Citadel to Vallejo Paint Conversion: A Practical Guide (2026)

Sooner or later every miniature painter wants to convert a Citadel paint to its Vallejo equivalent — maybe a Games Workshop paint was discontinued, maybe you prefer Vallejo's dropper bottles, or maybe you just found a better price. The problem: no manufacturer publishes an official equivalents chart, and two paints that look identical in the pot can dry differently.

Why brand-to-brand matching is tricky

Paint ranges are formulated independently. A "red" from one brand can be a touch warmer, darker, or more saturated than another. Eyeballing swatches on a screen is unreliable because monitors distort color and lighting changes everything. That's why serious conversions use a perceptual color metric rather than a guess.

Common Citadel → Vallejo Game Color conversions

These are widely used community approximations. Treat them as a starting point and always confirm before buying in bulk:

Citadel	Vallejo (approx.)
Abaddon Black	Black
White Scar	Dead White
Mephiston Red	Gory Red
Evil Sunz Scarlet	Bloody Red
Macragge Blue	Ultramarine Blue / Magic Blue
Averland Sunset	Gold Yellow
Caliban Green	Dark Green
Leadbelcher	Gunmetal Metal

The fast way: match any paint instantly

A static chart only covers a handful of colors. brushmatch compares your paint against 7,000+ paints from 26 brands using Delta E 2000 color science and ranks the closest matches in seconds — including Vallejo Model Color, The Army Painter, Scale75, Reaper and more. Pick your Citadel paint and you'll see exactly which Vallejo (or other brand) paint is closest, with a confidence rating.

Convert any Citadel paint to Vallejo →

Tips for a clean conversion

• Match the type too — a base coat is more opaque than a layer or air paint.
• For metallics and washes, test on a scrap model; pigment behaves differently between brands.
• Save your verified conversions as a recipe so you never have to re-test them.