Wednesday 27 January 2016

ByronM - 28mm Spectre Modern SAS troops in Digital Camo (20 points)

Continuing with my foray into modern figures I have been working on more of the excellent figures from Spectre and their Kickstarter I backed a while ago.


This entry is a small group of SAS recce troops that I have done attempted to do in a digital camo pattern for desert warfare. This proved to be a major pain in the ass.

This is the basic look I was going for.  Easy, right?
I found a few tutorials out there on various ways to do it, and didn't really care for how most of them turned out.  In the end I found a video tutorial that showed a method to paint the base colour first and then use square toothpick tips to apply the pattern. It actually worked fairly well, but then I went and did something stupid and washed them to give some depth, and it completely washed out all the light colours. DOH! Back to the starting point and I had to redo all of the camo.  So, at least one of these guys has 6 layers of methods on him. Luckily the figs has so much detail that it still shows through.


Overall, I am still not very happy with how the camo turned out, but after painting one of them multiple times and starting to get very frustrated I had to just take them as they were before I lost it.  I may look at trying some more digital camo sometime in the future, but it will not be any time soon.


I am pleased with how the figs look on the table, but close up they just fall apart to my eye.  Maybe it is due to the fact that the camo hides the detail and I just want to be able to see it.  I tried to pick out some details like straps, barrel tips, etc, but in general everything I find online shows almost everything being the same colours to help blend things in, even my barrel tips and sights would not really be black/grey but would be camo coloured.


Before anyone points out the fact that SAS does or does not use USA digital camo 5.11, I am not painting these specifically as SAS, that just happens to be the figures base.  I picture these as any elite recce force, not specifically SAS.

So, points wise these 4 face off against the 20+ militia I painted up previously, so it is time to see how that works on the table.  So, 4 28mm figures at 5 points each gives me another 20 points to my total and to the Modern Challenge I am in.


A very nice set of elite special forces types Byron. I think the camo has worked fine, but as its your army if you want pick out some bits why try it and see? Now it reminds me i have not watched Blackhawk Down for a while.. weekend viewing i think.

20 comments:

  1. Cripes, what a nightmate. This reminds me why I don't do modern stuff :-). I think they look fine Byron and I'm sure they'll perform well on the table.

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  2. I have a solid system that works well for digital camo - never, ever, ever, paint it.

    Well done Byron - they look great! Thank god the Special Forces guys roll in small teams :)

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    1. I may join your way of thinking after this attempt. Painting it manually doesn't work (well, not without spending 10 hours a fig), sponge looks like crap (looks sponged, surprise surprise), and the toothpick method looks ok I guess but takes a while and you still get some that looks like round dots instead of square patterns.

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  3. Nice work on the camo Byron :)

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  4. I don't know camo from camomille, but I like the figures. Anyone who peers at your figures and tells you you got wrong deserves a kick in the arse anyway.

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  5. The problem with painting camo is that it is designed to obscure details. If you paint the cammo well you have just taken away one of the points of having a mini. I usually go for a very simple or hinted at cammo for that reason.

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  6. The problem with painting camo is that it is designed to obscure details. If you paint the cammo well you have just taken away one of the points of having a mini. I usually go for a very simple or hinted at cammo for that reason.

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  7. These will look really cool on the table

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  8. They are fine, Byron! Don't sweat the camouflage too much, it looks really good to my eye. As far as camouflage and concealment, I'd just run with what feels right. Except for Rangers and high disciplined troops, spec ops and Frontline knuckle-draggers don't really look too uniform. Scarves, baclavas, hats, patches, eyewear, plate carriers...it all gets adjusted to the troop and how the individual wants to fight. Uniformity isn't that common on the mission. Basic gear and mission essential are fully present, but the folks that enforce the "uniform rules" don't show up where I roll! ;)

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  9. Looks real good to me. Nice one. Cheers

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  10. I think they look great Byron. Camo is a tricky thing as what you really want to do is give the impression of the pattern as actually doing the patter will make the overall seem too busy. For myself, I've found what works for me is I paint in very bright tones and then I hit them with a final wash (devlan mud or earthtone) to bring them down and help blend them.

    BTW I love your buildings and look forward to getting a set.

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  11. I really like these and well done for persevering. When you said they looked obscured when taking photos, that sounds like you got the camo just right!

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  12. As everyone else has said, 1 they look very good, 2 Camo is hard to paint. I can only repeat what others have said.

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  13. I like the camo. I think part of it is camo naturally breaks up lines and obscures detail I think you've struck a good balance.

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  14. Very nice mate. Painting camo is one of those things we do and almost immediately regret. My personal disaster was painting Pea Dot Camouflage on 15mm WWII Germans (why, why why?)

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  15. Impressive painting work. Modern cammo is really difficult to paint in these figures, and not always works well.

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