The First Legion, the Unforgiven, the Dark Angels; an army with almost as many monikers as colour schemes. From their classic dark green power armour to the bone white of the Deathwing and the night black of the Ravenwing, they're rather unique amongst Space Marines for having a variety of ways to paint them. Most Astartes forces from Warhammer 40,000 by Games Workshop are predominantly one colour across all of their infantry and tanks, but with the Dark Angels, you get to break it up a bit, adding some variety toboth your army and your painting desk.
Luckily for you, here at The Army Painter, we've put together guides on how to paint the most secretive of Marines. In fact, we have a guide for each of the different branches, including the big man himself, Lion El'Jonson!
The Classic Green
Unless you're planning to really lean into one of the "Wings" of the Dark Angels, you’ll likely paint quite a lot of your force in the classic dark green armour. This scheme looks great when utilising the new Warpaints Fanatic range - with the aptly named Angel Green Colour Primer, the perfect place to start!
Our Social Media Specialist, Tyler Mengel, put together a step-by-step tutorial for this as our first instalment of The Army Painter Academy series. Each step is accompanied by a detailed picture of the stage, showing you exactly where to apply the paint and what it should look like. This allows you to easily follow along and go backwards and forwards in the process as needed!
The Deathwing
The bone white armour of the Deathwing denotes the most elite of the elite amongst the Dark Angels—those within the Inner Circle, who know some of the Chapter's darkest secrets, and are bestowed with their most ancient and powerful arms and armour. It also just looks super rad!
There are several ways you can tackle this colour scheme, and here, our Lead Studio Painter, Thomas Coltau, painted this Ballistus Dreadnought in a combination of Warpaints Air and Warpaints Fanatic, with a little help from some Speedpaints as well. You can read more about how he approached painting such a mighty machine here, and you can watch the detailed tutorial video below to learn how to paint your own!
The Ravenwing
In stark contrast to the bone-white of the Deathwing, the knights of the Ravenwing deploy to the field of battle atop their mighty steeds (motorbikes) cloaked in the darkest sable armour. Next to the green of the mainline Battle Brothers and the lighter armour of your Terminators, a formation of black bikes and speeders is sure to stand out.
Luckily, black armour can also be really quick and easy to paint! Tyler returns with another instalment of The Army Painter Academy, this time with a knight of the Ravenwing upon his painting desk. Once again utilising the painting wizardry that is the Warpaints Fanatic range, he shows off how to quickly paint the black armour of the bike using a chipping technique, allowing you to spend more time on the other details that will really catch the eye.
Lion El'Jonson
The Dark Angels have been blessed with the return of their Primarch, Lion El'Jonson. Having a centrepiece mini for your collection, such as a Primarch, gives you a great place to really flex your painting muscles and show off.
Which is exactly what Thomas did with the Lion! With such an awesome mini, you can't help but really pour in the extra hours and make it a shining example of everything the army could be. It's also a great excuse to try out some techniques and colours that are slightly different from the rest of the collection. He is the Primarch after all - he doesn't need to follow the company dress code. You can read how Thomas approached painting such a historic mini here and watch the full Masterclass Tutorial in the video below.
