Best Green Paints for Sons of Horus: Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter & Alternatives

Sons of Horus green: one colour, several levels

Four levels make Sons of Horus armour readable: the shadow in the recesses, the main green on the surface, the highlight on the raised volumes, and a pale or grey-green tone on the edges. Roles matter more than brands: the same pot can be a base for one painter and a shadow for another, depending on the undercoat and the rest of the palette.

Sons of Horus green is not a classic green: it is cold, slightly turquoise and desaturated, closer to a blue-green or a grey-green than to a vivid green. That is what separates it from the warm, saturated Salamanders green or an Ork green. A highlight that is too green or too blue flips the armour into a different identity.

• ShadowIncubi DarknessCitadel · Base · #082E32
• BaseSons of Horus GreenCitadel · Layer · #00545E
• HighlightSybarite GreenCitadel · Layer · #17A166
• EdgeGauss Blaster GreenCitadel · Layer · #7FC1A5

These four swatches come from the ChromaStack catalogue: they show a role-based progression, not a Games Workshop recipe. The HEX values are the catalogue's digital swatches, not measurements taken from a painted miniature.

Dark green: shadows, depth and grimdark variants

Lupercal Green (Base, #002C2B) is the deepest green of the Citadel range for this scheme: an almost black dark green, named after Horus' nickname, suited to recesses, first layers and night-dark armour. Incubi Darkness (Base, #082E32) plays the same role in a bluer register: it is the classic soft shade of Sons of Horus armour. The two swatches are ΔE 3.77 apart — close enough to swap for a shadow, different enough to shift the temperature of the armour. Nocturne Green (#162A29) is a third option, greyer (ΔE 5.15 from Lupercal Green); Abaddon Black stays the deepest black undercoat, with no HEX shown, like the other undercoats in this guide.

Across other brands, Army Painter Blighted Green (John Blanche Masterclass, #0C272A) is ΔE 2.82 from Incubi Darkness: it is the closest opaque substitute in the catalogue for this shadow. AK ARCHAIC/OLD TURQUOISE (3rd Generation, #00383A) is ΔE 4.35 away, and Warhammer Tone Pro Green Morkshroom 1 is ΔE 3.12 from Lupercal Green (approximate HEX, not physically tested). In the recesses, Coelia Greenshade (Shade) adds a blue-green wash: its swatch represents the liquid, not the applied result, so this guide shows no HEX for that wash.

For a grimdark variant, Dark Reaper (#354D4C) desaturates the armour towards a cold grey-green (ΔE 2.21 from Green Stuff World Zima Blue, ΔE 4.53 from Vallejo Model Color Dark Sea Green (70.868)): see the dark palette below.

The main green: Sons of Horus armour

Sons of Horus Green (Layer, opaque, #00545E, L* 32.1) is the direct reference for the legion's green: cold, slightly turquoise, desaturated. It carries the main colour of the armour in thin coats — the manufacturer type (Layer) describes the formulation of the pot, not its role in the palette. Akhelian Green (Contrast, #004F63, ΔE 5.47) pushes the blue component one step further over a light undercoat, but stays a translucent paint.

Terradon Turquoise (Contrast, #005862) is ΔE 1.32 from Sons of Horus Green: the two swatches are almost identical, but one is an opaque acrylic and the other a translucent paint. Same colour, same colour role, completely different technique — this is the teaching case of the guide. For an opaque armour, plan for an opaque pot; for a fast army, Contrast over a light undercoat does the job in one coat.

No other brand in the catalogue offers an opaque option as close as AK TURQUOISE (3rd Generation, #034B4E, ΔE 4.35). Warhammer Tone Pro Seraphon Blue 2 is ΔE 4.58 away, but its HEX is approximate and the range has not been physically tested. Army Painter Turnbull Turquoise (Speedpaint, #2A4B52) is further away (ΔE 6.23) and translucent, and Army Painter Deep Azure (Warpaints Fanatic, ΔE 6.86, approximate HEX) is lighter. The catalogue holds no strict opaque duplicate of Sons of Horus Green.

Intermediate green: lifting volumes without jumping to bright green

Sotek Green (Layer, #0B6371, L* 38.2, ΔE 5.21 from Sons of Horus Green) is the most consistent cold highlight: it stays in the turquoise register and reads as one step of brightness, not as a colour change. Army Painter Deep Azure (Warpaints Fanatic, ΔE 1.75 from Sotek Green, approximate HEX) is the closest opaque option in the catalogue for this step; Warhammer Tone Pro Seraphon Blue 3 (ΔE 2.20, approximate HEX) plays the same role.

Sybarite Green (Layer, #17A166, L* 58.6) is the classic chunky highlight of the scheme on the ChromaStack army page, but it is much greener and more saturated (C* 53 against 21.5 for Sons of Horus Green): it pushes the armour from turquoise towards green. Keep it for the most exposed volumes, or for an army you want greener. Kabalite Green (Layer, #008962) sits between the two: greener than the base, less bright than Sybarite Green (ΔE 8.99 between them).

Measured alternatives: Army Painter Goblin Green (Warpaints, ΔE 1.84 from Sybarite Green, approximate HEX) and Scale75 SC-47 Spring Green (ΔE 5.72); for Kabalite Green, AK MINT GREEN (3rd Generation, ΔE 1.82), Vallejo Model Color Emerald (70.838) (ΔE 3.60) and Vallejo Game Color Jade Green (72.026) (ΔE 5.08).

Light green and desaturated turquoise: highlights

Temple Guard Blue (Layer, #239489, L* 55.4) is a desaturated turquoise for large volumes: it lifts the armour without turning to bright cyan. Vallejo Game Color Hawk Turquoise (72.024) is ΔE 4.73 away, Hydra Turquoise (72.025) is 4.76 and AK BLUE-GREEN (3rd Generation) is 5.40. Vallejo Model Color Turquoise (70.966) is bluer and more saturated (ΔE 7.72): keep it for a deliberate accent.

Aethermatic Blue (Contrast, #1C7E92) is clearly bluer: ΔE 14.93 from Temple Guard Blue and 14.97 from Sons of Horus Green. It can work as a glaze to push a turquoise accent, but it will read blue, not Sons of Horus green. At Scale75, SC-28 Deep Turquoise is the closest turquoise, yet it stays ΔE 8.62 from Temple Guard Blue: the brand has no close match in this register.

Watch the saturation: a highlight that is too green (Sybarite Green, Kabalite Green) or too blue (Aethermatic Blue) strongly changes the character of the armour. Test it on a spare shoulder pad or a sprue before committing a whole unit.

Edges: pale green and light grey-green

Gauss Blaster Green (Layer, #7FC1A5, L* 73.1) is the pale green for edges: light, slightly desaturated, it picks out the angles without overpowering the base. Vile Green (Base, #82C59C) goes one step further (ΔE 3.86). At Army Painter, Autumn Sage (Warpaints Fanatic, ΔE 6.09, approximate HEX) is the closest option, and Amulet Aqua (ΔE 6.60) leans turquoise.

A rare case in the catalogue: Hellion Green shares exactly the same swatch as Gauss Blaster Green (#7FC1A5, ΔE 0.00), but not the same manufacturer type: Hellion Green is a Dry made for drybrushing, while Gauss Blaster Green is a Layer made for controlled highlights. Same colour in the data, different behaviour: two pots for two techniques, not a duplicate.

For a more neutral edge, Celestra Grey (#8BA3A3) gives a very slightly green-tinted grey that suits worn armour. Its role is not to replace the main green: a grey or white edge must stay a thin line, or the armour loses its cold tone.

Contrast and Speedpaint: painting Sons of Horus armour fast

Contrast (Citadel) and Speedpaint (Army Painter) paints are translucent: applied in a generous coat over a light undercoat, they darken the recesses and leave the raised areas lighter. Terradon Turquoise (Contrast) is the direct reference, ΔE 1.32 from Sons of Horus Green; Akhelian Green is a translucent Contrast that pushes the scheme further towards blue-green: like Terradon Turquoise, it needs a suitable undercoat and is not a direct technical replacement for an opaque paint.

At Army Painter, Turnbull Turquoise (Speedpaint, John Blanche Masterclass) gives a darker, greyer result (ΔE 6.23 from Sons of Horus Green). The undercoat drives a large part of the outcome: Corax White for a neutral, bright finish, Grey Seer for a light grey, Wraithbone for a slightly warmer one. No HEX is shown for these three undercoats: they are starting points, not armour colours.

Limits: a translucent paint depends on how much is applied, and it is hard to fix on a large flat surface. Once fully dry, a targeted opaque highlight (Sotek Green then Gauss Blaster Green) brings back definition without reworking the whole miniature.

Sons of Horus green paints: comparison table

The HEX values below come from the digital swatches of the ChromaStack catalogue: they mark a tone, not a measurement taken from a painted miniature. For washes (Shade), the swatch shows the colour of the liquid rather than the applied result, so Coelia Greenshade shows no HEX. The “approx.” tag marks the swatches the catalogue itself flags as approximate.

Classic Sons of Horus palette (ChromaStack suggestion)

A five-step progression, meant as a suggested working method:

1. Undercoat: black, or a light grey if you go for Contrast.
2. Shadow: Incubi Darkness in thin coats, or Lupercal Green for a greener shadow.
3. Base: Sons of Horus Green (Layer) in two thin coats.
4. Highlight: Sotek Green on the volumes, then Sybarite Green on the most exposed ones if you accept the greener shift.
5. Edges: Gauss Blaster Green in a thin line.

This palette is a ChromaStack suggestion based on roles and catalogue colours. It should not be presented as an official Games Workshop recipe.

Brand variants: AK TURQUOISE or Terradon Turquoise for the base, Army Painter Deep Azure for the Sotek Green step, Army Painter Goblin Green for Sybarite Green and VGC Hawk Turquoise (72.024) for Temple Guard Blue.

Dark / grimdark palette

For a deeper, less saturated armour with more contrast:

1. Undercoat: Abaddon Black.
2. Base: Lupercal Green in thin coats, or Incubi Darkness for a bluer base.
3. Shadows: Nuln Oil heavily thinned, or Coelia Greenshade in the recesses.
4. Highlight: Dark Reaper on the edges, then a touch of Celestra Grey on the most exposed angles.

Brand variants: Army Painter Blighted Green (ΔE 2.82 from Incubi Darkness) or AK ARCHAIC/OLD TURQUOISE (ΔE 4.35) for the base; Green Stuff World Zima Blue (ΔE 2.21 from Dark Reaper) for the highlight. Going from Lupercal Green to Dark Reaper is not a continuation of green: it is a deliberate desaturation, which gives the armour its worn look.

Turquoise variant

To bring out the blue-green component of the scheme without drifting into a vivid turquoise:

1. Translucent base: Akhelian Green (Contrast) over a light undercoat, or Sons of Horus Green (Layer) if you want to stay close to the legion green.
2. Highlight: Sotek Green on the volumes.
3. Light highlight: Temple Guard Blue on the most exposed raised areas.
4. Edges: Gauss Blaster Green, or Celestra Grey to keep it desaturated.

Caveats: Aethermatic Blue (ΔE 14.93 from Temple Guard Blue) and Army Painter Amulet Aqua lean blue or light turquoise and can lose the desaturated character of the armour. The turquoise variant should stay cold and restrained: it is a nudge towards the Sons of Horus green, not a cyan scheme.

Desaturated / military variant

For a matt, worn grey-green finish:

1. Undercoat: black.
2. Base: Dark Reaper (cold grey-green), or Vallejo Model Color Blue Green (70.808) for a lighter grey-green.
3. Shadows: Incubi Darkness in the recesses, sparingly.
4. Highlight: Vallejo Model Color Blue Green (70.808) on the volumes, then Celestra Grey on the edges.

Measured variants: Green Stuff World Zima Blue (ΔE 2.21 from Dark Reaper) and Army Painter Autumn Sage for the edges; Vallejo Model Color Dark Sea Green (70.868) (ΔE 4.53 from Dark Reaper) for a greener, matt shadow. This register reads less “legion” and more “campaign”: that is the price of a more realistic armour.

Fast palette: Contrast / Speedpaint

Using one main translucent paint:

1. Light undercoat: Grey Seer, or Corax White for a brighter finish.
2. One generous coat of Terradon Turquoise (Contrast).
3. Once fully dry, a targeted opaque highlight: Sotek Green then Gauss Blaster Green.

Speedpaint variant: Army Painter Turnbull Turquoise (ΔE 6.23 from Sons of Horus Green) gives a darker, greyer base, useful for a weathered force. The result depends heavily on the undercoat, the amount of paint applied and the size of the flat surfaces: on a large panel, too thick a coat marks, too thin a coat streaks. Opaque acrylic remains safer for centrepiece models.

Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, AK: same colour, same role, same paint type?

Three different questions hide behind “which paint replaces this one?”. Same colour: the swatches are close. Same role: the paint can take the other's place in the progression. Same type: the paint behaves the same way (opaque, translucent, wash). A truly comfortable swap ticks all three.

Real examples: Army Painter Deep Azure (ΔE 1.75 from Sotek Green) is a credible opaque replacement at that step; Army Painter Blighted Green (ΔE 2.82 from Incubi Darkness) plays the same shadow role. Conversely, Terradon Turquoise (ΔE 1.32 from Sons of Horus Green) ticks “same colour” and “same colour role”, but not “same type”: it is a Contrast. Special case: Hellion Green (Dry) and Gauss Blaster Green (Layer) share the same swatch (ΔE 0.00) but not the same formulation: one colour, two different techniques.

Brand notes, in the ChromaStack catalogue as it stands today: Citadel (392 paints) provides the backbone of the scheme, from dark green to pale green; Vallejo Model Color (171 paints) and Game Color (78 paints) bring the turquoises and highlight greens (Emerald 70.838, Hawk Turquoise 72.024); Army Painter (316 paints) mixes opaque Warpaints with Speedpaints that are handy for armies; AK Interactive (487 paints) offers the closest opaque matches to the base (TURQUOISE); Scale75 (120 paints) and Green Stuff World (120 paints) mostly cover the dark and desaturated registers; Warhammer Tone Pro (150 paints) stands apart, with approximate swatches that have not been physically tested.

Horus Heresy and weathering: what changes the green

Sons of Horus armour takes a worn treatment particularly well. Light scratches, metals, dark washes, pigments and local variations of green all strongly change how the main colour reads: a dusty armour looks greyer, a heavily highlighted one looks more turquoise, and metallic scratches lift the brightness of the edges. The base colour is only a starting point.

This guide does not cover weathering in detail: the point is simply to keep in mind that the greens presented here will be seen through the wear of a Horus Heresy force. No specific technique is attributed to any manufacturer: the roles described come from the ChromaStack catalogue data.

ChromaStack and Delta-E: comparing Sons of Horus greens

ChromaStack compares the catalogue swatches and computes a CIEDE2000 ΔE between two references. The lower the ΔE, the closer the two colours look on screen. The equivalent pages list the closest matches across every brand, and the comparator lets you start from a paint you already own.

A few figures measured for this guide: Terradon Turquoise is ΔE 1.32 from Sons of Horus Green, Army Painter Blighted Green is 2.82 from Incubi Darkness, Army Painter Deep Azure is 1.75 from Sotek Green and AK TURQUOISE is 4.35 from Sons of Horus Green. The most instructive case remains Terradon Turquoise against Sons of Horus Green: ΔE 1.32, but a translucent paint against an opaque one — perfect for the same colour role, not for the same technique.

A low ΔE therefore guarantees neither the same opacity, nor the same finish, nor the same coverage, nor the same formulation. ChromaStack treats ΔE < 3 as a strong colour proximity in the catalogue data; the actual result can vary with the paint, the undercoat and the application.

The HEX values shown in this guide come from the catalogue's digital swatches: they are tone markers, not physical measurements. For Shade paints, the swatch shows the colour of the liquid, not the applied result. A test on a miniature or a spare sprue remains the only reliable validation. To compare further, the paint conversion guide details the bridges between brands, and the equivalents index lets you browse every available page.

Sons of Horus, Horus Heresy and other legions

The Sons of Horus (XVI) army page gathers the full scheme: armour green, black panels, red lenses and gold. It is the natural starting point to complete the palette described here, paint by paint.

Two other legions from the same period help set the register: the Alpha Legion (XX) wears blue-green armour, a cold variant that shares some reading challenges with the Sons of Horus; the Salamanders (XVIII) are the counter-example of a warm, saturated green. Comparing the three pages helps calibrate the temperature of the green.

This guide is part of the army painting guides: other legions, chapters and factions are covered there with the same role-based approach.