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.

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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.

Finished Result

The Weather Beaten armour on my Orruk Brutes

Brushes and Paints required:

• Matt Black spray
• Rhinox Hide
• Leadbelcher
• Nuln Oil
• Agrax Earthshade
• Stormhost Silver
• Seraphim Sepia
• Athonian Camoshade
• Mortarian Grime
• Skrag Brown
• Trollslayer Orange
• Lahmian Medium
• Deathworld Forest (only for Orruk skin)

Easily find the tools, paints and materials used in this guide →

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 carefully painting 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:

• Mortarion Grime
• 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 Skrag Brown into areas of the armour where you would expect dirt and rust to accumulate.

• Repeat this step with watered down Trollslayer Orange but do not cover all of the Skrag Brown. 

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

• Zombie Flesh
• Skeletons, Skulls and Bone
• Green Flames

• Start here: Warhammer Painting Made Simple

This guide is part of my Miniature Painting Guides collection.

Easily find the tools, paints and materials used in this guide

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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