How to Paint Imperial Knights

An Imperial Knight is the opposite of a horde army. There is one model, and it is enormous. Nothing is hidden, every panel is a smooth curved surface that shows brush marks, and the trim runs around the edge of all of it. Expect the trim to take longer than the armour.

The upside is obvious: one finished Knight is a display piece, and you can field a whole detachment from three or four of them. For anyone who wants to paint carefully rather than quickly, this is the best army in 40,000.

The signature look

Bright heraldic armour panels in a household colour, heavy gold or steel trim around every edge, dark mechanical joints and pistons underneath, and freehand heraldry on the shoulders and carapace. Knights are ancient and honoured, so keep the weathering restrained - a little dust and a few chips, not a rust bucket.

The armour panels

Prime and basecoat in as few, as thin coats as you can. On a surface this size, a thick coat will show every stroke.

For House Terryn blue: base Macragge Blue, shade the panel joins with Nuln Oil, then glaze Calgar Blue through the centre of each panel and edge-highlight Fenrisian Grey. Because the panels are large, a gradient across each one - darker at the edges, lighter in the middle - does far more than a flat colour plus a highlight.

Remove the panels before you paint, or at least leave them off the frame. Painting a Knight's inner mechanism through assembled armour is the most common regret people have with the kit.

Trim and metals

Gold trim: Retributor Armour, shade Agrax Earthshade, layer Auric Armour Gold, edge Liberator Gold. Steel trim, which suits the more austere households: Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil, Ironbreaker, then Runefang Steel on the outer edge.

Everything underneath the panels - pistons, cabling, the throne housing - should be dark and oily. Iron Warriors shaded Nuln Oil with a light Leadbelcher drybrush is quick and reads correctly. Cabling in Rhinox Hide or Khorne Red breaks up the metal without competing with the armour.

Heraldry and freehand

The shoulders and carapace want a device. Paint the field first, then the charge. A quartered shoulder in Averland Sunset and Abaddon Black is easier than it looks: mark the centre lightly in pencil, block the quarters, then clean the dividing line with the darker colour.

Bone icons, skulls and scrollwork in Zandri Dust, Agrax Earthshade, Ushabti Bone, Screaming Skull. Purity seals and banners in Mephiston Red with Ushabti Bone parchment. If freehand is not for you, transfers work perfectly well on flat pauldrons - gloss the panel first, apply, then matt varnish over the top.

Household schemes

• Terryn - royal blue with gold trim and red accents.
• Hawkshroud - Averland Sunset into Yriel Yellow, black and red detailing. Yellow over a Wraithbone undercoat, never black.
• Raven - Abaddon Black panels with White Scar halves and steel trim; fast and very striking.
• Taranis - Mechanicus Standard Grey and Leadbelcher with red trim, the Mechanicus household.
• Griffith - Khorne Red into Evil Sunz Scarlet with gold.
• Cadmus - deep green with bone, for something less common.

Tips and common mistakes

• Subassemble. Panels off, legs separate, torso separate, weapons separate. Non-negotiable on this kit.
• Thin coats on big panels. Three thin coats of blue beat one thick one every single time.
• Weather the feet, not the shoulders. Dust and chipping belong low down where they make sense.
• Do the trim last. Paint the panel, then cut the trim in over the top and tidy back.