Painting & Basing Infantry Teams for Battlegroup NorthAG
by Tom Gall
In this article we’re going to focus on infantry for Battlegroup NorthAG by the Plastic Soldier Company. How should we paint and base them?
Painting British
Let’s start out with British infantry, as their camo pattern uniform is a bit more complicated. For the models, I’m using the Plastic Soldier Company 10mm Ultracast, mechanized infantry box.
Starting with a base coat, I primed my British black. Starting with Helmets 888 as the initial coat of Vallejo, followed by a dry brush of 886 Green Grey Vallejo.
For the Uniform I started with a base of 922 Uniform Green Vallejo and then in a pattern of splotches applying 983 Flat Earth Vallejo, then 889 Olive Brown, and 916 Sand Yellow Vallejo. The yellow can be bright so if you want more of a subdued yellow, I’d recommend picking a darker shade or potentially leaving it out altogether. It’s not prominent color if you examine photos off the internet. I left the boots black. For the skin tones, I used first a coat of Panzer Aces 341 Flesh Base by Vallejo followed by a bit of Citadel Darkoath Flesh contrast paint which seems to really bring out detail in the face.
For the small arms, I use an Apple Barrel paint, pavement as a base.
Painting Soviets
The models I used for my Soviets are also from the Plastic Solider company as part of their 10mm Ultracast range for NorthAG. These were from the . There is also an offering as well if you don’t need an army box.
For my Soviets, I elected to go a different route than my British forces. I primed with Corax white in preparation to use mostly Citadel contrast paints. Would it be faster? Would it look better?
For comparison, you’ll notice a 15mm Soviet figure. When painting for 10mm, it’s important to remember less is more.
Starting with helmets I used Vallejo 894 Soviet Green, 924 also works well. Moving on to the uniform I used Citadel Skeleton Horde. With contrast paints you don’t need to be careful, cover the model, the extra will go into the cracks and give you a shading effort. One secret with contrast paints is to make sure to shake, mix, stir really really well.
A good minute’s worth of shaking even for a paint pot that has only been sitting for a day is a good idea. For the gear and webbing, I used 988 Khaki Vallejo, but 880 also works well. Same colors and method as before when it comes to faces and hands. The nice thing about Soviet infantry is without a camo pattern to paint, they tend to go fairly fast especially with contrast paints.
Optionally on the uniform, a dash of red for the shoulder boards and collar can really make the model pop for a little investment of time.
For the small arms weapons, I use an Apple Barrel paint, pavement as a base with stocks 983 Flat Earth Vallejo. Note the look to it.
Basing
Battlegroup NorthAG gives you considerable freedom in how you base your infantry for the game. To quote the rules: “How infantry are based doesn’t really have much of an impact on the game. As long as it is obvious what team the model belongs to…”
Individual basing gives you the most freedom, your infantry is fluid and will mix well with terrain on the tabletop. The downside is movement takes longer as you have to move each individual figure as well as keep try of who belongs to what squad/team/platoon on the tabletop.
Basing in teams with multiple miniatures per stand has the advantage of addressing the movement issues with the downside of the team will always be a fixed distance on the same base.
I find basing teams the better choice since when you put together your force from the army lists, platoons, patrols etc, they come in some number of teams.
I decided early on three sizes of basing were desirable. Smallest would be for command, medium for specialty teams from heavy machine guns, anti-tank missiles, RPG teams, etc, and large for infantry teams themselves.
Tre Games makes a great set of bases to work with. For the Large bases, 15mm by 40mm offers a perfect spread out group of 4 models to a base that fits in well with the buildings I have for 10mm. Do get out your buildings and conduct a test of whatever size base you decide! For medium-sized bases I went with 1″ by .75″ and last for small bases I went with 3/4″ by 1/2″.
Last, add static grass to taste and your infantry force is ready for the tabletop!