How to Paint Idoneth Deepkin

The Idoneth are deep-sea aelves, and the range is built from marine shapes: fins, shells, eels and turtle-shelled leviadons. The palette is the most coherent in Age of Sigmar - almost everything is a variation on blue-green, lifted by warm gold and a single glowing gemstone. Get one teal and one skin tone settled and the rest of the army follows.

The signature look

Pale, drowned skin on the Namarti thralls, deep turquoise armour and fins, verdigris-touched gold, and the cold light of aetherquartz set into helms and weapons. Everything should look like it has been underwater a long time - cool, slightly muted, with no warm browns anywhere except the leather.

Painting sea-pale skin

1. Basecoat Ionrach Skin over a grey undercoat.
2. Shade with thinned Coelia Greenshade, keeping it in the recesses rather than washing the whole model.
3. Layer Deepkin Flesh over the raised muscle and the top of the limbs.
4. Highlight the cheekbones, ribs and knuckles with Pallid Wych Flesh.

The one-coat alternative is Aethermatic Blue contrast over Wraithbone, which gives a cooler, more spectral skin and suits a block of Namarti Reavers where speed matters more than blending. Namarti are eyeless, so paint the sockets Rakarth Flesh and leave them blank - it is unsettling and it saves you painting twenty pairs of eyes.

Armour, fins and eels

Basecoat armour and fins Sotek Green, shade Drakenhof Nightshade, layer Temple Guard Blue and edge Baharroth Blue. For speed, Akhelian Green contrast over Wraithbone does the same job in a coat.

The best trick in this army is contrast over metal. Basecoat the eels and shell plates Runefang Steel, then glaze Akhelian Green or Terradon Turquoise over the top. The metallic reads through the transparent colour and gives you an iridescent, wet sheen that is very difficult to achieve any other way, and it takes minutes.

Gold trim goes Balthasar Gold, Agrax Earthshade, then Retributor Armour on the raised work, with a stipple of Nihilakh Oxide in the recesses for verdigris. That single green-blue corrosion tone ties the metal to the rest of the palette.

Other ranges: Vallejo runs Dark Turquoise into Caribbean Turquoise, edged Light Turquoise; Army Painter Fanatic gives Deep Ocean Blue into Hydra Turquoise with Aegis Aqua as the highlight.

Aetherquartz

The glowing gems are the army's signature. Basecoat the stone Kantor Blue, layer Teclis Blue across everything but the deepest corner, add Baharroth Blue to the lower half, then a dot of White Scar offset from centre. Glaze thinned Teclis Blue onto the surrounding metal so the gem appears to cast light. Two or three per model is plenty.

Cloth, bone and leather

There is not much of it on an Idoneth model, which is exactly why it is worth getting right: these are the only warm notes in the scheme and they anchor everything else.

• Wraps and cord - Zandri Dust, Agrax Earthshade, Ushabti Bone, with Screaming Skull on the frayed ends. Skeleton Horde contrast over Wraithbone does it in one coat when you are batching Namarti.
• Leather straps and harness - Dryad Bark basecoat, Nuln Oil, then Stormvermin Fur on the edges. Keep it dark and desaturated; a bright tan belt is the single fastest way to break the underwater look.
• Shells, teeth and bone plates - the same bone recipe, then a thin glaze of Akhelian Green pulled from the base of each plate so the bone picks up the water colour.

Enclave palettes

• Ionrach - the standard scheme: teal armour, pale skin, gold trim.
• Fuethán - warm and aggressive. Shift the armour to Khorne Red into Mephiston Red and keep the skin cool for contrast.
• Dhom-Hain - darker and deeper. Base with Incubi Darkness and highlight only to Sotek Green.
• Mor'phann - pale and washed out. Ulthuan Grey over Celestra Grey, shaded Drakenhof Nightshade.

Speed

Idoneth are a mid-sized army with two easy shortcuts - contrast skin and contrast-over-metal shells - which makes them faster than they look. The slow parts are the aetherquartz and the large monsters, both of which are showpiece work rather than repetitive labour.

Bases and the sea-bed

Bases matter more here than on most armies, because the conceit is that the Idoneth bring the sea with them. Two approaches, both quick:

• The pale sea floor. Armageddon Dust drybrushed Screaming Skull, with a scatter of Valhallan Blizzard as foam and surf. Bright, and it makes the teal armour pop.
• The dark deep. Stirland Battlemire straight from the pot, drybrushed Stormvermin Fur on the high points, with Nihilakh Oxide stippled into the hollows as weed. Sombre, and better for Dhom-Hain.

Either way, a gloss coat of 'Ardcoat in the low spots reads as standing water for the cost of one more minute, and it is the detail that makes a display base look wet rather than dusty.

Tips and common mistakes

• Stay cool. No warm browns in the cloth; keep leather dark and desaturated.
• Glaze, do not wash. A heavy shade over pale skin turns it grey and dead in the wrong way.
• Contrast over silver. It is the fastest iridescent effect in the hobby.
• Ration the aetherquartz. Glowing everything is glowing nothing.

Every Idoneth Deepkin kit and box we can price - the Namarti regiments, the Akhelian cavalry and the Leviadon - is on the Idoneth Deepkin army page. Try an enclave shift in the scheme generator before you paint the whole tide.