How I Paint - Terrain - Aged Bone

I’ve really enjoyed painting the Azyrite Ruins and other terrain features for Warcry and Age of Sigmar. I’m starting to build up a solid collection of pieces, and it’s been incredibly rewarding to see the table come to life.

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In this article, I’m focusing on the bone components of my Warcry terrain—specifically, the skeletons and skulls.

Let’s be honest: if you paint GW miniatures, at some point you’re going to paint bone. There are literally skulls everywhere in the Mortal Realms and the Imperium. I sometimes wonder if the dead just get buried without their heads? Anyway, here’s a quick guide for painting bone that’s been weathered by the elements. I use this recipe for both terrain and bases.

Paints required:

• Wraithbone spray
• Morghast Bone
• Athonian Camoshade
• Karak Stone
• Screaming Skull
• Pallid Wych Flesh
• Agrax Earthshade
• Optional Zandri Dust

Start with an undercoat of Wraithbone Spray—assuming the piece can be painted separately. Then apply a base coat of Morghast Bone.

If the bone is part of a base that’s already been primed black, first paint it with Zandri Dust, followed by Morghast Bone. However you get there, the goal is a nice, smooth coat of Morghast Bone.

Once the basecoat is dry, apply a wash of Athonian Camoshade. This gives the bone a subtle greenish tinge, helping to create the illusion of age and exposure to the elements. Optionally, you can add a touch of Agrax Earthshade into the eye sockets and nasal cavity to deepen the shadows.

Now onto highlights.

Begin by watering down some Karak Stone (with either water or Lahmian Medium). You're aiming for a consistency that’s more pigmented than a glaze, but thinner than standard paint—think milk.

Use this to block in large, flat areas of bone—like the cranium, shoulder blades, long limb bones, or sternum—being careful to avoid the recesses. If neatness is a concern, focus the paint toward the center of each area. Once dry, give all the bone a drybrush of undiluted Karak Stone. With these two steps, you should already start to see some nice highlights developing.

Next, repeat the process with Screaming Skull. For the flat areas, try to leave some of the Karak Stone showing by focusing the Screaming Skull toward the center. When drybrushing, keep it light—you’re not trying to cover the previous layer, just add depth and dimension.

Now, apply a very light drybrush of Pallid Wych Flesh to all the bone. This is your final highlight, meant to pick out only the most raised or prominent features. Less is more here—don’t overdo it.

To tie everything together, apply a thin glaze made from a 3:1 mix of Lahmian Medium and Agrax Earthshade over all the bone. This step softens the transitions and unifies the layers.

And that’s it—your bone is done!

Bone is one of those colors that shows up a lot on Games Workshop miniatures, so it’s useful to have a reliable method for painting it. If I want to shift the overall tone of the bone, I simply adjust the wash stages; the rest of the process stays the same.

Related Articles

• Moss
• Wooden Planks
• White Marble

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Discussion

How do you paint your terrain?

Do you prefer a more natural look or something cleaner and stylised?

Let me know in the comments, I would be interested to hear what techniques you use.

Happy Hobbying!

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