The closest Citadel match for an Army Painter Warpaints color is found by comparing the two paints' actual measured colors rather than guessing from bottle labels, since the two ranges were developed independently and their names don't line up. The full paint-by-paint chart, covering every current Army Painter color matched against every Citadel color, lives on the Army Painter to Citadel conversion page.
Why isn't there an official Army Painter to Citadel chart
Army Painter and Games Workshop are competing companies with no reason to publish a cross-reference between their ranges. Every conversion chart in the hobby, including this one, is either built by community consensus from painters comparing bottles by eye, or computed directly from measured color values. This site's matches are computed from color distance first, then checked against community sourcing as a tiebreak, and every match is also flagged for finish type so a wash isn't shown as a stand-in for an opaque base coat just because the color happens to be close.
Sample matches from Army Painter into Citadel
| Army Painter | Closest Citadel match | Similarity |
|---|---|---|
| Matt Black | Abaddon Black | 100% |
| Matt White | White Scar | 98% |
| Abyssal Blue | Thousand Sons Blue | 94% |
| Ultramarine Blue | Alaitoc Blue | 92% |
| Wolf Grey | Caledor Sky | 91% |
| Fiendish Yellow | Zamesi Desert | 90% |
This is a sample of the strongest same-finish matches. The complete chart, sorted by match quality across the full catalog, is on the full conversion page, and the reverse direction (Citadel into Army Painter) is on Citadel to Army Painter.
Do black and white match almost perfectly across brands
Yes, and this shows up consistently across every brand pair on this site, not just Army Painter and Citadel. A true black or true white has very little room to vary before it stops reading as black or white, so matches at the extreme ends of the value scale tend to score close to a perfect match regardless of which two brands you're comparing. Mid-tone colors, especially in the blue and green families, show far more variation between brands because there's more room for the underlying pigment mix to differ.
Should you convert Army Painter speedpaints into Citadel contrast paints
Not directly, even when the color match scores high. Speedpaints and contrast paints are both single-coat shading formulas, but they're mixed to different consistencies and applied over different recommended undercoats. A high color-similarity score between a speedpaint and a contrast paint tells you the dried colors look alike, not that you can swap one workflow for the other without adjusting technique.
Buying into either range
If you're building a scheme around Army Painter's speedpaint system, a starter set covers the core triad colors without buying bottles individually: Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0 starter set(affiliate link). For the base Warpaints Fanatic range, the equivalent starter option is the Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic starter set(affiliate link).
How should you read the similarity percentage on this chart
The percentage is a measure of color distance between the two paints' actual measured hex values, not a judgment of overall paint quality or a guarantee of an identical finish. A 90 percent match means the dried colors sit close together visually. It says nothing about opacity, drying time, or how the two paints handle on the brush, which can differ even between two colors that look nearly identical once dry. Always check the finish-type flag alongside the percentage, since a high score paired with a mismatched finish type is a weaker recommendation than a slightly lower score with matching finishes.
FAQ
Is Army Painter cheaper than Citadel
Army Painter is generally positioned as the more budget-friendly option per bottle, though bottle sizes and pigment concentration differ enough between the two that a straight per-milliliter comparison doesn't tell the whole story.
Can I use the conversion chart to replace my whole Citadel collection with Army Painter
You can get close on most colors, but a handful of specialty finishes, particularly certain metallics and technical paints, don't have a clean one-to-one match in either direction. Check the finish-type flag on each match before assuming a straight swap.
Does the conversion chart account for Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0 specifically versus the older formula
Yes, current-status paints in the dataset reflect the paints as sold today, including the 2.0 speedpaint reformulation.
Where can I compare the two brands beyond just color matching
The Citadel versus Army Painter comparison page covers range structure, pricing position, and which brand suits which kind of painter, beyond just color-by-color matching.