Primed for Painting in the New Year

I am knee deep into Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign and thoughts about gaming WWI on that front are bouncing around in my head, but, wanting to do something with more immediate rewards, I spent a little time doing various painting/basing related items last night.

In the foreground, you can see primed Armies in Plastic Russians. About half were primed with white gesso, which the green paint did not cover well. So they were painted black. The other half were primed with black gesso and are need in some touch ups before continuing. The fellow in green in the back is a test paint of the green - at only one coat, it looks a little dark, but given that matches with some of the pictures and descriptions found online (and in the entirely historically accurate Space 1889: A Soldier's Companion), I think I will keep it.

For the great coat/bed roll, I am thinking of using a grey green from Vallejo that I have used on my US airborne webbing:

This figure is the sole completed US airborne in 54mm I have (I have a platoon in 15mm).  I have a handful more in various stages of completion, but they aren't a priority. At most I could field 9 or so of them.

It is no doubt historically inaccurate (in both cases). If it doesn't work for me, I have a few other green/grey combinations to try.

As for the straps and belts and all that, I'm doing my best to squint at the illustrations I have found to guess the colors (Soldier's Companion says their gear is black which seems a little simplified, but may not look bad in the event).

Behind the Russians, primarily Chinese Airfix copies from Classic Toy Soliders have been based on the new bases I got from Litko. Unlike the size I use for the late 19th C. these bases can fit three across per 3-inch square (which Is what I use multi-figure basing for my WW2 games).

In case you are wondering, the blue fellow in the back is an Airfix figure from a few years ago.  The copies are quite good size-wise and little loss of detail. Given that I tend to paint in a 'toy soldier-ish' style, lack of detail is not a detriment in any case.

Far behind everyone sits an officer on a camel, who will have to wait a bit.