Warhammer 40K Necrons and Their Distinctive Color Schemes
Do you want to paint your Necron army but don’t know what color scheme to paint them?
When painting your 40K Necrons, the first you should know is that they look like animes or aliens. So, take inspiration from your favorite anime toons before painting your Necrons. Regardless, choosing a paint scheme for your Necron army can be difficult.
Whether you want to paint your Necron Doomsday Ark, Immortals, or Doom Scythe, this guide will help you find the best Necron Dynasty color schemes for your figures.
The Necron Dynasty
The Necrons are a race of humanoid robot species in the Warhammer 40K universe. They wield technological and military might, from their futuristic weapons to their magical abilities beyond every other species in the Warhammer 40,000 wargame.
However, they were betrayed by their god, the C’tan, who tricked them into exchanging their living bodies for immortal robotic forms. It means that they look like skeletal alien robots.
Their robotic form also means they are highly detailed and require a good paint job to stand out.
The Official Color Scheme of the 40K Necrons Army
The most distinctive feature of the Necron army is its striking color scheme.
Necrons have an iconic silver and green color scheme
This means the model will feature a base of metallic silver and bright green highlights on the armor and weapons and even represents their otherworldly energy sources (OSL or glow effect).
Read our guide on “How to Paint glowing Energy Effects on Miniatures” to learn how to paint energy sources on Necrons.
Regardless, this official color scheme of the 40K Necrons Army portrays their lore as the colors used provide a perfect balance between mechanical and supernatural.
Popular Color Schemes for Warhammer 40K Necrons
Besides the traditional green and gold color scheme of the Necron army, some of the most popular color schemes you will find include:
- The Black and Gold Necron Color Scheme
This scheme features a base of glossy black and golden accents on the edges of the armor plates and other details. This scheme looks particularly striking when combined with bright green glowing effects on the weapons and other Necron technology, and you can typically find them on models from the Sautekh Dynasty.
- The Blue and Silver Scheme
For players who want to add more color to their Necron army, a popular scheme to consider is the blue and silver paint scheme. It features a base of metallic silver with blue accents on the armor plates and other details. This scheme looks particularly striking when combined with bright green glowing effects, creating a high-tech look perfect for Necrons.
- The Red and Silver Scheme
For this scheme, the model comes in a metallic silver basecoat with dark-red accents on the armor plates and other details. This scheme creates a more ominous and menacing look for the Necrons, making it a great choice for players who want to emphasize the deadly nature of their army.
There’s more!
Other common color schemes you can find on a Necron army includes:
- Maynarkh Dynasty – black with glowing orange accents
- Nihilakh Dynasty – black primary with teal, blue with cool green accents, or turquoise and gold theme
- Mephrit Dynasty – black primary with dark green and orange
- Thokt Dynasty – black primary with purple, violet, or dark blue accents
Alternative Paint Schemes for Warhammer 40K Necrons
Other alternative colors miniature painters use for their Necron miniatures include:
- Bronze and verdigris
- Black and gold
- Bone ceramic
- White and Red or blue
- Brown or bone scheme with Blue OSL for interest
- Purple and brass
- Purple and gold
You Can Choose Your Own Color Scheme for Your 40K Necrons
While the traditional color scheme for 40K Necrons ranges from gold to silver, black-red, green, and orange, an advantage of painting your Necron miniatures is that you can use a different color scheme from the official colors. It gives your model a personalized or custom feel.
This means that a black with green paint scheme is possible, but you could paint them like Iron Man or a skeleton. The bottom line is you can do anything you want.
Technically, Necrons are easy to paint with metallic colors but don’t do that if you want them to look unique. Instead, use contrast or technical paints.
However, if you want to paint glow effects and have never tried painting Necrons before, don’t use white or black as basecoat because you may have a hard time painting white. With black, it can be difficult to create depth or even do weathering effects.
With all that said, monochromatic white, grey, black, or black metallic will look cool if you intend to use a different color scheme from the official colors.
Tips and Tricks for Painting Warhammer 40K Necrons
- Be Careful with White Paint
White paints are awful. What you want to do is paint in light grey and highlight it with white. It comes out as white to the eye but is much easier to do and doesn’t have the highlighting problem that pure white does. Apothecary white contrast is great.
- Paint Them in Batches But Ensure You Can Distinguish Them
When painting the Necron army for tabletop gaming, the most important part of the process isn’t that your dynasty A is painted like dynasty A. The only rule you want to keep in mind is that if you are painting multiple dynasties, it should be easy to tell which is which, even if all you’ve done is paint the base rims a different color.
Whether you do it through different color schemes or different bases, the point is that the various klan, dynasties, or chapters should look different. So if all your Necrons are metal and green, then either paint their shoulder pads differently or paint their bases differently. Not necessarily in dynasty colors, just different from each other.
Conclusion
For most people, the Necrons army is the ugliest army in the Warhammer universe. However, when painted the right way and with the right color scheme, the result will come out as expected. Before you paint your 40K Necron figure, make sure you like the color you choose and pick the right color contrast to achieve the desired effect.
