The Ultimate Guide to Citadel Contrast Paints: Tips & Tricks

What Exactly Are Citadel Contrast Paints?

If there’s one thing that unites UK tabletop gamers, aside from complaining about the weather and rolling ones on critical saves, it’s the eternal search for a faster way to paint our grey plastic mountains. Enter Citadel Contrast paints. These little pots of liquid sorcery have completely revolutionised the miniature painting hobby since they launched. Designed to provide a base coat, shade, and highlight in a single, satisfying application, these paints flow over your miniatures, settling beautifully into the recesses to create immediate depth while tinting the raised areas for a natural, sharp highlight. It’s essentially “two thin coats” wrapped up in a single, time-saving sweep.

How to Apply Contrast Paints Like a Pro

To get the absolute most out of your Contrast paints, you must start with a smooth, light undercoat. Games Workshop highly recommends their proprietary sprays like Wraithbone or Grey Seer, though any smooth matte white or off-white primer will do the trick nicely. When applying the Contrast paint, don’t be shy, load up your brush, but keep a sharp eye out for pooling. Contrast paint loves gravity, and if it gathers too heavily on a flat panel, it’ll dry with a distinct “coffee-stain” tide mark. Keep a clean, slightly damp brush handy to wick away excess paint from those flat surfaces.

Top 3 Must-Have Contrast Colours in Your Arsenal

• Black Templar: The holy grail for painting black armour. It provides a deep, rich black that miraculously highlights itself on the sharpest edges. Perfect for Space Marine armour or Raven Guard units.
• Guilliman Flesh: Painting faces used to be the stuff of nightmares. Now, one quick coat of this over a Wraithbone base gives you an instant, realistic, and warm skin tone for human faces and bare arms.
• Blood Angels Red: A vibrant, intense crimson that is absolutely perfect for power armour, flowing capes, or daemon flesh. It pops beautifully and saves hours of layering.

Why Buzz Paints?

As a dedicated UK stockist, we ensure you get your hobby supplies fast, without the faff. Ready to upgrade your paint rack? Browse our full range of Citadel Contrast Paints here and enjoy our fast UK shipping. Let’s get those grey armies tabletop-ready!

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