How I Paint - Terrain - Rusted Iron

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I’ve really enjoyed painting the Azyrite Ruins and other terrain features for Warcry and Age of Sigmar. I’m starting to build up a solid collection of pieces, and it’s been rewarding to see the table come to life.

In this article, I’m focusing on the metal components of my Warcry terrain—specifically, the metal grates found in the Azyrite Ruins and the ruined eight-pointed Chaos stars on the barricades. I wanted these metal parts to look like they had been exposed to the elements for a long time, corroding naturally with rust. This effect adds some lovely orange tones that contrast beautifully with the grey stone, green moss, and brown wood.

For this tutorial, I used a barricade miniature. I painted the wooden stakes first, but the rust technique can be applied to any metal surface you want to weather.

 Paints required:

  • Leadbelcher
  • Rhinox Hide
  • Nuln Oil
  • Black Templar
  • Agrax Earthshade
  • Doombull Brown
  • Skrag Brown
  • Trollslayer Orange
  • Ironbreaker
  • Lahmian Medium
  • Chaos Black Spray
I undercoated the model using Chaos Black Spray. The metal was then basecoated with a mix of Leadbelcher and a small amount of Rhinox Hide. This mix gives a slightly dulled metallic look. On larger flat surfaces, a second coat may be needed for solid coverage.


Next, I applied a wash made from a 4:1 mix of Nuln Oil and Black Templar. Adding Black Templar deepens the tone and creates a rich, shaded look on the metal.

 
Once dry, I applied a wash of Agrax Earthshade. This step begins to warm up the metal and gives it that aged, weather-worn appearance.


Now onto the rust! I mixed Doombull Brown with Lahmian Medium at about a 1:3 ratio (paint to medium). This creates a thin, semi-opaque layer—more pigment than a wash, but not fully solid. I applied this by stippled brushwork, focusing on places where water would naturally collect: dents, joints, and chips.


Using the same 1:3 mix with Lahmian Medium, I stippled Skrag Brown over the Doombull Brown, but left some of the previous layer showing around the edges. This builds up a realistic rust texture.



Again using the same paint-to-medium ratio, I stippled Trollslayer Orange on top of the Skrag Brown. As before, I left the edges of the previous layer exposed. This creates a nice gradient from dark brown to bright orange, mimicking the natural variation in real rust.


To finish off the texture, I added small dots of Ironbreaker to the sharpest edges. These represent areas where the rust has chipped away, revealing the bare metal beneath. Be careful not to overdo it—a few tiny highlights are all you need to sell the effect.


Lastly, I coated the rusted metal areas with Lahmian Medium. This step blends the metallic and non-metallic paints together and gives everything a consistent finish.

Thank you for reading! I hope you found this guide helpful. Got questions or tips of your own? Drop them in the comments below—I’d love to hear from you.

More of my How to paint... articles can be found here. Including stone and wooden planks.

Happy hobbying!



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