Greenskin hordes are the most forgiving army in the hobby to paint. Messy is the look, chipped and rusty is correct, and big bold colours read brilliantly on the table. The challenge is volume: mobs come in twenties and thirties. This guide focuses on methods that look great and scale to a whole army.
Plan the scheme in three colours
Every great mob looks coherent from a distance. Pick:
- A skin tone: bright and cartoonish, deep and olive, or yellowy and sickly.
- A clan colour: red, yellow, blue, black and white checks, or purple. Use it on helmets, shoulder pads and banners.
- A metal finish: clean steel, dark gunmetal or heavily rusted.
Everything else, such as clothing, leather and straps, should be neutral browns and greys so the skin and clan colour pop.
Step 1: Prime for speed
Black primer is the traditional choice and hides missed spots. A popular faster alternative is to prime black, then drybrush grey and white over the top before using transparent paints. That's the core of the slapchop method, and it is particularly good on these heavily textured models.
Step 2: The skin
Skin covers a lot of the model, so get it right and the rest follows. A reliable three-step recipe:
- Base: two thin coats of a mid green.
- Shade: a green or brown wash into the muscle definition, eye sockets and around the jaw. A brown wash makes the skin warmer and more weathered; a green wash keeps it vivid.
- Highlight: a lighter, slightly yellowish green on the top of muscles, knuckles, brows, nose and cheekbones. Add a little yellow or off-white to the final highlight on the most prominent points.
For a faster approach, a single coat of green transparent paint over a light grey or white undercoat does a remarkable job. Follow with just one highlight on the face and knuckles.
Tip: older, bigger greenskins are traditionally darker. Use a deeper base and extra wash on bosses and nobz so they stand out from the rank-and-file.
Step 3: Battered metal
Armour plates and choppas should look hammered together from scrap. Basecoat with gunmetal, wash heavily with dark brown, then stipple or sponge a brighter silver onto edges and raised rivets. For rust, dab orange-brown into recesses and lower areas, then a little bright orange in the centre of the patches. Keep rust where water would collect: bottoms of plates, around rivets and in dents.
Step 4: Clan colours and checks
Paint clan colours with a little wear in mind. A neat trick is to paint the plate, then sponge a dark brown and silver onto the edges as chips. It instantly says "scrap metal with paint on it".
Checks and dags are iconic and easier than they look:
- Paint the whole area white or yellow first.
- Mark a grid with very thin, diluted lines before filling squares.
- Don't chase perfection. Slightly wonky checks look hand-painted by greenskins, which is exactly right.
Step 5: Teeth, tusks and trophies
Teeth and trophy skulls are small details with a big pay-off. Paint them a warm off-white, give them a brown wash, then highlight the tips. Our guide to painting bone has several recipes, from clean ivory to grimy yellowed tusks.
Step 6: Cloth, leather and flames
Trousers and straps work well in muted brown, khaki or grey with a wash and one highlight. Flames on vehicles and banners are worth the effort: paint the shape in yellow, add orange to the base of each flame, then red right at the root. Work from light to dark so the tips of the flames stay bright.
Step 7: Bases and grime
Dusty, muddy or scrap-strewn bases suit greenskins perfectly. Once the base is done, drybrush a little of the base colour up the boots and lower legs, and splash mud on vehicles. This ties the model into its environment.
Batch-painting a mob
- Paint in groups of ten, one colour at a time.
- Leave fine highlights for the bosses and front-rank models; regular boyz can stop after the wash.
- Use the same skin recipe across the whole army, but vary clothing colours slightly for a ramshackle feel.
- Paint eyes red or yellow with a single dot. It's quick, and it brings the face to life.
Common problems
- Skin looks flat: add a higher, yellower highlight to brows and knuckles.
- Metal looks too clean: add another brown wash and some rust in the recesses.
- Model looks busy: too many bright colours. Mute the clothing to browns and greys.
Above all, have fun. These are the models where hobbyists experiment most, and the results are always full of character.
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