Citadel Paint Guide: What Actually Works on the Tabletop
I keep seeing the same mistakes in painting threads. People buy the full kit, use the wrong techniques for each range, and then blame the paints. The Citadel Paint Guide isn't really a guide though -- it's more of a product catalog with some basic instructions attached. The real knowledge is in knowing how these paints interact with each other and where they fall apart. There are essentially five paint types worth knowing about. Contrasts are the easiest to screw up and the most frustrating when they do. You can't just brush them on like regular paint. They're designed to flow into recesses and leave highlights on the high points, but if your primer is too matte or your model has any surface texture from molding, you get patchy results. I've stripped and repainted maybe a dozen models because I didn't seal the primer with a thin wash first. Always use a varnished or gloss-primed surface for Contrasts. That alone fixes about eighty percent of the problems people report. Shades are liquid pigments. They're not meant to be applied neat over most surfaces if you want control. I learned this the hard way with a batch of Space Marine terminators -- I painted them flat black, applied Nuln Oil straight from the bottle, and ended up with pooling in every joint and a blotchy mess that took three days to fix. The workaround is dilution. Mix Shade with water at roughly a 1:2 ratio and apply in two thin passes instead of one thick one. It takes longer upfront but the result is consistent and reproducible.
Layer paints are your standard opaque pigments. They require thinning to avoid brush strokes and pooling. The common mistake is using them straight from the pot. You'll get thick, uneven coverage that looks worse than if you'd just used a Contrast. Thin them with water or Citadel Medium until they flow like milk. I use a palette knife to mix, which means I'm not constantly dipping my brush back into the pot and weakening the pigment supply. Base paints are thinner than Layers and sit somewhere between a wash and a traditional paint. They're useful for quick underpainting or large flat areas where you don't need heavy opacity. People skip them because they seem underpowered, but they're efficient for base coating entire squads before you start detailing. Aggressors and special effects paints are niche. They're expensive for what they do and the special effects line (metallics, glow effects) is honestly overpriced. I only reach for the metallics when something needs a convincing chrome look, and even then I often mix my own with Foundation paints instead.
Practical Application Order
The sequence matters more than most guides admit. Prime with an Agrax Earthshade or similar toning wash if you're using Contrasts. Without that, the Contrast paint will grab onto the primer unevenly. If you're using Layer paints, a neutral grey or white primer gives you the most flexibility for shading and highlighting later. Black primer is fine for dark themes but it limits your color choices significantly. When layering, always work from dark to light. A wash over a Layer paint will pull color out of the highlight unless you seal it first with varnish. I've seen people try to wash over highlighted armor and wonder why it turns into a muddy smear. Seal your base coats with a matte varnish before applying any wash or shade on top. Games Workshop sell it, but any craft matte varnish works just as well and costs a fraction. For edges and raised details, dry brushing with diluted Layer paint works better than most people think. The key is thinning the paint significantly and using a stiff brush. A soft brush will just deposit pigment everywhere instead of catching the edges. I switched to a badger hair brush specifically for this and the difference was noticeable within five models.
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Where It Falls Short
Contrast paints fail on resin or plastic kits with heavy texture. The pigment grabs onto the bumps and creates a speckled appearance that looks accidental rather than intentional. If you're painting a kit with visible mold lines or surface detail, stick to Layer paints or use a filler primer first to smooth the surface. This adds time but it's faster than fixing bad Contrast application afterward. Shades have almost no building-up capability. If you apply too much, you can't selectively remove it without stripping the paint underneath. There's no corrective layer. This means your first application needs to be right, which is why dilution is non-negotiable. Metallic Citadel paints are widely considered the worst in the range. They flake, they look plastic, and they don't hold edge highlights well. If you need metallics, I'd recommend using a layer of Silver or Mephiston Red as a base, then carefully picking up edges with Brass or Leadbelcher using a fine brush. The result looks more like metal and survives handling far better than straight metallic paint.
Download and Resources
The official Citadel Paint Guide PDF is available on the Games Workshop website under the painting resources section. It's a decent reference for color names and basic technique, but it won't teach you how to actually use the paints effectively. Most of what's useful comes from community guides on places like the Warhammer Community forums and dedicated miniature painting sites. The official guide is fine as a quick lookup for paint names and ranges, but don't treat it as instructional material beyond the basics.
