How to paint Genestealer Cults

How to paint Genestealer Cults

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    21 Sep 2026
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A rough outline on how I paint my Genestealer cults miniatures.

Rubber and armour

  1. Basecoat the whole model with Steel Legion Drab . Focus on the rubber and armour.
  2. Overbrush the whole model with Flayed One Flesh . Apply an edge highlight of Flayed One Flesh to the more prominent edges of the armour and rubber.
  3. Drybrush lightly with Pallid Wych Flesh .

Fatigues

  1. Paint the fatigues with Snakebite Leather .

Leather

  1. Paint the leather with Wyldwood .

Red cloth

  1. Paint the red cloth with Flesh Tearers Red .
  2. Chunky edge highlight of Mephiston Red .
  3. Edge highlight of Wild Rider Red .
  4. Selective light drybrush of Pallid Wych Flesh .

Exoskeleton

  1. Basecoat with a 1:1 mix of Abaddon Black and Kantor Blue .
  2. Apply a layer of Kantor Blue .
  3. Edge highlight of Sotek Green .
  4. Edge highlight of Baharroth Blue .

Flesh

  1. Basecoat Slaanesh Grey
  2. Recess shade Druchii Violet . On the head paint increasingly smaller amounts of Druchii Violet moving towards the back of the head.
  3. Tidy-up of Slaanesh Grey
  4. Edge highlight of Grey Seer .

Glowing yellow

  1. Basecoat of Yriel Yellow .
  2. Layer of Dorn Yellow .
  3. Spot highlight of White Scar .

Metallics

  1. Basecoat with Leadbelcher .
  2. Wash with Agrax Earthshade .
  3. Paint different parts of the weapons with a choice of Guilliman Flesh , Wyldwood , and Gore-grunta Fur .
  4. Apply a messy highlight of Stormhost Silver .

Base details

  1. Basecoat the pipe with Runelord Brass .
  2. Wash with Agrax Earthshade .
  3. Paint the raised portions of the pipe with Gore-grunta Fur .
  4. Edge highlight of Stormhost Silver .
  5. Basecoat the yellow goop with Wraithbone .
  6. Paint the goop with Tesseract Glow .

Base

  1. Apply Astrogranite to the centre of the base travelling from one side to the other.
  2. Apply Armageddon Dust to the areas of the base that aren't yet painted.
  3. Wash the entire base with Seraphim Sepia .
  4. Drybrush the entire base with Pallid Wych Flesh .

Sword

  1. Basecoat the sword with Abaddon Black .
  2. Chunky edge highlight of Warpstone Glow .
  3. Fine edge highlight of Moot Green .
  4. Basecoat the glowing part with Dorn Yellow .
  5. Paint the glowing part with Tesseract Glow .

darthcosicat

Hello :) Paint a wide variety of Miniatures using Citadel paints, make tutorials mainly so I remember how I paint my models. Hope you enjoy.

Citadel Painting System 31
Base 8
  • Abaddon Black
  • Grey Seer
  • Kantor Blue
  • Leadbelcher
  • Mephiston Red
  • Runelord Brass
  • Steel Legion Drab
  • Wraithbone
Shade 3
  • Agrax Earthshade
  • Druchii Violet
  • Seraphim Sepia
Layer 12
  • Baharroth Blue
  • Dorn Yellow
  • Flayed One Flesh
  • Moot Green
  • Pallid Wych Flesh
  • Slaanesh Grey
  • Sotek Green
  • Stormhost Silver
  • Warpstone Glow
  • White Scar
  • Wild Rider Red
  • Yriel Yellow
Technical 1
  • Tesseract Glow
Texture 2
  • Armageddon Dust
  • Astrogranite
Contrast 5
  • Flesh Tearers Red
  • Gore-grunta Fur
  • Guilliman Flesh
  • Snakebite Leather
  • Wyldwood
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