PAINTING GUIDE:

BLITZKRIEG GERMANS
TM

The German war machine had been growing for

sometime, and Europe had been divided on how to
deal with the growing threat of National Socialism.
In 1939, however, as the Germans annexed Austria
and Czechoslovakia, and then invaded Poland, her
neighbors could no longer stand idly by. They were
ill-prepared for the speed with which the German
forces could move: Panzer Divisions manouvering
swiftly to take key objectives, followed closely by
mechanized infantry to exploit the gains. Blitzkrieg
was the term applied to this rapid and fluid form of
warfare, so very different to the static trench warfare
of the Great War.

This Painting Guide will provide you with a step-

by-step guide to painting the basic infantryman of
the German Heer and one of the most-recognizable
vehicle silhouette of WWII - the Sd.Kfz 251/1
‘Hanomag’ half-track. These models are painted for
the early war period, representing the Blitzkrieg
forces that invaded Poland, France, and even the
early stages of the Russian invasion.

Following the step-by-step painting guides, you’ll find

a collection of other units from the German early-war
forces that display the variety of painting possibilities
when collecting these models.

There are many paint ranges available for painting

up your miniatures, and it doesn’t really matter which
paints you use. That’s completely up to you. We used
a variety of paints in preparing this guide, and named
them with abbreviations.
These can be deciphered below:
VMC = Vallejo Model Color
AP = Army Painter

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 Painting your Blitzkrieg Germans
1 2

The first step is always to prepare your models for painting. After The next step includes painting the basecoats over the largest areas.
assembling a squad of five models, we applied a layer of fine basing We started with VMC German Fieldgrey WWII over the uniform tunic
grit, and let the glue dry. (leaving the trousers grey). This was followed by VMC German Camo
Dark Green for the helmet, gas cape pouch (on chest), and gas mask
Many people undercoat their models with black or white sprays.
cannister on his back. We then painted his face and hands with AP
We chose to spray each model with AP Uniform Grey spray as
Tanned Flesh, a good base colour for Caucasian skin.
sometimes a black undercoat can mean you have to apply multiple
coats of your other paints, and white can leave the colors appearing
much brighter than the desatured uniform colors of WWII.

3 4

Then we moved on to the wooden stock of the rifle, painting it We followed up Step 3 by painting a layer of AP Strong Tone Wash
VMC Beige Brown. The next step was to paint the bread bag with over the entire model and let it dry thoroughly.
VMC German Camo Beige, followed by painting the canteen and rifle
If you are painting a lot of models at once and chose to paint the
strap with AP Oak Brown.
black and silver areas before the wash, you could finish your
If you are painting a lot of models at once and are on a tight painting here, although your models would like quite dark and not
timeframe, you might also choose to paint the black and silver quite as nice as they could if you decided to push on.
areas (covered in Steps 7 & 8).

5 6

While the wash adds great shadows to your model, to make In order to help them stand out a little more from the equipment,
it really pop you need to go back and add some highlights. the uniform was highlighted again with a 60/40 mix of VMC German
We started by highlighting the uniform tunic with VMC German Fieldgrey WWII/VMC Pale Sand, and the bread bag was highlighted
Fieldgrey WWII, then the helmet and gas mask cannister with with VMC German Camo Beige. Finally, the skin was highlighted
VMC German Camo Dark Green. The uniform trousers were with VMC Flat Flesh.
highlighted with VMC Basalt Grey. Finally, the skin was highlighted
with a 50/50 mix of AP Tanned Flesh/VMC Flat Flesh.

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 7 8

The next step was to paint all the webbing and metal areas with We highlighted the areas with a 50/50 mix of AP Matt Black/
AP Matt Black. At this point we painted the eyes and the fine AP Gun Metal. The webbing and boots were given a quick highlight
piping on the collar and epaulettes with VMC White. with VMC German Grey.
Epaulette piping would be a specific colour depending on
which part of the military the soldier served in. For the humble
infantryman this would be white. The collar tabs would have a
background in the same colour although for infantry this would
Top Tip
be the standard dark green of the collar itself.

Decals
If you feel like adding
more detail to your
German infantry
models, we make
a range of great
waterslide decals
Early in the war, the German forces applied unit decals to the sides
covering a variety of
of their helmets to more easily differentiate them in the field. Over
the units that were
time these decals would become obscured or damaged and,
part of the German
by the middle of the war, they were rarely replaced.
war machine.

Basing

Basing is the thing that really helps tie your army together. with VMC German Camo Brown-Black, drybrushed the grit and
There are many, many ways you can do you basing, depending on painted the edge with VMC Beige Brown, drybrushed the grit with
where you want your troops to be fighting, and what your gaming VMC Dark Sand, and then glued down different flocking materials to
table looks like. For our purposes, we painted the base completely give a variety of colours and textures.

The Completed Blitzkrieg German Heer Squad

This completed Heer Infantry

Squad (using the squad
listing on page 20 of Armies of
Germany), has the minimum
five men, including an NCO
with a submachine gun
and a soldier with an
MG34 light machine gun.

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 VariAnts of blitzkrieg Uniforms
qThese German command models are painted in much the same way as our infantry. Note,
however, that the officers’ caps, greatcoats, and occasionally trousers are VMC German Fieldgrey
WWII - as the war progressed grey trousers would be replaced by field grey versions completely.

tThese soldiers of the German

Heer are dressed in early war
uniforms, and have been
shown a little more attention.
The 5 o’clock shadow can be
recreated by mixing grey into
your base flesh color.

uThe German motorcycle troops (Kradschützen) wear uniforms

indentical to our step-by-step example. Their motorcycle is
painted in VMC German Grey and highlighted with VMC Basalt
Grey.

tThese Feldgendarmes, distinguished by their silver and brass

gorgets, were the uniformed military police of the German
wehrmacht. Their uniforms differ in small ways, including the
fieldgrey trousers (instead of the grey), and red epaulets.

pEven from the outset of the war, the troops of the Waffen-SS were some of the best equipped
in the German armed forces. These early war SS soldiers are wearing fieldgrey trousers (instead
of grey), but retain the black leather jackboots (that would be later replaced by regular boots. All
are wearing plane tree pattern camouflage helmet covers and camo smocks.

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 Painting your SD.KFZ 251/1 AUSF C

Much like the infantry, once the tank was assembled we

1 undercoated it with AP Uniform Grey. German vehicles
were all painted in a mid to dark grey during the early war
period, so this was a perfect starting point for us.

We painted the wooden slats on the seats in the rear of

2 the half-track with VMC Beige Brown, and the padded
cushions behind tem in VMC Red Leather.

We then gave the entire half-track a wash of AP Strong

3 Tone. This cover the exterior and interior, adding extra
depth to the shadows.

Once the AP Strong Tone wash was thoroughly dried,

4 we took a large brush and drybrushed VMC Basalt Grey
over the half-track. particular attention was paid to the top
edges and corners.

We decide to add a little more contrast to the model by

5 highlighting the sharp edges with VMC London Grey and
shading particular panels with another wash of AP Strong
Tone.

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 The next step was a fairly simple one, paint everything
6 that won’t remain grey with AP Matt Black.

For this German half-track we chose this stage to affix

7 the decals to ensure that any weathering we applied
would be applied to the decals too. During the invasion
of Poland, German vehicles used a solid white or yellow
“Balkenkreuz” as a national identifier. This evolved to the
symbol we have used here (the open white cross) for the
invasions of both France and Russia.

The next step was to apply a bit of “chipping”, areas

8 where the paint has been scratched or worn off and
reveals the original primer coat . For this we simply sponged
on VMC Hull Red using a folded piece of sponge from a
Warlord Games blister pack. Be careful to apply the chipping
in areas that would see the most wear and tear.
Of course, if you want your tanks to be factory-fresh,
you can skip this step.

At this stage we took the opportunity to paint up the

9 accessories we added in the build stage: a couple of
spare helmets, a tarpaulin, and the tow cable (rusty, of course)
at the front of the vehicle.

The Completed SD.KFZ 251/1 AUSF C HALFTRACK

And finally...
To give it the “slogging
around Europe, seeing
lots of action” look we
drybrushed a few different
browns onto the tracks,
wheels and undercarriage
to simulate mud and road
dust. We also added a
gunner with an MG34 and
another MG34 at the rear on
a pintle mount.

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 VariAnts of German Vehicles
tFollowing the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1939,
the German Panzer Divisions adopted the Panzer 35(t)
and 38(t), such as the one shown here.
They were repainted in the dark grey
and German markings were applied.

uAlthough it was essentially obsolete by the beginning of the

war, a number of Panzer Ia tanks saw service in the invasion
of Poland. Most were withdrawn from service by the time the
Germans invaded France. Note the black uniform on the tank
commander.

tPanzer II tanks were the mainstay of German panzer

units from the invasion of Poland through to the
invasion of Russia. While this tank sports the same simple
grey color scheme, there has been recent conjecture that
German vehicles involved in the invasion of Poland
had dark brown camouflage patches too.

uThe Sd.Kfz 231 heavy armoured car (6-Rad) was used during
the early years of the war in reconnaissance roles, and during
the later years in policing and anti-partisan roles. This once has
recently seen a bit of service as the road dust around the lower
half would suggest.

qEven the motorcycles and sidecars of

the Kradschützen platoons were painted
in the same German vehicle grey. uThe Kfz 13 ‘Adler’ armoured car was
designed in the early ‘30s, and really only
saw service during the invasion of Poland.
Note the early, solid white ‘Balkenkreuz’
and the white-trimmed wheelguards.

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Copyright Warlord Games Ltd, 2015. Warlord Games, Bolt Action, and the Bolt Action logo are trademarks of Warlord Games Ltd. All rights reserved.