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I am newer to 40k and was wondering if anyone had played with the contrast paints to get an idea of which color would work best for the 30k style space wolves.

They were very light gray so it’s a question of how gray you want to go. Gray Seer is a really nice base color, I’m using it for white AT titans instead of Celestra now.

There is a Space Wolf gray contrast paint but it has some blue in it, do you want any blue tint? If not you might use a coat of contrast Basilicum gray but thin it with contrast medium first. What you’ll get is a fairly soft gray with some highs and lows. I’m using a mix of 5 parts contrast gray to 2 parts medium to shade my titans’ guns, you might find an equal mix better suits some dirty 30k wolves.

Now that said the red contrast paints cover really well and look cool, especially over metals. This will depend on which company you’re doing of course.

Also DO NOT just goop the stuff on, I use a flag watercolor brush over the bigger panels so it goes on flatter but once it starts drying don’t try to mess with it. I’ve ruined the “skin” it kinda forms as it dries and it gets messy looking.

Does that kinda answer you?

Yes, thank you it gives me a good starting place for it.

I have not used the black contrast yet but I have a couple of bottles to open. I can vouch for Blood Angels red and the yellow covers well enough for a small panel. I wouldn't try painting in details like the common Blood Claw markings with them, they're too wet for that and it's not what they're meant for.

Also I meant "flat" watercolor brush, typing on my phone is hard with callouses. You'll find watercolor brushes from art stores helpful because they have a bigger well to them than regular acrylic brushes.

I can vouch for black templar. It's a very solid black color, much darker than a lot of the videos make it look. I would recommend using two coats of it though if you are trying to go for an abbadon black + nuln oil look.

I've got a gloomspite gitz painting thread right now, and every color seen in the photos is achieved using contrast paints directly from the pot.

The half of my night gobbos that aren’t poorly painted are primed dark gray :( It seems like they’re one of the perfect armies for contrast paints.

I wouldn’t mess with contrasts on vehicles if you’re doing Rhinos or LRs without an airbrush to make them flat. My Wolves are 13th Company so I don’t have any to worry about! Contrasts are probably great for big packs of Fenrisan/Thunder wolves though, just don’t prime them all gray like I did.