From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 20:47:42 -0500
Subject: Re: DS2/SG2 Camouflage - LONG REPLY
Brian spake thusly upon matters weighty: > I would like to know what other people are using for camouflage on If you've ever looked into modelling, you'll realize that this is no simple idea. To do a good looking 'ambush scheme' on a large AV requires usually an airbrush. Now, you can do good camo (other types) with just a brush. I guess what we should be thinking about is what is the prevalent type of terrain in the outer reaches of space? I'd suggest not green and clorophyl (sp wrong) laden (We aren't in the Gene's World of Class M planets everywhere with greenery...). I'd think the various shades of rock and dirt - greys, browns, indian reds, tans, whitish yellows of sand etc. would be appropriate. Studying 'earther' cam might not be useful. If you want to, Osprey has quite a series of books on just about every time period and uniform. (I'll have to look into it to get you a better description of the name of the series...my books are at the folks....). It (the series) covers everything from WWII to present, from bedouin cavalry to Navy SEALS and everything between. It has good colour plates and lots of BW photos. As for how one does real life camouflage: My experience in Militia excercises and paintballing have been that motion is the worst give away. You can wear purple coveralls in a green forest and still not draw the eye if you are still. And for face camouflage, its contrasts you are trying to break up - the contrast of your nose with your cheeks, your chin with your cheeks, etc. When you paint your face, you don't paint these silly patterns you see in movies. You apply dark camo to the raised areas and lighter to the inset ones, to make the depressions look shallower and the raised areas look flatter - for a uniform look. You use some bug juice to make the stuff go on nice and it also helps to blend the lights and the darks. You do your face, the backs of your hands, and your ears and neck. You make sure to remember you pupils stand out like white orbs at night! (I assume some real techy types might have coloured contacts for that problem). (In 2300AD they had a really cool bio organic contact lens - sunglasses, IR, and x5 binos all in a contact lens creature that lived off saline....). When I went out in paintball, I'd wear a boonie hat (like the OUDF minis) or an Aussie bush hat (great in the rain!), carry webgear (where is this on most of the minis? Do these guys have porters?), use the light/dark green blended cam on face, arms, neck, ears, hands, wear green wool gloves and black boots. My camo clothes would be American Woodland pattern (for their light/shadow effectiveness) or German WWII SS Splotch Pattern for use in muddy conditions or in the leaves-on-ground fall conditions. Helmets without helmet covers with attached twigs etc are an easy giveaway (look very man made, skylight easy, and draw the eye). I know people who won't wear a helmet for that reason. Ghillie or Yowie suits (you look like a walking piece of turf - AD&D shambling mound...) are used to break up the 'human outline' and make you look like a piece of ground. Work like the dickens too if the user knows how to wear and move in it. Your camo clothes should be (for most north american places) either a flat green (and a new uniform or anything nylon is way too shiny - natural fabrics rule for texture) or a dispersed woodland pattern like US Woodland Camouflage (Chestnut Brown, Forest Green and Black). The British use a pattern called DPM which seems to be a bit better for fall (some red and yellow mixed in as I recall). In any case, the point is to allow you to hide in areas along the edges of bush or walls where you get patches of light or dark. It works too - I've hidden literally in plain sight in paintball in such areas of half shadow - just don't move a lot. Treebark would probably be best in late fall or spring where snow is gone but the trees are still pretty bare (It's greys with a treebark appearance, but good luck in 25mm!). Urban (Grey/Black) pattern is okay in cities or rubble or rocky hills. For sandy hills, for areas like desert or plains, Desert Patterns (sand, light browns, some lines or spots) are appropriate (The Spetsnaz had an excellent camouflage for Afghanistan). The infamous US Tiger Stripe works well in rain forests or jungles (Green base, black zebra or tiger stripes). The Germans had some excellent splotch pattern camouflages for their SS during WWII for use in poland and other spots with some greenery and lots of wheat fields and earthern fields. It was kind of a pinkish tan base, with little cell (not round, kind of irregular) shaped light green and brown splotches. I'm sure on Mars, a camm of indian brown, deep red, and brighter red would be effective. Some camouflages used by northern european countries throw in light blues (obviously for fighting near water in fjords and other spots). In alien wierdo atmospheres with oddball ground types, anything could work. I don't know if all of that helps, but I guess what I'm saying is since real practical camo would be either planet dependent or phototrophic to change to match the environment (high tech!), and since we don't know what alien space will look like, it could be anything. So paint what looks good on your table with your terrain and at least you can argue it was matched to the colour of the terrain for the mission..... (*grin*) Sorry for rambling. Tom.