Painting Waffen SS Platanenmuster Camouflage

By Kreighton Long

No World War Two military incorporated camouflage as extensively as Germany. Most rivet-counters/armchair historians can eyeball camouflaged German infantry and reliably tell you what branch of the German armed forces the camo-clad trooper served.

This is especially true for the Waffen SS. From their first actions in Poland in 1939 through the fall of Berlin in 1945, the SS was equipped with camouflage uniforms that visually set them apart from the Heer and Luftwaffe ground troops.

Unfortunately for tabletop wargamers, painting the different camouflage patterns of the Waffen SS can be an intimidating challenge. Personally, I held off painting my first SS infantry for years after entering the hobby due to a lack of self-confidence.

Since working up the courage to attempt painting SS camouflage, I completed numerous iterations, each time learning how to suck less the next time. By this point, I’ve grown comfortable enough with my work that I’m ready to share my technique. In this tutorial, I intend to lay out the steps I take to replicate platanenmuster (plane tree) camouflage on my 28mm miniatures.

We will be using the following Vallejo paints in this tutorial: German Cam. Pale Brown (825), German Cam. Black Brown (822), German Cam. Dark Green (979), and German Cam. Bright Green (833).

Step One: Begin by base coating the camouflage (in this case the landser’s zeltbahn poncho) with a 1:1 mix of Vallejo’s German Cam. Pale Brown (825) and German Cam. Black Brown (822).

Step Two: Highlight with German Cam Pale Brown. When highlighting you can use either a dry brush or straight line method. For the demonstration here, I used a straight line method.

Step Three: Apply patches of German Cam. Dark Green (979). Patches should be asymmetrical and spaced out. I aim to cover approximately 1/3rd of the surface area with these patches.

Step Four: Apply patches of German Cam. Bright Green (833). Patches should be asymmetrical and spaced out. Feel free to overlap the bright green patches with the dark green patches. I aim to cover approximately 1/3rd of the surface area with these patches.

Step Five: Apply dots of German Cam. Dark Green over the brown and bright green patches.

Step Six: Apply dots of German Cam. Bright Green over the brown and dark green patches.

Step Seven: Apply dots of German Cam. Pale Brown. Dots should go over the bright and dark green patches.

Step Eight: Finish painting the remainder of your miniature and get it on the table!

I hope this tutorial may be of use. Best of luck and happy painting!

A video version of this tutorial is available .