How to paint British Tommy 1917-18

So I have always been interested in the Great War and have planned to collect an British army from this conflict.  Since it being the 100 year anniversary of World War One and  Great War Miniatures having a fantastic range I could not resist picking some up.
So i'd thought it be cool to do a How to Paint guide for a British Tommy 1917-18 using one of the excellent Great War Miniatures Late war British Tommy figures (from the British Command Group)

For my figures I mainly use the Citadel paint range and some from the Vallejo range, I will add the reference (C) for Citidel and (V) for Vallejo at the end of the name of the paint so you'll know which range the paint is from.

Stage 1.

After cleaning up the figure (removing flash and mold lines) I based the figure on a 25mm round, put some sand/gravel mix using PVA on the base then sprayed the miniature black.  I use Chaos Black spray (C) as I like the finish it gives.  Before I start the figure proper I paint the base with Rhinox Hide (C), then a heavy dry brush of Steel Legion Drab (C) and finally a light dry brush of Zandri Dust (C).

Stage 2.

Next the shirt, trousers and helmet cover is painted with flat Steel Legion Drab (C), remember not to apply the paint on too thick and add water to thin the paint before applying.  2-3 thin coats is better than 1 thick coat that might obscure detail. Next the face and hands are given a coat of flat Bugmans Glow (C).  The webbing, respirator haversack and rifle strap are painted with flat Karak Stone (C). Finally the Puttees or leg wraps are coated with flat Baneblade Brown (C).

Stage 3.

Next is the details, the rifle wood is painted with pure Flat Earth 983 (V), the metal is painted with a 50/50 mix of Leadbelcher (C) and Abbadon Black (C).  Other wood (bayonet and entrenching tool handles) is given Chocolat Brown 872 (V).  The helmet strap is Mornfang Brown (C) and the boots Abbadon Black (C). The water bottle is Kantor Blue (C) as this was the standard issue MKVI water bottle, blue enamelled. All strap fastenings and buckles are painted with Retributor Armour (C). the last details is the respirator hose on top of the haversack, this is painted Stormvermin Fur (C) then once dry the entire model is given a wash with Agrax Earthshade (C).

At this point you could stop at this stage as this is perfectly adequate for tabletop standard.

Stage 4.

Ok for the highlights and details the first thing I do is the face and hands.  To begin I paint the eyes as this is probably the hardest detail to do i use straight Abbadon Black (C) and Ceramite White (C) the 2 method you can use is (1) on a base of black paint a thin line of white then a small dot of black in the center of this white line.  (2) On a black base put 2 dots of white on the black leaving a black center. either method is good and depends on how steady your hand is.
For the face Bugmans Glow (C) is applied to the raised areas of the face leaving the creases with the wash showing.  Then an 50/50 mix of Bugmans Glow (C) and Cadian Fleshtone (C) is added to the raised areas. what you are trying to a achieve is a gradual change from dark to light by using less paint each stage.  You can go lighter by doing a pure Cadian Fleshtone (C) stage and even a mix of this colour and white. Finally a pure Bugmans Glow (C) is reapplied to the bottom lip and a thin black line is added on the mouth.

Stage 5.

The Steel Legion Drab (C) is reapplied to the raised areas of the shirt, Trousers and helmet cover, like with the face leaving the wash in the recesses. Then a further highlight is added with a 75 Steel Legion Drab (C) to 25 Zandri Dust (C).  Next the webbing, respirator haversack and rifle strap get a pure Karak Stone (C) on the raised areas then a 50/50 mix of Ushabti Bone (C) and Karak Stone (C). The puttes/leg wraps get Baneblade Brown (C) reapplied to the raised parts same with the helmet strap getting Mornfang Brown (C) added.

The water bottle had a cover added to it so I just used Russian Uniform WWII 924 (V) to the main body, the flask lid is given a highlight of Kantor Blue (C). the rifle is highlighted with pure Flat Earth 983 (V) and the metal is edge highlighted with Runefang Steel (C) this is to be applied lightly as the main part of the metal need to be dark. The bayonet and entrenching tool handles are highlighted with Doombull Brown (C).  Last of all of a highlight of pure Retributor Armour (C) then a mix of this with Runefang Steel (C) on all strap fastenings and buckles.

Completed Model
 

So I did promote this soldier to Lance Corporal as he's part of the main command group,  but now this Tommy is ready to face the Hun.                                                                                                                                   

My wargaming group is currently working on a small starting force using the now out of print The Great War rules from Warhammer Historical, I now have paint on my starting force.  They are all up to Stage 3, so a bit of work to get them all completed

If you are wondering were you can pick up these models, I get mine from either http://scarabminiatures.com/ or http://www.northstarfigures.com/ both excellent companies to deal with.