We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

I have been getting so excited about historicals lately that I decided I needed to make the plunge into some smaller scale stuff. And while yes, I did buy some 15mm American Civil War (or, “Epic Scale” as Warlord Games calls it) I wanted to dip my toe into the very small: 6mm WWII.

I didn’t buy enough to play a full game–I actually only bought German forces–but it was enough to get me 192 infantry, three Panzer IVs, three Panzer IIIs, three Stugs, and three Hetzers. I also got an assortment of very small machine gunners (who, when they’re lying prone almost disappear into the base) and some mortar teams.

And they sat on my desk for months. I just didn’t know what to do about them. I can paint a good Panzer–when it’s 1/56 scale or 1/35 scale. But what was I supposed to do with these tiny little things?

I guess the question I was facing was how much detail is too much detail, or, rather, how much detail could my shaking hands actually accomplish with these little things?

The tanks turned out to be the easy part. A spray of tan, followed by a green and a reddish brown gave me a good approximation of a German camo Dunkelgelb. Then a wash of Agrax Earthshade, and… they were done. And they weren’t half bad. All of that intimidation for nothing.

But then came the infantry. These posed a problem in that they weren’t on the bases on which they would eventually end up, but strung out in lines of four. I don’t know how the manufacturer (Baccus 6mm) thought they should look, but I didn’t imagine them marching in rows.

So I glued sixteen of these 4-man strips to pieces of cardboard, sprayed them black, and then gave them a good base coat of a pale green. I didn’t want to go too dark, because I knew I was going to wash them later and didn’t want them looking black (spoiler: they were a little too dark after all).

Then it was just a matter of painting in the rifles, the flesh, and a little bit of the kit. And, surprise surprise, they didn’t turn out too bad at all.

Now, basing was another story. I had no idea how to base these guys. I got a piece of plasticard and cut it to a reasonable size, and then clipped the individual soldiers off their 4-man strips. I arranged them on the card, and then very carefully painted down some PVA glue. Then, a sprinkling of flock.

And… I don’t think it turned out very well. There are some gaps where the glue missed, and it just looks amateurish (I am an amateur). But, this was only 16 infantry. I’ve got 176 more to go. Plus mortars and machine guns.

If you’d like to buy any of these cool minis, I got them from Baccus 6mm. They have a huge range. (This isn’t an affiliate link.)