Necrons are one of the most beginner-friendly armies to paint and one of the fastest to get a tabletop-ready force on the table. The core of the scheme is a metallic body, which forgives mistakes and rewards quick techniques like drybrushing and washes far more than smooth, flat colours do.
The signature look
The classic Necron look is bare "living metal" - a cool gunmetal silver - offset by glowing green energy in the weapons, eyes and spine. That contrast of dull metal against a vivid, almost radioactive green is what reads instantly as Necron, so it is worth getting both halves right rather than just the metal.
Dynasty colour variants
The bare-metal Sautekh look is the default, but each dynasty has its own twist, and swapping the energy colour or adding a metallic tint is an easy way to make your army your own:
- Sautekh - straight gunmetal with green energy (the box-art scheme).
- Mephrit - gunmetal with a brass/gold trim and orange or red energy.
- Szarekhan - a warmer gold-tinted metal.
- Nephrekh - a full gold scheme, more time-consuming but striking.
- Novokh - blood-red metal for a close-combat dynasty.
Use the recipe above as your base metal, then change the energy accent (green, orange, blue) to match the dynasty you want.
Painting the energy effects
The green glow is the part that takes a little care. Build it as object-source lighting: basecoat the recess a dark green, layer up through brighter greens to almost-white at the centre, then glaze the surrounding metal with a thin green so the light appears to spill onto it. A green technical/contrast paint over a light area is the fast version and still looks great at arm's length.
Tips and common mistakes
- Don't skip the wash. A dark wash (Nuln Oil or any black/brown shade) over the metal is what turns a flat silver into something with depth. It is the single highest-impact step.
- Drybrush up. A light silver drybrush after the wash catches every edge and detail in seconds - perfect for the bony, mechanical Necron forms.
- Keep the metal cool. Warm silvers can look like tin foil; a cool gunmetal reads as ancient and sinister.
- Batch paint. Necron armies are large and the scheme is quick - paint ten bodies at once through each step rather than finishing models one at a time.