In the pot, Black Legion reads as a neutral grey, dark and muted. Within the Citadel range it ladders cleanly, Frostheart for the shadows and Cygor Brown for the highlights. This color is somewhat distinctive: 1 brand offers a strong same-finish match, The Army Painter Gravelord Grey closest at 88 percent. Expect a close but not identical result from a swap, so check it on the model before committing a whole unit.
Black Legion equivalents, brand by brand
1 of the 11 brands with a mapped match get genuinely close to Citadel Black Legion, though none is a clone. Brand by brand, the nearest colors are:
- Closest The Army Painter equivalent: The Army Painter Gravelord Grey, close, with a hint of drift side by side (delta E 2.4).
- Best Tamiya option: Tamiya Smoke, a near match with visible drift up close (delta E 2.7).
- From Two Thin Coats: Two Thin Coats Oblivion Black Wash, close, with a hint of drift side by side (delta E 3.3).
- Vallejo's closest color: Vallejo Dark Blue Grey, indistinguishable once dry (delta E 0.6), but it is an opaque acrylic so treat it as a color reference, not a swap.
- Nearest in the Monument Pro Acryl catalog: Monument Pro Acryl Black, a swap nobody spots at arm's length (delta E 1.9), but it is a technical / primer so treat it as a color reference, not a swap.
- Best Scale75 option: Scale75 Graphene Grey, a near match with visible drift up close (delta E 2.2), but it is an opaque acrylic so treat it as a color reference, not a swap.
The drift here is spread thinly across hue, lightness and saturation rather than leaning one way, so the mismatch reads as a general haze at delta E 2.4 rather than an obvious shift.
How to read the score
90+Close
80sUsable
<70Mix
The Army Painter
Tamiya
Two Thin Coats
Vallejo
Monument Pro Acryl
Scale75
AK Interactive
Humbrol
Revell
P3 Paints
Green Stuff World
About this color
Color profile
Highlight and shade ladder
Match difficulty
Found in 1 other brand with a same-finish match.
Where painters use it
Frequently asked
What is the closest equivalent to Citadel Black Legion?
The closest same-finish match is The Army Painter Gravelord Grey at 88% color similarity.
Is Black Legion a one-coat paint?
Black Legion is a contrast paint, made to basecoat and shade in a single pass over a light primer. One coat drops color into the recesses and leaves the raised areas brighter; a second coat deepens the tone if you want it richer.
What do I highlight and shade Black Legion with?
Highlight Black Legion toward Cygor Brown and shade it down into Frostheart, both Citadel paints in the same finish family.