Bolt Action - DAK painting guide

By Bryan

  I've recently started painting a platoon of the famous Deutsches Afrika Korp (DAK) for Bolt Action. While painting my first squad I took a photo at each stage using my iphone to record the process. What follows is a step by step painting guide for Rommel's vaunted veterans.

Step 1: Spray primer

  As the heading says, I sprayed my miniatures with Army Painter 'Desert Yellow'. This spray is rather thick compared to the rest of the range, so be careful to use short sweeping bursts. This spray will be the primer and one of the main colours in one step, so saves you a lot of time. I added polly-filla and small rocks to texture my bases prior to the spray undercoat.

Step 2: Base colours

  Time for some basic block colours. One of the most characteristic things about the DAK uniform is that there were many variants of it. The first Tropical uniforms where more of a greenish hue with later uniforms being more accurate for the sand covered terrain. Also, the African sun faded the uniforms and equipment, so veterans (or newer guys who wanted to look like veterans) had very faded caps. To achieve this 'mixed' look and still paint a coherent looking army I broke my uniforms down into three types. I then mix up what the three colours will be used on, if it's the tunic on one guy, it'll be the pants on the next for example. That way you still get the squads painted quickly and are not slowed down while still getting that mixed look.



Uniform variant 1: VJ 924 Russian Uniform
Uniform variant 2: VJ 881 Yellow Green
Uniform variant 3: VJ 977 Desert yellow (already done by the spray primer)
Helmet/Gas mask canister: VJ 977 Desert yellow (already done by the spray primer)
Field cap, webbing straps and belts: VJ 847 Dark Sand
Ammo pouches (rifle) and wooden rifle stock: GW Rhinox Hide
Ammo pouches (SMG): VJ 847 Dark Sand
Water Bottle & Boots (leather): VJ 984 Flat Brown
Canvas boot tops: VJ 881 Yellow Green
Gaiters: VJ 821 German Camo Beige
Socks: VJ 924 Russian Uniform
Bread bag 1: VJ 821 German Camo Beige
Bread bag 2: VJ 881 Yellow Green
Mess tin, rifle barrels and water bottle lid: GW Boltgun metal
Skin and bases: VJ 876 Brown Sand
Greatcoat: VJ 921 English uniform

Step 3: Wash

  Wash the entire miniature with Army Painter Strong Tone ink, I used the brush on type from the bottle, not the 'dip'. Also apply a second wash using a black wash to the metallic areas.

Step 4: Highlights 1

  Re-apply all the base colours, but be careful to leave the recessed areas so the wash helps create the shading. 

Uniform variant 1: VJ 924 Russian Uniform
Uniform variant 2: VJ 881 Yellow Green
Uniform variant 3: VJ 977 Desert yellow
Helmet/Gas mask canister: VJ 977 Desert yellow
Field cap, webbing straps and belts: VJ 847 Dark Sand
Ammo pouches (rifle) and wooden rifle stock: GW Rhinox Hide
Ammo pouches (SMG): VJ 847 Dark Sand
Water Bottle & Boots (leather): VJ 984 Flat Brown
Canvas boot tops: VJ 881 Yellow Green
Gaiters: VJ 821 German Camo Beige
Socks: VJ 924 Russian Uniform
Bread bag 1: VJ 821 German Camo Beige
Bread bag 2: VJ 881 Yellow Green
Mess tin, rifle barrels and water bottle lid: GW Boltgun metal
Skin and bases: VJ 876 Brown Sand
Greatcoat: VJ 921 English uniform

Step 5: Highlights 2 and details

  In this stage you apply some careful highlights to the raised areas or edges. Often I applied two successive highlights one after the other. 

Uniform variant 1: VJ 924 Russian Uniform + VJ 847 Dark Sand
Uniform variant 2: VJ 881 Yellow Green + VJ 847 Dark Sand
Uniform variant 3: VJ 819 Iraqi Sand
Helmet/Gas mask canister: VJ 819 Iraqi Sand. I then followed Patch's patented helmet chipping and weathering technique here.
Field cap, webbing straps and belts: VJ 837 Pale Sand
Ammo pouches (rifle) and wooden rifle stock: GW Rhinox Hide + VJ 847 Dark Sand
Ammo pouches (SMG): VJ 837 Pale Sand
Water Bottle & Boots (leather): GW Doombull Brown, then GW Tuskgor Fur
Canvas boot tops: VJ 881 Yellow Green + VJ 847 Dark Sand
Gaiters: VJ 821 German Camo Beige
Socks: VJ 924 Russian Uniform
Bread bag 1: VJ 821 German Camo Beige
Bread bag 2: VJ 881 Yellow Green + VJ 847 Dark Sand
Skin: GW Kislev Flesh, VJ 928 Light flesh, wash with watered down sepia wash afterwards.
Greatcoat: VJ 880 Khaki Grey, then a final highlight of VJ 988 Khaki

  At this stage I painted the final details like buttons (Iraqi Sand), eyes and the Afrika Korp cuff insignia on the right tunic sleeves. This cuff title was painted VJ 890 Reflective Green, then a trim of white. The cuff is too small to accurately paint the 'Afrika Korp' text so I simple scribbled some paint on in white to give the impression of writing. 

Step 6: Bases and varnish

  The bases are drybrushed last and are done carefully so as to not paint over any of the miniature itself. First layer is VJ 876 Brown Sand, followed by VJ 847 Dark Sand and finally VJ 837 Pale Sand. I then re-paint the base sides with VJ Brown Sand.

  The model is then given a matt varnish, I used Testors Dullcote.

  I used grass tufts from Gamers Grass and some flock from Woodland Scenics to finish the bases off. These add to the arid look.

  I found painting this colour scheme over the desert yellow base coat really easy, and was happy to get so much depth while working with predominately light colours. In fact, apart from the pupils of the eyes, I had no need to use black at all! The army painter strong tone works wonders with this colour pallet, it's perfect for the DAK.

  This is just the first squad of my DAK platoon, and all up the 9 miniatures took about 11 hours painting. Now I have worked out the colours to use, I anticipate this will be a quicker process for the rest of the infantry now. Expect to see a full platoon by Christmas!

  If you have any questions on my painting guide, or indeed DAK of your own to share please post them up on the forum: