A future project for me is going to be to expand my Abyssinia 1935-6 games into the East Africa Campaign in WW2, Keren 1941 and all that. I'll be needing to paint large numbers of British and Commonwealth soldiers quite quickly for this, so I thought I'd give the Army Painter coloured primers a go. Desert Sand isn't quite the right shade for the uniforms I was after, but it did provide a really good base. I've been using the Quickshade Strong Tone dip for a while now (painted on, not dipped), and have found it is at its best on light khaki/ brown colours, especially when it soaks in a round the details on uniforms, webbing, socks etc.
Here are my first test figures.
- The chap in the centre is an Artizan model, flanked by two West Wind figures.
- One of the West Wind models. I left the webbing as the Desert Sand primer and painted around it, which seemed to work well, though the uniform colour I chose here (Vallejo Green Ochre) was too similar, I think.
- My favourite of the 3, the Artizan model. The gun and skin were painted in with a base coat and then highlighted after shading with the AP Strong Tone.
- The other West Wind model, full of action! The uniform has had one highlight after a layer of AP Strong Tone, but the webbing is just the primer.
- Rear view. This shot is really good for showing the Desert Sand colour primer on the webbing and backpacks and how well the AP Strong Tone picks out the detail.
