its time to start laying paint on my 120mm figure but, wasnt sure if i should even bother preshading. so, i figured i would ask the masses what you would do.
the figure is a 120mm and will have a base color of deck tan or another very light tan color with MARPAT digital camo. i have a feeling that if i do preshading, it may take away from the digital camo

any thoughts are welcome

FWIW, I'd give the pre-shading a shot.

Shading cammo uniforms is one of the hardest things to do in figure painting. (I think it's even harder than painting faces.) So, anything you can do to help bring about convincing shadows up-front can only help with the final result.

I guess it mostly depends on your individual painting style and technique, though.