15mm Wars In Chechnya Pt II, Chechen Painting Guide

Getting back to this project finally with a quick & dirty paint guide for modern Chechens. Pierce and myself did a fair bit of digging trying to find the average variety of uniforms that were fitting to the theatre, and I was finally able to come up with something mostly resembling the photos we've reviewed. Special thanks to Tom Jensen for compiling these reference photos that he used when writing Cornered Wolf, the ruleset we intend to use for these figures. 

Some might find these schemes a bit on the "bright" side, but at 15mm in my opinion you really want the camo to pop. Chechens had a wide variety of uniforms and clothing during these conflicts so I've laid out the three basic patterns I'll be using for this force. As usual, painting steps are under each image. 

Models mounted on a 15mm MDF base, tab covered in a mix of spackle and sand, then given a light gray primer with a white zenithal.

The base is given a basecoat of 316 Dark Mud with a drybrush of 315 Light Mud. The rim is painted black. I like getting this step out of the way first because of the drybrushing, but you can do it whenever.

Laying down base camo colors from left to right; 70.882 Middlestone/70.893 US Dark Green camo for the pattern using a small piece of packing sponge. The middle jacket is base coated 70.816 Luftwaffe Uniform with his pants 70.862 Black Grey - you see this color combination a lot in the reference photos. Finally, the most right is 70.924 Russian Uniform/70.872 Chocolate Brown for the camo pattern.

The weapons are painted black, along with the commonly worn black beanies. The weapon stocks are painted using 70.875 Biege Brown, and the RPG warhead with any sort of sandy yellow. I use a mix of Cadian Flesh and 70.815 Basic Skintone to get varying flesh tones across the force. Beards are painted mixes of dark browns & blacks.

Pouches, straps, and boots are painted with whatever beige/green/brown colors you have lying around. I keep all these colors in my palette and mix them for interesting variations.

The figures are given a brown wash (I use homemade, but something like Agrax Earthsade will work fine) and another base of black around the rim for tidying up.

As Pierce pointed out while I was painting, this style shows that the Chechens aren't completely "rag tag" but also clearly irregular. They were using mostly stolen equipment, and uniforms varied wildly. The added benefit is that you can add random colors in from your collection and it will still look fitting for the period. 

There's still a bit more to add to this force, so expect a full showcase soon. Here's some quick snapshots of a small unit advancing through one of our homemade buildings - enjoy!