The short answer
Warhammer Tone Pro is a numbered colour-and-value system; Citadel Shade is a ready-to-use shading paint. Use Tone Pro for base colour and highlights, and Citadel Shade for recess shadowing. The mistake is treating Tone 1 as Nuln Oil with another label. A dark Tone Pro pot is still a paint you apply deliberately; a Shade is formulated to settle into recesses and leave raised surfaces relatively alone.
What Warhammer Tone Pro is
Games Workshop's Big Autumn Preview describes Tone Pro as 30 colours in five tones each, for 150 paints. Tone 1 is the darkest and Tone 5 the lightest; within a family the higher number is the highlight and the lower number the shadow. The same article lists basecoating, layering, highlighting, glazing and drybrushing as intended techniques.
Read that as a painting system, not 150 washes. A Tone 1 or Tone 2 pot is a darker version of the family colour, useful for pushing a surface down, but the article does not describe each pot as a ready-to-use recess shade.
What Citadel Shade does
Games Workshop's 13 June 2022 article on the reformulated Shades describes them as designed to provide instant depth and create stronger shadows, settling more effectively into the recesses of a miniature while leaving the raised parts relatively untouched.
Apply a Shade where you want recess shading, avoid excess pooling, and test on a spare part before using it across a unit. Tone Pro does not carry that promise for every pot, although the 18 September 2026 announcement says Shading Medium turns any Tone Pro paint into a shade or glaze: paint plus medium can take on shade behaviour.
Shading Medium and Blending Medium are different tools
Shading Medium changes what the paint does when it settles; Blending Medium extends drying time so you have longer to blend. Those are separate jobs. The cited announcement supplies no mixing ratio; check the current instructions for the exact medium. This article did not review every product label or official resource, so treat a drops-to-drops number as a bench habit rather than a specification. Start small, test on a spare part and record what you used.
A studio recipe, attributed
Games Workshop's 'Eavy Metal article on red and orange Tone Pro paints, dated 5 October 2026, is the clearest published example. The Blood Angels Intercessor's armour was basecoated with Bloodtoof Red 3 and highlighted with Bloodtoof Red 4 and 5. The Celestial Warbringers Liberator's armour was basecoated with Magnus the Red 2, highlighted with 3, 4 and 5, and shaded with 1. Its metal was painted with Iron Hands Steel, then shaded with Seraphon Blue mixed with the Shading Medium.
These are Games Workshop studio recipes, not tests run here. The two armour schemes begin at different values: the tone number follows the scheme, not a universal rule.
Choosing a value for your scheme
No single tone is a universal starting point. The cited Blood Angels and Celestial Warbringers examples use different named colour families and different base values, which shows Tone 3 is not a universal basecoat rule; other colours and finishes shift the choice again. Pick the value that matches the surface you are painting, then move up for highlights and down for shadows within that colour family.
Which one for which job
Job on the model | Start with | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
Base colour across a unit | Tone Pro at a value chosen for the scheme | Thin and build in layers; check the value on a test piece. |
Edge highlight in the same family | Tone Pro, a higher tone | Number order is a starting point, not a cross-brand match. |
Recess shading over a basecoat | Citadel Shade | Apply only where shading is wanted, avoid excess pooling, and test first. |
Shade or glaze from Tone Pro | Tone Pro plus Shading Medium | Cited announcement supplies no mixing ratio; check current instructions for the exact medium. |
Longer open time for blending | Tone Pro plus Blending Medium | Extends working time; it is not a wash. |
Primer, light and brush loading change the result, so treat the table as a starting point.
Adapting a scheme on spare parts
- Record the old recipe: paint names, tone numbers, medium and application order.
- Test on two spare parts rather than repainting a whole unit.
- Dry each layer fully before the next, following the exact product instructions. No universal drying time is supplied or assumed here.
- Compare both tests with a finished model under the same light.
- Repeat it before extending the change: two spare pieces are a useful initial comparison, not proof of repeatability.
- Only then commit the new step to the unit and update your written recipe.
Where the comparison stops
The announcement does not say Tone Pro replaces or discontinues Citadel paints, and it gives no prices. It says painters can try the range in Warhammer and independent hobby stores from Saturday 26 September. Nothing here is a US stock claim, and no coverage test was run. For the Contrast-versus-wash choice, see the different Contrast-versus-wash decision.
FAQ
Is Tone 1 the same as a Shade paint?
No. Tone 1 is the darkest paint in a Tone Pro family; Citadel Shade is a separate product designed to settle into recesses and leave raised areas relatively untouched.
Can I use Shade over Tone Pro?
Yes. Paint base and highlights with Tone Pro, then apply Citadel Shade where you want recess shading, drying each step before the next.
