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Hello dakka, just wanted to see if anyone had some insight on a good shade/wash alternative to citadel.
where I live is 3 hours from any LGS, so swinging by for a pot of paint isn't exactly practical. what i'm looking for is any self made wash alternatives or pre- mixed stuff. I have a local craft store that I use ceramcoat paints, mixed 2:1 with blending medium to get a consistency I like. now i need liquid talent- erm shades/washes and cant find something good to match

Self made wash recipe includes Matt medium, Acrlyic ink and flow improver.
Theres a recipe with some ratio's known as Les's wash recipe, but you can make them as strong, or weak, or any colour you like
Pre mixed... vallejo do some, not tryed them but vallejo seem to be a fine paint company.

The Vallejo washes behave a bit differently than GW's old line (haven't used the most recent batch of Shades, yet), from the few I've used, but behavior can be tweaked a decent amount with plain water, let alone additional mediums. I picked up one of The Army Painter's washes to try out, as their Strong and Dark tones are vaunted around the internet for being near-perfect replacements for Devlan Mud and Badab Black, respectively. I believe it, as the Medium tone behaves more like one of those two than the Vallejo wash I have, which is quite strongly pigmented and tends to stain surfaces readily if not thinned before use.

As mentioned, Les Bursley's wash recipe is tried and tested, but I've been having decent luck, recently, mixing my own as I go, using the paint right off my palette. I made a glaze medium from matte medium, drying retarder, and Flo-Aid/water which, when mixed with paint and thinned down further with water, makes for a decent wash. If mixing up larger batches of common colors, though, I'd likely pick up some inks to do so.

The real keys to a wash are water, for a thin consistency, matte medium/acrylic binder for adhesion and to keep the pigment is suspension, and a surfactant to allow it to flow and pool properly. There are any number of ways to make them, from a carefully measured concoction of painting mediums to a drop of dish soap in some Future Floor Polish. Research will net you a few potential starting points, but you'll need to mess around with them, a bit, until you find what you prefer.