How to Paint IRON WARRIORS Space Marines for The Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40k

In this video, we take a look at how to paint a great scheme for Horus Heresy era Iron Warriors, although it will work just as well for any Heretic Astartes Iron WArriors in 40k too.
#horusheresy #ironwarriors #spacemarines
Heresy Playlist - • Horus Heresy Army Pain...
Paints Used:
Ammo by Mig - Old Brass 0190
GW - Skeleton Horde Contrast
GW - Rhinox Hide
GW - Seraphim Sepia
GW - Akhelian Green Contrast
MCS - Steel 77.712
VMA - Steel 71.065
VMA - Yellow 71.078
GW - Runelord Brass
Tamiya - Flat White XF-2
Tamiya - IJN Grey XF-75
Tamiya - Flat Black XF-1
VMC - Black 70.950
VMC - Dark Grey - 70.994
Abteilung 502 - Starship Filth
W&N - Artists Oil Colour Burnt Sienna
W&N - Artists Oil Colour Burnt Umber
BASE - Vallejo pigments: Dark Slate Grey, Light Sienna, Light late Grey
GW: Games workshop
VMC: Vallejo model colour
VMA: Vallejo model air
VGC: Vallejo game colour
VGA: Vallejo game air
VMCS: Vallejo metal colour series
S75: Scale 75
AK: AK Interactive
W&N: Winsor & Newton
Below is our affiliate link, and the only place to purchase our signature series airbrushes (our brushes ship globally.)
Airbrush:
elementgames.co.uk/paints-hob...
Webstore :
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Patreon:
/ cultofpaint
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/ hennsteele
/ andywardle_artwork
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Wet Palette used: www.redgrassgames.com
Paint brushes used:
elementgames.co.uk/the-army-p...
- Winsor & Newton Series 7 Watercolour and miniature
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Music:
Readers! Do You Read by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: chriszabriskie.com/reappear/
Artist: chriszabriskie.com/

[@PeteTheWargamer]

Loved how the hazard stripes turned out, the small flecks of chipped paint and rust looked great.

[@cultofpaint]

Cheers dude. A kill team of them you say? Well that's not a bad idea....

[@UltimateOlive]

@@cultofpaint what kind of masking tape is this? Looks like it does a great job!

[@michaeldorn5330]

@@cultofpaint Cult of paint what black would u recommend to undercoat

[@dekai7992]

​@@michaeldorn5330 AFAIK, Cult use Tamiya primers.

[@michaelcaricoo]

The best legion is finally represented

[@cultofpaint]

Such tardiness

[@michaelcaricoo]

@@cultofpaint neglect for this long is why they turned against the Imperium

[@isquish]

That's such a cool effect on the metals to add colour and warmth to them. I'd never have thought of using contrasts like that either. I'll have to give this a go on my knight when I get around to painting it.

[@MLaak86]

This is a super impressive piece of work, really changed my perception of how Iron Warriors units would look and kinda lifted them up the list of Legions I'd consider collecting.

[@thedarkapostle6025]

Love this tutorial Henry, the hazard stripes look awesome and the Skelton Horde is a great tint for the 4th. Keep up the awesome work you tireless go l group of hobby heroes

[@walrusgaming2680]

I love this paint scheme it is kind of like a 90s 2000s sort of robot scheme

[@easl2658]

Would love to see y'all do Thousand Sons ( in the metallic red of course)

[@cultofpaint]

No problemo

[@shankley_has_a_brush]

Super happy with this video. Impatiently awaiting my horus heresy box. Thank you.

[@Eta_Carinae__]

Dude I've been trying to find a weathered metal recipe for IW for ages. I also like the less subtle approach. I decided on doing an adapted sector iron from Zaksagoon since that's really the only thing that suited what I was after at the time. It's good to see some competition in this space now XD.

[@amaurylaunay]

Amazing work on the metallics and weathering, I'll be sure to apply some of that on my own Iron Warriors. I never knew you could keep painting on top of varnishes !

[@cultofpaint]

Nice! I quite like going back to old projects and adding some oils

[@catherinekrzan6605]

I have an entire army to paint. Now you've shown me how it can be done. Great tutorial.

[@cultofpaint]

Tag us when you get that army done, i'd love to see it.

[@jensskautrup640]

Love it. Im looking forward to seeing the rest of the legions represented

[@jamesbarkworth9043]

Finally someone who loves silver and understands its not just one tone and a wash bloody love this scheme bring so much colour and grit to the model thanks so much, gonna apply this to my silver templars to make them more doable and get them done 😀

[@cultofpaint]

Glad you like it!

[@crashingatom6755]

Man, that end result is gorgeous. GGs!

[@cultofpaint]

thanks!

[@Anathema_Infinitum]

I went straight out and bought these guys. Great result!

[@paradoxical7810]

These videos are absolutely amazing to watch, learning so many new things every single time! Keep up the awesome work as it's very inspiring and pushing me to paint both more and try new things!

[@cultofpaint]

Great to hear!

[@axemurderer010]

a few new things to try on mine after watching. thnx for the vid brother

[@brandon.paints]

Really enjoying all of these heresy videos. Can’t wait for the Sons of Horus one!

[@cultofpaint]

Coming soon!

[@BjornFriborg]

Beautiful work!

[@reinhardtc.p]

Great job as always! Would love to see the Sons of Horus and Raven guard tutorials :)

[@christopherbergeron3982]

Still one of my all time favorite cult schemes

[@erickirwan8703]

Excellent, I love Iron Warriors👍

[@toml7119]

Will be using this recipe for future Grey Knights projects!

[@cultofpaint]

mmmmmm grimey greyknights

[@AL-jo6wh]

Great video as always

[@cultofpaint]

Appreciate that

[@johnmctavish6580]

Ace, been looking forward to this! Hope Word Bearers are on the horizon, those heresy leaks have me thinking about doing some Gal Vorbak...

[@cultofpaint]

Oh they are getting at least 1!

[@nomusenopaint]

Pretty much the coolest so far :). I would love to see Luna Wolves

[@primarchcharlemagne3933]

This video is going to be the reason I finally get an airbrush setup

[@Wijkert]

Great work! Love the iron warriors. Would have chosen a different color for the base to add a little bit more contrast. Now its sparkly grey with matt grey.

[@DawnTapping]

I'd love to see you do Thousand Sons. Thanks for the videos, they have really helped me get into airbrushing.

[@cultofpaint]

They’ll be coming for sure. Glad you’re enjoying the series

[@DoktorTechnometer]

Thanks for this - I am visually impaired (CSR - damage not congenital) and I have been putting off painting again for way too long. But those new MKIIIs and this recipe and style - I might just get something painted before I turn 50 - which is next month. I best get on it before I get decimated for failure.

[@LMR041082]

That’s was great. Many thanks

[@cultofpaint]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@vincemincevince]

another great tutorial i’m going to go traditional iron warriors on my titans

[@tom20023800]

Excellent video, would love to see your take on a dark scheme on a stormcast form the new dominion box.

[@cultofpaint]

A grungy gold? Or just a darker scheme in general?

[@felixw.5836]

The one thumps down is from Rogal Dorn. Great video again. Please do more Titanicus, painted a Maniple in your Fureans scheme.

[@cultofpaint]

I've some more ideas for Titanicus stuff, so we aren't done yet :)

[@nathanvarley542]

Awesome video as always. I'd love to see you do a candy red thousand son force and see how you would weather the modle.

[@cultofpaint]

Great suggestion!

[@adrianstrath9555]

Best Legion. Awesome as always.

[@cultofpaint]

The best

[@seancroker9079]

Amazing as always! Wouldn't mind seeing how grimy you make Death Guard look

[@cultofpaint]

The grimiest

[@TheDude_Jonathan]

As ever great video 👍🏻🖖🏻

[@cultofpaint]

Thanks dude!

[@kingarthurii5001]

I am definently getting the Cataphractii Terminators for my Iron Warriors Army, I love the design so much more than the Chaos Terminators.

[@elibarker201]

Need some word bearers! Love these videos

[@cultofpaint]

Agreed

[@Raven1984ful]

Absolutely loved this, IW has been my first army more than 10yr ago and I’m feeling should give this tutorial a try! Fancy making a Sons of Horus tutorial too please?

[@cultofpaint]

Coming up!

[@arandomcomment7208]

One of my favorite traitor legions along with the thousands

[@derdom1862]

I like your vids, thx for ur work. I would have prefered black leather instead of brown here....

[@vulkan7800]

I see you're saving the best for last. So the last legion will have to be Salamanders ;) (Great video with a lot of tips for silver!)

[@cultofpaint]

Lots of calls for them, think they might have to be next!

[@DJChipsandGarlic]

Gonna try a similar with silver skulls for the base armour 👍

[@abbiplay5974]

Iron Warrior are soo cool.

[@cultofpaint]

Correct

[@stefanholgersson4282]

Great work as always! Next up some FIredrakes parehaps?

[@cultofpaint]

It's not a firedrake but i've a nice mini built for the sallies tutorial.

[@toml7119]

I'd love to see some of the Raven Guard done in the grey/shadow black style shown in Book III: Extermination, as well as your take on the 30k style Death Guard!

[@cultofpaint]

Book 3 was great

[@juliancalero8012]

I have an idea in how to spice up an IW scheme, add some red because I'm in the planning doom spiral phase of the hobby and made 2 HH IW lists that are two parts of an artillery company, the jetbike scouts and the big guns that where saved and 'adopted' by mixed loyalist force of BA and LW

[@petrinafilip96]

Those Iron Warrior Terminators gotta be one of my favourite FW models. Peak 40k aesthetic imho.

[@nicknewland9948]

This looks awesome, thanks! If you fancied doing either Luna Wolves or Heresy White Scars, that would be ace!

[@cultofpaint]

Hadn't thought of Luna Wolves, would be fun to do a different white recipe. Thanks!

[@nicknewland9948]

@@cultofpaint I mean, I may regret suggesting it after 3 months of slog and 2k points under my belt as you’ll give me better ideas, but would love to see it!

[@antonybullock2240]

Pin washers. I'm really showing my age here because you really don't I hear that turn of phrase been used anymore in painting techniques. I also remember when they were called local washes. Great video that will hopefully get me motivated to paint my Iron Warriors.

[@cultofpaint]

I've not heard "local washes" before, just pin washing and panel lining

[@derryburns8968]

Is the tamiya paint the one with the funky lacquer smell? Just want to make sure I’m using the correct one

[@mattygee37]

Nice job very different to how I've done mine, amazing how many ways are to do a metallic paint job

[@cultofpaint]

Agreed!

[@user-he7iv1eb3k]

Awesome! Can you make a heresy death guard video?

[@jasonnewman3355]

If you're looking for a yellow to go over black I can't recommend the One Coat line from Warcolours highly enough. Their One Coat line is insane in coverage, but most shocking is that they're actually very thin. You usually expect extra opaque paints like that to be thick but these are the consistency of airbrush paints (which you can also do with them).

[@cultofpaint]

Will check it out thanks. Tried Warcolours a few years ago and wasn't fussed, be good to see what's new.

[@terrainbeast9154]

Sons of Horus next please!!!

[@abbiplay5974]

Need a greyish Deathwatch Video ❤️

[@m22152]

Great video as usual, would like to see you paint night lords using the FW recipe (even tho you've already done a night lords vid) ✌

[@cultofpaint]

If you mean the really old scheme? Then just do two silvers and hit it with the Alclad candy cobalt blue.

[@m22152]

@@cultofpaint yeah the old scheme, I thought it used tamiya from what I read

[@Ellinyah]

Love the simplicity of this scheme. Do you thin the gloss or as it comes for a 0.4 needle?

[@cultofpaint]

Yes sorry, i usually thin it 3 drop of thinner to 1 drop of varnish

[@guilliman1990]

Damn now I have to re do my iron warriors.

[@cultofpaint]

goooooood

[@drewbakka5265]

Me: *trying to learn differant paint lines to branch out of gw and find the best options* Video: "So this vallejo steel is totally differant from this vallejo steel..."

[@samuelvoke2347]

Great scheme, can’t wait to try it. How much do you thin your gloss varnish?

[@cultofpaint]

Enough that I can spray it through at 25 with no clogs. And I apply 3-5 coats. For the Vallejo polyurethane I'm currently using that's about 3 drops of thinner per 1 drop of varnish.

[@samuelvoke2347]

Great, thanks so much

[@samuelvoke2347]

Sorry daft one, do you just use regular vellajo airbrush thinner? Cheers

[@tombrand236]

Great video as always. May I ask what varnish you would recommend when using true metallic paints without an airbrush? I find the GW varnish can mutes it, but is Ardcoat any good? Thanks

[@cultofpaint]

Vallejo or Ammo by Mig Lucky - Gloss

[@tombrand236]

@@cultofpaint thanks! Someone told me recently that for display pieces it’s best not to varnish at all. What are your expert views on this?

[@doctorrileyphd2665]

Would love to see how you'd do Sons of Horus, I've just stated an army and want to know if i need to strip all I've done...

[@cultofpaint]

Coming up!

[@doctorrileyphd2665]

@@cultofpaint you beautiful person you

[@shankley_has_a_brush]

Hey there, how long did you let the gloss dry before applying decals and oils?

[@cultofpaint]

A few minutes at most. The thin layers dry quick, a hairdryer helps.

[@rikokrates6298]

If you don’t mind Word Bearers please. The red scheme not their old grey one. Thanks 🙏

[@zasalameleuh2289]

I would like to start an IW army. What is the masking tape you used ? Mine is not that good :( Btw great job !!

[@cultofpaint]

I use tamiya and another non name brand I got from a good hobby store.

[@ignitedxblaze]

Any chances of a tutorial on metallic schemes with vehicles? I have trouble getting the flat panels and right angles to look "as good" compared to troops.

[@cultofpaint]

Coming soon on Patreon as an Army Painting+ series.

[@johnwhitley8772]

I’m curious to know how you’d adapt this approach to a tank? Was that stormblade painted by someone on the cult of paint team?

[@cultofpaint]

By the same person who painted this. I wouldn’t change anything really. Just light the larger flatter panels appropriately.

[@doomedstruggler]

Just curious what tape did you use for the hazard stripes? Looks fantastic btw I can't wait to start my army

[@cultofpaint]

I’m afraid I can’t remember the brand as bought it years ago, but Tamiya is what I tend to buy. Check out railway/RC focussed hobby shops, they’ve always got tons

[@doomedstruggler]

@@cultofpaint also do you remember what you used as a final varnish? Gloss or satin?

[@cultofpaint]

@@doomedstruggler no final varnish.

[@TheDrouyn]

So modest. That stormblade superheavy tank was a golden demon silver medal vehicle category right? Excellent job in making the metal scheme something other than "shiny shiny". Would love to see your version of The Sons Of Horus.

[@cultofpaint]

Hah, yeah it was, a fun project. I think we're gonna do a couple versions of Sons of Horus as there really doesn't seem to be an "official" scheme.

[@MichaelAlthauser]

@@cultofpaint I'd love to see your take on a lighter, "sea foam" green Sons of Horus. Loads of the darker schemes out there, but not too many for the lighter version.

[@chrisgoogill]

Any chance of some heresy 1k sons? Would love to see your take on them

[@cultofpaint]

Absolutely!

[@shortti789]

What I’m pressure do you find GW paints work best at in airbrush?? Also can any airbrush work with varnis ??

[@cultofpaint]

GW paints (like all brands) don't have just one consistency across the range. We did a video talking about thinning all sorts of paints for the airbrush, check out the playlist. And yes you can absolutely airbrush your varnish.

[@shortti789]

Thanks your video is awesome I love the way the mode turned out

[@scenczyk1429]

Where does that helmet come from?

[@cultofpaint]

Forgeworld

[@Dillithium]

You've piqued my interest in Tamiya flat white, but how do you feel about Liquitex Titanium white in comparison? Do you think one is better than the other?

[@cultofpaint]

I prefer Tamiya. I've tried a heap of white paints/inks through the airbrush and for me Flat White offers the greatest control.

[@michaeldorn5330]

Cult of paint what black would u recommend to undercoat

[@cultofpaint]

Whatever works best for you. We typically use GW chaos black or colourforge matte black

[@brettmalone8486]

+1 for Salamanders!

[@josefrey4755]

Hi can i use any regular unpainted Chaos Space Marine Model to Paint IW?

[@cultofpaint]

Absolutely. If you wanted to play heresy then you would probably want to trim off a few of the more gribbly bits. But for 40k then use anything you like.

[@josefrey4755]

@@cultofpaint What do you mean trim Off gribbly Bits?

[@cultofpaint]

@@josefrey4755 so this video focuses on painting a Horus Heresy era Iron Warrior, before they fall to chaos. Luckily the armour colour and hazard stripes etc remain exactly the same in 40k. But you’ll notice a lot of the chaos marine miniatures have tentacles, horns, teeth and so on. So if you wanted some tips for doing those then check out our other chaos videos. Or if you were wanting to use chaos marine minis in heresy era then you’d want to cut off some of the more obvious mutations.

[@add3to6]

Sorry for the necro-comment, but do you have any issues cleaning your airbrush after using metallics, or do you just flush it through as usual?

[@cultofpaint]

I flush it through as normal. But often a couple times just to be sure.

[@wolowizard4441]

At 9:02, when you said “blacked out”, what colour black did you use for that? Thanks mate

[@cultofpaint]

I like Vallejo model colour black

[@wolowizard4441]

@@cultofpaint Thank you mate. Also, the airbrush you're using, is that the H&S Infinity solo or the two in one? thanks

[@cultofpaint]

@@wolowizard4441 neither it’s our signature series evolution or Infinity. Link in description

[@wolowizard4441]

@@cultofpaint Oh awesome! One question mate, I got a cheap compressor/airbrush kit for around £110 just as a beginner but I need to upgrade now, will the compressor be adequate for the signature airbrush? Or would I need to get a potentially better one? Also will there be any issues with the tubing from the compressor to the brush? I'm not sure if they're all universal and interchangeable. Thanks mate :)

[@pvtTvix]

Death Guard, LETS GO

[@emile1365]

You must go back!

[@Starburst7641]

Paint scheme aside, this looks like a slightly converted Cataphracti terminator. Head is IW upgrade, how did you get it to fitt the model?

[@cultofpaint]

Hobby drill and knife

[@Starburst7641]

@@cultofpaint Thank you for replying !

[@1989eol]

Really nice video. I wanna paint an army of those myself. So it's time for the smart move. Not paint a model like this and take it from there, but make lots of changes and later wonder why it looks like ass! :D

[@cronchtube]

Henry come on man, I have three things left to do for my Iron Warriors, you can't do this to me! Gonna try this out on a Breacher squad and an Iron Circle bot, will see how it goes

[@cultofpaint]

Sounds like it’s time for a second Iron Warriors army?…

[@ironwithin3875]

Iron within brother

[@magic7924]

Was the tank at the start painted with the same color scheme? Love how it looks. As you say it's a challenge to make them interesting!

[@cultofpaint]

Almost the same. And I’d paint it this way now if I was to redo it. I just took more time with the silvers.

[@magic7924]

@@cultofpaint I have been painting mine using the pro acryl paints but your technique looks superb. Dark but not overly weathered to death. Thanks for taking the time to reply

[@petersaczko6192]

How on Earth could anyone give this thumbs down???

[@cultofpaint]

Hmmm, apparently was by a Mr R. Dorn?...

[@UrLocalPoolman]

*Iron Warriors* When you demand to be taken seriously but smell of dirt and entitlement.

[@alexanderrobinson5002]

You are a benevolent cult leader

[@cultofpaint]

SILENCE! but also thanks for watching

[@mikeb7615]

Never been a fan of weathering