Military Model Scene

Title: Painting Allied Forces in NW Europe 1944-45
Author: Andy Singleton
Publisher: Pen & Sword
ISBN: 978-1-39900-562-3

A new addition to the excellent guide to painting Wargaming Figures from author Andy Singleton, and this time tackling British & Commonwealth, US & Free French in the NW Europe campaign, following on from D-Day to the end of the war. A 151-page soft-cover book.
After a brief introduction, it gets straight into the first of the 8 chapters by taking us through Tools & Tips, which includes a bit on scales, different materials such as metal, plastic and resins along with tools such as knives, cutters, files, fillers, brushes, primer, paints and basic techniques. Then into the heart of the subject, looking at British & Commonwealth Battledress Uniforms which includes the greener tinge to Canadian battledress, plus different berets and insignia. Then it moves on to British & Commonwealth Camouflage uniforms, which does include the famous Denison Smock. Then comes a similar coverage of US uniforms plus their Camouflage uniforms and insignia, though these were relatively rare in NW Europe in case of confusion with German camouflage gear. This brings us to chapter 6, explaining how to paint Allied Webbing, Equipment & Weapons, leaving it to the final chapters to deal with Skin Tones and then Basing your figures for gaming.
The figures used for the examples throughout the book are 20mm scale but of course the techniques can apply to others. Every step is clearly explained, from a dark base coat for shadows and then adding colour and highlights, including detail of the specific brush sizes and paint colours used for each stage. It is also worth pointing out that he does include notes saying where certain elements can be loft out if you have a lot of figures to do and want to save a little time. The standard of work illustrated throughout the book is excellent, and Andy does a really good job in explaining the techniques in a clear and easy to follow manner. Easily recommended for modellers and wargamers.
Thanks to Pen & Sword for our review copy.

Robin