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Hello Everyone,
I have been contemplating switching paints from GW to Vallejo (mostly because I have seen the general consensus of painters feel that they are better than GW's paint line) and I see they offer two lines: Game and Model Color. When painting 40k minis, which one should be used? It appears that both could be based on their description but I was looking for some "field advice" so to speak.

Use whatever paints do what you want. Picking one particular brand out of a misguided sense of loyalty is counterproductive.

They aren't automatically better, certain colours are better (golds from Vallejo, silvers from GW) but overall the quality is about the same. The main difference is the dropper bottles and cheaper price point.

Game colour is designed to have very similer colours to GW so that's probably the main range you'd want to look at, even the names are similer to the GW counterparts

The Game Color range attempts to closely match GW's colors. They are typically brighter (think ultramarines and blood ravens).

The Model Color range sports more color options, and many of the colors are more muted, intending to be used by historical modelers for more realistic paint schemes (think WWII tanks).

So where the Game Color range has 3-4 greens to choose from (dark angel copy, goblin copy, scorpion copy, ork hide copy) in the Model range you can get whole sets of shades of green.

Neither is really better, it's the same paint either way.

As for it being better...well the dropper bottle is fantastic, and it is like 20% cheaper by volume. They are both the same quality though, and there are some things GW just does better, and others Vallejo does better.

I like the dropper bottles, i just find the fact a lot of vallejos paints split and need shaking for ages before using them really annoying! Its only some, but drives me up the wall.

I read somewhere that vallejo model color is meant for tanks, planes and other real word stuff. They try to match the original colors as best as possible.

Vallejo game color is basically gw "ripoff".

I use both and mix them together as there is vitually no difference but I've noticed model color tends to cover better while game color is more transparent.

I also vallejo air color. They aren't as thick as other paint lines but finer pigment in metal colors is a godsend.

Havok210 wrote:Hello Everyone,
I have been contemplating switching paints from GW to Vallejo (mostly because I have seen the general consensus of painters feel that they are better than GW's paint line) and I see they offer two lines: Game and Model Color. When painting 40k minis, which one should be used? It appears that both could be based on their description but I was looking for some "field advice" so to speak.

I use both ranges, as well as the Vallejo Air Range. Both ranges have colors that correlate perfectly to the Citadel colors. There is a chart here on Dakka.
There are a few colors I recommend sticking with Citadel on; metallics mainly. They are better than the Vallejo ones.

Other than that, Vallejo is a superior product in every way.

Each line has individual colors that are better, other that are worse.
Generally, I don't fancy the Model Color line(though I may be speaking for the old formula, as mine are pretty old) because they don't hold on models as well as others. So while they are nice, they will need some seal afterwards.
Game color is generally a GW line done cheaper, and for the most part, better.

Most of the paint I currently use is Reaper Master Series though. Their triads are lovely.

Game Colour: Acrylic paint range that mimics GW's Citadel colours in range and names. AFAIK higher resistance to rub off so better suited for models in games.

Model Colour: Acrylic paint range made for military modelling, more colours, many matching historical colours of 20th century armies, esp. uniform and military vehicle colours. Less resistant to rub off as they are intended for display models.

Air Colour: Acrylic paint range, dilluted for use in air brushes.

Use this chart when determining which color of Vallejo paint to get. As I said, it correlates to the Citadel color range, and both ranges (Game Color & Model Color) have an
appropriate color that is an identical match to Citadel.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

If nothing else, go look at the Vallejo Model Air metallic lines. Those and the Liquid Gold alcohol based metallic series Vallejo puts out. Both are exceptionally good.

The both game color and model color are great. The Model colors has a lot more of the earthy/muted colors that the game color does not and has more colors of more colors, so to speak. I use a mixture of all of these.

I'll let people debate over who has the best matte paints but anyone who's actually tried and knows about metallics will agree Vallejo Model Air metallics are head and shoulders above any other.