Citadel Colour Paints are specially designed by Games Workshop to be the best paint for plastic miniatures. They cover every aspect of painting miniatures, from priming to finishing touches. Prime miniatures with Citadel spray cans. Base coat with Cital Base. Develop details with Citadel Layer and Citadel Dry. Bring the base to life with Citadel Technical. Or, if speed painting is more your style, try Citadel Contrast.
Top Picks for 2024
Paint Sets: With every new edition of Warhammer comes a new paint set for the 2 main battling factions. This time it's Space Marines versus Tyranids. If you’re a Marines player, then the Infernus Marines + Paints Set is the most affordable way to start painting your army. It includes 3 Infernus Marines, all the base paints required for most Ultramarines, and some technical/shade paints to help flesh out the detail on the miniatures. If Tyranids are your faction of choice, then the Termagants and Ripper Swarm + Paints Set is the best choice. Similarly, this comes with all the base paints required to get your ‘Nids ready for tabletop at a ‘battle ready’ standard, as well as some contrast/technical paints. If you want the paints from both of these sets, then you can also pick up the Paints + Tools Set (2023), which combines both paint sets into one at a discounted price.
Citadel Contrast Paints: The Contrast paint range is the latest addition to the Citadel range. Contrast paints act differently to traditional acrylic paints, behaving more like an ink. They are translucent and have a tendency to settle into recesses while spreading thinly over raised surfaces. This achieves the effect of depth and detail without the need to layer multiple shades of paint onto the miniature. All in a single coat of paint! With the recent trend of ‘speed painting’, the contrast range has become very popular, as this method can paint models in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods.
Citadel Paints Buying Guide
Ideally, all miniatures should be primed prior to painting. The most popular choice for priming is, by far, the Citadel Color: Chaos Black Spray. It provides an even and dark surface to build coats of paint on. This is the best choice for painting using a traditional base/layer paints method, where you base your darkest colours first and gradually build up to the lightest colours on the model to give it depth. If you prefer to use contrast paints for your miniatures, then you have a couple of choices. Chaos Black is too dark, so instead you can try either Citadel Color: White Scar Spray or Citadel Color: Wraithbone Spray. Both provide a lighter coloured finish which is ideal to give Citadel contrast paints a more colourful finish.
After priming, your model’s major colours should be coated using Citadel Base paints with lighter detail added using Citadel Layer paints and a base brush from the Citadel paint brush range. If you prefer the contrast or ‘speed painting’ method then you can instead use Citadel Contrast paints.
Citadel Shade paints are best used as an additional step in adding more detail to the miniatures. Sometimes known as ‘washes,’ shade paints settle in recessed areas of the miniatures, bringing more contrast between dark and light areas, hence making miniatures look more believable.
