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So, having recently gotten back into the hobby I feel prepared to paint my recently built IG (cadian models and some scions xith some catachan bits to give them a veteran look). However, although I used to be a decent painter, I feel a bit rusty, and being completely unfamiliar to the new paints I come to Dakka seeking advice from wiser men than I.

The colour scheme I am going for is pretty dark: black armour & lasgun/weapon case, dark grey pants and lighter grey/cream/white shirt. I am willing to invest some time to painting, but I would not like to spend hours just to paint a couple of minis... After all it's a guard army... Anyway, here are my questions:


1. White, cream, or light grey shirts? Maybe grey for troopers and cream (light bleach bone) for command/sergeants?

2. Lighter or darker metal? I feel lighter metal and skin could help tone down the otherwise darkness in the models

3. A bright colour? I was thinking about introducing some red or even yellow, but not shure on how to do it or if it would look good... Maybe just in certain minis as commanders, comissars, inquisitors etc? Yellow "camo" stripes could look cool too...

4. How does the new Citadel paint range work? Do you always have to go base, then layer, then shade, then layer, then higlight? Or can you keep it simple with a base, a wash and some highlights?

5. I was thinking of painting metal areas first, then cloth and armour and lastly skin... any input on this?

6. I've read somewhere that a grey or brown primer gives a more natural tone to the colours than a black one... Is it worth a try it in a black/grey colorscheme? Or should I stick to black?

7. Any ideas for bases?


Thank you all in advance! And may the dice gods be mercifull with you!

1. I like your idea. Grey for grunts, white or cream for REMFs
2. You're probably right, leadbelcher base for the metal should be a happy medium
3. Absolutely, red/yellow/green/blue all make great accents for hats, sashes, whatever. I'd not do camo stripes with anything but blue or green though, and not at all if you're trying not to spend a lot of time.
4. That is how it works, but, they are just paints. Layers are thinned base paints, but you can still basecoat with them. The gw method is good, but not the only way. Just don't over buy paints, find a good tutorial for your scheme out there somewhere and look at what paints they use to do it.
5. I go deepest areas of the model to highest, purely for convenience. I'd say cloth > armour > metal > face
6. I'd use a grey primer for your scheme, most of it will be grey.
7. Urban rubble. Cork plate, painted black, dry brushed grey, washed brown.

In real life, your NCO's would look no different then the squad they're leading. Every enemy who goes up against the Ultramarines know to shoot the ones with the red helmets first. Ultimately its up to you and how much 'real life' you want in your paint job.

I guess I can do blue-grey camo on the scions to differentiate them a bit from the rest (my scions are scions arms on cadian body&legs). I can save the idea of the yellow "camo" for an inquisitorial henchman or something of the sort... plus not doing camo on everyone will save a bit of time

Oh, i know nco's wouldn't want to be distinquished... But i think a small something to set them apart works well on the tabletop. Besides this army is more inspired by european armies right before WWI in space than modern military.

Thank you again for your ideas, they are well received an well noted!

Ghaz is obviously dead right, but if we're going for realism we should probably look at how stupidly out of proportion a guardsman is rather than their colours.

Besides, if you don't have a different colour hat to show everyone how important you are, how is it going to be grimdark enough to get it blown off?

I am interested in what your idea of camo is, because anything I can conjure up in my mind is looking terrible. Additionally, Pre-1916 and camo isn't really a thing

 Ghaz wrote:
In real life, your NCO's would look no different then the squad they're leading. Every enemy who goes up against the Ultramarines know to shoot the ones with the red helmets first. Ultimately its up to you and how much 'real life' you want in your paint job.

Everyone who goes up against Alpha Legion knows to shoot the guys without the sergeant markings... or do we shoot the sergeant marking guy because they want us to shoot the other guys?

I like a bit of splash color in my camo. I do camo like Hollywood bases movies on real-life events. Sure, the core is there, but louder, with more action. Real camo is boring. Sure, it’s more realistic, but we are painting soldiers for a tabletop game. Paint your camo too good and you’ll loose track of them until it’s time to pack up.

One reason to pick out the guys in charge is for mechanics. They have different rules/battlefield roles, so you should be able to tell at a glance who’s who. Helmet color (or lack of helmet) does this. Not tactical wisdom.

I did bright hoses/cables on my snipers Make any sense? Nope. Make the mini look more interesting rather then a blob of earthtones? Yup. Red helmets add something interesting to my Eldar rangers, while also tying them in with the rest of their comrades on the table.

For an urban look, particularly with black armor for the hard bits, I’d go with lighter greys when possible. If not the mini ends up looking like a black lump. I might go with a brighter silver, rather then a dull gunmetal to help with this issue.

If you are going to base, you probably want to go with a light urban rubble. Your minis are probably going to end up being dark, so you want to stand out a bit. But if they are going through the effort of getting dressed up in camo, it should be the same type of the base they are on.

YMMV, IMHO, etc...

kb_lock wrote:
Ghaz is obviously dead right, but if we're going for realism we should probably look at how stupidly out of proportion a guardsman is rather than their colours.

This is what's kept me from starting a guard army, their models never seemed right. Scions being so full of armour and gear look better, though, so I do have a few of those running around.

 Nevelon wrote:
Paint your camo too good and you’ll loose track of them until it’s time to pack up.

True story: I played an all night, 4000 point game back in 3rd edition. My opponent places a grey primed sniper squad in a grey primed ruined building. Forgets completely about them until we're putting away terrain.

For an urban look, particularly with black armor for the hard bits, I’d go with lighter greys when possible. If not the mini ends up looking like a black lump. I might go with a brighter silver, rather then a dull gunmetal to help with this issue.

If you are going to base, you probably want to go with a light urban rubble. Your minis are probably going to end up being dark, so you want to stand out a bit. But if they are going through the effort of getting dressed up in camo, it should be the same type of the base they are on.

YMMV, IMHO, etc...

Unless realism is your goal (and for many reasons it should not be), this is good advice. Have some contrast built into the model.

Nevelon wrote:

I did bright hoses/cables on my snipers Make any sense? Nope. Make the mini look more interesting rather then a blob of earthtones? Yup. Red helmets add something interesting to my Eldar rangers, while also tying them in with the rest of their comrades on the table.

For an urban look, particularly with black armor for the hard bits, I’d go with lighter greys when possible. If not the mini ends up looking like a black lump. I might go with a brighter silver, rather then a dull gunmetal to help with this issue.

If you are going to base, you probably want to go with a light urban rubble. Your minis are probably going to end up being dark, so you want to stand out a bit. But if they are going through the effort of getting dressed up in camo, it should be the same type of the base they are on.

YMMV, IMHO, etc...

I really like the contrast of your Snipers and Eldar! A little contrast as with what you have going on with the Marine Scouts is along the lines of what I aim to go for

For the bases I think I will do some sand + rubble made of bits of sprue... Painting it a lighter grey is a sweet idea!

kb_lock wrote:


I am interested in what your idea of camo is, because anything I can conjure up in my mind is looking terrible. Additionally, Pre-1916 and camo isn't really a thing

Well, when I say pre-1916 i'm thinking more of armies like the german having more muted green/grey/black/cream coulours than the bright blue and red of the frenchies, if I include camo patterns it will be for scions or other elite units
As for the yellow & yellow "camo" I was thinking more of some sort of hive ganger's colours... but this will not be an army-wide thing, if it gets done at all!