Painting Warhammer Armageddon: Space Marines, Orks & Steel Legion

The colours to plan for an Armageddon army

An Armageddon project can cover several factions at once. The good news is that many colours are shared: metal, shades, black, and leather are useful for Space Marines, Orks, and the Steel Legion alike.

Rather than working from a long official list, think in colour families. Seven families cover the three factions: armour (black, blue, or green depending on the chapter), skin (ork green or human), military uniforms (khaki/green), metals, leather (brown), weapons (red or black), and bases (dust or urban).

Starting from these families, a palette of 10 to 15 paints covers the essentials. Every additional pot is a refinement, not a requirement.

Painting Armageddon Space Marines

For Space Marines, the scheme depends on the chapter. Armageddon has seen Salamanders (dark green), Black Templars (black and white), Space Wolves (blue-grey), and Blood Angels (red). The approach below works for any of them.

The base structure is always the same: main armour colour in two coats, metal for weapons (Leadbelcher or a close equivalent found in ChromaStack), shade in the recesses (Nuln Oil or a close equivalent), details in red or gold, base suited to Armageddon.

For black weapons: Abaddon Black or a close equivalent. For lenses: any bright colour. Purity seals: Ushabti Bone or a close equivalent for the parchment, Mephiston Red or a close equivalent for the wax. For battle damage: scratch Leadbelcher or a close equivalent onto armour edges.

If a tutorial recommends a colour you do not have, search for it in ChromaStack and look at the alternatives ranked by proximity. For a full equivalents overview, the Warhammer paint conversion chart is a useful starting point.

Painting Armageddon Orks

Ork skin. Start with Warboss Green or a close equivalent in two opaque coats. A wash of Agrax Earthshade or a close equivalent deepens the recesses. Then Orruk Flesh or a close equivalent on the raised areas — no need to cover everything, just the high points. Orks handle variation between models very well.

Leather and straps. Mournfang Brown or a close equivalent for belts and pouches. Rhinox Hide or equivalent for darker areas. A wash of Agrax Earthshade or equivalent is enough to tie it all together.

Weapons and metal plates. Leadbelcher or a close equivalent, applied unevenly — it should look like scavenged junk. Nuln Oil or equivalent in the recesses. For Evil Sunz and Speed Freeks, add red plates: Mephiston Red or Evil Sunz Scarlet or a close equivalent, darkened with Agrax Earthshade or equivalent.

Weathering, rust, and dust. A light drybrush of Ryza Rust or Typhus Corrosion or close equivalents on weapons suggests rust. For Armageddon dust, drybrush Zandri Dust or a close equivalent on bases. Without these technical paints, a light beige drybrush gives a convincing result.

For Orks, Vallejo, Army Painter, and AK alternatives work well across green, brown, and metal families. Check equivalents in ChromaStack before buying. You can also browse the paint lists on the Evil Sunz or Goffs pages directly.

Painting the Astra Militarum and Yarrick

The Armageddon Steel Legion is defined by its khaki-green uniform and gas mask helmet. The palette is restrained: Castellan Green or a close equivalent for clothing, Zandri Dust or equivalent for armour and helmet, Abaddon Black or equivalent for the mask, Leadbelcher or equivalent for weapons, Agrax Earthshade or equivalent to tie everything together. This is the paint list from the Armageddon army page in ChromaStack.

Yarrick is darker. Black coat (Abaddon Black or a close equivalent), subtle gold trim (Retributor Armour or a close equivalent), dark metal (Leadbelcher plus Nuln Oil or close equivalents), bionic eye in bright red or green, human skin (Bugman's Glow as base, Cadian Fleshtone as layer, or close equivalents). Imperial red stays very limited — one or two details are enough.

For vehicles, reuse the same colours as the infantry: Castellan Green, Zandri Dust, Abaddon Black for details, and a generous Agrax Earthshade wash. Add a light drybrush of Zandri Dust or Ushabti Bone or close equivalents on worn edges.

Most alternatives for the Steel Legion are well covered by Vallejo, Army Painter, and AK — military greens and khakis have close equivalents in almost every range. Use ChromaStack to compare alternatives by Delta-E before buying.

Armageddon: a shared palette across factions

One advantage of an Armageddon project is that several factions share the same base paints. Leadbelcher and Agrax Earthshade or their close equivalents work for Orks, Space Marines, and the Steel Legion. Abaddon Black is useful across all three. Zandri Dust covers dusty bases and AM armour. Nuln Oil shades the metals in every army.

Buying a sensible list for one faction already sets you up for the others. If you paint Space Marines first, you already have the metals, shades, and probably the red for Orks. If you start with the Steel Legion, you already have the khaki and brown leather for Orks.

Here is a quick overview by use. In the Alternative column, the descriptions point to a ChromaStack search — the tool calculates exact colour proximity.

The minimum shopping list to start Armageddon

If you are starting from scratch, here are three list levels depending on your budget and ambition.

Ultra-minimal list — 8 pots
These eight paints cover the basics across all three factions: Abaddon Black, Leadbelcher, Zandri Dust, Mournfang Brown, Warboss Green, Mephiston Red, Agrax Earthshade, Nuln Oil. All are versatile multi-use paints — or their close equivalents found in ChromaStack if you want to save money.

Comfortable list — 14 to 16 pots
Add: Space Marines armour colour (depending on your chapter), Waaagh! Flesh (dark ork skin), Orruk Flesh (light ork skin), Rhinox Hide (dark leather), Castellan Green (AM uniform), Retributor Armour (gold details), Bugman's Glow plus Cadian Fleshtone (human skin), a base colour. Every paint serves at least two of the three factions.

What to avoid at the start
No need to buy every paint from a complete official tutorial. Also avoid: five near-identical grey or green variants, several very similar reds, too many specialist shades before you need them, and highly specific technical paints if you are just starting out. Before any purchase, check in ChromaStack whether you already have a close alternative in your collection.

Finding Vallejo, Army Painter or AK equivalents

If a tutorial recommends a Citadel paint you do not have, the process is straightforward. Search for that paint in ChromaStack, look at the alternatives ranked by Delta-E proximity, and check the paint type: a base, a layer, a shade, and a metallic are not interchangeable in the same way.

For example: if a tutorial recommends Mephiston Red for ork red plates, search Mephiston Red in ChromaStack and look at the close alternatives from Vallejo, Army Painter, or AK Interactive. Do not rely on the name alone — a red called 'Engine Red' may or may not be close depending on the exact hue.

Also compare the paint's real use in context (armour, fabric, metal, skin, base), not just the raw colour. A slightly different paint used the same way will often give a similar result. If you are mixing brands, the Warhammer paint conversion chart gives a quick overview of the most common equivalents.

Tips for keeping your army visually consistent

Choosing a common base colour across the whole army — even if you mix factions — creates the most important visual unity. An Ork and a Space Marine on the same khaki or urban base clearly belong to the same project.

Reuse the same metals and shades on every model. If Leadbelcher or a close equivalent and Nuln Oil or equivalent are your defaults for weapons, apply them everywhere. This builds immediate cohesion without extra effort.

For ork skin, keep a three-step recipe (Warboss Green or equivalent base, Agrax Earthshade or equivalent wash, Orruk Flesh or equivalent highlight) and do not change it between models. Variation in leather and fabric tones is welcome, but skin should stay readable and consistent.

If the project is a full army, do not aim for perfection on every piece. A consistent finish across the whole army is more convincing than one showpiece surrounded by unfinished models. Use the same generous washes to tie everything together quickly.