Don't have Military Shade? Get a free step-by-step guide using the paints you own.
Make a free guideLooking for a Military Shade equivalent? Below are the closest cross-brand color matches to Military Shade (Army Painter Fanatic) in Vallejo Model Wash, Vallejo Game Color, Citadel Colour, ranked by CIE76 deltaE color distance. Use them as substitutes, or generate a painting guide from the paints you actually own and let PaintGuide handle the matching and mixing for you.
Closest match in each brand
Own Military Shade? Put it to work.
Get a step-by-step painting guide built around your paints — exact colors, mixes, and where each one goes. First guide is free.
Shade & highlight partners
Suggested shadow and highlight colors for Military Shade, picked from the full catalog by color science — not paints you own. Shadows stay richer when they lean cool; pure black just flattens them. Highlights read best warmer and a touch softer than the base; pure white bleaches them out.
- Shade 2Purple ToneArmy Painter FanaticRough match
- Shade 1Dark Red ToneArmy Painter FanaticClose match
- BaseMilitary ShadeArmy Painter Fanatic
- Highlight 1Black Green InkVallejo Game ColorGreat match
- Highlight 2Soft ToneArmy Painter FanaticRough match
Mix starting points — real pigment blends shift a little; adjust by eye.
Your paints, one journey — the blends between them live here.
Don't have Military Shade? Paint with what you own.
PaintGuide builds a step-by-step guide for your miniature using only the paints in your collection — matching colors across brands and giving exact mixing recipes for anything you're missing.
Make a free guide with your paintsMatches are computed by converting each paint's color to CIELAB and measuring CIE76 deltaE distance. A “great match” (deltaE < 3) is very close to the eye; a “close match” is a usable substitute. Finish, opacity, and coverage still differ between brands, so test on primer when it matters.