Warlord Games new snipers in ghillie suits - review and painting guide

By Patch,

Warlord Games have just released a pair of British snipers in ghillie suits to coincide with the Sea Lion campaign book and I got my hands on a pair of pairs a few days ago. Of all the releases they have been teasing over the last month or so I think these were the most anticipated by the community, as they look absolutely amazing.

They are metal miniatures with excellent attention to detail requiring almost no clean up and offering the hobbyist a fantastic subject to paint. I painted the four I have straight away, completing all of them within two hours over two nights including allowing time for paint to dry.

What is a ghillie suit? Well it is effectively whatever the sniper wants it to be as it is designed to provide the ultimate camouflage while they are stalking their prey. Generally it is an old uniform, worn over the top of a normal uniform, that has burlap/hessian strips sewn onto it along with bits of material and anything else a sniper can get their hands on that works. It is designed to break up the shape of a human and allow then to blend into their surroundings. The down side is that it can be heavy, extremely hot and would require constant customization to match the surrounding vegetation.

These pair of snipers, whilst labelled as British, would work for basically any army and at any time period (even modern). I think they would look particularly good in a winter theme.

As I said I painted these guys pretty quickly and if you would like to give it a go I have done up a bit of a guide below;

Step 1. Army Painter White primer

Step 2. Wash with Vallejo Model Color Flat Earth 70.983. Thin down the paint and use it as a wash so that it really flows into all the crevices.

Step 3. Using Vallejo Model Color Tan Yellow 70.912 paint the burlap leaving the low points  and the recesses the original brown from the wash.

Step 4. Use Vallejo Game Color Bonewhite 72.034 and paint just the edges and highest points. This will now give you at least three distinct colour variations and create some depth.

Step 5. Time to add in some green strips using Vallejo Model Color Extra Dark Green 896 and highlight with Vallejo Model Color German Cam Bright Green 70.833. You can also add another layer by mixing the Bright green with an off white and edge highlighting.

Step 6. I then use a dark sienna ink to outline all the edges to make the features pop. I use an ink as it flows much easier and if you make a mistake you can simply wipe it off before it dries.

Step 7. Paint the rest as you would normal skin and weapon colours.

I think these are some of the best miniatures Warlord Games have produced, there is absolutely no confusing these models on the table. I know I have had to use normal rifleman before and it just doesn't have the same feeling. While I have painted these guys for my British I would not hesitate to use them in my US Airborne or even German armies.

If you have painted some up show them off on our Bolt Action Alliance Facebook page!