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There are a wide range of paint ranges out there and beefHeart requested a poll of what people actually use so here it is. There are loads of ranges and we cant list them all, so I tried to do the major ones.

I also use the Testors Acryl line.

i'd say that Vallejo Game Color are better than Games Workshop (Citadel) but i only have a fiew in the Vallejo range plus you get more paint for less money!

I use to have about $200 worth of GW paint. My biggest turnoff for GW was how quickly the paint dried out. Ended up experimenting with Vallejo back in grad school and never looked back. I just love the dropper approach. GW does have some amazing washes though...if a bit expensive compared to Kell's Magic.

Lately I've been all about the Reaper Master color Triads. Reaper has a nice flow an open time right out of the bottle unlike Vallejo.

I do Like the Vallejo Metallics and Airbrush series but Game Colors and Model Colors seem really thick to me so I wind up diluting them with a flowaid/retarder/water mix whereas I don't have to do that with the reaper paints...

GW & P3... What can i say other than i really hate the flip tops. Dipping for paint, in my experience, trashes my brushes way b4 their time. I do keep a few GW colors around, Brazen Brass, Dwarf Bronze and Scaley Green because I have not found good replacements for those colors.

I tend to do a fair amount of Glazing and by far P3 seems to work the best in that regard. P3 colors also seem to mix well especially on a wet pallet. Also there are two P3 colors(Coal Black and Frostbite) that I could not live without...

I have used Tamyia and Model Master Enamels for years with my 1/35 models. I have just kept using it as I'm familiar with it, and I already had a lot.

I am slowly switching to Vallejo as my GW paints run out.

Except for washes and foundation paints. Those are awesome!

Game Color and Citadel.

I'm looking at getting the full Game Color paint set suitcase........They make a better paint, no offence GW....

Now I feel like switching to Vallejo, Gw does dry to quickly.

I use a mix of GW and Vallejo (both model color and game color).

I rarely buy new GW paints except for a few Foundation colors here and there, and the new washes. Any other time, if my GW pot dries up, I usually buy Vallejo Game Color to replace it.

A lot of the Vallejo Model color I use for historicals, like Flames of War. GW and Game Color tend to not have as good a selection of the more drab colors, so except for a few colors, I rarely use them on historicals without some mixing.

I've also got a few other things, like some bottles of Kel's Magic Sauce and Didi's Magic Ink (which I love.)

I used to use the vallejo paints a bit, but i didn't much like the necessary commitment to the blob of paint dropped out. Course, that would at least make for easier blending. But even though they do dry up and are somewhat expensive, I stay tight with Citadel and their paints. I especially like the stackability of them.

I'm starting to substitute Vallejo's Game color for my GW paints, but for now I'm sticking with GWs metallics. I've used a few of the Foundation paints, but I feel like I'm just using the Vallejo Model color range. I've also just recently discovered the Citadel Washes. I've found that these dramtically improve my painting time as I'm able to skip 3-4 steps per mini. I would probably try the Reaper stuff, but nobody in our area has sold it for several years.

I use VMC, VGC, RMS, GW Foundation, and some PP. I find I like certain color mixes etc and like the flavor I get across lines.

Game Colour is the best Paints there are. I also use the Citadel Foundation Paints, because they are the only ones GW do right.

barlio wrote:I'm starting to substitute Vallejo's Game color for my GW paints, but for now I'm sticking with GWs metallics.

For my Metallics I now Swear by Model Colour. The Game Colour Metallics are crap compared to them

I'm an OTHER user...Apple Barrel Paints BABY! and FolkArt Metallics!

I use coloured paints....

Warlord Imp wrote:I'm an OTHER user...Apple Barrel Paints BABY! and FolkArt Metallics!

I have them too! , but they are too similar to GW paints so i generally go back to my vallejo box.

But 100% great paints to use if you like how GW paints work , 3x bigger for 1/2 the price i believe? ( so thats... 5x the worth around there.... )

I started painting using P3 paints mostly because my first miniatures that required painting were Privateer Press stuff. For Reaper I've only used their paint on black primer. When I was getting heavy into painting my Hordes stuff and alternate schemes for some of my Khador I tried out a bunch of Vallejo's paints. I've only recently incorporated GW/Citadel paints into use.

Most will point and laugh, but I use Apple barrel extensivly. (i always water down my paints anyway, why not get pre watered down? )

I use P3 and foundation for basecoats, and citadel washes/inks.

Here are what i use! ( i think thats 5 shades of black and grays from vallejo , and 4 more shades of lighter ones from GW
this way i dont have to mix and end up with different shade by accident or failed memory! )

straying dangerously off topic, but how has anyone who tried P3 paints found them?

I use Americana paint. Its easily as good as GW paint and WAAAAAAY cheaper.

i started with reaper, til the store i got them at closed, since then i've incorporated a goodly number of gw paints, since i've been lucky on finding them on sale.
given the option, i'll probably add in some p3 stuff, i tried out a few my friend had, and rather liked them

I started on GW and then tryed some reaper paints and P3, but hated them with a passion. I personally have found that GW paints and brushes last me forever even tough I do pretty bad stuff with them [sometimes I undercoat with the fine detail brush] and they still have fine detail and the paint range is large and lasts forever with me. They dry fast [which is what like to speed paint]. Someone will have to make a paint god to turn me from GW paints and brushes. Yes the cost is high but some is the return for me.

YMMV

POLLY!

I still have and use some of my Ral Partha paint, but mostly use GW paints. I had the entire Ral Partha line, and much preferred their screm top lids to the very crappy GW ones - old (thin round bottle flip top - the flip eventually breaks), slightly newer (the hex bottles which suffered the same fate as above), the screw tops (hard plastic mean that there was no flexibility when paint got caught between and you would not get a good seal), current paint, foundation and washes - where paint dribbles down the back when you open them up.

I also use Windsor and Newton inks - they can't be beat for their richness of colour, however you do end up with a glossy finish (fixed with a matt coat...)

I've been think of investing in a full set of Vallejo Game Colour...

Warlord Imp wrote:I'm an OTHER user...Apple Barrel Paints BABY! and FolkArt Metallics!

QFT - I've used FolkArt Artist Pigments since the line came out. I have separate mixing containers, use about 50/50 water paint and have never had an issue.

I like their metallic line as well.

I use a whole lot. GW for metallics, VMC for general use, some VGC for specific color matching, some P3 because I wanted to try them out, and also reaper master for flesh tones.

However, my star players are Liquitex soft body (and some heavy body) artists acrylics. They have the best working properties and pigment strength (as you would expect, being artists grade) and I phase them in as I run out of other colors. Though I stick to an artists palette with these i.e. warm and cool primaries and some earth tones.

Basically as I run out of gaming company colors I don't replace them, prefering instead to mix them myself. This is taking a while though so I still have a ton of specific colors taking up a lot of space on my desk.

Mostly GW, with some game color paints thrown in. I do have some polly s paints as well.

If i could get exact matching colors from the valleo line i would switch.
But after starting army's with GW paints im afraid to switch and have to custom blend all my colors to match whats already done.
For the most part gw stuff is good tho im not fond of skull white,4 coats over lightest foundation paint to get a templar shoulder white is redicoulus
scorpion green could use some tweaks too