How do you choose a colour scheme that will make an amazing army?
You might think that great looking armies need their own unique colour scheme… they don’t!
One of the most important ways to catch everyone’s eye is a through the colours of your force. But being original is almost impossible so don’t try to do it - let someone else do all the work!
Teal and Papya - McLaren Gulf Air Scheme; Yellow and Black - Villareal; `Blood Angels in Red - Manchester United*.
I’ve made more amazing armies than any other player at Arc40k - and if you read this article and apply these principles maybe you can start creating eye catching armies too...
Choosing a great scheme is important. But getting a combination of colours that work together and create a consistent look across your army is a far more daunting prospect.
Whenever I start a new army project there are some key decisions to make
Choose a Faction - what codex will you work with?
Decided on a theme - what’s the story behind the army?
Colour Scheme - decide what works?
This aticle is about helping you to more easily decide what works and then choose the right colours for you army. So lets see if we can find the answer to number 3 - it probably is the most important question to find an answer too.
What’s my Team?
Knowing what your team is going to be… that’s an important part of the process of starting a collection, purchasing new models, building the army, having a colour scheme that works.
Choosing the colours you’ll use to paint your army - it is a really big deal.
I’d say it’s a vital part of setting yourself up for success in creating an army that will WOW more people.
So, we really need to talk more about teams. I’m not kidding - choosing the right colours for a Warhammer 40,000 army is all about teams…
Sporting teams have fans… so just like any team your army needs fans - judges, peers, opponents will most likely vote for your army if they can become fans of it - well they need to or else not enough people will vote for it or score it highly.
Finding a way for people to relate to your visions of your army is a challenge. They have to get over their like or dislike for your Codex and look at the army you present in it’s own right.
I’ve got to say that across many, many year, this is a recurring discussion I've had with a load of other hobbyists. It surrounds what they believe is this huge hurdle - how do I choose the colours for my army!
Ok here’s the best tip every - it’s simple and it involves answering an important question…
Imperial Knights + NHL Calgary Flames = Knights of the Damned
What’s your team? Not just any team… What’s your Favourite sporting team?
Regardless of the code or sport. If you have a favourite team then you’ll also feel a strong connection to
the colours of their uniform, their strip - right? Hopefully so will others.
The colours that sports teams use, the shades, the accents - there’s usually been top dollars spent on visual marketing and design. In some cases that’s millions of dollars - image is created and the colours of a sporting team’s uniforms play a huge part in their promotion, marketing and popularity.
So why not use that to your advantage…
Pick a team... any team. And then use the colours of their uniform.
If they are a popular team you’re also likely to have more fans that follow them at the event.
You can change the proportions, or use the alternate strip, but the combination of two or three colours on the teams uniform has been market tested. In some cases we are talking serious design principles, colour theory, the works…
There are exceptions to great club themes - but luckily not many…
No scheme you make up by yourself has the same amount of research to back it up.
So, what’s your team?
All of the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures shown in this Article is the work of 4 times Player’s Choice, 5 times Best Painted, Golden Demon winning painter @HobbyCrusaider
Images used without permission, copywriter 2003 Manchester United, Mclaren F!, and Villareal - Sportstar.
