Iron Warriors Painting Guide

In this guide, I will be showing you how to paint a battle-ready Iron Warriors Cataphractii Terminator, from the Warhammer Horus Heresy Age Of Darkness box set. In this stunning new box set from Games Workshop, you get a whole host of fantastic miniatures that allow you to build any legion of your choice. In this painting guide, I will be showing the paints I used but remember you can change out the paints I used for another brand if you have a preference.

Priming: Before starting to base coat we need to prime the model. I started off by applying a thin spray coat of Leadbelcher spray to the model. This is a really solid prime coat to work with to get the effect we are going for.

Trim: To start, the entirety of the trim on the armour was given a coat of Balthasar Gold. This metallic paint is a really good fit for this as it matches the theming of Iron Warriors really nicely.

Leather: Next up, I painted all the leather with Dryad Bark. This is a nice dark brown and a good base for all the leather and makes it easier to highlight later.

Bodysuit: For the small amount of the bodysuit that is exposed on the model I used Abaddon Black on the Terminators I have built. I have given them lighting claws and they have some of the suit exposed on the hands and legs.

Hazard Stripes: I used Abaddon Black again to mark the black lines of the hazard stripes. Get creative with this part, paint them however you like - I chose to do mine at a slight angle. Remember with this step it is fine if you get black on the trim as you can clean up with more Balthasar Gold.

Once you are happy with your placement of the black lines, you can then start filling in the silver lines with Grey Seer. The reason you want to do this is that it makes it easier when you paint the yellow over the top.

When you have a solid base coat of white, you are ready to paint over it with Averland Sunset. With this step, you will want to be careful as this paint needs to be applied with two thin coats. If you make any mistakes don’t worry, you can clean up with the Abaddon Black paint.

Wash: With the hazard stripes done you now get to do the fun part and wash the model with everyone's favourite wash Agrax Earthshade (That’s right, I said it. Not Nuln Oil). When using this I recommend doing one part shade to one part water as this helps the shade flow better. As you are applying this all over the model, make sure to watch out for the paint pooling too much on the model. When you are finished with the wash, let it rest for at least 30 mins. While this is drying it is a good time to get the rest of the unit up to this point.

Highlighting: With the shade now dry, you can get to highlighting. Starting with the leather, I used Baneblade Brown and highlighted the edges, adding some thin lines as scratches. I also highlighted the silver armour with Stormhost Silver. I only applied this to select points on the model like the tips of the lightning claws and the knees. You can also add some thin lines to make some more scratches at this point. On the back, you will also have some cables that I have just applied a coat of Khorne Red to.

Base: Here I recommend doing what you want or if you have already painted other miniatures from your legion, follow the same scheme to keep them coherent. If you want to do the same as me, I applied Astrogranite to the base and let it dry for 30 minutes. Once this was dry, I applied an overall wash of Nuln Oil. Again, this will need at least 30 minutes to dry. When that was done I then applied a light dry brush of Administratum Grey.

Finished: Following these steps, you should have a nice selection of battle-ready models that you can always come back to and apply some more techniques like weathering which will go really well with the siege nature of the Iron Warriors. Here is a shot of two Cataphractii Terminators and the Praetor with Power Sword.

Hopefully this will help you in painting your 4th legion Iron warriors, ``Iron within Iron without”! This is a fun and simple paint scheme that can be applied to all of the miniatures in the Warhammer Horus Heresy Age Of Darkness box set. Please let us know what you thought about this guide and let us know if you would like to see more like this. Make sure to show us your Horus Heresy Legions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!