Part of our Stormcast Eternals hub: every Stormcast Eternals guide, lore page and painting tutorial in one place.
Every Stormhost has a unique colour scheme — Hammers of Sigmar (gold and blue), Hallowed Knights (silver and blue), Celestial Vindicators (turquoise), Astral Templars (purple), Knights Excelsior (white), and Anvils of the Heldenhammer (black). This guide provides paint recipes for every major Stormhost plus tips for creating your own custom scheme.
The Stormcast Eternals are Age of Sigmar’s most iconic faction, and a huge part of their visual identity comes from the distinctive colour schemes of their Stormhosts. Each Stormhost represents a different warrior brotherhood with its own history, fighting style, and heraldry — and choosing which Stormhost to paint your army as is one of the most exciting decisions a Stormcast collector makes.
This guide covers every major Stormhost colour scheme with specific paint recipes using Citadel paints (with equivalents noted where helpful), step-by-step instructions for achieving the look, and tips for making each scheme work at both tabletop and display quality. Whether you are painting your first Stormcast Eternals or adding a new Stormhost to your collection, you will find everything you need here. For a general painting walkthrough, see our how to paint Stormcast Eternals guide.
Hammers of Sigmar — Gold and Blue
The Hammers of Sigmar are the most famous Stormhost and the default colour scheme you see on Games Workshop box art. Their armour is rich gold with blue shoulder pads, shield rims, and cloth, accented with white details and red gems. This is the scheme that most people think of when they picture Stormcast Eternals.
Armour recipe:
Base: Retributor Armour (spray or brush). This single paint covers the entire armour and gives you the iconic golden look immediately.
Wash: Reikland Fleshshade all over the gold areas. This adds warmth and shading to the gold, defining panel lines and recesses.
Layer: Liberator Gold on raised edges and flat panels. This brightens the armour back up after the wash while leaving the shading in the recesses.
Highlight: Stormhost Silver on the sharpest edges (the very tips of shoulder pads, knee guards, and helmet crests). Use this sparingly — less is more with silver highlights on gold.
Blue areas recipe:
Base: Kantor Blue on shoulder pads, shield rims, tabards, and cloth.
Wash: Nuln Oil to shade the blue areas.
Layer: Caledor Sky on raised areas.
Highlight: Lothern Blue on sharp edges.
Details: White cloth areas with Celestra Grey base, Ulthuan Grey layer. Red gems with Khorne Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight, dot of white for reflection. Brown leather straps with Rhinox Hide, Mournfang Brown highlight.
Speed paint version: Retributor Armour spray the entire model. Wash with Reikland Fleshshade. Paint blue areas with Talassar Blue Contrast over the gold (it creates a rich blue). Pick out leather and details. Done in 20-30 minutes per model.
Hallowed Knights — Silver and Blue
The Hallowed Knights are the most devout Stormhost, known for their battle cry “Only the Faithful!” Their armour is bright silver rather than gold, paired with blue cloth and gold trim. This scheme looks strikingly different from the Hammers of Sigmar on the table despite sharing the blue accent colour.
Armour recipe:
Base: Leadbelcher (spray or brush) all over the armour.
Wash: Nuln Oil all over. This darkens the recesses and gives the silver a battle-worn look.
Layer: Ironbreaker on raised panels and edges.
Highlight: Stormhost Silver on the sharpest edges.
Blue areas: Same recipe as Hammers of Sigmar — Kantor Blue base, Caledor Sky layer, Lothern Blue highlight.
Gold trim: Retributor Armour on trim, rivets, and decorative elements. Wash with Reikland Fleshshade. Highlight with Liberator Gold.
Key difference from Hammers: The silver armour makes the models read much “cooler” in tone — less warm and regal, more martial and stern. The gold is used only as an accent on trim and details, creating a nice contrast between the cool silver body and warm gold detailing.
Celestial Vindicators — Turquoise and Gold
The Celestial Vindicators are the most aggressive Stormhost, driven by rage and vengeance. Their striking turquoise armour makes them one of the most visually distinctive Stormhosts on the table — immediately recognisable and a joy to paint if you want something different from the standard gold or silver.
Armour recipe:
Base: Stegadon Scale Green all over the armour.
Wash: Coelia Greenshade in recesses (or all over for a quicker result).
Layer: Temple Guard Blue on raised panels.
Highlight: Baharroth Blue on sharp edges.
Gold trim: Retributor Armour, washed with Reikland Fleshshade, highlighted with Liberator Gold. The warm gold provides a beautiful contrast against the cool turquoise armour.
Tips: The turquoise scheme benefits from being painted over a dark primer (Chaos Black) rather than a metallic primer, as you need the dark undercoat for the shadows. This scheme is slightly more challenging than Hammers of Sigmar because the layering transitions are more visible on a flat colour than on metallics, but the result is stunning.
Astral Templars — Purple and Gold
The Astral Templars are beast-hunters who decorate their armour with pelts and trophies. Their purple armour is rich and regal, creating one of the most eye-catching Stormhost schemes. The combination of deep purple armour with gold trim and fur accents gives them a distinctly “barbarian noble” aesthetic.
Armour recipe:
Base: Naggaroth Night all over the armour.
Wash: Nuln Oil in recesses.
Layer: Xereus Purple on raised panels.
Highlight: Genestealer Purple on edges.
Fur and pelts: Base with Mournfang Brown, wash with Agrax Earthshade, drybrush with Ushabti Bone. The fur details are an important part of the Astral Templars’ identity — their trophies and pelts should look prominent and well-painted.
Gold trim: Standard gold recipe — Retributor Armour, Reikland Fleshshade, Liberator Gold highlight.
Knights Excelsior — White and Gold
The Knights Excelsior are Sigmar’s most zealous Stormhost — ruthless warriors who believe in total extermination of Chaos. Their white armour is dramatic and intimidating, though it is one of the more challenging schemes to paint well because white is notoriously difficult to apply smoothly.
Armour recipe:
Prime: Grey Seer spray (essential — do NOT start from black for white armour).
Base: Corax White or Ulthuan Grey as a thin basecoat over the grey primer.
Wash: Apothecary White Contrast paint very carefully — only in recesses, not all over, to avoid tide marks. Alternatively, use very thinned Nuln Oil only in the deepest recesses.
Layer: White Scar on flat panels to clean up any wash spillage.
Gold trim: Standard Retributor Armour recipe. The gold trim on white creates a regal, almost religious aesthetic that fits the Knights Excelsior’s crusading identity.
Tips: White armour requires patience and thin coats. Multiple thin layers of white will always look better than one thick coat. If you struggle with white, consider using an off-white like Pallid Wych Flesh instead — it is easier to work with and still reads as “white” at table distance.
Anvils of the Heldenhammer — Black and Gold
The Anvils of the Heldenhammer are the most mysterious Stormhost, composed of heroes reforged from the dead of previous ages. Their black armour creates a dramatic, sombre appearance that is both easy to paint and visually striking — the dark armour with gold trim produces a high-contrast look that stands out on any battlefield.
Armour recipe:
Prime: Chaos Black spray.
Base: Abaddon Black (touch up any areas the spray missed).
Highlight: Dark Reaper on raised edges (this creates the impression of reflected light on black armour without making it grey).
Fine highlight: Thunderhawk Blue on the sharpest edges for a subtle blue-black look.
Gold trim: Standard Retributor Armour recipe. Gold on black is one of the highest-contrast combinations in miniature painting and looks incredibly striking.
Tips: This is one of the easiest Stormhost schemes because the black primer does most of the work. The key to making black armour look good rather than flat is the edge highlighting — take your time with the Dark Reaper edges and the models will look fantastic. The Anvils scheme is particularly recommended for beginners who want something different from gold but do not want the challenge of painting white or turquoise.
Creating Your Own Custom Stormhost
One of the joys of collecting Stormcast Eternals is that you can create your own Stormhost with a completely custom colour scheme. Games Workshop actively encourages this, and many tournament armies feature unique schemes that their creators have developed. For lore on the Stormhost system, see our dedicated guide.
When designing a custom scheme, keep these principles in mind:
Choose one dominant colour for the armour and one accent colour for cloth, shields, and details. Too many colours create visual noise — the most striking schemes use 2-3 colours maximum (armour, accent, metallic).
Test on a single model first. Paint one test model before committing to an entire army. This lets you refine your colour choices and recipe without having to repaint dozens of models.
Consider the painting difficulty. Some colours (yellow, white, bright red) are notoriously difficult to paint smoothly. If you are a beginner, choose darker or more forgiving colours for large armour areas and save the difficult colours for small accent areas.
Think about contrast. The best colour schemes have high contrast between the armour and trim colours. Dark armour with bright trim (black and gold, dark blue and silver) or bright armour with dark trim (white and dark blue, gold and dark red) creates visual impact at tabletop distance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Stormhost is easiest to paint?
Anvils of the Heldenhammer (black and gold) is the easiest because the black primer does most of the work. Hammers of Sigmar (gold and blue) is a close second thanks to the Retributor Armour spray that covers the majority of each model in a single step. Knights Excelsior (white) is the hardest due to the difficulty of painting smooth white armour.
Can I mix Stormhosts in one army?
From a rules perspective, Stormhosts have no separate rules in Age of Sigmar 4th Edition, so how you paint your models makes no difference on the table. From a hobby perspective, most players paint their entire army as a single Stormhost for visual coherence, but painting different units as different Stormhosts (representing a combined task force) is perfectly acceptable and can look fantastic.
Do I need Citadel paints specifically?
No. The Citadel paint names are used as references because they are the most widely known, but equivalent colours from Vallejo, Army Painter, Scale75, or any other brand will work identically. Many online resources provide cross-brand colour matching charts.
What primer should I use for Stormcast?
For gold schemes (Hammers of Sigmar): Retributor Armour spray. For silver schemes (Hallowed Knights): Leadbelcher spray. For coloured schemes (Celestial Vindicators, Astral Templars): Chaos Black spray. For white schemes (Knights Excelsior): Grey Seer spray. Matching your primer to your dominant armour colour saves significant painting time.
How do I paint the lightning effects on Stormcast weapons?
Base the weapon head with Caledor Sky. Layer with Lothern Blue, focusing on the centre. Highlight with Baharroth Blue on the brightest points. Finally, add small dots and lines of White Scar at the very centre of the lightning. This creates a glowing effect that suggests crackling celestial energy. For a faster version, use Aethermatic Blue Contrast over a white base for instant lightning effects.
Do Stormhosts have different rules in Age of Sigmar 4th Edition?
No. In 4th Edition, Stormhosts are a painting and lore choice only. The Stormcast battletome uses battle formations rather than Stormhost subfaction rules. So you can paint your army as Hammers of Sigmar, Knights Excelsior or a homebrew Stormhost without it affecting how it plays, and you’re free to choose a scheme purely because you like it.