How to Theme an Armageddon Army for Warhammer 40k 11th Edition

Few warzones loom as large in Warhammer 40k lore as Armageddon. From the first Ork invasion to the wars for the hive cities, this scorched industrial world has defined entire armies — the Steel Legion, the Black Templars at Helsreach, the endless green tide. With 11th Edition giving everyone a reason to rebuild and rebase, theming a force around Armageddon has never been more rewarding.

Why a strong theme matters in 11th Edition

A new edition resets the hobby. Armies get repacked, rules shift, and thousands of players strip and rebase models they've owned for years. That makes it the ideal moment to commit to a single, coherent setting — and few settings carry the instant recognition of Armageddon. A unified base theme ties a collection together more powerfully than any paint scheme, turning a pile of miniatures into an army that clearly fought one war, on one world.

The look of Armageddon

Armageddon is a world of two textures: the endless ash wastes and volcanic rock between cities, and the bombed-out industrial hives like Hades and Helsreach. Capture both and your army reads as Armageddon at a glance:

• Ash wastes and red rock — the open battlefields between hive cities, baked iron-red under a polluted sky. Rocky Terrain bases are the natural fit here.
• Ruined hives — shattered ferrocrete, rebar and rubble from street-by-street fighting. City Ruins bases sell the siege of a hive instantly.

Mixing the two across a force — infantry on rubble, vehicles and monsters on open red rock — mirrors how the real campaigns played out.

Painting Armageddon red rock

The signature Armageddon look is iron-red desert stone, and it's fast to paint. Keep the simple prime, drybrush, wash method:

1. Prime black for deep shadows.
2. Drybrush up from a red-brown base such as Mournfang Brown, into Skrag Brown, then catch the highest edges with an orange like Jokaero Orange or a little bone.
3. Wash with Agrax Earthshade to tie the reds together and add grime.

For ruined-hive bases, swap to a grey concrete recipe — drybrush Dawnstone over a black prime and wash with Nuln Oil — so the two terrain types still feel like one battlefield.

Choosing sizes for an Armageddon force

Whatever you collect — Astra Militarum and armour, Black Templars, or a green tide of Orks — the same size logic applies: 32mm for infantry, 40mm to 60mm for elites and walkers, and 90mm for centrepiece tanks and monsters. Basing a whole army on one theme is far easier when every size shares the same look.

Start your Armageddon army

Whether you're refighting the defence of a hive or carving out your own campaign in the ash wastes, themed resin bases are the fastest way to make an 11th Edition army look like it belongs on Armageddon. Browse Rocky Terrain bases for the red-rock wastes, City Ruins bases for the ruined hives, or see the full scenic bases collection. Made and shipped from the UK, with free delivery on orders over £35.