Testing Out The New Citadel Washes

So far, I've tried out the washes in a couple of different applications and overall, I'm pretty happy with them, though I do think people are still figuring out how to best use them. In any case, I decided to test them against my standard Paynes Grey wash and see how the results differed.

The Test

I will be easier if I illustrate the effect of the wash. I prepped 4 plastic Brettonian archers using a wide range of colors. One was simply basecoated (#1), the second (#2) was basecoated and then washed with Paynes Grey, another (#3) was basecoated and then washed with the Citadel washes. The last (#4) was primed white and then had the wash applied directly to the primer. The colors were chosen to showcase a range of colors, not necessarily because I thought this is what I wanted my archers to look like

Here are the colors I used to basecoat the figures:

• Helmet - VMC Gunmetal
• Tunic - Citadel Blood Red
• Tunic - Citadel Ultramarine Blue
• Flesh - Citadel Bronzed Flesh
• Arrows and Bow - Citadel Beastial Brown
• Leggings and hood - P3 Iosan Green
• Shoes and pouch - Citadel Beastial Brown

Figures #3 and #4 were washed with the following Citadel Wash colors. For #3, the wash went over the basecoat. For #4, the wash went directly onto the white primer:

• Helmet - Badab Black
• Tunic - Baal Red
• Tunic - Asurmen Blue
• Flesh - Ogryn Flesh
• Arrows and Bow - Devlan Mud
• Leggings and hood - Thrakka Green
• Shoes and pouch - Gryphonne Sepia

The Results

Figure #1 has only basecoats.

Figure #2 shows the same basecoats, but washed with Paynes Grey, which is really a deep blue-grey.

Figure #3 shows the the same basecoats washed with the Citadel Washes.

For Figure #4, I took a white-primered figure and used the same wash colors on the same areas as for Figure #3.

Figure #5, uses the same washing scheme, but was primed in grey. I left the helmet unpainted so that I could easily tell what color the primer was.

Figure #6 is just like Figure #5, but with a tan undercoat (Rustoleum Camo Tan).

Conclusions

So far, I've been happy with the washes. To be honest though, I'm still figuring out how to best use them. I don't think they're going to be the killer app that everything thinks they are, but so far, in the areas I've used them, they've performed will. Flow and control is definately very good. In fact, I used it to line my Tau Hammerhead and Broadside and because of the flow properties, made it very easy.

Based on Figure #3, I don't know that the washes will really shade darker colors that well ... I'll probably stick with Paynes Grey, but for lighter colors, based on Figure #4, it seems that they work very well. In any case, if you do any experiments and find out new things, let me know.

Update

Since the initial writing, I've use the Citadel Washes extensively, most recently on a horde of Tyranid and Ork figures. In the case of the Tyranid figures, I used the Thrakka Green and Leviathan Purple on my biomorphs and joints as well as a little bit of Badab Black on the eyes and mouth to give them some definition. I used Liquitex Raw Umber to wash the overall figure, but Devlan Mud is an alternative. On my Orks, I used a lot of Gryphonne Sepia over Dheneb Stone for the wrappings, teeth, and horns. This set is very easy to use and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Notes

Last updated	1/20/09
Author	Michael Kan
Pre-requisites	None
Related Articles	The Secret Ingredient, Paynes Grey Paints