Dec 9, 2015 - Necron warriors with different color scheme- If I have a duplicate or missing another scheme send me a message and Ill/ remove or add the photo. See more ideas about Necron warriors, Necron, Color schemes.

Colorz AKA colors colours have special meaning to the Greenskins (Orcs & Goblins and Orks) of Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40000.It has origins in the original comedic elements of Warhammer, with the greenskins heavily influenced by soccer football hooligans during the 70's-90's when rowdiness and fanatical obsession led to frequent riots and embarrassing mania; sports teams. Click on the Space Marine to start painting or on the controls below if you wish to choose a background or paint scheme. Quick Paint: Colour Patch 1. Click on the Space Marine to start painting or on the controls below if you wish to choose a background or paint scheme. Quick Paint: Colour Patch 1.

This article presents a cut-down version of Fantasy Flight Games' Deathwatch Role-playing Game's Space Marine Chapter Creation Tables, allowing you to create your own Chapters, albeit without in-game mechanics.

Do be sure to roll on the Planet generator and System generator tables for further fluffing.

Chapter Origins[edit]

Why Was The Chapter Founded? (d10)
1-4	Strategic Prognostication - 'Our tarot cards say there's going to be a threat here, maybe. Found a Chapter!'
5-6	Counter - 'There are Orks over here! Found a Chapter!' 'But it'll take 50 ye-' 'Do it!'
7-8	Standing Force - 'This area doesn't have any Marines in it. Found a Chapter!'
9-10	Crusade - 'We need people running around and hitting the Imperium's enemies. Found a Chapter!'

When Was The Chapter Founded? (d100)
1	Unsupported claim of Second Founding status, but definitely ancient.
2	Late M31; Third Founding
3-10	Unknown
11-15	32nd Millennium
16-20	33rd Millennium
21-25	34th Millennium
26-30	M35; 13th ('Dark') Founding, or allegedly, since the Imperium lost all data regarding it save for the fact that the Exorcists, the Death Spectres and the Crimson Sabres who went traitor and became the Crimson Slaughter are from this founding.
31-40	M35; 14th-20th Founding
41-50	991.M35; 21st ('Cursed') Founding, this chapter be fucked.
51-55	36th Millennium
56-60	37th Millennium
61-66	M38; 23rd ('Sentinel') Founding
67-72	39th Millennium
73-78	40th Millennium
79-84	41st Millennium
85-100	M41/M42; Ultima Founding consisting of Primaris Marines. Actually in two waves (+ intermittents inbetween), first in 999.M41 and 000.M42, intermittent foundings during the intervening years to garrison places, and the second in 111.M42 after the Indomitus Crusade from the last core of Unnumbered Sons veterans.

Go check which foundings are available in the millenium you rolled and pick the closest one.

Who was the Chapter's Progenitor? (d100)
1-50	Ultramarines
51-65	Blood Angels
66-75	Dark Angels
76-80	Traitor Legion or unknown
81-85	Imperial Fists
86-90	White Scars
91-94	Raven Guard
95-98	Iron Hands
99	Space Wolves
100	Salamanders

Chapter Properties and Flaws[edit]

Gene-seed purity (d10)
1–5	Pure - Same as progenitor in terms of purity, and will maintain close links with it
6-7	A New Generation - Gene-seed is slightly divergent (usually because of attempts to breed out flaws, real or not), leading to the Chapter being less linked to its progenitor
8–9	Altered Stock - Gene-seed is altered and some implants are deficient - roll on Gene-Seed Deficiencies table
10	Flawed - Chapter's gene-seed is flawed and sets them apart from their progenitor - roll on Chapter Flaws table

Chapter Demeanour (d10)
1	Swift As The Wind - Going slowly and thinking things out? *BLAM*No.
2	Cleanse and Purify - Not destroy everything? *BLAM*No.
3	No Mercy, No Respite - Let the enemy go so we can follow them? *BLAM*No.
4	Purity Above All - Mutants? *BLAM*No.
5	Scions of Mars - Flesh is strong? *BLAM*No.
6	See, But Don't Be Seen - Run onto the battlefield in colourful armour screaming like a maniac?*BLAM*No.
7	Suffer Not the Alien to Live - Xenos? *BLAM*No.
8	Suffer Not the Work of Heretics - Heretics? *BLAM*No.
9	Brothers in Battle - Hos before bros? *BLAM*No.
10	Uphold the Honour of the Emperor - Performing unheroic acts? *BLAM*No.

Based on the Chapter's Progenitor, how likely are they to suffer gene-seed mutation? (d100/d20)
Ultramarines	10% (1-2)
Blood Angels	50% (1-10)
Dark Angels	10% (1-2)
Imperial Fists	35% (1-7)
White Scars	20% (1-4)
Raven Guard	25% (1-5)
Iron Hands	20% (1-4)
Salamanders	90% (1-18)
Space Wolves	75% (1-15)

If they have a new mutation, what is it? (d10)
1	Hyper-stimulated Omophagea - Eat the enemy!
2	Oversensitive Occulobe - 'I'm in the dark and I can see perfectly! How usefuAAAAH THE SUN'S COMING UP HOLY EMPEROR MY EYES'
3	Mutated Catalepsean Node - Yeah, just go here. It's basically the same effect.
4	Oolitic Secretions - Weird-coloured skin. Yeah, that's it.
5	Disturbing Voice - Ranges from speaking like a creaking floorboard to having a deep, booming voice.
6-7	Lost zygote - Something's gone. One of the silly EMPRAH-BLESSED things like the Betcher's Gland or Melanchromic Organ, not something critical like the Black Carapace
8	Lost zygote or Progenitor-specific. Some mutations are more common in particular gene-lines, see the next table.
9	Doomed - the Chapter has either lost the ability to generate Progenoids or the Black Carapace, stopping future neophytes from being created. Unless they fix this fast, they're fucked.
10	Multiple instabilities - roll d3 more times on the table, rerolling multiples of the same result.

Progenitor-specific mutation
Ultramarines	Doomed
Blood Angels	Hyper-stimulated Omophagea
Dark Angels	Lost zygote
Imperial Fists	Reroll with a d6
White Scars	Hyper-stimulated Omophagea
Raven Guard	Oversensitive Occulobe
Iron Hands	Disturbing Voice or lost zygote
Salamanders	Oversensitive Occulobe or lost zygote
Space Wolves	Hyper-stimulated Omophagea

Lost Zygotes (d100)
01–08	Catalepsean Node
09–17	Preomnor
18–26	Omophagea
27–35	Occulobe
36–44	Lyman’s Ear
45–53	Sus-an Membrane
54–62	Oolitic Kidney
63–71	Neuroglottis
72–80	Mucranoid
81–89	Betcher's Gland
90–98	Melanchromic Organ
99–100	Roll twice on this Chart

If one exists, what is the Chapter's Flaw? (d10)
1–2	We Stand Alone - The Chapter is either distrusted for some reason, or shuns contact with others.
3–4	Pride in the Colours - The Chapter hates doing anything that covers their livery, including wearing Deathwatch black.
5–6	Faith in Suspicion - The Chapter particularly hates a single Imperial institution, and refuses to work with them.
7–8	Eye to Eye - The Chapter hates any method of warfare other than running up to the enemy and punching them.
9-10	Chapter Cult - The practices of the Chapter are weird and probably quite unsavory.

Chapter Legends[edit]

Figure of Legend (d100)
01-20	A Battle-Brother seconded from a previous generation Successor or even the First Founding Legion that provided the new Chapter’s gene-seed. Roll again on this table to determine what type of warrior he was, rerolling if you get this result again.
21-40	Chapter Master
41-50	Chapter/Company Champion (roll D2 to determine Chapter (1) or Company (2), if Company roll d10 to determine which company)
51-60	Chief Librarian
61-70	Master of Sanctity
71-73	Master of the Forge
74	Master of the Fleet (who wasn't the Fourth Company Captain, either due to temporary step down or the post being separately appointed as a full time Marine)
75	Chief Apothecary
76-85	Company Captain (roll d10 to determine which company).
86-90	Company Lieutenant (roll d10 to determine which company, roll d2 to determine Junior (1) or Senior (2) lieutenant).
91-95	Squad Sergeant (roll d10 twice to determine company and squad).
95-99	Battle-Brother (roll d10 twice to determine company and squad).
100	A specialist of your choice (Librarian, Chaplain, Techmarine, driver, pilot, etc).

Deeds of Legend (d100)
01-17	The figure is remembered as the bane of the Orks, to such an extent that his name is known to the vile greenskins even to this day.
18-45	The individual was a stalwart enemy of the servants of Chaos, and slew a Daemon Prince.
46-60	The hero led a glorious campaign against a rebel army, defeating the foe and bringing an entire sector back into the light of the Emperor.
61-75	The figure led an action against an Eldar craftworld, boarding it and inflicting grievous casualties before withdrawing. He and his Chapter are especially hated by the pernicious Eldar, for whom the event is still fresh and raw.
76-85	The hero was lost to his Chapter in a warp accident, yet his descendents have cause to believe he lives still and may one day return to them in glory.
86-93	The hero was the first to face some newly discovered alien race, and ultimately responsible for its total destruction. Centuries later, only the Chapter remembers the name of the race, so utterly was it and its works cast down.
94-100	The hero led his Chapter in many glorious campaigns, slaying hundreds of the enemy’s greatest champions. In the end, he was brought down by the Chapter's enemies, and is a reminder to all Battle Brothers of their holy duty.

Chapter Homeworld and its Properties[edit]

Do be sure to flesh out in the Planet generator and System generator tables.

Chapter homeworld (d100)
01-30	Hive World
31-60	Feral World
61-70	Feudal World
71-80	Civilised World
81-90	Uninhabited World
91-100	Fleet-based

Fleets have d10 vessels; 50% chance they're battle-ready, 50% they're damaged or have other problems

Homeworld terrain (d100)
1–25	Jungle/Forest/Swamp
26–50	Desert
51–60	Ice (water or otherwise)
61–65	Ocean (almost always water)
66–75	Wasteland
76–80	Urban/Human Ruins/Xeno Ruins
81–85	Dead
86–90	Airless
91–100	Temperate/Garden

Quoth FFG: A Hive world, for example, may be an ash-blasted wasteland—or its rearing spires might form islands of plasteel amidst an endless sea of jungle. Death worlds are often thought of as deadly jungles, but might just as easily be ocean-bound planets. The type of terrain in which a Chapter builds its Fortress-Monastery might have little bearing on its character, but may have plenty, especially if that terrain has shaped the qualities of the peoples from which it recruits.

Note that while plenty of these terrain types can be combined with the categories previously described, some are mutually exclusive. Others might seem so at first glance, but with a little imagination can be combined. For example, an urban Death world seems contradictory, but what if the planet’s malevolent ecosystem has risen against its population, and the once-populace cities are now reduced to post-apocalyptic ruins smothered in choking vines? An ocean Hive-world might feature air-sealed hives at the bottom of the sea, or afloat on great manmade islands. An Urban Hive World might an ecumenopolis with extreme population even by Hive World standards, and almost certainly allows for both Astartes and Guard recruitment out of sheer numbers. In the 41st Millennium, almost anything is possible!

Rule of homeworld (d10)
1	Direct Rule - 'My lord Chapter Master, here are the tax-plans for the North-West district of Boreale City...'
2-4	Stewardship - 'Hi, Planetary Governor? It's me, the Chapter Master. Just calling you to remind you that I outrank you, even if I don't do anything.'
5-10	Distant rule - 'You see that castle up there? It's inhabited by the mighty sky-warriors of Emp-rar. Sometimes they come and steal our children.'

Tactical and Strategic Organization[edit]

d10 Result	Chapter organisation	Ultramarines	Variant Base Chapter
1-3	Codex-adherent		Matches progenitor
4-5	Codex-adherent
6-7	Divergent chapter	Codex-adherent	Divergent(progenitor)
8	Divergent chapter		Divergent(Codex)
9	Unique organisation	Divergent chapter	Unique(progenitor)
10	Unique organisation		Unique(Codex)

As suggested by Rites of Battle, numbers are different for Ultramarines successors; also usable for successors of the Hammers of Dorn or other painstakingly Codex-observant chapters. 'Variant Base Chapter' is for chapters like the Space Wolves, Salamanders, or Dark Angels. (Blood Angels have organization which is nominally Codex-compliant, their deviations are all in geneseed with twothings designed/redesigned to deal with that and most Iron Hands successors use the Clan-Company system.) Divergent/Unique(Codex) means their organization is divergent, to a lesser or greater extent, and is closer to the Codex organization than the way their progenitor chapter structures things. Divergent/Unique(progenitor) is the reverse; they are closer to their progenitor than the Codex.The post of Master of the Fleet is the most frequent special assignment to be given to anyone other than the nominally responsible 4th Captain, and a common Codex variant is to assign a full time marine to this and have 4th Captain as another Master of the X (most likely to be found in fleet based Chapters).

Combat doctrine (d10)
1	Close Combat
2	Ranged Combat
3	Armoured Assault
4	Stealth
5	Lightning Strike
6	Drop Pod
7	Thunderhawk Assault
8	Siege
9	Shock and Awe
10	Terror

d100 Result	Characteristic Chapter Training
01–10	The Holy Bolter: The chapter undertakes drill with the bolter and meditative prayer daily, and may combine the two.
11–20	Mental Bulwark: The chapter's hypno-indoctrination is more thorough than most, leading to strong-willed if inflexible astartes.
21–30	Warrior Angels: Astartes of this chapter are famously skilled with both gun and sword, but sometimes lacking in more abstract skills.
31–40	Mens et Manus: This chapter believes in building their brother's minds and bodies to peak performance, the better to be ready for anything.
41–50	Endure Anything: Training in this chapter emphasizes the need for any squad to be ready to endure any trials they find themselves in. They produce tough, durable brothers with diverse specialties.
51–60	Duty Unto Death: Astartes of this chapter will readily take on missions others see as suicidal, and soldier through any pain they encounter on the way.
61–70	Shatter the Foe: This chapter considers the best way to combat the enemy to be fast, powerful strikes which demoralize enemies and inspire allies.
71–80	Scholar-Knights: All Astartes of this chapter are expected to be well-read and treat gathering intelligence as a duty of equal importance to direct destruction of the foe.
81–90	Shepherd-Marshals: The chaplain's arts are spread well beyond the reclusiam in this chapter, and its brothers inspire those they fight alongside with their stirring rhetoric and skill with the blade.
91-100	All Paths to Victory: This chapter encourages an unusual degree of freedom in its training, with a result of very diverse skillsets and aptitudes among its astartes.

Chapter Specialities[edit]

Specialty restrictions (units the chapter cannot field) - Only roll if Unique Organisation was selected (d100)
01–20	Apothecary (someone still needs to collect the progenoids)
21–40	Assault Marine (Jump packs can still be issued)
41-60	Devastator Marine (Heavy weapons can still be issued)
61-80	Techmarine (better have close contact with AdMech for those advanced weapons)
81-97	Librarian
98-100	Roll Twice on this Chart or choose something truly unusual (i.e., the Chapter has no Scouts, the Chapter’s Veterans are not formed into the 1st Company, etc.)

Special equipment- Roll once if Divergent was selected, twice if Unique Organisation was selected (d100)
01-10	Traditional Weapon: The Chapter favours one specific weapon over all others. Choose one specific weapon to serve as the Chapter’s traditional weapon. Examples: Power Sword, Bolt Pistol, Melta Gun
11-20	Totemic Charm: This Chapter has strong beliefs in the icons of either the Emperor or their Primarch. A Battle- Brother from this Chapter would never be caught without such an icon on their person. Example: Chapter Heraldry on a necklace, Imperial Aquilla tattooed over the right eye.
21-30	Modified Jump-Pack: Primarily seen in Chapters that favor the Assault Combat Doctrine, Battle-Brothers from this Chapter modify their Jump-Packs (with a Tech-Marine’s help of course) to provide a more glorious sight to their allies and a more terrifying one to their enemies. Examples: Jump-Pack’s created in different shapes such as angel wings.
31-40	Bestial Companion: More common among those Chapters whose origins come from Feral Worlds, this Chapter prides itself on raising hunting animals to assist in battle. Examples: Fenrisian Wolf, hunting birds.
41-50	Rare Weaponry: Whether through the blessing of the Adeptus Mechanicus or sheer good fortune, this Chapter has a large stock of weaponry that is considered rare amongst the other Chapters. It is seen as a symbol of honour to wield one of these weapons in battle. Examples: Astartes Assault Cannon, Digital Weapons.
51-60	Blessed Wargear: It is common for members of this Chapter to have their Wargear blessed by a Chaplain before battle. Doing so puts the Battle-Brother’s mind at ease and more focused on the task at hand.
61-70	Special Mount: While other Chapters may keep animals as companions, this Chapter uses them for what they were intended for — transportation. Examples: Fenrisian Wolf, Carnodon, very angry Grox.
71-80	Special Vehicle: This Chapter prefers to ride into battle in more modern conveyances. While the traditional Space Marine vehicle is the Rhino, other Chapters may use more rare vehicles as primary transport. Examples: Modified Rhino, Land Raider, or Land Speeder
81-90	Preferred Fighting Style: The Chapter has a specific way in which it prefers to go about killing the enemy in the name of the God-Emperor of Mankind. Examples: Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, dual Power Swords, special Bolter pattern or ammunition
91-100	Modified Weaponry: When the Chapter’s forges produce a weapon, they produce them in a style that is specific to their Chapter. Examples: Power Sabre, Bolt Pistol with weighted butt for clubbing.

Chapter Beliefs[edit]

What form do the Chapters' beliefs take? (d100)
01-40	Revere the Primarch - 'Our Spiritual Liege is better than yours!' (can reroll if lineage is unknown)
41-65	The Emperor Above All - 'Screw your spiritual liege. The big E is where it's at.'
66-75	Honour the Ancestors - 'Old members of our Chapter are better than your guys.'
76-80	Death Cult - 'SHUT UP YOU GUYS DON'T YOU KNOW WE'RE GOING TO DIE SOME DAY'
81-85	Totem Creature - 'You know how we've got a hawk as our Chapter symbol? Yeah, we're going to stick that everywhere.'
86-90	Purity of Man - 'Flesh is better than bionics!'
91-95	Steel Over Flesh - 'Bionics are better than flesh!'
96-100	Esoteric Beliefs - You know our Chapter's beliefs? They're weird.

Chapter Strength[edit]

At what strength is the Chapter? (d10)
1	Endangered: The Chapter numbers only a handful of Companies or less having suffered devastating losses in combat, accident, or dramatic genetic instability. If recovery is even possible it will take many decades, making every Battle-Brother (and his Progenoids) an invaluable resource.
2-4	Under Strength: The Chapter is recovering from a defeat or accident that occurred several decades ago, or has recently suffered heavy, but not irrecoverable losses. It is probably at a minimum of half strength, and should return to nominal strength within a decade.
5-9	Normal: The Chapter can field ten full companies, each with ten squads. In all likelihood most every squad consist of ten brethren and some specialized appointments may be empty, but the Chapter is regarded as fully fit for battle.
10	Over Strength: Some Chapters maintain more than the prescribed ten companies, though it is rare for more than a handful more to be fielded and even then only temporarily. It may be that the Emperor’s Tarot has predicted terrible losses ahead, The Marines are getting some extra Milage out of the the Marines that technically don't count towards the 1000 Marine limit (such as Librarians and Dreadnoughts, or permanent fleet crews) or that the Chapter simply regards its numbers as optimal and cares little for the dictates of the Codex Astartes.

Chapter Relations[edit]

Who are your Chapter friendly with? (d100)
1-5	Administratum
6-15	Adeptus Arbites
16-30	Another Chapter (choose one)
31-35	Adeptus Astra Telepathica
36-45	Adeptus Mechanicus
46-50	Adepta Sororitas
51-53	Adeptus Titanicus
54-55	an Imperial Knight house
56-58	Astropaths
59-60	Chartist Captains
61-65	Ecclesiarchy
66-75	Imperial Guard from a specific world
76-79	Imperial Navy
80-85	Inquisition
86-88	Navigators
89-91	Officio Assassinorum
91-93	Planetary Defence Force of a specific world
94-98	A Rogue Trader dynasty
99	Schola Progenium
100	Scholastica Psykana

Who are the Chapter's enemies?(d100)
01-02	Roll on Chapter Friends table
3-21	The Orks (alternatively, you may select a particular Waaagh! or Warboss)
22-30	The Tau Empire (alternatively, you may select a particular Sept, Commander, or Ethereal)
31	The Farsight Enclaves (alternatively, you may select Farsight himself or a subcommander)
32-42	The Eldar (alternatively, you may select a particular Craftworld or leader)
43-51	The Tyranids (alternatively, you may select a particular Hive Fleet)
52-60	The Genestealer Cults (alternatively, you may select a particular Cult)
61-70	Chaos Space Marines (you should choose a particular warband, Chapter, or Traitor Legion)
71-79	A particular Daemon, Daemon Prince or Disciple of Chaos
80-87	A particular Chaos-aligned group (i.e., Traitor Titan Legion, Chaos pirates, renegade Imperial Guard, etc.)
88-97	The Dark Eldar (alternatively, you may select a particular Kabal or leader).
97-100	Other (choose one force or group, such as aliens (see below) or heretics or a specific cult)

Minor Xenos Species/Empires(1d100)
1-15	Kroot, Vespid, or another T'au client race
16-25	Hrud
26-35	Fra'al
36-45	Uluméathic League
46-55	Yu'Vath/Legacy of the Yu'vath/Rak'gol
56-65	Enslavers
66-70	Barghesi
71-75	Thyrrus
76-80	Hellgrammite
81-85	Loxatl
85-90	Saharduin
91-92	Xenarch
93-95	Cythor Fiends
96-97	Nightmare-Engines of the Pale Wasting
98-100	Other Xenos Species (pick one or roll/write one up)

Lastly, add a name, colours, and heraldry, and you're ready to release your overpowered piece-of-shit Chapter on the world. God-Emperor help us all.

Warhammer 40,000 Faction Creation Tables
Imperium	Adeptus Custodes Shield Host - Grey Knight Brotherhood - Imperial Guard Regiment - Imperial Knight House Inquisitor - Legiones Skitarii - Legio Titanicus - Renegade Space Marine Chapter Sisters of Battle Order - Space Marine Chapter - Tempestus Scions Regiment - Underhive Gang
Chaos	Chaos Space Marine Warband - Chaos Warband Heretics & Heretical Cults - Lost and the Damned Regiment - Renegade Knight House
Xenos	Creature Creator - Dark Eldar Kabal - Eldar Craftworld - Harlequin Masque - Genestealer Cult Necron Dynasty - Ork Klan - Tau Cadre - Tyranid Hive Fleet
Planets	Forge World Generator - Dark Mechanicus Forge World Generator - Planet Generator - Solar System Generator

Necrons have amazing models, detailed and interesting infantry with a lot of potential for object source lighting, and vehicles with a lot of depth and detail. I love the look hordes of units, and hordes of Warriors and Immortals have a huge potential to impress.
What keeps Necron armies down visually is the color scheme. Drybrushed metallic colors over black is such a natural choice and so easy to do. In addition, translucent green rods that Warriors use guide all Necron armies towards a natural black/dark metal/green color scheme. It's ok, but it's boring. Not only is it typical and predictable, but all that black does injustice to the models. There's so much detail and depth that gets lost in all that black.
Take a look at this Annihilation Barge model. This is a beautiful model, but it is hard to distinguish any detail in it. Below and behind the gun especially. And this is painted with extraordinary effort, where every single edge is highlighted with green gradients. What gives?
I decided to strive towards a paint job where no surface would be left behind. Nothing would be left entirely black, instead painted with gray gradients. If it is still dark and visible on the table top, it should have some object source lighting (OSL) to exaggerate the detail.
Finally, I like the idea of having a material theme that is closely tied to theme. For example, a plain looking metal material that would dominate on Warriors, a heavy armor looking material that would dominate on vehicles and heavy infantry, and an elite material that denotes prestige. Sprinkle with details and the army looks unified yet diverse.
---
So, time to google Necron armies and see what people have done. In the end, two color schemes resonated with me the most:

The light blue/gray Necron army by Element Games (scroll further down)

The black/orange Necron army by On Target Studios

What I liked about the first color scheme is how tranquil it looked, and how it stood out with its light colors. Even the metals, which are the darkest parts of each model, are dark gray at best. I find it to my liking.
On the other hand, the black/orange theme looks angry. It does a lot of OSL and it does it well, giving me something to look up to when painting.
However, both armies (though, arguably, black/orange more) have the problem of lots of obscured detail. In the light colored army, while the whites and the blues were nicely detailed, the grays just blended in together. On the other hand, the black/orange only has visible detail around OSL. The rest is an indistinguishable mass of blacks and some blue lines here and there.
The solution, and my choice of color scheme became obvious when I realized this.

The metals, the core of the mechanisms, should be dark gray with plenty of OSL. This OSL should be orange and red, to communicate the rage my Necrons feel inside. I never liked using metallic colors, so matte gray gradients for metals were a natural choice, and besides, OSL on metallic surfaces is far more tricky to pull of, if you think about it. Instead of just shining light on surrounding detail, you need to think about reflections, glares etc.
On the outside, unnatural pale materials would provide armor, serving to provide contrast and a visible outline to each unit. This would serve to determine the pose of infantry, and the pattern of which surfaces are this pale color would serve to distinguish different unit types easily. Finally, as for the color denoting prestige, I didn't decide until painting my Overlord; at which point I just tried using light khaki colors and it worked great.
I originally decided to use light gray/white gradients for the armor material, exactly like in the light color army above. However, it looked too plain. I decided to throw in a hint of light blue just to contrast orange more, liked it, and kept going until it effectively became a light gray/light blue gradient.
It looked like it was radiating, and while this was not original intent, it looked great and I stuck with it. I think that it looked radiating because the overall lightness of the two colors is about the same, but the saturation of colors differs a lot. It's a gradient from color to gray scale instead of a more typical gradient from light to dark.
The exact technique I ended up using are the following, over a black undercoat.
Black metals:
- Couple of thin layers of Eshin Grey
- Light drybrush of Dawnstone
- Heavy wash of Nuln Oil.
Oranges:
- One thin layer of White Scar. Doesn't need to cover all recesses
- One thin layer of Red, covering all recesses
- Troll Slayer Orange on surfaces. All OSL is later done in Troll Slayer Orange too
- Fuegan Orange wash in recesses
- Gradient the orange onto Yriel Yellow.
- If the area should be exceptionally bright, lines and dots of Dorn Yellow.
Blues:
- Two-three thin layers of Dawnstone
- Drybrush of Fenrisian Grey, focusing on the middle of surfaces instead of highlighting edges

Color Scheme Generator Online

Necron Color Scheme Generator Download

- On vehicles, outline edges with Ulthuan Grey (though I might have used White Scar initially?)