“This is Götterdammerung”
I would not say that I am great painter or an extremely fast painter but I think I do ok and I thought I would share with you some of the experience that might be good for a player just entering the world of SoTR (or most miniature games). This will include both handy tips “how to” and also some general advise on what one easily might overlook.
For starters
When starting your first SoTR army I would recommend watching or even better playing a game and if possible reading the rules for any nations that interest you. You will most likely need to paint about 30-50 infantry (I´d say that´s at least a good 50-100 hours in my book) and therefore you need to be comfortable with the models you need to paint. A good aid for some is to come up with fluff (that is the background story for that unit/squad).
Getting your models
West wind produces the official line of models for the SoTR range so I always recommend that you start looking at their range to see if anything fits you. They offer a couple of great blisters that will get you started more or less right out of the box (look at starter packs). A good thing is that If you don´t like their models then the friendly people at Westwind/Grindhouse are more than willing to accept stand-in models from other companies and since there are loads of 28mm WW2 companies the variation is almost endless.
However mixing different manufactures might look a bit odd as they often have different sizes of miniatures. All 28mm are not 28mm but could be 25 or even 32. But there is a good way to get around this problem and that is to look at the size guide that the SoTR forum has prepared (link provided below). This is a bit trickier than just getting the West wind blisters but with a little bit of caution and work you can avoid this mess.
Looking for inspiration
After picking your models order them and then try finding a scheme that you like. I have found that often less complicated schemes will look better as these are somewhat easier and leave me less frustrated when I don´t need to redo 50% of each model due to complicated patterns. However on characters etc I think more complicated schemes work very well and this will also provide a mental break from painting the same patterns over and over again and also challenge your painting skills.
Easy uniform (Wow, these are horrible)
Complicated patterns
I have found that a great way to find cool patterns and uniforms is to search the web for good painting guides and/or photos of real uniforms. There are plenty of good websites that can help you along with this simply by typing something along the line of “miniature painting summer camo Germans” on any search engine. Another good way is to search for videos and this can be found in masse on YouTube. There is no need for the models to exactly 28mm, I have used plenty of 15mm guides to help me and also 54mm guides may work. Trial and error is the best way to go.
There are many different ways to paint miniatures and no one is more right or wrong than the other. I´m sure that you will find plenty of inspiration and guides browsing the web so therefore I will not provide any detailed painting guide in this post. However if you spot something you like send me an email and I will be happy to make a tutorial of it.
Motivation
I would however like to give a general tip when it comes to painting and that is to not do one miniature at the time. I would recommend painting the first mini on it´s own to guarantee that you will be pleased with the end result however after that I would start painting in bulks of 2-5 models to make your progress more visible.
Another great way to booster your motivation if it lacks is to watch to WW2 documenters or listen to a good audio book (I can recommend World War Z for getting into the SoTR mood).
Basing
There is one last step that will really help your models look good something that sometimes is overlooked or skipped. Basing. Some people (like me) do this before they start painting the miniature and other wait until the paint job is done and then base it. As before nothing is more or less right but be sure to base your mini´s as this will make a huge difference on the battlefield.
Links
Finally I will share with you some of my own favourite links during the entire process of creating a SoTR army.
Models:
A great overview of alternatives
Size guide
Painting guides
Soviet infantry
German armor
Britsish ”Red devils”
US armor
Basing
The often most usefull site in this hobby
http://www.coolminiornot.com/article
Really useful help and info for beginners – keep it up :-)
SvaraRaderaThumbs up :)
SvaraRadera