Paint It Your Way: Lore Schemes, Own Schemes, and Long-Delayed Projects
The hobby police have spoken
We had one of those very relatable painting chats recently: should minis be painted “the right way”, or just however we like?
Wilini opened strong by declaring himself the Warhammer painting police, ready to hand out tickets for non-lore colour schemes. Thankfully, only for about five seconds. The real point came right after: they’re our miniatures, so we should paint them however we enjoy most.
Honestly, that’s probably one of the healthiest approaches to the hobby. Some of us love sticking close to official schemes because that’s the look that made us fall in love with a faction in the first place. Others want to remix things, push a favourite colour, or build something completely their own. And both approaches are great.
Why lore schemes still work so well
Wilini mentioned that he really likes the colour palettes of the Black Templars and Nemesis Claw, so that’s what he paints most often — sometimes straight, sometimes as a variation on the theme.
That makes perfect sense to us. There’s a reason official schemes become iconic. Sometimes you see a model in a codex, box art, or preview article and think: yes, that’s exactly how this army should look. If that’s the spark, there’s no reason to fight it.
And why making your own scheme is just as fun
At the same time, Wilini showed a great example of going in a completely different direction with his Tempestus Aquilons Kill Team.
First, the original official look:
And then his own version:
It’s always fun to see this side-by-side comparison. The official version gives you the studio baseline, but the custom one immediately feels more personal. It’s the same miniature, but not the same identity.
Wilini also shared a Templar-flavoured variation of the same figure:
This one is still work in progress, but even at this stage it shows exactly what makes alternate schemes so satisfying. You can keep the silhouette, the vibe, or the role of the mini, while making it fit your own army aesthetics better.
Meanwhile on our painting desks
That conversation also kicked off the usual chain reaction: once one person starts talking about painting, suddenly everyone remembers what they want to paint next.
End3r dropped in with a very promising “this will be painted” update:
The plan is to start with the Kharadron Overlords dwarfs, testing a green that may end up becoming the colour for clothes or uniforms. At the same time, there’s also a Combat Patrol: Votann on the way to assemble.
So yes — a full month of preparations for a proper nerd weekend. Very respectable hobby scheduling, honestly.
The best kind of hobby comeback
And then came maybe the most relatable sentence in the whole exchange: it looks like one guy, after years, will finally get painted.
Every hobbyist knows that model. The one that somehow survives multiple editions, several reorganised shelves, at least one change of project priorities, and still sits there waiting for its moment. There’s something deeply satisfying about finally pulling one of those veterans back onto the desk.
Paint what makes you happy
If there’s one thing we took away from this chat, it’s this: lore-accurate painting is cool, custom painting is cool, and finally painting an ancient shelf resident is also cool.
We like official schemes. We like personal schemes. We like seeing someone take a familiar miniature and make it unmistakably theirs.
At the end of the day, the only real hobby crime is leaving yourself too scared to paint because you think there’s only one correct answer.
There isn’t.
Paint your Templars like Templars. Paint your Aquilons in your own colours. Test weird greens on dwarfs. Dust off that model that has been waiting since forever.
And if the painting police show up, we’re pretty sure they’ll just say: gitara.