The varnish should not feel sticky. Maybe you used some sushi ingredient?! 
I use Revell (aqua color, clear, matt) or Tamiya (XF-86 clear flat).
There are many paint conversion sites online; even the main manufacturers produce a list of how their paint numbers compare to others.
As long as your Japanese tins have a number somewhere, you should be able to identify them.
This site is great - choose the producer, select the paint, then it gives you a whole list of corresponding paints by other manufacturers:
@Ben_Phillis Iāve had the same thing with varnishes.
I tend to use brush on varnish because I feel like it protects the models better. Iāve tried all sorts of brands but they always seem a little tacky.
I donāt get the same effect with spray varnish, but then I feel like theyāre not so well protected.
When I take the minis out of the box they sometimes stick together a little, but prying them apart doesnāt appear to damage the paint job.
I just kind of live with it.
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This is an excellent resource. As you know, Iām thinking of keeping things very simple with the painting, so blasting them in factions colors might be my approach. If I can match up the basic colors for the factions, I think it will look good. Thanks for your help!
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Ah, thatās interesting. I used brush-on paint, but maybe Iāll have to look into spray. As you say, I can live with the stickiness, it doesnāt affect much really.
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Iāve been looking online regarding the sticky varnish issue. Seems to be quite common, with no real answers.
Potential causes include applying too many coats of varnish, mixing different varnishes, humidity (i.e. water stopping the varnish from setting), and applying the varnish before the paint is really dry. I suspect the latter is quite common ā this morning I varnished some soldiers which I only finished painting last night!
The type of paint can also have an influence ā water, acrylic, oil-based. Online comments suggest that some varnishes prefer certain paints and textures, but I couldnāt find any consistent suggestions.
Temperature could be an issue ā quite a few of my paints went off during the recent very hot summers.
I guess I have just been lucky and will stick to Revell (sorry, dreadful punā¦)
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Thank you very much. I suggest humidity here in sub-tropical Japan may be an issue, but as you suggest, the combination of paint and varnish (although the same brand) likely plays a part in the stickiness. For me, its not really a problem so far, the pieces sticking together have not caused removal of paint or anything yet, so I guess it is just a minor inconvenience. Iām going to look into spraying next time to see if there is a difference.
Incidentally, I found some cheap Chinese miniatures at the correct scale and made from similar plastic. The sculpt quality is great but the problem is theyāre not WW2 miniatures, they are ancient knights. I plan on using them to practice painting and doing some experiments with different paints, colors, varnishes and time between painting and varnishing, There are 200 minis in the set, so plenty of room for experimentation.
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I found these on Etsy. I have a soft spot for the winter Germans, so I have ordered them. I canāt wait to see how they turn out. If theyāre any good, I plan to get more, specifically the French troops and I may get some British and Japanese troops rather than getting second copies of the Mediterranean and Pacific expansions. Any thoughts? Anyone got some of these already? There are also some beautiful alternative SWA units for US and I think German troops.
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Wow! These could take it to a whole different level.
Looking forward to your report on them!
I finally got them last night and I could not be more happy with them. I intend to spray paint them in faction colours over the holidays.
I think the sculpts are brilliant. I will remove the excess material left over from the print but I have enough of these to field a full squad. I am absolutely certain that more will be on the way in 2024.
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For those uniniated these plastic soldiers can really get out of hand and for most you should buy two army packs (for the terrain tiles for larger map setups, plus buying armor minis is a massive money pit) probably before going for toy soldiers. Iāve seen some who try to use them in place of many of the M44 badges, but I like the badges.
Iām also a fan of avoiding painting, but be advised that the plastic solider review colors often donāt work so well for reprints, etc. I ordered these nice Mars Set 72107 Imperial Japanse Infantry and they were not mustard colored which was a major drawing card. Review photos:
To paint or not to paint depends on how big you are going. I have some 1500 miniatures for the game and counting and there is no way Iām painting those in any kind of detail.
Memoir 44 is high on my painting list (mainly because Iāve just started at painting.) My plans are to be able to field somewhat consistently colored troops for any battle and plan to add Italian spumoni green color for Italy/Hungary and some kind of compromise blue for France/Finland/Greece/China/Romania/Poland. Iāve also chosen to group Japan/Belgium/Vichy. Iāve not figured it all out for sure and have a touch of colorblindness and have played a massive Guadalcanal scenario with German troops in for American so I may breakdown at some point and adjust one of those.
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I canāt believe Iāve missed this thread because Iāve bought a lot and will bring some photos in for sure. Very much enjoying the recommendations and already have a few items in a want list and not all the way through.
Iām actually shoping some miniatures right now. These Airfix German Mountain troops probably only useful in 1 or 2 fan based scenarios:
(The above photo is a cheat as its 1/32, but the same posesā¦ I love the idea of fielding ski troops though not storing them as theyāre often quite fragile.)
Despite their smallish size since I lived in Australia I feel a need for the Airfix Australian Infantry even though theyāre in Pacific attire.
Airfix Ghurkas have found their way into my cart just now:
Ghurkas are from Nepal (India). Historically inaccurate acording to Plastic Soldier review, but Iāll take highly evocative every time.
Iām not sure if PragueImp has mentioned these (he did above, but stated 13 of these figure donāt āfitā), but Airfix reissue of Esci Set 200 British Soldiers (called British Infantry) has a nice look, but I may have to control myself since I bought a 3rd Med Theater new for $17 recently, but these really look good, but I now see the machine gun pairing probably not fitting in a hex well at all which is its best part:
Well that is my prospective Airfix from this dealer, but they carry a lot so Iām backing to reading the rest of this fine thread.
Update: Browsing around I found a set I prefer to the ESCI British infantry above and that is the partial reissue called Commonwealth Infantry which has nearly all the same figures save the leader and just reduce count to add three more poses for early war Australians:
Their placement in this set is panned in the review, but for Memoir 44 they add some flexibility.
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Ben those Meepleforge resin minis you got from Etsy are great especially with the Memoir 44 bases, but too rich for my blood (especially for double breakthrough scenarios which require many minis.)
These I already have and these Revell Siberian Rifleman are more ski troops mainly (I did not paint these and the miniatures are white which works for winter/ski troops.)
Some other poses from the set:
/pic7312390.png)
Italieri reissue of ESCI Italian Mountain Troops WWII Mountain Troops and I can hardly recommend this since there is only one scenario that needs nine figures, but I figure these may join with another set of Italian figures for their big scenario involving Greece using 80 figures (Klisura Pass - The Greco-Italian War)
My HAT reissue of the Airfix Italian Infantry set may not be as good, but I have this well reviewed set:
Cavalry. These Cossacks are quite nice and I have two of the Revell sets which is a bit of overkill, but I couldnāt resist a 2nd one for $10:
In July there was a sale at a dealer and I lost control, though not on this first item as technically there is a scenario that could use 40 figures and I settled for two sets of Waterloo Cavalry:
And then a set of Caesarās German Cavalry:
Partisans from Caesars Partisans in Europe which has some uniformed figures more appropriate for the Balkans along with French partisans.
Caesarās Underground Resisters
Your opening sentence is spot on.
The most important thing to be aware of is what your objective is, e.g.:
- a couple of extra interesting armies to make your favourite scenarios more interesting?
- lots of different armies to allow you to try many theatres and scenarios?
- collecting plastic figures alongside playing MM44?
The latter is mine. I have always enjoyed making model kits and painting figures (1/72); MM44 is relatively recent for me and the two go together really well.
Consequently I have a lot of figures (and models), many of which will not actually appear on the battlefield, but they are an important part of my collection.
Looking forward to reading the rest of your input Meles!
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I donāt do a lot of Pacific scenarios, but I do have the need for Commonwealth/Empire armies in the many Desert/Mediterranean ones that I play.
So half of my Airfix Aussies are painted in 8th Army colours, as are my Gurkhas. Matchbox Anzacs have a top review, so I am on the hunt for them (either the originals or the Revell remake). I recently bought Strelets NZ Troops, which are in desert uniform (although their ceremonial hats are not for the battlefield!).
The ones I am struggling to get are South African and Indian troops. I bought the latter online from Ebay, but I was ripped off and they never arrived.
I will try and get some photos together later.
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Yeah I donāt want someone running into this thread and doing something stupid (for their situation.) I am guilty of exploring what is needed for the limits of Memoir 44 and have played a triple overthrough/breaklord scenario (solo 
) which is seven feet wide with the three boards. I have the wherewithal (table space) to do half of D-Day Landings which is 7 feet by close to 4 feet wide and that is on the to do list. These are not advisable aspirations, but what is a few dollars more when youāve spent enough to pull off some of these scenarios? (Guadalcanal is the worst requiring six base games worth of miniatures and five base games worth of curved river tiles though it is easy to use forks for curves for the Thranduil effect - the woodland elf king in Tolkienās Hobbit who has a river coming out of his forest cave, but I did end up using forks and had to do a triangular river section which gameplay wise was fine, but looked worse than the Thranduil forest caves.)
Iām much with Ben where Iād love to just buy miniatures that had the same color plastic and not have to paint at all. This Tobruk overlord scenario got me hooked to minis with the Germans on the right side and the Italians on the left.
I didnāt photograph it, but since I have two equipment packs I was able to replace the German navy colored panzers on the left with grey Churchills so the whole left side was grey and many people liked the look despite the only Italian pieces were their cannons and I donāt think the scenario was using those rules. So above all I like distinct colors for each country on the board over badges; a simple goal perhaps done with a can of spray paint.
Now that being said, a simple can of spray paint was not good enough so Iāve amassed a big introductory paint collection especially heavy in speed paints. My goal is for a somewhat simple painting solution (a must given Iām not painting over 200 US infantry for guadalcanal 
). And yet I want the miniatures to look as nice as possible. This was the impetus for the paint collection.
So if Ben wants me to find a good color for German minis not in a spray can I can experiment as that is a goal of mine as well. The devil is in the details, but one of the severe downsides with any speed paint is you canāt just paint over it with another speed paint like you can with a normal paint; with speed paints you have to reprime the section you want to change. So just coming up with a base color and then adding perhaps a few other basic touches is not a simple thing, well it is if those addtional colors are NOT speed paints. Its complicated, but I have nearly all of the Army Painter Speed Paints and none to few Citadel contrast paints, plus I have a local Warhammer store where I love to visit (and was trained on basic painting) and want to buy a few paints here and there as needed.
Some other acquistions that I have up on screen. Waterloo Marines:
(Ardennes) Revell 02503 US Infantry:
/pic7630576.png)
PragueImp IMEX easy company Americans (paratroopers):
(Perhaps I need Rangers. 
)
Caesar British Commandos:
:strip_icc()/pic7630613.png)
(not sure if this was a PragueImp faveā¦and they are. 
)
Waterloo Japanese Infantry:
/pic7630650.png)
(PragueImp fave? ā¦ yes it is on his wantlist.)
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The matchbox Anzacs are on sale on ebay in Italy which I think is near you? The dealer Iām buying from shows those at $40 and sold out, so the ebay price looks great and maybe not too much of a premium if shipping from Italy is reasonable for you.
Iāve got āStrelets Set M111 WWII New Zealand Troopsā in my cart right now, but Iām far from sold on those; the hats. 
Some bonus pics Iām slapping in hereā¦the tip of the iceberg with my armor collection (this is 1/144 which is plenty big):
/pic7391797.jpg)
(Char B1 Bis)
Indian armored car:
:strip_icc()/pic7392201.png)
Cheap Ali-Express 1/144 armor prepainted a bit (I think I got three sets for $27):
/pic7374262.png)
My Italian Mountain troops selected (9 figures for three units):
/pic7365370.jpg)
Siberian Rifleman (ski troops):
/pic7365368.jpg)
Contrast painted armor:
/pic7296408.png)
(Iāve got the formula to do these, but too much work for my vaste horde probably.)
Contrast painted planes (probably worth the effort):
/pic7296664.png)
Around $10 per box I find them hard to resist for the flavor:
/pic7701287.jpg)
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More musings. PragueImp British Infantry faves:
Revell 02523 has very strong reviews, but the Impās ESCI recommendation has my heart.
(some unpainted versions are shown a few posts above which look fantastic and these just have character something that is probably needed at as small a scale as 1/72 so despite the lesser rating and other problems I really like these despite the incredible view of the Revell set in the first photo.) The ESCI look more campy and board gamy to me. (Iāve got both in my cart for $10 eachā¦)
On the Desert Rats (8th Army) I favor the ESCI original set over the Revellās matchbox reissue. Both have character, but average height of ESCI is 23mm vs 21mm for the Revell and the ESCI has more usable poses per the Imp, though Iām not fully on board with this as āmortar and a Vickers medium machine gunā would make fine badge replacements (the equipment pack equivalents are quite bulky) and maybe use prone figures for sniper units or just throw in one per hex with three upright units; Iām not sure if it is a big deal. But since I have the equipment pack and donāt want small 1/76 miniatures I think its ESCI for me.
Some basic Equipment pack paint jobs as an option versus spray paint 
(just because I ran into this and always looking for the simple)
(from Memoir '44 - Equipment Pack, a beginning.)
On US Paratrooper PragueImp and I both have the IMEX easy company American which is the 101st Airborne Division and a badge in Memoir 44. No doubt the Revell set makes sense since the minis are dark green, good review, and one could skip painting, but for me I like the parachute figure better in the ESCI set and they just seem more evocative plus slightly better reviews overall (and according to plastic soldier review they may come in dark green as well with any luck, not to mention this is the 82nd Airborne Division, Screaming Eagles, which is another Memoir 44 badge 
):
Caesar WWII Chinese Army Iād love to have (and Victor at BGG has two sets for his M44):
Not the easiest one to get and pricey for two, but very evocative.
I love the great big knives/swords in that last set.
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On the Gurkhas Iām presuming the earlier ones were dark green just like in plastic soldier revew. Iāve actually seen boxes saying made in Englandā¦ and you stated Made in France was good, Chinese bad. Iāve made an offer on some green ones and passed up on some tan ones on ebay. Hopefully I donāt end up with the ones that look like their shooting bananas.
Update: Well I just bought 72 of these Ghurkas for $10.50 plus tax delivered and 60 more caesar partisans for $12.50. The seller has 60 tan ones.
Also just coughed up for some pragueimp eye candy:
Revell US Marines for $14.50, but I had to have them despite already having the Waterloo 1815 set.
My 72 Ghurkas:
(though last I checked 7 rows of 12 is 84.
)
They are in my nice to have list for sure. They are starting to get a bit scarce which means expensive. A few regional dealers still have some, but at full retail price they are a bit expensive. Iām getting other sets for half the price so hard to cough up for these though Iām heavily interested in the whole sino-japanese war and Japanās tangles with the USSR.