The Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent is the infernal aristocracy of Trench Crusade - the war's true beneficiaries, arrayed in wealth that no honest soldier could ever touch. The scheme that sells them is a deliberate contradiction: deep, battle-worn crimson on armour and cloth, set against ornate gold that stays bright and immaculate no matter how filthy the battlefield gets. Where New Antioch's white is faith and the Heretic Legion's brass is corrosion, the Court's gold is temptation - and it should gleam.
The signature look
The crimson is the body of the scheme, built from the recipe above - a dark, slightly cool red shaded towards black rather than orange. The gold is the counterpoint: serpent icons, mask work, filigree and jewellery painted as cleanly as you can manage. The final ingredient is gore - glossy, fresh red at blades and mouths - which bridges the two by being both richer than the armour and wetter than the gold.
Painting the crimson
- Basecoat armour and cloth with the deep crimson and shade generously with a black-brown wash - the washes guide covers getting an even result on large panels.
- Re-layer panels and raised cloth with the base crimson, leaving the shade in every recess.
- Highlight edges with a red lightened towards a dusty rose - avoid adding orange, which pushes the scheme towards a very different martial red.
- A crimson glaze over the finished area ties the layers together and adds richness.
The idolatrous gold
Give the gold the care you would normally spend on a display piece. Basecoat a warm mid-gold, wash only the recesses with brown (keep the flats clean), then build highlights up to a pale gold and finally a dot of near-white at the brightest points. The difference between the Court and every other warband is that this metal is polished - no verdigris, no rust, no dust. If you paint one thing slowly on each model, make it the serpent icon.
Gore
Wounds, blades and offering bowls take a deep glossy red - dark red shadowed to black, then gloss varnish or a blood technical paint over the top. Against the matt crimson armour the wet shine reads immediately, and against the gold it reads as sacrilege, which is exactly right.
Weathering the servants, not the masters
Trench Crusade rewards filth, and the Court still walks through the same mud as everyone else - but weather selectively. Boots, greaves, cloak hems and the rank-and-file take dried-earth drybrushing and stippled mud (see drybrushing), while leaders stay eerily clean above the ankle. Chips and scratches in the crimson - picked out in dark brown with a light lower edge - show these are fighting elites, not parade pieces. Ground the warband with dark, churned bases from the basing guide; a muted base makes both the crimson and the gold sing.
Tips and common mistakes
- Cool the red, warm the gold. That temperature gap is what makes the two-colour scheme feel rich rather than gaudy.
- Clean gold is the concept. If the gold ends up as weathered as the armour, the Court reads as just another rusty warband.
- Use black-brown, not pure black, to shade the crimson. It keeps the shadows organic.
- One bright focal point per model. A gleaming mask or icon draws the eye; three compete with each other.
When you are happy with the palette, open this scheme in the generator to swap paints between brands, nudge the mood or add a secondary colour.