How to paint Weather Beaten Armour
How to Paint Weathered Armour on Miniatures – Aged Metal & Worn Plates
Over the past few months I’ve been trying to improve my painting by developing repeatable ‘recipes’ for different surfaces and materials.
Most recently, I’ve been focusing on painting old, worn metal. With the release of the Kruleboyz, I decided to work on an Orruk covered in armour using Morgok’s Krushas from Warhammer Underworlds.
These models are ideal for this type of experiment. The armour is made up of large, flat metal plates and chainmail, with the idea that Orruks simply hammer the metal into shape. It doesn’t feel like something they would maintain particularly well, so I wanted a weathered, beaten finish without heavy rust.
Brushes and Paints required:
- Matt Black spray (Amazon affiliate link)
- Rhinox Hide
- Leadbelcher
- Nuln Oil
- Agrax Earthshade
- Stormhost Silver
- Seraphim Sepia
- Athonian Camoshade
- Doombull Brown
- Skrag Brown
- Trollslayer Orange
- Lahmian Medium
- Deathworld Forest (only for Orruk skin)
Brushes and tools used
Core brushes (detail and highlights):
- Raphael 8404 Size 1 (Amazon affiliate link)
- Winsor & Newton Series 7 Size 0 (Amazon affiliate link)
Everyday brushes (basecoating and washes):
- Citadel Medium Layer Brush
- Citadel Medium Shade Brush
- Citadel Small Drybrush
The Citadel synthetic brushes are reliable and inexpensive, making them ideal for basecoating and shading. For highlights and fine detail, I switch to higher-quality brushes for better control.
Brush care:
- Masters Brush Cleaner (Amazon affiliate link)
Once I’ve finished painting, I always clean my brushes with this to keep them in good condition.
Finished Result
 |
| The Weather Beaten armour on my Orruk Brutes |
Base Process
Priming
Undercoat the miniature with Matt Black spray.
If you’re painting a full model, as in the Orruk Brute in this case, it’s worth basecoating areas like skin first (in this case Deathworld Forest), before moving onto the armour. It’s much easier to tidy up afterwards than painting around finished metal.
Painting the Armour
Step 1 — Basecoat
Leadbelcher is used as the base, but with a small amount of Rhinox Hide mixed in. This dulls the metallic slightly and helps later washes adhere better.
Step 2 — First wash
Apply a wash of Nuln Oil.
Take care not to let the wash pool, remove any excess with a damp brush.
Step 3 — Second wash
Apply a second wash using Agrax Earthshade.
For weapons, you can use a second Nuln Oil wash instead. This adds subtle variation across the model.
Step 4 — Rebuild highlights
Lightly drybrush Leadbelcher across the edges of the armour plates.
Focus on:
- Edges
- Raised surfaces
- Areas where the wash didn’t settle
Step 5 — Edge work and definition
Using a smaller brush, reinforce some highlights with Leadbelcher. Keep this controlled and slightly broken along edges to maintain a worn look.
At the same time, deepen recesses by stippling Nuln Oil between plates.
Step 6 — Final metallic highlights
Very lightly drybrush with a:
- mix of Leadbelcher and Stormhost Silver.
- then Stormhost Silver
This restores some of the metallic shine without losing the worn feel.
Adding Grime, Wear and Rust
To build a weathered look, lightly stipple areas of:
- Agrax Earthshade
- Seraphim Sepia
- Athonian Camoshade
Focus on:
- Recesses
- Plate joins
- Lower areas
If it becomes too heavy, lightly drybrush Leadbelcher to bring some shine back. I used all three shade paints to give the idea of grime built over a long time.
Although this isn’t a heavily rusted scheme, a small amount adds realism.
Using heavily thinned paints, build up subtle layers:
First apply Doombull Brown into areas of the armour where you would expect dirt and rust to accumulate.
- Repeat this step with watered down Skrag Brown but do not cover all of the Doombull Brown.
Then repeat with watered down Trollslayer Orange.
Apply these sparingly, mainly to:
- Chainmail
- Lower edges
- Areas where moisture would collect
Final Highlights
Using a fine brush, apply a mix of Leadbelcher and Stormhost Silver.
Add small highlights to raised areas and edges with a broken line to keep the worn look.
Final Step
Apply a coat of Lahmian Medium to bring everything together and unify the finish.
Key Points
- Mixing Base Paints into Metallics helps washes adhere better to the surface.
- Multiple controlled washes create depth and variation
- Keep highlights irregular to maintain a worn look
- Use grime sparingly, you can always add more
- Light rust works best when kept subtle
Related Guides
This guide is part of my Miniature Painting Guides collection.
Discussion
How do you prefer to paint weathered armour?
Do you go for a clean finish with light wear, or something more heavily rusted and aged?
Let me know in the comment, I’d be interested to hear what’s worked for you.
Happy hobbying!
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This looks awesome! Can I ask though, how did you get some of the washes to mix? Where did you mix them?
ReplyDeleteI am not really sure what you mean but... when I apply the washes to add 'grime' I just dab on the different coloured washes with an old brush. Using each colour whilst the others are still wet. In this way they blend themselves together on the miniature. You can then use a clean damp brush to push them around a little on the plates.
DeleteThanks! Yeah that was it :) I wasn’t sure if there’s a thing as “mixing washes on a palette”, but I got what you mentioned.
Deleteno worries, thanks for saying hello.
Delete