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The more I got into 40k, the more armies I collected, the more unopened box sets are sitting on my shelves due to time constraints, the harder it has become for me to decide on colour schemes. Which in turn gives me more excuses to postpone painting my minis because I just dont know what scheme will make them look awesome.

Now this isnt so hard a decision when it comes to Space Marines or their Chaos counterparts, because most of the obvious colour schemes are attributed to a known Chapter (and in the case of SM, according chapter tactics), so unless you want to make your homebrew chapter/warband, you look at the fluff of the chapters or gameplay styles and maybe that helps you decide on one if you find several colour schemes equally interesting.

But for other armies like Tyranids or Necrons, things get too vague. For example, with Necrons I don't know whether I want to paint them silver just like everyone else, or go for more exotic looking gold necrons with maybe bronze schemes for the lower ranks, or perhaps try the rare coloured necrons in a ceramic white look or maybe reflective blue. And when it comes to Tyranids, do I wanna go with red bodies and black chitin? Or white bodies and black chitin? Or dark grey bodies with red chitin? Or blue bodies with orange chitin? Or how about silver chitin for a really striking look to emphasize on some new self-created fluff that Tyranids also use use metal shields on their bodies as part of their bioengineering?



How long did it take you guys to settle on your colour schemes?

For my Eldar I settled on an Iyanden scheme and for my Tau on a white Bork'an scheme but sometimes I come across pics from a different scheme that are so nicely done that part of me thinks a scheme change is in order lol

All the time, not just for 40k either. I had the same thing in Warmachine; I didn't want the normal red Khador scheme so I thought for a week or two before going with a drab green Russian WW2 style look.

I'm now contemplating a Tau army for 40k so when thinking of color schemes, I know that I want a sleek military look, so I'm probably going to go with some sort of olive drab for the armor because I don't want a tan/brown color scheme.

I usually go for something that's going to be relatively quick to paint because I'm not that great with blending/highlights, so that limits my choices. I normally only do a single highlight so I tend to go for darker colors for starker contrasts as well.

Not for me. I always get inspiration from something else and then apply it to my army. for example my Valkyrie was inspired by the flying tigers

im not going to spend that much money on a new army if i don't have at least some idea as to what i want it to look like. For example i know i want my fantasy army to be robin hood esq. Now im not always sure what color to use exactly, but i know the scheme i want them to be in.

Yeah I definitely feel you on this one.

It took me a good few days to get the color scheme perfect, and even longer to find the correct paints and all that. Do you use the SM painter?

I live in indecision in terms of colour scheme.

With my armies, I kind of know where the scheme is going, but it always takes a few trials to get just the right shade and choice of colours.

For me it's easy, I only have one army and it didn't take me very long to settle on a color scheme.

I don't give a f*ck about the codex colors either, I don't like being restricted.

Necrons in ceramite white + say red highlights are really nice and unusual, the other options ... might as well go classic black/dark metal / NEON GREEEN (wtf necrons...)

Tyranids are a good deal harder .. maybe because I don't really think about them ever.

I'd probably go for Zerg color, because... zerg.

https://www.google.be/search?q=tyranids&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=989&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nYUhVP-XCuv8ywPJ1IEw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=p-okqXC2RfC3BM%253A%3BVG5IaJmAREbAwM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbuypainted.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2013%252F04%252Ftyranid-trygon-05.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fbuypainted.com%252Findex.php%252Funcategorized%252Ftyranid-trygon-gallery%252F%3B1280%3B851

Choosing an army color can be a pain in the hoop. My SM army was easy to do: it was my first army and I didn't know how to paint for gak, so I chose black because it's so easy to work with. In the intervening years, I've refined the scheme so that it looks better than in 1995, but it's still black.

For the rest of my armies, I used GW fluff for a launching point. My CSM are Thousand Sons, so blue and gold is what I went with. Tallarn IG? I went with sand and earth tones. Slaanesh Traitor Guard? Black and pink (same thing with my Slaanesh WHFB army).

The one exception is my Cadian IG army. I chose green for them, because I started them back in the day when GW's paint line was not as robust as it is now. They had 7 or 8 shades of green, blue, and brown, but only 2 purples (neither of which was actually purple) and 3 reds. So most armies wound up being brown, green, or blue in those days. I went with green, not because I was particularly inspired by it, but because I already owned 6 of the 8 different green shades and wouldn't have to buy any more colors.

If you're looking for a new color scheme, take my advice and paint a few test models first. Get 2 or 3 basic troop type dudes, and paint them in different colors. Whichever scheme looks the best on the model and hurts the least to actually paint (you don't want to be stuck painting 100 models with a paint scheme that is too complicated or time-consuming) is the one you go with.

Oh good lord, yes. I have that problem quite a bit. My Tyranid scheme is on its second generation, My space marine scheme is on it's second generation, and the Sisters of Battle scheme I am working on atm, is on it's fourth generation.

Hell yes. I haaaaate picking colour schemes. My Space Wolves are now on their 3rd colour scheme, my Tyranids on their 2nd, my Lizardmen on their 3rd. Even now I look at my Tyranids and wonder what the hell I was thinking and want to change, but I'm not going to change because I've invested waaaay too much time on it.

I mention my SW are on their 3rd scheme but in reality I'm still just testing schemes. I think I want to go blue, like a Crimson's Fist type blue, but I still can't decide, I might just do Dark Angels instead

Armies that I like the studio scheme aren't as much of a problem, I've always liked the Dark Angels colour scheme, which is why I'm very very tempted to start a DA army... except I have no interest in Ravenwing or Deathwing and prefer how Space Wolves play even though I prefer how DA look.

Mostly nope.
First army, CSM, I had picked out and ready to go within a matter of minutes of grabbing my first box of models off the shelf.

Second army, DE (which I'm selling, check out my signature!), were partially pre-painted when I bought them so I went with that.

Third army, CD, are sorta set in stone going by GW's lore. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding how to paint their armour-y bits though. Same colour as my CSM? Or Word Bearers, because they're the coolest legion and summon daemons all the time?

I always have trouble with my paint scheme. That is why I don't have an army made. After 10 years or more. I have tried my Nids for years. Finally got a scheme I liked then I saw someone have the same scheme, but done so much better so I gave up on it.

I'm having such trouble atm with my new marine scheme. Even after completing a good number of models in something I 'like' I can't help but look back and wonder if something else would be better.
I agree that SM is the hardest to paint though as most everything obvious is taken, I took a while to get my eldar's colors down too but at least I can look at them and not compare to one of the major SM chapters

My sugestion would be to look at the natural world and insects. You'll find a wide range of all black to colored like a rainbow.

The 3rd edition tyranid codex was great for this because it offered at least...36 or so different color scheme's and inspiration on how to paint tyranids.

Maybe it's the OCD in me, but I can't stand anything that deviates from the lore. I can appreciate the skill in painting but I always strive to adhere to the history as much as possible. I once met a guy who painted his model DeLorean magenta and neon yellow...I still get angry and rage about whenever I remember...

I've said too much. !

 fox-light713 wrote:
The 3rd edition tyranid codex was great for this because it offered at least...36 or so different color scheme's and inspiration on how to paint tyranids.

Yup. This was back in the day when GW was more about the hobby than selling miniatures. GW don't make codexes like these anymore :(

I saw that



Then I saw that



In the end I ended up with that

This is a constant issue of mine, especially with non-IG or non-codex armies. My eldar and dark eldar have had so many test schemes its silly. An eldar test model has a constant place on my workbench and has resided there for years. Hell I couldn't count how many times I have tried to paint a wood elf army over the years and been unhappy with the result. I still have old school waywatchers from the first time I was interested in painting them.