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Horus Heresy (30K) · Légions Traîtres

Sons of Horus (XVI)

intermédiaire Légions Traîtres

Sea green avec noir, rouge et or. La légion d'Horus.

Prime black. Sons of Horus Green is a distinctive cold, slightly desaturated tone that should stay cleaner and cooler than a Salamanders-style green. Incubi Darkness works well as a soft shade to deepen it without making it muddy.

Recommended undercoat black — Several priority paints in this army converge on black.

Paint list

Sorted by priority

🔴 Must-Have

Bases — the fundamental colours without which the scheme is impossible

🟠 Core

Main shades and highlights — the official Simplified Scheme

🟡 Recommended

Soft shading and extra highlights

  • Incubi Darkness (Citadel) — Armour · Soft shade
  • Khorne Red (Citadel) — Helmet lenses · Soft shade
  • Eshin Grey (Citadel) — Black armour (highlight) / black undersuit / weapon casing · Highlight / Chunky highlight

🟢 Optional

Dot highlights for a result showcase

Painting order

Recommended steps
1 Prime black
2 Basecoat the full armour with Sons of Horus Green
3 Apply Incubi Darkness as a soft shade in the recesses
4 Deepen the deepest recesses with Abaddon Black
5 Add broad edge highlights with Sybarite Green
6 Refine the sharpest edges with Gauss Blaster Green
7 Use a 1:1 mix of Gauss Blaster Green and Wraithbone for the final point highlights
8 Paint the lenses with Mephiston Red, shade with Khorne Red and Abaddon Black, then highlight with Evil Sunz Scarlet and Fire Dragon Bright
9 Paint black armour sections with Abaddon Black, then highlight with Corvus Black, Eshin Grey and Dawnstone
10 Paint the undersuit with Abaddon Black, then highlight with Eshin Grey and Dawnstone
11 Paint gold trim with Retributor Armour, shade with Gore-Grunta Fur and highlight with Stormhost Silver
12 Paint metallic areas with Leadbelcher, shade with Nuln Oil and highlight with Stormhost Silver
13 Finish with Administratum Grey and Ungor Flesh point highlights where needed

Tips

Hints for this army
1 Sons of Horus Green is unique within the Citadel range, so there is no perfect shortcut if you want the canonical XVI Legion look.
2 Incubi Darkness adds the cool shadow that gives this armour its depth. A generic dark green or pure black usually makes the scheme look too flat.
3 The final Gauss Blaster Green plus Wraithbone point highlight creates the hard reflective edge that sells a showcase finish.
4 First Company troops can lean much harder into black, red and gold. That variation is worth using if you want elite units to stand apart.