Painting Germans question

[Lamilvelo]

New to Bolt Action and I'm trying to paint up some Germans. I've done them 3 different ways and I'm trying to decide which are the most accurate. I did one with German Field grey WWII and did one with the German uniform which is a blue green color. Both are from Vallejo. The third I tried was a plain grey color with a dark wash.  Is the really Blue Green color the correct one for early war Germans? Just trying to build up a Heer force. The Field Grey WWII looked pretty dark green and I liked it more but I'm not sure it's as correct.  I did some searching on the boards and didn't see a specific answer to this question.  Any tips on painting these guys up would be much appreciated.

[Cherno]

It's a good question but one that can't be answered really Over the years as the war progressed and Germany's position became more and more desperate, even things like uniforms were made cheaper and less refined (a good example is the replacement of the quite complex early war breast pockets by simpler ones). Add to that the fact that the milions of uniforms were manufactured in probably dozens of textile workshops, some possibly by slave labor, and it becomes clear that the end product can have vastly different colors. This doesn't even include the wear and tear a uniform suffers in the field, from dust, countless cleanings and bleaching by the sun.

Anyway! The Battlefront website should have a good selection of painting guides. Their older books in particular provide very good guides for the major WW2 forces. Hitler's Fire Brigade has a painting guide for mid war Wehrmacht, IIRC.
Here is the color table:

Uniform: 830
Helmet, gas mask: 995
Webbing, boots: 950
SMG ammo pouches, bread bag: 977
Rolled tent half: 886, 823 (green camo), 984 (brown camo)
Canteen. entrenching tool: 875

[Lamilvelo]

Thanks for the reply! I figured there was a lot of variation in it but I didn't want to paint a 1000pt army completely off color.  The German Uniform blue green says it's for early German armies but it just seems way off. Might be all the black and white WWII movies I've watched.  Appreciate the ideas and I'll do some digging around on those sites.

[westwaller]

In his PaintingWar book, the painter Heresy brush suggests using both vallejo German Field grey and dark blue grey for early war German uniforms.

I think the idea is you mix the two and highlight by gradually add more Field Grey to the mix.

[Lamilvelo]

That sounds like an idea to try. I'm going to try to play around with a few mixes and see what I can come up with.  Just always seems the Germans are portrayed as wearing a grey uniform and that doesn't seem to be the case. Mind you I'm basing this off of what Hollywood shows us anyways. 

Getting into Bolt Action has sparked my interest in the World Wars again and have been learning a lot.

[Truscott Trotter]

Its really like the wargamers river question - blue, green or muddy brown
There are all correct under the right circumstances, but...
I say go for what looks right for a river which is usually blue (even though most RL rivers are brown) - otherwise it is a road or a ditch or something.
Same for the Germans - go with what looks right for EW
To me that is a the blue/green jacket , grey trousers , Jackboots and helmet decals
That says EW Germans to me

[westwaller]

Okay, a bit of clarification:  Its actually Field Grey 50/50 with black for the jacket base colour gradually
adding more Field Grey to highlight and Dark Blue Grey Vallejo (867) for the trousers, starting with a darker base mixed with black or black grey.

These are the recommendations of HeresyBrush from Painting War magazine edition #1 German Army. It is a really great magazine, and has loads of helpful colour suggestions for painting WW2 German troops including paras, panzer crews and Luftwaffe troops. It also has some great step by steps on painting the various camo patterns too.

[Gunner Dunbar]

Early war Germans - field grey tunics, London grey pants, dark green helmets.
More pics here
http://gunnerswargamming.blogspot.com.au/search/label/1%2F72%20WWII?updated-max=2015-12-03T10:23:00%2B11:00&max-results=20&start=8&by-date=false

[kavita1]

Very, very nice GD !! - In awe.

[Kelgtar]

Indeed, early war Germans have the grey-blueish pants and the feldgrau jacket...if you go further, like say past 1940, the uniform gets more feldgrau and the grey pants is substituted. If you go 1943 you can give them all the camo you want 

[Lamilvelo]

Here is what I came up with last night. I'm not a very good painter but more about if the colors look ok.

[frank xerox]

Revell do a very nice field grey in their square paint pot range and since they're a German company....

[Tim]

Not meaning to be contrary, but for decades, since the 70s at least and probably before, the standard was field grey tunic and pants.  Looking at colour pictures from the 70s book, Swastika at War, which showcased pictures from the WWII Signal magazine, I don't see a lot of variation.  The only real variation I see in a couple of Squadron/Signal books from the 70s are early war German officers sometimes wearing their own tunic which S/S described as "reed green".   I know my own experience with OD combats I wore you'd often see contrast between combat pants and shirt that were down to wear for weathering and washing.  The whole slate grey trousers thing that, for me, I've only seen come up the past ten years or so.

[Lamilvelo]

Not meaning to be contrary, but for decades, since the 70s at least and probably before, the standard was field grey tunic and pants.  Looking at colour pictures from the 70s book, Swastika at War, which showcased pictures from the WWII Signal magazine, I don't see a lot of variation.  The only real variation I see in a couple of Squadron/Signal books from the 70s are early war German officers sometimes wearing their own tunic which S/S described as "reed green".   I know my own experience with OD combats I wore you'd often see contrast between combat pants and shirt that were down to wear for weathering and washing.  The whole slate grey trousers thing that, for me, I've only seen come up the past ten years or so.

I'm starting to see how this is kinda a personal preference almost at this point.  When painted completely field grey they looked very green to me.  I could probably do the pants a darker grey but that is the color I had handy.  I appreciate everyone giving their thoughts to this. Like I said Im learning wargaming and am just trying to get them painted at least close to correct.