Only 19 colors, but the washes most Citadel schemes actually depend on.
The Shade range, small but load-bearing
Shade is the smallest of Citadel's core ranges at 19 colors, and it is arguably the most important. These are washes: thin, translucent paints you flow over a finished basecoat so the pigment settles into recesses and creates instant shading. Eight of the 19 sit in the near-black band, which tells you what the range is really for, deepening shadows, with a smaller set of colored shades for tinting those shadows warm or cool.
You do not need many. A neutral black wash, a warm brown, and a flesh-toned shade will carry most models, which is why this compact range punches so far above its size. The colored options, greens, blues, a purple, a crimson, are there for when a plain black or brown would kill the color underneath.
One caution when converting: washes are the hardest category to swap between brands, because their behavior depends on the medium and how translucent they are, not just the color. A same-color match pulled from an opaque range will not behave like a wash. Keep shades as shades.
Washes worth knowing
- Nuln Oilthe neutral black wash that shades almost anything
- Agrax Earthshadea warm brown wash for wood, leather, and skin
- Reikland Fleshshadethe standard shade for flesh tones
- Drakenhof Nightshadea cool blue-black for shading blues and cold metals