How to Paint Necrons: Metallics Made Easy

Necrons are one of the best armies for a beginner who wants a striking result with very little effort, because their signature look is bare metal, and metal is astonishingly quick to paint. A whole phalanx of gleaming undying robots can be tabletop-ready in an afternoon. This guide covers a fast, reliable gunmetal scheme for the Necrons, complete with the glowing green weapons that make them unmistakable.

What You'll Need

You will want a silver metallic, a dark shade, a brighter silver for highlights, and a couple of greens (or a glow technical paint) for the weapons. A single soft brush handles most of the model, with a fine one for the glowing rods. Not using Citadel paints? Our paint converter lists the Vallejo and Army Painter equivalents for every colour here. As always, thin your paints so the metallic flakes lie flat and smooth.

1. Undercoat

Prime black. Better still, if you have a metal spray such as Leadbelcher, undercoat with that and you have effectively done your basecoat at the same time, which is a genuine shortcut that Necrons are perfect for. If you only have black primer that is no problem; you will simply brush the metal on in the next step. Let the undercoat cure fully before you start.

2. Basecoat

Cover the whole body in a silver metallic like Leadbelcher. Metallics can be a little translucent, so two coats give the most even finish. Do not be too precious about neatness here, because the entire model is going to be this colour, so you can work quickly and just make sure everything is covered, including the gaps between the ribs and joints.

3. Shade

Here is where the magic happens. Wash the whole model generously with a dark shade such as Nuln Oil. It flows into every recess, darkens the metal to a menacing gunmetal, and defines all the skeletal detail in a single pass. This one step does more work than any other in the whole scheme. Let it dry thoroughly, as metallics under a wash can stay tacky longer than you expect.

4. Layer (Drybrush)

To bring the metal back to life, load a little brighter silver such as Ironbreaker onto your brush, then wipe most of it off on a paper towel until the brush is almost dry. Lightly flick it over the raised edges and surfaces. This drybrushing catches the ridges, the shoulders, the finger bones, and the weapon casings, restoring a bright shine on top of the dark shaded metal. It is fast, forgiving, and looks great.

5. Edge Highlight

For an extra touch of quality, take an even brighter silver like Stormhost Silver on a fine brush and carefully highlight the sharpest edges and points: the tips of the shoulder guards, the spine, the crest of the skull. This is optional, but on characters and larger models it lifts them above the rank and file. Keep it subtle, because a little goes a long way on metal.

6. Details and the Green Glow

The finishing touch is the iconic weapon glow. Paint the gauss tubes and eyes with a bright green: build up from a dark green like Caliban Green, through Warpstone Glow and Moot Green, to a near-white tip. Alternatively, brush a glow technical paint such as Hexwraith Flame straight over the metal for an even quicker result. For the base, a dark earth texture with a few green tufts complements the eerie energy beautifully.

Final Tip

Because the metal-and-wash method is so fast, Necrons reward batch painting more than almost any army. Spray a dozen Warriors in metal, wash them all, drybrush them all, then spend your detailed time only on the glowing weapons. You will field a gleaming, coherent army in a fraction of the time other factions demand, and still turn heads across the table.