How I painted the main elements and the heraldry of my medieval knights. This guide has been broken down into sections so you can either replicate the schemes of my specific knights or use them to design your own. Please do not follow this as a step-by-step, but just take what you need or are interested in.

Skin

1. Basecoat: Cadian Fleshtone, Ushabti Bone & White 4:4:1
   Soft Shade: Basecoat Mix & Doombull 3:1
   Deep Shade: Doombull Brown & Black 5:1
   Layer: Basecoat Mix & White 2:1
   Highlight: Basecoat Mix & White 1:1
   Glaze under eyes: Basecoat Mix & Fenrisian Grey 1:1
   Glaze bottom lip: Basecoat Mix & Khorne Red 2:1
   Highlight bottom lip: Basecoat Mix, Khorne Red & White 2:1:1
   Dot Highlight: White

Chainmail

1. Basecoat with Black

Dark Brown Leather

1. Basecoat: Rhinox Hide
   Shade: Rhinox Hide/Black 1:1
   Highlight: Doombull Brown
   Highlight: XV-88
   Highlight: Screaming Skull

Padded Armour

1. Basecoat with 1:1 Karak Stone and White .
2. Wash with Tallarn Sand . To make this I simply mixed it 1:1 with Lahmian Medium .
3. Shade selectively with Steel Legion Drab .
4. Highlight with the 1:1 Karak Stone and White mix from earlier.
5. Highlight selectively with White .

Wood

1. Basecoat: Thondia Brown
   Shade: Rhinox Hide
   Highlight & Wood lines: Thondia Brown & Steel Legion Drab 2:1
   Highlight: Previous mix & Administratum Grey
   Highlight: Administratum Grey

Tinctures

I decided to stick to traditional heraldic colours for my knights, and locked down some standard recipes. Hopefully this results in their shields looking pretty authentic.

These first two recipes are "metals" and should be applied either on or under the colours that follow them. Generally speaking, "metals" should not be placed on "metals" and colours shouldnot be placed on "colours".

Argent (Silver/White)

1. Basecoat: Corax White & White 1:2
   Glaze: Corax White
   Wash: Administratum Grey
   Recess Wash: Stormvermin Fur
   Highlight: White

Or (Gold/Yellow)

1. Basecoat: Averland Sunset
   Layer: Yriel Yellow
   Glaze: Skrag Brown
   Recess Wash: Doombull Brown
   Highlight: Flash Gitz Yellow
   Highlight: Dorn Yellow

...and now for the "colours". this will probably make up the majority of your heraldry in most instances.

Gules (Red)

1. Basecoat: Mephiston Red & Evil Sunz Scarlet 1:1
   Shade: Khorne Red & Black
   Chunky highlight: Evil Sunz Scarlet
   Highlight: Troll Slayer Orange
   Highlight: Tau Light Ochre
   Dot Highlight: Tau Light Ochre & White

Sable (Black)

1. Basecoat: Black
   Chunky Highlight: Stegadon Scale Green & Black 1:1
   Chunky Highlight: Stegadon Scale Green
   Highlight: Stegadon Scale Green & Wraithbone 1:1
   Highlight: Celestra Grey
   Dot Highlight: White

Azure (Blue)

1. Basecoat: Macragge Blue
   Panel Line Shade: Kantor Blue / Black 1:1
   Chunky & Glaze Highlight: Macragge Blue & Calgar Blue 1:1
   Highlight: Calgar Blue
   Highlight: Fenrisian Grey
   Dot Highlight: Blue Horror

Vert (Green)

1. Basecoat:Warpstone Glow
   Soft Shade: Warpstone Glow + Rhinox Hide
   Recess Shade: Warpstone Glow + Black
   Chunky Highlight: Warpstone Glow + Moot Green 2:1
   Highlight: Warpstone Glow + Moot Green + Screaming Skull 2:2:1
   Final Highlight: Moot Green + Screaming Skull
   Dot Highlights: Screaming Skull

Purpure (Purple)

1. Basecoat: Barak-Nar Burgundy
   Wash: Naggaroth Night
   Recess Wash: Black & Naggaroth Night 1:1
   Highlight: Naggaroth Night & Screamer Pink 1:1
   Glaze: Screamer Pink
   Highlight: Naggaroth Night, Screamer Pink & Deepkin Flesh 1:1:2
   Highlight: Naggaroth Night, Screamer Pink & Deepkin Flesh 1:1:8
   Highlight: Deepkin Flesh

These last three are "stains". It seems likely that these are just variant of the reds and purples used above, but the term of stain for them seems to have stuck and seem to represent some sort of dishonour. If you were building a narrative around your force, they may be nice to include.

Murrey (Mulberry)

1. Basecoat: Khorne Red & Screamer Pink 1:1
   Shade: Khorne Red & Incubi 1:2
   Chunky: Wazdakka & Screamer Pink 2:1
   Edge: Wazdakka & Morghast Bone 1:1
   Edge: Wazdakka & Screaming Skull 1:1
   Corner: Add White to previous mix (edited)

Sanguine (Blood Red)

1. Basecoat: Black & Khorne Red
   Recess Shade: Black
   Highlight: Khorne Red
   Highlight: Wazdakka Red
   Highlight: Squig Orange
   Highlight: Tau Light Ochre

Tenné (Tawny)

1. Basecoat: Balor Brown
   Soft Shade: XV-88
   Deep Shade: Doombull Brown
   Highlight: Averland Sunset
   Highlight: Averland Sunset & Dorn Yellow 1:1
   Highlight: Dorn Yellow

Whilst you could use the recipes from the heraldry for the tabard, I mixed up the paints used (most of the time). My reasoning was that the cloth should read as a different material to the vibrant shield and would catch the light differently, due to its texture.

Dark Green Cloth

1. Basecoat with Caliban Green .
2. Shade between folds and the inside of the tabard with 1:1 Caliban Green and Abaddon Black .
3. Add chunky highlights of 1:1 Caliban Green and Warboss Green .
4. Take some of the previous colour and mix it 1:1 with more Warboss Green . Now use this colour for fine highlights.
5. Mix the previous paint with an equal amount of Screaming Skull . This colour is great for selectively highlighting corners and curves.
6. Finish with a few specular highlights of pure Screaming Skull .

Dark Red Cloth

1. Basecoat with Khorne Red .
2. Shade between folds and the inside of the tabard with 1:1 Khorne Red and Abaddon Black .
3. Add chunky highlights of 1:1 Khorne Red and Mephiston Red .
4. Now apply fine highlights of Evil Sunz Scarlet .
5. Selectively highlight with Fire Dragon Bright .
6. Finish with a few specular highlights of Lugganath Orange , where needed.

Dark Blue Cloth

1. Basecoat with Kantor Blue .
2. Shade recesses with a thin mix of 1:1 Kantor Blue and Abaddon Black .
3. Highlight with 1:1 Kantor Blue and Teclis Blue .
4. Apply fine highlights of Teclis Blue .
5. Selectively highlight with Lothern Blue .
6. Finish with a very small/specular highlights of Blue Horror .

White Cloth

1. Basecoat with Corax White .
2. Wash with Administratum Grey . To make this I simply mixed it 1:1 with Lahmian Medium .
3. Shade recesses with some thinned Dawnstone .
4. Define breaks in material and shade very deep parts, using thinned Eshin Grey .
5. Highlight raised areas with 1:1 Corax White and White .
6. Finish with fine/selective highlights of pure White .

Burgundy Cloth

1. Basecoat with Khorne Red .
2. Shade recesses with a thin mix of 1:1 Khorne Red and Incubi Darkness .
3. Enhance the shading by adding some Abaddon Black to the previous mix and shading more selectively.
4. Apply highlights of Wazdakka Red .
5. Now fine highlight everything with Squig Orange .
6. Mix your Squig Orange 1:1 with Pallid Wych Flesh then selectively highligh.
7. Take the above mix and add in more Pallid Wych Flesh . Use this for some final very small highlights.

Bases

1. Basecoat with Mournfang Brown . It is best to thin a little with water to ensure it flows into all of the recesses. Give it a couple of coats, until the colour is solid.
2. Drybrush with Zamesi Desert , picking out all of the raised detail.
3. Give the base a second dryrbush with Ushabti Bone . Make this drybrush a little lighter, so it only picks out the most raised points.
4. Basecoat the rocks with Dawnstone .
5. Wash the rocks with a little Agrax Earthshade .
6. Highlight the rocks with Administratum Grey .
7. Mix some White . into your Administratum Grey and more selectively highlight the rocks.
8. Finally, finish off by painting the rim with Steel Legion Drab .

Now all that remains is to apply any turfs or flock that you wish. I like to use PVA glue and some flock from my local model shop.