How to Paint Soviet Infantry (Bolt Action)

Soviets are the fastest full army in Bolt Action to get onto a table, because the uniform is one colour worn by everybody and the kit is simple. There is no camouflage to pattern, no regimental variation to research and no bright facing colours - a rifle section is khaki-olive cloth, brown leather and a rifle. That makes them ideal for batch painting large squads, and it means the small decisions - how warm the khaki runs, where the one red accent goes - carry all the character.

The signature look

The gymnastyorka tunic and trousers sit in a khaki-olive band: greener than British battledress, browner and duller than American olive drab. Against that, Soviet field kit is warm brown leather where the Germans use blackened straps, and that warmth is the tell - the moment a Soviet's belt and pouches go dark, the figure starts reading as German. Helmets and vehicles go a distinctly greener 4BO protective green, and the only saturated colour anywhere is a cap star or a collar tab.

The khaki-olive uniform

Undercoat black or dark brown.

1. Basecoat Vallejo Model Color Russian Uniform WWII, two thin coats. This is the reference tone for Red Army cloth and worth owning even if you paint nothing else Soviet.
2. Shade with Agrax Earthshade in the folds, or Army Painter Military Shade across the whole garment if you want it to stay green rather than warming up.
3. Layer Russian Uniform WWII back over the raised cloth: the chest of the tunic, the tops of the shoulders, the front of the thighs.
4. Highlight with Russian Uniform WWII mixed two to one with Green Ochre, then a final sparing catch of Iraqi Sand on shoulders, elbows and knees.

For sun-bleached summer 1943 onwards, add Khaki to the base instead of Green Ochre - it takes the tone browner and drier. For a darker, wetter Leningrad look, deepen the base with a little Camouflage Olive Green and stop the highlight one step early.

Citadel equivalent: Death Korps Drab basecoat, Agrax Earthshade, layer Death Korps Drab, highlight Karak Stone. Army Painter Fanatic: Olive Drab shaded Military Shade and highlighted Command Khaki.

Speed route: undercoat Wraithbone, one coat of Citadel Militarum Green contrast or Army Painter Speedpaint Mummified Grime, then a single edge catch of Green Ochre. This is the army where the one-coat route genuinely holds up, because there is no pattern for it to flatten.

Leather, helmets and metal

• Belt, Y-straps, pouches and boot uppers: Flat Earth basecoat, Agrax Earthshade, highlight Beige Brown. Keep it warm and mid-toned. Officers' map cases and holsters can go darker with Chocolate Brown.
• Boots proper (sapogi): Black Grey highlighted Neutral Grey, or brown leather for reservists and militia.
• SSh-40 helmet: Uniform Green shaded Nuln Oil, highlighted with Uniform Green plus a touch of Green Grey. This is 4BO protective green, the same colour a T-34 should be, and it deliberately reads greener than the tunic.
• Mosin-Nagant stocks: Flat Brown shaded Agrax Earthshade, highlighted Beige Brown. Metalwork Gunmetal shaded Nuln Oil; Citadel Leadbelcher into Runefang Steel.
• Faces: Basic Skin Tone, Agrax Earthshade, Medium Fleshtone, a touch of Light Flesh. Weathering here can be heavier than on other nations - a thin Agrax Earthshade glaze over the whole face reads as a long campaign.

Winter and the telogreika

The quilted telogreika jacket is browner than the summer tunic, and painting it a different shade is what makes a winter squad look like a change of season rather than a change of paint.

1. Basecoat Khaki, shade Agrax Earthshade, highlight Dark Sand along the quilting seams. Catching every seam ridge is what sells the quilting - it is a drybrush job, not a layering one.
2. Over-whites go on top: White Grey basecoat, shaded with thinned Agrax Earthshade in the folds, highlighted Off-White. Leave khaki showing at cuffs, collar and hem so the figure does not turn into a paper cut-out.
3. Ushanka fur flaps: Beige Brown shaded Agrax Earthshade, drybrushed Dark Sand.

The red accent

One small red note per figure and no more. Cap stars, collar tabs and the odd Guards badge in Carmine Red, highlighted with a hint of Flat Red at the top edge. On banners and vehicle slogans use Flat Red as the base with a Carmine Red shade, and freehand the lettering in Off-White rather than pure white.

Tips and common mistakes

• Brown leather, not black. It is the single fastest way to tell a Soviet from a German at table distance.
• Keep the helmet greener than the tunic. Two related but distinct greens is correct and stops the figure going monotone.
• One red thing. A star on the cap is enough. Red collar tabs, red stars and a red banner on the same model is a costume, not a uniform.
• Vary the khaki, not the recipe. A drop of Khaki or Green Ochre in the base on different models covers wildly inconsistent Soviet dye lots for free.
• Do not clean them up. Mud to the knee, dust on the pack, a grubby face. Soviets are the one army where over-weathering is hard to achieve.

When the palette is settled, open this scheme in the generator to swap brands or push the base browner for late war.