Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0: Ashen Stone

One Coat. Shading, Colour, and Highlights Done.

Ashen Stone is a cool, desaturated grey in The Army Painter's Speedpaint 2.0 range — a paint type that does the work of three steps in a single application. Brush it over a white or light primer and it flows into recesses to create natural shadow, deposits colour across raised surfaces, and leaves a subtle highlight effect where coverage is thinnest. The result looks like a multi-stage paint job in a fraction of the time. For stone textures, bone, weathered armour, undead skin, concrete rubble, and anything that needs a cold, worn, grey tone, Ashen Stone earns its place on the palette.

Speedpaint 2.0 improves on the original formula with better reactivation resistance — once dry, you can paint over it with standard acrylics, layer paints, or contrast-style paints without lifting or smearing the layer beneath. That means highlighting is a straightforward next step, not a gamble. Block in your models with Ashen Stone, let it dry, and you're ready to pick out edges and details within minutes.

Who Should Pick This Up

Speedpaint 2.0 is one of the most beginner-friendly paint types available — a single pot handles colour, shading, and basic highlighting in one pass, which removes a significant amount of technique from the equation early on. For new hobbyists working through a pile of models and wanting table-ready results without a steep learning curve, it's an excellent starting point. Experienced painters use Speedpaints as a speed-painting foundation for rank-and-file units, freeing up time to focus on characters and centrepiece models. Ashen Stone specifically is a versatile neutral — useful across almost any army or game system wherever grey, stone, or pale worn tones appear.