SIGNATURE SET – RAFA “ARCHIDUQUE” – SUDAN CAMPAIGN 1881-1899 – 28MM WARGAME PAINT SET

Desert, khaki and white cotton

The campaign in Sudan between 1881 and 1899 is among the most striking subjects of historical wargaming. Two sides with utterly different visual appearances met in it: British and Egyptian units in sand colored drill uniforms with helmets, and against them the fighters of the Mahdist movement in white robes with colored patches. A palette for such a theme therefore has to manage both sand tones and dirty white cloth, while letting a few sharp color accents stand out.

Eighteen shades divided by task

Three groups hold the set together. The sand and earth tones, that is light earth, dark sand, medium sand, medium stone brown, tan earth and orange brown, cover the uniforms and the ground. The light neutral tones in the form of white, ivory, sky gray and rock gray serve for cloth, straps and desert dust. Crimson, scarlet and French blue bring the sharp color accents of flags and facings.

Skin as a range of its own

A foursome of tones for skin is a particular feature: a base coat, a dark shadow, a red brown and a leather brown. On this subject in particular it is a key thing, because very different skin shades meet on the table and a painter needs to move smoothly between them rather than merely stack them side by side.

Working at a small size

Figures twenty-eight millimeters tall are painted differently from large busts. Contrast decides, not the fineness of a transition, because from an ordinary distance across the table fine modeling is lost. The paints are thinned with water, hold well in thin coats and stay matte once dry, so the result does not shine under the light of a gaming table.