then grey highlights for the armor. After adding the iron crosses to the Recon Grenadiers, I added them to the Kommandotrupp but I am undecided on what to do regarding rank on the Kommandotrupp in terms of colors and markings or to just leave it blank. I don't want to do "too much" but at the same time, when they are on the gaming table it may not be too much.

Your wife paints and games with you? Does she have a single sister?